Oof, that was not a good sleep... Had to sleep with headphones listening to YouTube because my mind just wouldn't turn off and I was so paranoid and anxious. Everytime I turned over I was like "but now my back is to the door, what if somebody comes in", and same goes for laying the other way and having my back to the window. Spent 2 hours trying to fall asleep, then woke up every 40 minutes or so in a sweat and had to get up and check that my door and window were both still locked
The worker who was here overnight gave me good vibes. Big Islander dude, seemed chill. No worries about my safety (logically, anyway). That's probably why I got my 3 hours of sleep at all
Edit: after a shower, I'm feeling a bit less nervous. Just trying to distract myself with my usual routine. I also decided that not listening to anything so I can keep an ear out for any strange noises is a bad idea when this house is like 100 years old and makes even more noise than usual during winter, so I have some music on
It probably would, but I'm not sure it's worth the effort. As I discovered yesterday, this lock holds up surprisingly well to break in attempts (deadbolt) and kick attempts. The only way in is either a key (which is kept at the office and the workers don't have access to), or a solid hip and shoulder in which case I probably have bigger problems
Sorry catfish, noticed you're out of blinker fluid. Gonna need to get that replaced before you can leave I'm afraid. Can't let you leave without it - it's unsafe and I don't want to be sued when turn into someones lane. That'll be $1,475, thanks. Cash or card?
Does the closure of the cafe mean you can no longer make my favourite - a mars bar wrapped in bacon, dipped in blue, white, and red food colouring, breadcrumbed, deep fried, wrapped in an american flag, covered in 17 layers of chocolate, breadcrumbed again, deep fried, dipped in more blue, white, and red food colouring, and served with little american flags on a stick?
I'm sorry bac bac, but if you've discontinued my fave, I will need to riot.
During lockdowns I found a website 1001 Albums to listen to before you die.
I try to do an album a day during the week, but sometimes cannot be bothered.
It's definitely broadened by musical horizons, but has also introduced me to some absolutely crap (yes I know music is subjective) that is somehow popular.
Fucking hell I need to get better security on all of my stuff.
I realised that the drongo also nicked an Xbox I had in my spare room. I haven't played it in some time, but apparently at some stage it's become disconnected from my Microsoft account so I can't report it stolen or get the serial number. My MacBook I'd just reset like a month ago and forgot to turn on find my device. And I got an email from Amazon that somebody was trying to reset my password. I rejected the request but realised I forgot to sign out of prime on a hotel tv, so I reset my password. Which deregistered my echo dot from my Amazon account, so I can't get the serial number.
I thought I was good at keeping my devices secure and locked down. Evidently I am not anywhere near as good as I thought. I guess I've felt too safe for too long to keep up with maintenance and security. I suppose it's a learning opportunity but I just feel like an idiot. Ugh
But I could probably make it a lot more difficult to shift all the stuff he's stolen if I caught it quickly and reported everything as stolen. Also if I had find my mac on
My phone is probably the safest thing I own honestly. Strong password I change often, and googles rolled out their find my iphone knockoff that uses all the bluetooth and wifi stuff to ping its location back to base if GPS isn't working. Apparently it doesn't work very well yet, but I have faith it'll improve. Or google will get a new toy and scrap it. really 50/50 odds tbh
I'm starting to feel more safe now. Still not 100, not even 30% honestly, but each day that passes, I feel 1 or 2% safer. I'm still jumping at noises, still lock my room when I go to the bathroom, and have a just I'm case knife on my bedside table.
I finally wrote an email to my care team informing them of the situation, they'll probably start checking in more frequently, and will also put pressure on the org to replace my stolen and damaged stuff. The police assistance line said I should call the station handling the case tomorrow if they don't contact me first, but tomorrow's a busy day so I might give them a bonus 24 hours. My spare room is still a "crime scene" though, so I can't work on cleaning it up, or go tinker with my projects.
In a kind of dark and twisted way, it's also ironic that they moved him in here to cut costs (Resi is expensive), and in the end it's probably coated them the same if not more. I'd say he's caused about 1-2k in property damage to them alone, plus about 1.5k to me (plus another 1.5k in theft). They also had to have 24/7 staffing while he was alone, and even now since I still don't feel safe, they're still paying for an overnight worker. Really the only thing they really "saved" was not having to buy groceries for him, but it seems like he was bad with managing money, so they probably had to anyway. Seems like the cost cutting really worked for them 🙄🙄
Oh, also, I think I have permanent, irrevocable "I told you so" rights now...
I already had a fairly low opinion of the department of human services
That's why they rebrand every 2 years, silly! Since 2013 I think it's gone DHHS > DHS & DoH > DHHS > DFFH & DoH. They split and merge the department of health and the department of human services more often than Melbourne rebrands public transport agencies and operators. For now, it's the department of families, fairness, and housing, until they want to merge the department of health in again
I can get to it quicker than anyone else could. Nobody would get through the door without me hearing (their best option would be giving the door a good shoulder until either the door frame collapses, or the hinges snap.
Edit: also this dude stole 6 of our knives and a pair of scissors
Bit of a server struggle to load the page just now. Anyway just finishing my last solid food pre-surgery. I hope porridge and a protein shake count as a light meal.
I think that's about the time the server used to restart (is that still a thing?), and also runs maintenance tasks or something. Always slow for me around then
Today's "you must've had a shit day mate" award runner up prize goes to the young bloke in hi viz who exited his car as it was at a 30 degree incline on the back of a tow truck and had to climb down.
The winner goes to whoever is gonna be held responsible for the Derrimut factory fire.
On a brighter note, some really lovely news, I received a surprisingly chunky bonus from one of my jobs (despite not being there that long). I have the option of salary sacrificing it or having it paid out as taxed wages. I would've liked to put it all to super but frankly I could do with liquid cash atm. Buys me more time later in the year for when I can't work as hard.
Now to whip up some hearty green curry. So good for throwing all the veg in!!
I got an email this morning to say my passport is on its way and the tracking number hasn't updated on their system so I don't know if it's coming today or not but I'm super excited anyway.
I have a pretty substantial library of older music and didn't catch the reference, so I guess so. I did guess it was probably a reference to some obscure old thing though
Grabbed some tteokbokki for lunch. Wanted to try it for ages and it was beautiful, but my GOD was it spicy! Normally walk off lunch feeling like I need a coffee but deffo awake now!
Put together my new bed last night. Added the mattress. Took a good 3 hours by myself, but it didn't break apart (and only one minor mistake that I managed to fix without having to take everything apart). So I call that a win.
Slept like a baby. Bit sore today though. I guess a mix of putting the bed together and the new mattress.
Now it's clean up. Soooo much styrofoam. The cardboard is in the car to take to the transfer station. Then gotta put the old bed in the car for the next trip. And then somehow get the mattress there.
Decided to call in sick for tomorrow. The de-toothified area is quite painful and swollen - I think I'd be fine working in a standard office job, but having to speak all day with a sore mouth does not sound fun. The dental surgeon was a bit confusing about his recommendations for time off - verbally he told me I'd be fine to go back to work almost straight away, but he wrote me a certificate for three days off.
I am in a workplace where we can use a stat dec for sick leave, and we can also sign stat decs for each other, so having a certificate or not isn't really an issue I factor in!
Spent four hours out of home. Out to Prahan, back into Flinders to Spencer St. Then hung out with my partner for his lunch. Dropped into a shop on the way home and now I'm actually back.
The cat is pleased with my return and the bribe of wet food to remain on his good side.
...I forgot toilet paper. FML.
Edit: whoa that factory fire I saw from docklands with my partner earlier. I actually pointed it out but thought it was just pollution from a factory.
I guess it's still pollution, but from an explosion - which is cooler as long as no one is dead
Edit: holy! Check out the flying barrel! Scroll down to the interview with the chief and they show a clip. Wild!
We got a mass email at work advising us to be cautious because the wind was heading our way for a while and the outdoor crew got a heads up almost as soon as it happens. Looks like it's blowing south now. Those videos are pretty wild
So friends of mine have dogs and I must say the dog smell in their house today was pretty bad. I'm assuming the house being closed up in winter probably doesn't help.
Was relieved to get back to my own fresh smelling house.
I can understand why people want their dogs indoors...but.....you are up for a lot of cleaning and dog bathing if you want your house to smell relatively fresh.
And I think dog owners after a while don't notice the smell.
Excuse me, are you a patron of the Dandenong corridor? No one has it worse than those guys. Special mention to the belgrave/lilydale line though. Those guys have had a lot of works lately.
Finally updated my phone, the new one has been sitting in a drawer for months only to find Memmy is no longer available? Oh well, back to Mlem.
Also, why do some apps stay logged in and others require re-logging in, not to mention emails… The joys of technology. Though, can’t complain considering how easy the transfer is to get up and running.
Now need to get the screen protector and cover. If only I could just get up…
I deleted the ticky tocky after a bunch of children started abusing me and sending me death threats for daring to have a different opinion. I unfortunately just replaced it with youtubey shortypantses though
I havent deleted tiktok, but I don't use it after noticing my ex has an account. I didn't realise it notified you when you look at someone's profile.... So I got a nasty message from them hahaha
Grateful to still live rent free in their head lol don't think they realise I still got allllllll the receipts 😂
Have had a busy morning - dropped the car in to fix a couple of things when I clipped a few things during the great move, sorted my Myki now I'm off Jobseeker, and updated my details on the electoral roll while I'm at it.
Mechanic called before I even had time to sit down for a coffee so I've just got off the train after listening to a bunch of goss about someone's workplace merger.
I had a small coughing episode while bending over to clean a water spill on the floor and got the worst cramp in my side hip / lower stomach area. Incredible pain for around 30 seconds and then it was done. It’s still a bit sore now.
Cramps are the absolute worst. Don’t get them often, but when they happen they feel like 10/10 pain level.
I had a leg cramp while I was sleeping the other night and it was so painful. It’s still a little bit sore where I got the cramp and its been two days.
When I was in Melbourne a few weeks back, I matched with someone a day or two before I flew back home. We didn't talk much (and didn't meet obviously) while I was there but we've spoken a lot since I got home, graduating to swapping phone numbers and texting. We even handwrite little notes and take a photo and send it to each other. We are planning on a video chat soon and meeting next time I am in Melbourne (assuming video chat goes well).
I like her a lot (so far) but the whole 'we live in different states' thing is really souring my hopes. There is nothing really tying her to Melbourne in terms of family and commitments, and she said she is actually able to work remotely so I guess that it is a possibility. I also said I would like to move back to Melbourne once I finish studying, but it would depend on if my daughter wants to as well.
I'm likely just setting myself up for heartbreak - especially with my history - but what is life if not trying things in the hopes it will all work out?
You could potentially invite her down for a weekend in Hobart (from previous posts you live outside of the big smoke), meet up chill, do whatever, see what happens. If things go well and she's comfortable, she can stay at yours. If not, she has a hotel (or such).
Fuck I was trying so hard to be diplomatic with my approach. "shared a cuddle" was originally "share a bed. Or the back seat of a rental car" but decided it wasn't diplomatic enough.
I like her a lot (so far) but the whole ‘we live in different states’ thing is really souring my hopes. There is nothing really tying her to Melbourne in terms of family and commitments,
Reckon you're gonna find a bunch of melbournians more than happy to GTFO outta here after the past few years.
But lets back up, you dont know if there is physical chemistry here yet. Lets worry about moving after you've shared a cuddle on the couch watching a movie. Not like its hard to fly between the 2 for a weekend visit either.
A girl I work with met her boyfriend of two years on a night out in Sydney! He lives in Sydney, she lives in Melbourne. They visit each other once a month. It's working out well for them.
You only live once and you'll never know unless you try :) When's the video chat set up for? Keep us updated!
May have a water leak in the wall? Noticed the skirting board has warped, and the bathroom door isn't closing properly.
The wall is part of the hallway, from the kitchen to the bathroom, and at either end the carpet is wet af. Like, I touch it and my hand may as well have been under a tap.
I don't fucking need this right now. I don't care that my LL would have to fix it, I just don't want them to kick us out while they do it. ARGHHHHHH!
I might be a fairly simple fix. Plumbers have sonic leak detection kits that can pretty much pinpoint where the leaks are. Cut open the wall, cut and rejoin the pipes, fix up wall.
We had one a while back and took the bloke about an hour to do it.
Likely a shower leak if its near the bathroom. Had this on the wall behind the shower. Was a super simple fix, just a problem with the tap. Regrouted the shower just to be sure and that was a simple day job.
I've been out and got some sun but now back in the hot office I'm feeling awfully sleepy. zzzzzz. Hard to look at spreadsheets and figure out what I'm doing. Can I knock off early today? One only hopes so.
The downside of working in the office in winter is I simply don't have the capacity to make and eat breakfast - I refuse to eat a cold breakfast and I can barely get up in time to get to work on time, let alone allow for breakfast.
Pretty much every weekday I've ended up unintentionally fasting from like 8pm to 11am... I get around it with coffee but I don't think it's great for my mental health in the mornings.
I need to think of something that I can heat and eat in the car (for my job with the longer commute) or in the office (for the other job). Maybe leftover pasta/fried rice for brekky.
You could try those drinks that are like milk and protein. Not a shake, they come in like juice boxes?
UP AND GO! that's it! The brand is up and go. It's like, meant to be a kind of breakfast replacement/supplement to help get energy in the morning. But it isn't gurana based I don't think, it's milk based. Anyway, sorry for the train of thought, but it may help!
Oof, i should've clarified that I have had lactose intolerance since I was 8. It's manageable with dairy once in a while but up & go would totally wreck my guts haha
Is there a microwave at work? Wheatbix heated with milk is good.
I like Bircher muesli soaked overnight but that's not hot....though you could probably heat it through in the microwave to make it more of a porridge....yeah that could definitely work.
Hm I've done Bircher museli in summer but if you heated it up in winter wouldn't it get all gluggy and weird? I should give it a go anyway.
There is a microwave at both workplaces although the one with the longer commute is trickier because the shared kitchen is often busy (and extremely bare bones). I'd need to bring my own nondairy milk too, maybe if I pre poured it into smaller jars
I am angry that a rich country like Australia has poor living on the streets and I am angry that government measures and money for the poor and others in need is stolen in rorts.
every time I visit Richmond the town seems a little poorer, more closed shops, more people in dire straits. Overheard some guys sitting around discussing their favourite home made dinners. ( The homeless don't cook. ) 😔
I literally chased down a young man I saw walking without shoes, he wasn't begging, gave him a 50 and made him promise to get shoes at the op shop 5 minutes down the road . I know he might spend it on shit but then maybe he will get shoes.
The rot set in well before covid. I've been working on Bridge road since 2012 - just at the very end of its glory days as a centre for the cheaper end of the rag trade. Online shopping killed that, but it took a long time to die. Re-inventing itself now as wellness practitioners and eateries.
For real scunge, look at Johnston St.
So typically I find motivation to train legs challenging. A leg day is usually about 1 hour and 20 min (leg day just comes with a lot of time setting up and racking /re-racking weights etc).
Thinking about splitting that into two seperate days because it's a bit easier to motivate yourself for shorter time.
Fuck me I forgot how fucking fiery the Maesri green curry paste is faaaaark. I added coconut sugar and as much coconut milk powder as I could but the latter is weaksauce. 3 pappadums did not help 🥵
I like Maesri for the overall flavour and I have used it to good effect before, but probably with more balancing elements for the green curry (maybe added pumpkin or sweet potato). And coconut cream not this coconut milk powder nonsense I'm trying out. I love their red curry and panang curry pastes. Unfortunately I don't find valcom or the other main brands to be enough for me (haven't tried Mae Ploy), I have usually needed to zhuj them up a lot more with extra aromatics and at that point why even use a curry paste. Or they are just too overwhelmingly sweet
Yeah, it's an useful backup for when you just need a bit and don't want to open a whole can, or can't be arsed going to the shops. But clearly not quite the same. I haven't used it in over a decade, it's okay for thickening a sauce but not so much for coconut-forward dishes.
You can get larger packs of the stuff in Asian shops, decent Colesworths have the smaller packs.
Usually p good with spice, though less so than in my early 20s.
Plenty. But unfortunately in this case it was already known that the owner was not operating a safe workplace. So once the fatality occurred worksafe would have investigated, given notices to fix the problems, and can order the place to shut down until issues fixed if the risks are high enough. Something has gone wrong with that process if the place caught fire again.
I've nearly finished listening to Return of the King, 3rd time and it still felt like I was up there on Mt Doom with Frodo and Sam or with Pippen and Merry on the battle field and all the good byes bring a tear