Tonight the man and I have been invited to our daughter's year 10 awards night where she will receive 1 maybe 2 awards.
Awards are good and all but I'm more proud that she has a road to follow now after starting her secondary education in absolute chaos.
It's good that some of her teachers have taken an interest in her education by saying "hey you're really good at this subject. You should stick with it". My husband and I can only go so far with her and it's good to see some of these teachers step up.
She's worked out that being smart isn't good enough if you don't put in any work.
I'd imagine they can help with finding a reason to put up with working for a living. Also to fill out what we'd call life with ups and downs, book weeks and swimming lessons rather than the numb emptiness of a quiet house. Someone to channel love into and through. Someone who you can at least try to teach to be a net-positive to the world. Someone to mow the lawns. Someone to tell your old crap jokes to who is a clean slate and hasn't heard them before. Someone to invite over for Christmas once they've moved out and started their own lives.
This isn't a list of things everybody wouldn't have if they didn't have children by the way. But I imagine it'd apply to a lot of people.
I called to confirm picking up Melbcat tomorrow, she's been such a good cat. I'm going to get the cold shoulder for abandoning her when she gets home though :(
I hope it's just being a bit shaken and readjusting. I hated doing that but knew it could be a long wait, and I needed to make sure she was properly looked after if I was unexpectedly longer in the hospital.
We're back from the Awards ceremony. A very long night. A lot of speeches. The new principal's went for a good 15 minutes. I tuned out after 5. A lot of awards. Very deserving awards. A lot of clapping.
Then we went to macca's and the FRIES WERE FUCKING HOT. Bonus.
Oh and by the way the kid won 2 awards. One for History and one for Health & Human Development. These were HIGHEST ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS PEOPLE. Not effort awards. No Coles gift card 😔 So proud ☺
Male antechinus (shrew-like marsupials) fuck themselves to death during a short, highly frenzied mating season. A rapid, fatal decline in health is triggered by high levels of stress hormones, immune system suppression, and just plain physical exhaustion.
Caption: a big spinning Christmas decoration at Würzburg Christmas market.
It snowed beautifully here in Würzburg this afternoon, so things are blanketed in light fluffy snow. It was -3° when we arrived this morning and we had a fun day exploring the city. No Glühwein for us yet as we’re still a bit jet lagged and I know I’ll get badly tipsy instead of fun tipsy on it. Hopefully tomorrow night!
Microsoft Word just came up with an alert to warn me that the proofing tools are not checking any text that is in German. This does not seem like a problem, given that I am not using any words in German.
Mine has been changing my text to French and Arabic for absolutely no reason. Changing to Arabic means my quote marks were backwards and in the wrong position.
Just to add insult to injury this week, after months of my brother pressuring me I reached out to elderly extended family. "You don't know how long they have left! You'll regret it". yeah pretty confident the conversation was more upsetting for them than cathartic. I stopped calling cause every time I spoke to them I needed a drink afterwards and this was no exception. They don't want to know what my direct family did, but they certainly wanna make me feel bad about it.
Then I had to call my bro and be like "Yo, they dunked on me and kind of slammed you too. They're upset and pissed off at us and genuinely cant understand why we would turn out back on FAAAAAAAMMMILLLY"
It seems being in a fair amount of pain (frequently peaking to straight up 'vomit and lie on the bathroom floor' severe) is almost a daily thing at this point. I just want some answers and to actually treat whatever the hell is going on for me rather than waving it off as psychosomatic and being left to struggle with it using only the same things that aren't working. It's been so many years and it's only worsening. I'm tired of living in constant pain and having my life stunted because of barely being able to do anything. Praying that the new specialists can be seen soon.
Ugh.
I'm going to skip this page on drawing the manga eyes as that's not really the style I intend to pursue. I'm just speedrunning this book to get a very basic grasp on the more applicable things like figure drawing and proportions. Just to kind of shake me out of intimidation paralysis and to get more comfortable using a sketchbook as a tool, for learning and getting messy.
I've changed GPs and this one is good (if a bit time limited), I'll definitely be discussing this there. I've also got some advocates now in dealing with the medical system. But fuck me... it was really just allowed to get this bad.
This was also a fear of mine, especially since we had a very recent covid case. I'm hoping the outdoor dining situation will aid a little in keeping it at bay.
I really need to stop looking at Linkedin. My company went a restructure this year and all the posts from my former co-workers saying they landed jobs at bigger and better organisations is filling me with jealousy. I've been trying to change jobs since the start of the year, have even been applying at similiar organisations to theirs but haven't been successful. I feel so stuck and undesired as an individual.
I killed my Linkedin this year. Or maybe it was last year. I forget when I did it. It's just another source of social media misery, full of virtue signalling and fake personalities on display. I HATE that there is a culture that it's perceived as being required for anything and I'm rebelling against it.
The water maintenance window was expanded due to extenuating circumstances. Thank you for your understanding. It means a great deal to us. You mean a great deal to us.
Wondering why I’ve been feeling so fatigued… Duh, just realised my iron intake has dropped quite a bit in the last month and I… somehow overlooked this glaringly obvious aspect. Plenty dumb I am sometimes.
Nice evening ride though I managed to make some of it look like amateur hour. Riding a different bike and the revs and I are sometimes not friends. Sometimes I can just feather the clutch and it’ll pull and sometimes it just drops into the never never. Not great when you crossing a road, but at least it was the slow area. Even if it took me part waddling and two tries since the bike didn’t roll. At least I encountered some forgiving people, unlike the person who 5 mins later did a u-turn right in front of me, right at a roundabout exit. Oh well, at least I can say it had good brakes.
The last two evenings have just been so lovely. Fish n chips yesterday evening and that amazing sky down at Williamstown. Even today it was just so… lovely. I just feel.. Grateful.
Back to reality again tomorrow morning. However, ya Llab was a good one and when I got home today, cooked, smashed a load of washing + hung it and cleaned the shower before I left for the ride. (So lame how some chores make you feel like you’ve partially adulted.)
Ooh package delivery notice! And 9 days ahead of prediction. Usually this would be cause for celebration, but now I need to find a long term hiding spot for a 10m stuffed toy. Um…
Ten metres is quite large for a stuffed toy - roughly twice the size of a very large elephant. I think hiding this toy is going to be difficult. Perhaps rent a storage cubicle for a month.
Job #1 finished early, job #2 likewise due to a mix-up with appointments (so the first half hour was mostly the provider and the client arguing with each other).
Next client is literally five minutes' drive so am chilling at home for now.
The cats are like 'you again?"
Hopefully I haven't overloaded myself, but now that I am halfway through my Diploma I've signed up to do an Undergraduate Certificate as well next year. It will mean I have 1 1/2 semesters where I have three subjects (which is 3/4 of a full-time study load, on top of full-time work) but I think it's doable. Fortunately a few of the subjects have reading lists at the library so I can do most of the reading in advance which will help.
If I can manage that I will feel a lot more confident about my plan to sign up for a double degree course the year after.
Anyone else strip their car before dropping it at the mechanic? Was on the phone to a mate while I pulled all my 4x4 recovery gear/tools, first aid kit, little knick knacks, and my current car-drobe out and he thought I was being weird.
I just feel weird about someone seeing all that stuff even though it's just normal stuff to have. Plus you know clumsy hands might start gropping if they get curious enough.
Wish boyo had done that. The car ended up getting written off and given zero chance to get any of the chargers, minor tools, spare hard hat etc. all little stuff but it adds up.
I rolled my car many years ago and I had the chance to get everything back, but only the hardiest things survived. I still mourn that packet of macadamias that didn't make it.
I did as I was getting a UHF installed and an Anderson plug in the back and on the rear of the car. Figured it would make it easier for them to run the wires etc… without clutter to move.
I didn't grab everything out of my car last week when I dropped it off to be repaired after an accident because initially they'd said it'd only be a few days. And then as I was driving off in the hire car they said "yeah so 3-4 weeks".
So here am I driving around without a first aid kit, emergency coat, sun hat, extra shopping bags, the Melways, all of that- anything could happen.
So after my accidental snooze on the train to g-town I had to wait a bit for the connecting bus. At geelong station there is a very nice park opposite the magistrates' court. When I ruin the timing that's a good spot to wait. Do not wait at the actual station.
Anyway you always see colourful things out the front of that court.
Today was a young couple I presume there on a drug related matter getting very animated.. Seemingly it didn't go their way.
Shoutout to the ticket inspector who woke me up at the end of the line at Sth. Geelong station (supposed to get off at Geelong). The seats are too comfy. Last time I fell asleep on the train I woke up at Waurn Ponds and had absolutely no fkn idea where I was.
"Local salon owner Tom said some pedestrians were walking past the police tape and down the street before being turned around."
I wish I could understand some people. What must go through their minds when they see things like police tape cordoning off an area? Like, the actual thoughts.
Surprisingly confusing, trying to figure what haircut to get at the hairdressers. Asking for the generic haircut does feel a little like going to a fast food restaurant and asking for a burger, without giving any more details.
On the bright side, curry prep is done, so that's dinner sorted.
That sounds like a description of my brain every time I sit down to work on an assignment. I often find a walk helps, a solution Mr Woof is always very happy to help with.
I wish short hair wasn't actually more maintenance and fuss. Thinking to go shorter than my current length because even this is getting a bit much to manage, but will have to leave it just long enough to tie back.
I used to shave mine down to about an inch with my own clippers, which was definitely great for low maintenance day to day, but was a bit of a pain to keep cutting. When I decided to grow it out instead I made the mistake of colouring it, which meant I was stuck continuing to do that regularly as the regrowth looked awful. Eventually I took the plunge of stripping out the colour and leaving it natural so I don't need to do anything much now - a quick comb and into a ponytail every morning and that's it.
My hair is pretty cooperative though - it was the bane of my existance growing up in the '80s due to its refusal to hold a curl, but dead straight hair that doesn't tangle easily is now something I'm grateful to have.
I actually did find it easier to manage when I had my hair partially buzzed. There was less hair to tangle, faster to dry and I could just tie the length back to hide it when needing a more conventional appearance. I really liked that style. I have considered the entire head buzz but as I already seem to stick out and be harassed even with a boring normal do it seems like more stress than it's worth.
But yeah. It is maintenance. My hair grows back fast! Plus different lengths requires mirror setups and I don't trust myself to do it at home in case I accidentally ruin it. It's also hard to have my arms raised for extended periods.
Agreed, I would prefer coloured hair but having to keep doing it is a drag
Mine is fine so it gets oily fast, needs to be washed more frequently and is quick to tangle. Standard silicone shampoo leaves it a greasy flat mess. It's a real pain in the butt
Mine's about half grey now and I quite like it. Because the greyest section is the top of my head and that is where my hair tends to part, when I used to dye it I would get a stripe effect from the regrowth. I always thought I looked like a skunk.
I don’t give a shit about the white bits in my hair, they add variation to my silly colours. But the ones in my eyebrows piss me off no end, sticking out at damn angles and being weird textures. Only so many you can pluck before getting the alien look.
Finally feeling (mostly) better just in time for work.
They've given me an extra shift so we'll see how we go. At least I have a gap between shift 1 and 2 so I can have lunch at home and commune with the cats, and shift 2 is respite so not so physical.