Melbourne

We've lost Sinead O'Connor. A grievous loss. I love her music and courage.

Hey guys, sorry it took so long to get over here. I’ve been very tired and was a bit intimidated by the learning curve of the site.

Melbcat is here with me, happy and spoilt.

Edit: I’ve been resting a lot, learning to draw in an app on my phone and debating whether I’ll maintain a vegie window box

Should hear back by tomorrow about this job I interviewed for yesterday. And I have a Teams interview next week. I suppose this may be why I am feeling so damn social, having to put myself out there for corporations and present myself as a capable, intelligent person.... I just want to hang out with people and be my dense, silly, starchy self.

What do tonight though? 🙄

edit: have just had a small realisation: I like being social, but am afraid to be social because I hate taking up space - be it in a conversation, or physically. Wow. calls therapist

For those who saw my previous posts, kitty is home and on a lot of medication that will mostly keep him comfortable as things slowly come to end. There's a clot on his heart they couldn't get to pass so he may lose his back legs but hopefully he's at peace before that happens.

Hi DTers! I'm here from Reddit (same username). Good to see people from the OG DT here.

Kicking things off with a super random question, as I always do on the DT: I'd like to make oven baked tandoori chicken with basmati rice, but I'm not sure what to do for veggies. Chutney isn't really a replacement for veggies, but more of a dipping sauce, right? Can I put chutney over veggies like broccoli, cauli, carrots, etc? That probably doesn't sound right, but can anyone please recommend an easy Indian-style veggie side dish?

Hopefully it's something easy and basic, because I'm a lazy and terrible cook :-(

I’ve handed out another Lemmy pamphlet at Reddit. I’ve been DMing individuals on a case by case according to their online activity. Probably think I’m a spam. 🫠

which, technically I am, I guess…

Wow... I randomly looked at the staff page of my old high school in the 80s. The biggest bully of a teacher is still there but is now the student well being coordinator.

Saw the Barbie movie last night, mostly because I had no idea wtf it was about and wanted to see it before it got spoiled for me.

It was fun going out to the movies on a Wednesday night and I really enjoyed seeing groups of people getting into the spirit, wearing pink, having dinner with friends beforehand and whatnot. The atmosphere felt fun in the centre.

Found my way to ol' r/melbourne for the first time in 5ever while I was chilling before my class began, and I came across a thread with the title about being afraid of the future and the apocalyptic feeling or whatever. And despite knowing what the comments were gonna be like, I still went and read them smh. I used to have genuine panic attacks when I was a teen about climate change, and while I don't try to avoid climate-relating talk or news because it's still important, I do try to avoid it when I have stuff I need to get done (for example class tonight) because I tend to get in a sort of..idk, stress mode haha.

Anyway, shouldn't have gone to reddit to start with, and shouldn't have read those thread comments lol hopefully venting this to the world's friendliest DT will help

It's so warm today I've switched off the heating and am flouncing around in a skirt and t shirt. Unbelievable. (But also hooray for an insulated house)

Tried to do a load of woollens and finally gave in at how gross the washing machine is. These guys are normally so uptight about cleanliness with their baby around and the wife having all kinds of chronic illnesses, but there's literal black mould impregnated all over the seal. The machine also used to deposit random bits of lint/mystery pieces onto the clothes, which has thankfully improved a bit after cleaning the filter and running it through a hot wash cycle with regular detergent a week ago.

Did a through spray + 5 min soak with mould remover and a very vigorous scrub, which has taken off the scum and the most superficial mould, but the bottom bit where all the water wells up is particularly difficult. I've just put it through a hot wash with special washing machine cleaner and after that's done I'll dry it out - if it's still gross I'm thinking tomorrow I'll try 1:4 dilution of white vinegar on paper towels to soak onto the seal for a couple hours, then another scrub and wash.

Open to any other tips from your personal experience of cleaning a front loader, and yes I realise it is probably too late to truly rid it of mould but something's better than nothing.

Also sorry for the long posts today. One gets a bit loopy in suburbia ...sometimes.

So two teachers in East-Germany are basically leaving town because they called out so many students playing music with racist lyrics, drawing swastika's and using the Nazi salute with other students. And parents in this town wanted them to leave essentially and this is just wild. Especially since Germany did a lot of stuff to try and stamp out Nazi-ism after WWII.

long overdue haircut today. My hairdresser is a god amongst men, he's managed to cram me into his massively overbooked schedule so that I look decent for an upcoming funeral.

My department at work is collapsing. Our budget was dramatically cut, and my direct team in Melbourne has dropped from 8 or 9, down to 3 (farewell drinks for one tonight), and they aren't being replaced. Other big changes coming... Interesting times. Mood and motivation is down in the team. It will continue because it must, and will be profitable in some form, but I don't know what that form will be at the moment, it's all still up in the air. My job is safe I believe, I'm too expensive to make redundant and can be moved elsewhere. I'm just kind of a fly on the wall of my first major shift like this in a business. Just venting a bit I guess.

so. much. adulting today.

Sitting and soaking up the rays has to be one of life’s most simplest and loveliest pleasures… (Even though I’ll always be a night owl.)

Getting lunch delivered today because I'm rocking a banger of a headache and feeling fragile. Haven't had any delivery in 10 days, which is a long time for me. Ride like the wind, Bernabe!

A surprisingly earnest and heartfelt article from Betoota today: "Report: Nothing Did Compare"

Heading out to a viet place tonight for a fam dinner thing and I really need half of their entree menu.

Problem with my fam is they don't understand the concept of order a bunch of stuff, put it in the middle and share it.

Taken tomorrow off. doing nothing with my three days but relaxing and not thinking about work. cant wait.

Wildlife update:There are many bees in the trees.

My kids are sitting next to each other on the couch both doing Duolingo. One doing French, the other switching between Italian and Hawaiian of all things...

PSA warning. The Coles at Richmond Traders has stocks of Shin Ramyun Black - at $11-85!!!!!!! Highway robbery.
Also at Richmond Traders - I did not think it was possible to kill a pothos plant by neglect but they are managing to do so. If passing, it may be worth your time to go in and look at the ceiling above the chemist - multiple strands of dead and dying pothos dribbling sadly from the balconies. This rare sight has to be seen to be believed. I think it's because the office space is not rented yet and no-one is caring for the poor plants. Vegetable murder by neglect.

I tried to take a photo showing that RavenCat is team Barbie, but apparently took a photo

looking into the void instead.

Image: pink cat bed, filled with the enless inky depths of a black void.

SWEET. It turns out my previous health cover (for visa holders - everything Medicare covers plus hospital with extras added on) did cross over to my new local PHI product so I don't have insane waiting periods for most things after all!

I don't know how they decided it, because I'm pretty sure my previous extras cover did include physiotherapy and remedial massage (which now has a 2 month waiting period), but did not include psychology (which does not have a waiting period on my new cover).

Not complaining, I need that shit... I am aware extras is usually more of an Entertainment Book voucher type thing for health services but I would actually use all of them anyway; I did the sums and the savings were worth it.

And in other fantastic news, it only took nearly two weeks, but the cat has JUST! finally!!! figured out how to roll the treat ball HERSELF and get free treats without standing around sniffing it and helplessly looking at me.

I almost thought she was mentally slow. It's like she was scared to push the damn thing even though she knows full well there are highly desirable goodies inside and the holes are at maximum aperture so she doesn't have to roll it much for stuff to come out. What a relief

I had an omelette with cherry tomatoes, spring onion and cheese and toast for dinner and there's a vanilla slice for afters for me :)

Ooooh is Thursday... Payday!

How PTV should decide who gets the next bus contract.

I helped two older (70s?) ladies yesterday. I caught ones dog running about in school drop off traffic, and I got some cheese off the top shelf at Coles for the other.

Windows 10: "Thanks for your patience" Me: "What patience? Boot you fucker!"

Mein Liebe made a beef bowl. Rice, sliced beef, sliced onion, cooking sake and mirin. Roasted sesame seeds and fresh sping onion.

ID: pic is of the above meal in a blue bowl

Day 1 of intermediate body shred 30 day challenge. Was definitely ready for this challenge and approached it in the manner suggested by the Hybrid Calisthenics guy, i.e adapting the exercises to what fits your fitness ability now. Especially important for me because while my foot is better it's still not 100%. Like there's this weird looking plank into pike exercise that I didn't like the look of and didn't trust myself to do without damaging something so I did other core exercises instead. Mr Peeler noticed that my figure is changing, and noticed the muscles in my back when he hugged me. It's only been 32 days of exercises! My posture has improved and I actually feel like I have a core now. In muscle terms, I just felt a nebulous void between my thighs and shoulders. I'm doing those back friendly exercises every day too, and will for life now because they've just been so beneficial.

Last night I had a crack at the exercises I linked yesterday and found that even after feeling knackered after a day's work, cooking dinner and doing laundry etc.,they were totally doable. So maybe I've got a short evening routine I can do as well, which means I'll be doing the recommended 30 minutes of exercise per day for the first time! Woo! Thanks for listening to my ramblings, and have a vitamin D-lightful day!

I need a detox from real life people. I've seen and interacted with too many humans this week.

It's nice not get spam from uni studies, recruiters or have stories stolen . Just sayin'. 😊

Just waved off my hairdresser, she of the 'JESUS CHRIST THAT'S A LOT OF GREY' comment. Definitely overdue for a colour and a bit overdue for a cut.

Pizza is in the oven. I originally decided not to do pizza because I couldn't be bothered making the base, but the food cupboard came through with a couple of fresh bases from Baker's Delight, so I have one pizza in the oven now & another base in the freezer. There were also a couple of tomatoes in the cupboard, so I have some tomato in my lunch salad for work, and made some tomato/onion/capsicum/basil mix to have with eggs for one of my breakfasts - plus added a few small slices to the pizza. I've been out of tomato for weeks so it was very welcome.

I thought I was just socially burnt out but I think I'm overall burnt out and exhausted. Not sure what I'm going to do as I have next to no annual leave or personal leave.

8.5 degrees outside, feels like 4.6. Chilly dog walk morning, but I can't complain. Gippsland Eggs put up a post this morning from their car showing 0 degrees and an ice covered windscreen.