Go To The Gym

I haven't been to the gym for one month, not since Sam went to Japan with his parents and I stayed home and misbehaved.

Sam is constantly questioning me about going to the gym. The thing is, he is not questioning me for health reasons, no, he is questioning me for financial reasons.

It is not, go to the gym it is good for you, it is, if you are not going to go to the gym cancel your fortnightly payments.

I try not to say anything to discourage him, even though I want to, as it is good that I have someone to remind me, even if I find his constant questioning kind of irritating.

It's kind of good, after all, to be encouraged to do something you should do. Isn't it? I mean, Sam is right, isn't he, not that I am going to tell him that, naturally.

I should go to the gym today. Get my lazy arse back into gear.

Later... I took the dogs for a walk for an hour, and I went to the gym.

Surely, You Can't Win Govt With A Con Job Policy?

The conservatives have got back together, the country conservatives and the city conservatives, like a couple who split and had said bad things about each other, they awkwardly faced the press to announce the news.

And, apparently, their nuclear policy is back on the agenda, what I would suggest was their biggest policy they took to the last election where they were wiped out by the electorate.

Really?

Ted O'Brien, the man who cannot answer a straight question, is a true believer in the nuclear fantasy. He believes his own spin. He is high on his own supply.

He's the boring Australian Minister version of a nuclear bro.

Does he really believe, because… you know...

Dutton and most of the other LNP muppets have zero intention of actually building nuclear. Not in 10 years (as they claim). Not in 20 years (how long it would actually take).

It's just a distraction so they can keep burning gas and coal for as long as possible.

Are they are using poor old Ted? No, he must know? Just because he sounds like a useful idiot, doesn't necessarily mean that he is, I guess.

O'Brien chaired the 2019 parliamentary committee into nuclear titled "nuclear: not without your consent". The report concluded that solar is 4-6times cheaper than nuclear and that Australia should "say no to large scale reactors". You can download the report yourself. He in no way believes in this policy. He's best placed to understand how shit it is.

Why is no one questioning how, or where, the water to cool the plants is coming from.

Figures from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) show that 45% of nuclear plants use the sea for once-through cooling, and 25% use cooling towers (from water mains). 15% use lakes, and 14% use rivers (dictated by which is nearest).

The Nuclear Energy Institute estimates that one nuclear reactor requires between 1,514L and 2,725L litres of water per MWh. It equates to billions of litres of water per year, and all this water requires filtering somehow.

Sharon

We have a woman at work, Sharon - it's always a Sharon, hey - who is off sick with cancer, from all accounts, she is very unwell and not expected to get better.

She is always making contact and bitching about something. Yes, okay, you are dying, we get it, boo hoo, life is unfair, you and your cats, but please stop being such a bitch about it.

Truth is that she was always a bit of a bitch. Leopards, and all that.

Too harsh, I hear you say? Sure, maybe it is, but in the end none of us know about the pain she is in, we only know about the pain she is putting us through.

We see emails from her and the first thing we do is groan at the thought, even before we have read them.

Boris, and the big PooBah, have it worst, she rings them up and berates them. At least I only get emails that I can ignore.

Terminal cancer hasn't made her any nicer. 

And, quite frankly, I don't have to like her now just because she is dying.

This morning, I signed into work to be greeted by another Sharon email, sent with high importance, in the subject line 'Please Explain????' 

Oh, groan.

Am I being mean? Yeah, sure. But, I am only saying it to you. I'm not saying it to her.

And, I guess, all she has got to do now is sit at home and feel her life slip away. That can't easy.

Stop Panicking And Fix It

I kind of panicked about my stuff ups yesterday.

I chastised myself for the mess I made of things.

It was even on my mind when I went to sleep last night in a slightly heightened state of anxiety. I just hate making stupid mistakes.

And today, I fixed the things I stuffed up yesterday, easy as anything.

I called the experts, the service provers support, and followed their instructions, rather than faffing about myself and making it worse. 

And all is right with the world again, as they say.

In fact, it is better than it was before, because when I was on the phone to my service providers, I sorted out two other long standing issues.

Yay!

Making Matters Worse

I realised today that I'd stuffed something up.

Then when I fixed it, I, actually, made it infinitely worse. I got it even more wrong than I had in the first place.

Bugger it!

And the worst thing about it was that I could have just left it the way it was, it wouldn't have mattered.

But, now it matters, and I have to fix it.

Why didn't I just leave it alone?

Don't you hate it when you do that?

I know I do.

Stupid me!

Anyway, that's Monday, as we all know, and sometimes that's how Mondays go, damn them.

Sunday

Today, we're walking to Richmond to eat our favourite Vietnamese for lunch. (That is food and not an, actual, Vietnamese, you understand)

The sun is shining, it is a lovely day for a walk. The bulldogs sniffed absolutely everything on the way there, as they do.

This afternoon, we're heading over to friends to pick up some kind of computer hardware. Oh, I don't know? Sam did tell me, but I only half listened, clearly.

Sam looked at me with one of those looks, that may have said, you never listen, oh, I don't know if I am just making that up for dramatic effect now, however, we were picking up a Vision Pro goggle holder. I'm sure you were all holding your breath for that piece of information, hey?

Walk Into The City

We walked into the city and had haircuts. Sam is good with haircuts, he just knows when to go and get them. I'm terrible at it, I wait until I look in the mirror and think, my hair looks shit, then after another couple of weeks I go and get a haircut.

I've been getting my hair cut short the last few years, but I've decided to change it up a bit and keep it a bit longer on the top. My hair naturally goes into a bit of point in the middle, so with it being a bit longer it will point up even more easily. That is the theory anyway. And maybe that look is just a bit softer than a buzz-cut.

We had hot soup in Russell Street for lunch afterwards. Toms? Ron? John's? Davids, it's David's Soup Kitchen. I like the pea and ham base, is that it? I'm not even sure, but Sam knows and he gets me the right soup.

The bulldogs lay on the ground and chewed leaves. They even seemed to share them. They pass the leaves from one to the other, as if Brun says to Otto, hear, this is a good one, try this one. Of course, I think anything the two of them do is adorable, we know that.

What of the World

What do I think of the world, at the moment? Shrug? I don't know.

Are we drifting towards authoritarianism? The world as we know it? Or is that just a good line to sell news? I don't know?

I know, in America, they are taking much needed money from the poorest people and giving it to the richest people, who most likely don't need it, which is absolutely shameful. The country deserves to fail just for that reason. If you can't look after your citizens who need the most help, well, you are everything that is wrong with the world. Whoever is in power for that, doesn't deserve to be in power.

Let's hope we never do that here?

I think the purpose of govt is to provide those services and benefits that private enterprise won't provide to the people who need them. And to try and make the divide between the richest people in society and the poorest people in society as small as it can be made. If you are trying to do that, then we must be heading in the right direction. Surely.

I really can't understand gloves that don't want to do that. The goats that don't want to do that aren't governing, call it whatever you want, but it's not governing.

Conservative Wipeout

The conservative Liberal Party took the establishment of a nuclear power industry in Australia as its central plank policy to the election just held, in fact, it could be argued, that it was their only policy that they took to the last election.

What other policy did it have? Ceasing work from home and forcing workers back to the office, until polling told them that was a losing policy and they had to embarrassingly ditch that one halfway through the campaign. Sacking 40 thousand public servants, which apparently, the electorate did much like either. And I’m sure there was some muttering about there only being two sexes, which I think just made them look too much like the disaster that is America at the moment. Oh yes, and a temporary reduction in petrol excise. Oh, really, when the price of petrol goes up and down quicker than a whore’s undies anyway.

So, with the establishment of a nuclear industry as their central policy, the conservative Liberal Party got all but wiped out at the election we just had. They had their worst electoral loss in their history, I believe.

They team up with the (climate change denying) Country National Party conservatives who didn’t do badly in the just held election, because they have rusted on rural voters, I presume.

Anyway, cutting a long story of recriminations about the election wipe out, now the Country National Party group of conservatives want to keep the Nuclear Power policy as a part of the conservatives’ agenda.

A policy, the electorate was intelligent enough to know was simply a vehicle for delegitimatizing renewable energy in this country, while at the same time indirectly maintaining the use of fossil fuels.

That is, actually, how arrogant the conservatives are.

Anyway, their loss was so bad that it looks like they could well be in opposition for the next two election cycles, so that has to be good a good thing.

Australia has a ban on nuclear energy which would first have to be lifted before the conservatives could inflict nuclear power on Australia. So, could our current progressive government institute a permanent ban on nuclear power over the next 6 years? Could they? The Greens hold the balance of power in the senate so surely together they could do something?

Sharing The Sun

 

"Shove over."

Ah, Fuck, Winter

This morning, ah, it was fucking freeeeeeeeezing...

Winter is coming.

Day Dream

There was a car alarm going off in our street for hours, well, what seemed like hours.

It just never seemed to stop.

So, you know, in the end I had no choice.

So, I wrote out a note saying "Get Your Alarm Fixed." I tied that note to a brick. I then threw the brick at the windscreen of the car.

The brick cracked the windscreen and then rolled down onto the bonnet landing face up with the note in the middle of the bonnet.

It was very satisfying.

Alarms? No one gives a shit. They are a waste of money and usually just prove to be annoying to everyone around it. Unless, you have a monitored alarm, then, maybe they might do some good.

What A Klutz

Yesterday, we were taking the dogs for a walk in the afternoon heading to the supermarket, I decided to check how many fire lighters we had before we went, as it had got cold in the last few days and I wondered if we might need a fire soon.

First open fire of the year. Always exciting.

So, I picked up the box of fire lighters we had and checked. We had half a box.

We were heading out the door, and I was hurrying, somewhat, to go, so I bent down to put the box of firelighters back next to the fireplace, and I head-butted the very pointy corner of the wooden mantlepiece.

OMG! I reeled back grabbing my head. It really hurt. It really bled. And when I reach up and felt it with my fingers it felt like a huge hole in my head.

I freaked out momentarily, I will admit.

Suddenly, I had a handful of tissues covered in blood.

Fat Shaming?

I saw a sticker on a power pole that said fat people deserve unbiased, judgement free, healthcare. It made me laugh, not really sure why? That they had to produce a sticker specifically for that?

Is that saying that doctors and nurses are fat shaming people? Really?

If it's not the medical staff, who cares.

Sticks and stones...

Oh yeah, easy for me to say, I know. Fat people do get judged, and it shouldn't be like that.

I Don't Want To Work More Hours

I had to do some stats on employee leave, recently, and I saw that Boris has, again, applied for the middle of July to the beginning of September off as leave.

Seriously? Maybe, you should ask me first.

I don't really want to work full time and do your job for you so you can swan around Europe, again.

Who gets 2 months leave every year? (Or, however many months that is?)

Of course, I'll do it, because, um, I don't know why really? I'm that much of a team player? Oh, kill me for that statement. No, seriously, beat me to death. Otherwise, I will just continue to whinge.

The thing is, me not complying with the certain days in the office, certain days working from home, order has to come to ahead soon, surely. And, I'm not going back to the office as I just know that will make me unhappy, and I will probably resign, if they make me comply with this arbitary rule.

So, that might just throw a glitch in Boris' travel plans.

I do get a bonus every year for doing this work while she is away, I guess I should mention that.

Sympathy evaporating?

Good Thing I Am Perfect, Hey?

Sam has this habit of asking me to repeat what I have just said, often twice, especially if he is not close to me. (Because he doesn’t listen to me)

It drives me nuts by the time I have said it for the 3rd time. I know it sounds like a small thing. (I wish I had your problems) But, do you know how exhausting that is? 

Honey, blah, blah, blah. Huh? Go again. Huh? Go again.

Honey, blah, blah, blah. Huh? Go again. Huh? Go again.

Honey, blah, blah, blah. Huh? Go again. Huh? Go again.

Honey, blah, blah, blah. Huh? Go again. Huh? Go again.

As my fingers twitch. And possibly my eye too.

Early To Bed

I'm going to bed early, I'm fucked.

I pulled it all back on track today, after yesterday's annihilation, but I am done.

My bed is my favourite place in the world, anyway, so it's certainly no hardship, as they say.

Power down.

What A Shit Day!

Today was such a shit show, I couldn't help but think of Miss Preen in The Man Who Came To Dinner...

Nurse Preen: I am not only walking out on this case, Mr. Whiteside, I am leaving the nursing profession. I became a nurse because all my life, ever since I was a little girl, I was filled with the idea of serving a suffering humanity. After one month with you, Mr. Whiteside, I am going to work in a munitions factory. From now on, anything I can do to help exterminate the human race will fill me with the greatest of pleasure. If Florence Nightingale had ever nursed YOU,  Mr. Whiteside, she would have married Jack the Ripper instead of founding the Red Cross!

Ah, Fuck It!

I lay on the couch all day, yesterday. Nyr fuck it! Lazy, gets lazy. I was so comfortable all afternoon.

Yeah, yeah, I should have gone to the gym, Sure I should have. I haven't gone since my self-imposed, er, what should I call it, negative actions. Do you like that?

I did take the bulldogs for a walk.

I did get the plumber over to fix the malfunctioning toilet.

But from sometime around lunch time, I was on the couch wasting my life at the speed of light on junk YouTube posts.

And It's Labor For 3 Years

 

Happy Labor supporters on election night. Analysis has found that although Gen Z men are more conservative than Gen Z women, they are more progressive than older men.

It just doesn't make sense, how can the younger generation be more conservative when you have such examples of conservative leaders like Scott Morrison letting them down so badly on climate change.

It's Got Cold

It's hard to put jeans back on when you have been wearing shorts all summer. They just don't feel right.

You know, suddenly your legs are enclosed and they almost feel like they are suffocating, the fresh air has gone, and you feel oddly stiff.

They are screaming for at least the first few days.

“Don’t shut us away! Don’t shut us away! Don’t shut us away!”

It is like they have developed claustrophobia over the summer with all that air and easy living and they don’t want to give it up easily, nay can’t give it up easily. You know when you have tasted the green grass in the further paddock it isn’t easy to come back.

Three Long Days

I had a head ache and sore eyes and I felt nauseous for most of the day. A couple of times I made my way to the toilet because I thought I was going to throw up. Nyr!

The end of the day couldn't come quick enough.

Although, oddly, I doubled down and did a shit pile of work. I was busy all day, and somehow that was kind of distracting.

Feeling Poorly All Day

I would have gone to the gym, if I didn't feel so poorly all day. Every time I thought about going, I felt a shudder. This was the second week that I hadn't gone, and it is on my mind.

But, I did manage to go back over everything I'd done and picked up the plethora of mistakes I made. So, good for me.

Oh, Monday

Oh, he didn't feel good and the day was a struggle. It was all a whirl which felt very much like being in the eye of a shit show and that any minute it was all going to fall apart.

It was me.

Sam's Home

5.30am. Sam is home.

He caught the SkyBus to Southerncross Station, and a tram. I drove to pick him up at the tram stop.

"Did you have a good time?"

"I'm exhausted."

He fell straight to sleep on the couch.

He didn't even drink the coffee I made him, he dismissed it with a wave of his hand, "You have it."

"It's been destroyed by all that milk, I say.

I drink the coffee.

It's just started turning light outside, I notice, as I sip the sweet, milky coffee.

Sam gets up, walks around the coffee table like a zombie, picks up the coffee, mumbles something incomprehensible, as he looks down into it, something about me having drunk it already, puts the coffee back down on the coffee table, then staggers out of the room mumbling something about going to bed.

7am. Smoke some more. Oh, I might as well smoke it all now, now Mr No Fun Bags is home.

Its Sunday, we’ll be cleaning in a couple of hours. “Party over,” Sam will say.

Vote Legalise Cannabis

 

Vote in the Senate. You know, you never really know what to do with those pesky Senate votes. Well, here's your chance to stand up for your fellow Australian's, and send a message to Canberra.

It Sure Is Cold Outside

I need to hire a barista to keep the coffee coming.

Sure, I can barely breathe, but what the hell.

Touring Japan

This is a temple, according to Sam. It is clear that his heart isn't in it, the photos of his trip sent home, not really.

I was a little surprised when I got this?

That is what I am fighting against going back to on a daily basis.

Oh... it's an Apple shop, of course it is an Apple shop, stupid me. Face plant.