Working. Blergh. I went to Perth for the wedding of a dear school friend. Which led to me having another two days off work from being sick. Totally over taking cold tablets and endless nose blowing. I have been sick now (or not what I would consider well) since mid-june. Fucking hate Melbourne in winter. The trip to Perth would have been a nice break but the weather was bad there that weekend too and I picked up a cold from the friend I was staying with.
Hubby's sojourn in Canada has been extended until the beginning of Oct. We've never been apart for more than three weeks before and it's really starting to play on me. Google's obviously also picked up on the fact that we are continents apart and showing me FB ads for tracking apps I can install on his phone (!) and divorce lawyers. Fucking hell.
He's homesick and miserable and I'm just bored a lot of the time and unwilling to put in the effort to take care of myself properly. Only five weeks, only five weeks....
Hope you start feeling better soon Suze. Not sending you any hugs though, as I don't want to catch anything ;-)
I don't wanna seem like I'm reveling in your misfortune, but hearing about you & Melbs' poor health has made me feel really fortunate. Also feeling fortunate not to be living in Victoria anymore. I think the weather would kill me these days.
Don't know if I can suggest anything to deal with loneliness, as it's not really something I've ever had to deal with. I've always got things to do, and having other people around often feels like a hindrance. Take up a project, maybe? I dunno.
And I find the whole online tracking thing creepy and go to—what other people would consider—extreme measures to maintain my online privacy. (It's actually not that big a deal once everything's set up)
The weather is the reason I try to leave here for at least a few weeks in winter. If I can't get out of here in winter, I go absolutely spare. Even now with it warming up and feeling quite nice outside, I don't want to be here because the nights are still cold. Only a couple more months though and it will be awesome again. All the deciduous trees in our yard are in bud, that's always an exciting thing.
One of my neighbours has the most beautiful magnolia growing in her front yard. I absolutely love magnolias. I would plant one in mine, but I understand they only like sheltered positions and need lots of care and also grow really slowly. I also love love love Jacarandas, but they are such a messy tree. And they don't do so well here in Melbs, but with climate change, maybe now's the time to plant one...
I've actually had someone take over my computer remotely (some fucking usenet troll) because he had a beef with me. That was scary and I disconnected pretty darn fast, then took a bunch of precautions so he could never do that again. But there's no way to keep out a properly skilled and determined hacker, so I don't worry about it. Though I do worry about my parents online. No matter how many times I talk to them about the web sites they visit and not opening email attachments, every time I visit, I am forced to spend hours eradicating viruses off their machines. A conversation that always starts with "My laptop is misbehaving..." and ends with me pulling my hair out. Last time I visited it was literally arriving late afternoon, leaving first thing in the morning. I commented over coffee that at least I hadn't had time, so you couldn't make me fix your computers, and my husband piped up and said he already had! *headdesk*
I would never track my husband. If he's hiding things from me, it will out in the end anyway. Without me stalking him. I had a BF when I was younger who I was desperately in love with and it made me crazy not knowing where he was and what he was doing, it just fed my obsession. He spent a LOT of time with me and looking back I've no proof of anything and frankly wonder how he would have got the time to cheat, but I always thought he did. Thankfully after two years, he (did me a favour and) broke my heart and I swore after that I would never hold onto a relationship with such desperation again (once I regained my sanity).
The pains have subsided. I think it was all the porridge I ate. I mean they were two big bowls of porridge in a short space of time. I'm trying to decide whether to leave well enough alone or to test it be repeating the exercise. What I do know is I'm obviously not getting enough fibre, so will have to work on getting more fresh fruit and veg down my throat.
I don't know if my problem is lonliness per se, or just boredom. I'm working shift, so there's a lot of days off. And I have things to do, like gardening, but I do not want to do them, because it's not that much fun to do it alone. I watch a lot of TV which is fine, but sometimes when I add up how much, I'm appalled with my lack of endeavor to do anything else. Bleah. Whatever. When my husband gets home I'll be shamed into doing stuff. :P
You're right about jacarandas being messy. I hope you enjoy raking.
Parents are a bloody worry. I have set mine up so that they can only access certain websites from their computer (banking, share-trading, etc), and all other "internet stuff" is done on their tablets. The biggest worry is if someone gets the username & password for their webmail, because then they can reset the password for every other website.
For myself, I split my activities up into segregated virtual environments that can be trashed and replaced on a whim.
When I said I found tracking creepy, I was actually thinking about the way ad companies track your movements on the internet—but yes—tracking people (without their knowledge) via a phone app is as well. … Although, I can see how it'd be useful as a sort of safety thing that you could set up with a buddy.
Maybe you could take up writing or coding. They're things that you definitely don't want someone else around for.
Your comment about the webmail. Now I'm off to change my email passwords since I haven't done that for two years. No they are not the same as the ones I use for most other stuff. But seriously, if I had to make up a new password for every website I accessed I would need to have a paper list to keep them on.
hey we have started watching the circus which is commentary on us election... has been going for a while but we jsut started, so it begins before or during the primaries earlier this year. it's interesting... anyone else watching?
in other news i am busy with teaching and the business, 16 new schools this year. we are looking at moving house so going to inspections, hate hate hate it but excited for a change of scene. we've been here more than 7 years.
alan the cat is going well but he is very bitey and is terrible at the vets. anyone with particular cat experience with some tips? we have got advice from all quarters including internet, all contradictory. use a high voice, make squeals, use a low voice, say no in a low voice, push him off (yeah but what do you do when he's wrapped around your arm and hand and sinking the claws and fangs?) spray him with a water bottle, don't spray him with a water bottle, shake a tin with hard things inside to make a loud rattle, don't shake a tin with hard things inside to make a loud rattle
hahaha
i can't wait for december when i got into lockdown, i have to write like 70,000 words by April or maybe even march. but i hope to have news VERY SOON about novel # 2 - the one you read Alex. (But changed a lot, in a good way... all the bits you liked, there are more of them. got rid of the teen and adult bits, so it's all country, all child, very much kidworld v adultworld.)
I'm having trouble imagining how the story flows without the characters growing up, but am looking forward to seeing it. When it comes out, I might have to find and re-read the draft you sent me, just to compare.
Is The Circus an American TV show? Is it like a doco or a dramatised thing?
Good to hear that Alan is well, even though it sounds like he's giving you strife at the moment. Don't think I can give much advise on training a house cat. We had farm cats, whose job was to prowl around and catch vermin. Usually, when one of them was behaving badly, they got a boot up the arse, which sent them scurrying away for a while. But from memory, most of them were pretty well behaved most of the time.
I think a lot of intelligent animals, including cats and dogs (and humans), benefit from being around well behaved adults when they're young.
Hi Alex, I think Melba means the general circus surrounding it all, not a particular show. Though Planet America (ABC) is a bit too good, if you ask me. So good it's depressing. I honestly believe that if Trump wins, he'll start a nuclear war (starting with nuking Syria and god knows what else, just to end it). And while I respect and admire Hillary, I also think that she's much more of a military interventionist, something that Obama clearly is not, and she will also move onto the front foot in Syria/Middle East in general. I have found myself wishing we had a place to go that's away from civilisation, but where there's still magically running water and food, to wait it out.
About Alan Melba, just try all the things until you find something that works. I have resorted to smacking Barry on the bum a couple of memorable times! (never the head, you'll end up with a scared, scarred cat) When he's wrapped around a limb, there's not actually much you can do but pry him off. Though Barry responds very well to a loud NO! with a finger pointed in his face. He hates it (watch the pupils dilate while he considers attacking anyway), but usually backs down. Figure out what works and use it. We found a spray bottle useless as it was never to hand when he behaved badly, but then I found The Finger.
Is he unpleasant all of the time? If so, you might want to discuss antidepressants with the vet - yes, there is such a thing. There are also sprays such as Feliway which are supposed to help reduce extreme behaviour in cats, but I don't know if it works (you use it a bit like a facial hydration spray and spritz it in the air around the cat, I think).
The thing with the wrapping around your hand thing, is it when you've been patting him? Cats are funny beasts and can be demanding attention one minute and have had enough and become bitey and scratchy a moment later! The big trick is to read the body language indicating the change and STOP what you are doing, and back away slowly, if possible (assuming said cat is not on your lap). With Barry it's a small thing - he'll warn me by laying his lips on my hand, like a kiss almost, and sniff a bit, other times he'll flatten his ears back, or swish his tail violently, or just trying to move away from you.
The good news is that this behaviour has lessened as he's got older and realised we are caring for him, that his home and food are secure, and is not longer a teenager! (I assume that Alan is neutered?)
Hi Alex, I think Melba means the general circus surrounding it all, not a particular show.
I thought that too Suze, until she said this in another thread …
We are watching something called The Circus, a US doco that has followed the campaigns all year. It's so compelling. I love watching it as a narrative.
Funnily, I still think the chance of nuclear war is less with Trump; that he's more likely to let Assad and Putin deal with Syria. Hey, did you know that NATO has been amassing what looks like an invasion force along the border between Europe and Russia? Now, hopefully there aren't plans afoot to actually use it as such, but you have to think it's there as a deterrent for something. What're the chances, ya reckon, that Hillary's gonna wanna "sort things out" in Syria, or Ukraine, or both, early on in her first term?
Also, you know that what's going on in Syria is over gas pipelines, right?
The joys just keep on coming in November. Hubby's new position has turned him into an angry stress monster who I spend half my life trying to calm down - if he'd bloody get a diabetes checkup we might get to the bottom of half the problem, but he refuses, or claims he's too busy etc. I have had some...shocking...intestinal issues the last couple of weeks and heading off for a (joy of joys) colonoscopy tomorrow. Can't wait to take that cleansing drink! (NOT!!!!!) Was everyone aware that you can get one done within a week if you phone around, but if that's not convenient for whatever reason it's a month. And that's private. Public could be nine months, but I'm not enduring that long of worrying about it, and feeling shitty (pun intended). Of course if you actually want to SEE the gastroenterologist, you will wait six weeks, so I booked it ass-backwards just to get it out of the way. Best case scenario, haemorroids, worst is cancer and in between IBD, so fingers crossed for box No1!
And have you had any luck convincing your fella to get himself off to a doctor? You could always use the "What are you worried about; a diabetes test is nothing compared to a colonoscopy." argument.
Ugh, colonoscopies; something else we can all look forward to as we get older.
Two things: 1. I'm on Day 4 of the 5-day Mimicking Fasting Diet. It's fairly easy apart from numerous headaches. It's supposed to reboot your immune system and unregenerate you. I'm not sure if it's done that but I do feel better for it
2. Westworld the TV series - anyone seen it? I've just finished watching it. I think the start bit with the 3D printer etc is possibly the best intro I've ever seen to anything. I thought that the violence was a bit overdone just in terms of it being repetative and slightly boring
It's hard to believe that dieting for only five days a month could work out long term, and I don't much like the sound of those headaches. Keep us posted on how it goes.
In the years since I started losing weight, I've used trial and error to craft a diet that gives me maximum energy with minimum ups and downs. My day-to-day food pyramid now looks something like this:
Haven't seen Westworld but have heard many good things about. Will put it on the list.
A shame to hear the violence is over-the-top. I'm generally not a fan of gratuitous indulgence in sex/violence/gore/etc. Unless it's so over the top that it breaks through and becomes comedy.
You only need to do it several times a year (supposedly). It's not so much about weight loss but more about rebooting (I just felt meh and sluggish and inflamed - only way to describe it). I don't eat a lot anyway but the menu I followed was more like your pyramid above minus the meat
My normal pyramid would looks more like this. I'm not a grazer though and prefer to have two meals, brunch and dinner or lunch and dinner
45% starchy veg, pasta, bread 5% sweet things 18% cheese 7% eggs 7% fish 5% fruit 13% other vegies
I tend to get up early, eat a big breakfast (usually meat and veg), and then don't eat again until the evening (usually cheese, fruit, eggs, etc). I'd probably replace most of my beef intake with fish if fish was cheaper. Wouldn't wanna give up lamb though.
I know exactly what you mean about feeling sluggish & meh. I was getting to the stage where I would get up at 6AM, and by 9AM I wanted to go back to bed. It was one of the main reasons why I decided to get myself fit. Mind you, I was morbidly obese, so I'm sure that didn't help.
I find if I eat even a moderate amount of carbs now, I end up getting peaks and crashes, energy wise. I can't help but wonder if I didn't damage myself by getting that fat.
Also, this is a minor gripe, but it niggles me that my family was apparently fine with me being jumbo sized, but ever since I started getting fit, I've been dealing with regular accusations of anorexia and other eating disorders.
Sorry have been AWOL. You'll all understand why by the time I finish typing this. (I note that Melba is as well, I hope the writing is going okay)
The colonoscopy was nothing compared the fiery hell that is the pre-cleanse. And even that would have been mostly okay had I had a) more jelly and b) been more careful to blot rather than wipe my bum (so that the skin around my arsehole didn't abrade off and leave me wishing to be dead by halfway through the process). That said, I did feel a little old (I'm 46, so not really), alone and helpless before I went in, but the staff were lovely.
I was told on waking that I have Crohn's disease. So, not an easy let-off, but not cancer. I resisted the prescribed Prednisolone for two weeks, but since I caved and started taking it, the bleeding has stopped so I presume the ulcers in my gut (I was presented with some lovely photos) are healing.
I have been following a FODMAP diet since, it's awful, but I admit my gut does feel better, and since so many things have been taken from my diet I have lost a few kilos since then (always welcome, though during the first week I was seriously worried about maintaining caloric intake as rapid weight loss is not healthy). I am currently re-introducing foods on the forbidden list to see if they make me sick. So far, I think onion is okay. Since I already knew I had a problem with lactose and fructose, this isn't as much of a shock as it could have been, but the polyols and oligos have been hard to replace. And gluten. OMG I miss bread SO BAD. Gluten free bread is like eating a meat substitute. You know it's not that bad, but it's not very good either. And it's $8 for about 12 slices, which is insane. Also, my diet has always been mostly carbs, alcohol and chocolate, so I'm not enjoying the changes (the lack of abdominal pain is only a small consolation for the loss of most of my favourite things in life).
On the same day as my colonoscopy, just after hubby had got me home and thankfully after I had eaten, my mother phoned me in hysterics to tell me my sister had been found dead. Turns out to be natural causes (or at least that's the preliminary info from the coroner), but for quite a while we thought her cunt of a BF might have had something to do with it. I went up to Mum's to stay with her for a while, all the time trying to damp down Mum's hysteria at my recent diagnosis, taking her partner to hospital in the middle of the night with gastro (which I caught, adding to the fun), and saving her dog from tick paralysis.
I had annual leave already booked for most of this but eventually went back to work for a couple of days but now have been forced to take a whole week off with a lung infection. All the while, trying to organise a funeral (and I have to pay for that because no-one else has any money). I mean, FFS, how much is one person supposed to endure? All the while, trying to pretend I'm okay with it being Xmas and do all the things one is supposed to do like go to parties and have fun with loved ones.
All in all, though I'm looking forward to spending time with hubby and his family at Xmas, I can't wait for 2016 to be over.
Suze, very, very sorry to hear about your sister … and, well, everything else too. Jesus, they're not wrong when they say, "when it rains, it pours". About the only silver lining I can see out of all that is that you don't have bowel cancer.
I did a lot of research on Crohn's disease about a decade ago, when a relative was diagnosed with it, but I can barely remember any of the details; only that it can manifest as anything from mild inflammation to severe ulceration anywhere along the digestive tract (basically, anywhere between the mouth and the anus). I do remember there being something about a diet (although I think that went out the window within six months) and there was something about the danger of "pockets" forming in the bowel. That's all I can recall.
Regarding the Xmas parties and stuff; I'd say go to the ones you want to go to and skip the ones you don't. Decent people will understand, and you don't want to push things with your health.
Happy New Year everyone. Suze, I am so sorry to hear about the shit time you've had, especially with your sister. That would have been an awful shock, for you and your mum and the whole family. I hope you managed to see out the year last night in a little bit of (gluten-free) style to mark the end of a bad year. Sorry also about your diagnosis, am so glad not cancer but Crohn's is tough from what I know of it. All these things seem to come at once, and with your sister it will take a long time for things to settle I guess, such a big impact.
On bums: blotting and not wiping is so important I've learned. Last year was big for me and my bum - awful, awful time with a fissure. Slowly healed so now I am all about fibre, water, pooing position and walking. And if necessary laxatives, pessaries and these sachet things that draw water into the stool and soften. Can't remember what they are called, they are excellent and better than laxatives for long term if needed.
I am really feeling a lot of these health-management things are to do with menopause.
Maybe I'll do a quick post now on my blog - it's so neglected - rather than clutter up yours here Alex...
Sorry I've been AWOL. It was a REALLY busy teaching year (we doubled our invoices from 2014 and are growing well.) Also the whole year, it feels, was spent waiting for the next publishing contract, which wasn't a guaranteed thing. I'll talk about that in my post as well.
Anyway hope you all well and that people marked the end of 2016 in a happy and significant way for them.
I just went and wrote a lot on my blog and then lost it somehow and I can't bear to have to re-write just now. I was just going to say there is some good GF bread that we get, it's much better than it used to be and to me is as good as gluten-riddled bread. I'll do a small post on my blog and get back to menopause later. I suspect it's going to be a bit of a theme for 2017 for me, the management of it. Anyone else with menopause, or peri-menopause?
Argh menopause. Mine's only just started I think (I'm not sure), but I want my libido back.
And I am fed up with these periods that swing between normal (for me) one month and a massive haemorrhage the next. And all the while still worrying about maybe being pregnant and so on. Grrr.
Info on gluten free bread would be most welcome (currently I am eating GFprecinct, which is just okay). I'm supposed to eat a lowish fibre diet which actually is harder than you'd think.
Good to hear from you again Melba. Glad to hear the teaching gig is going gangbusters, even if it means I hardly get to chat with you any more. And don't worry about cluttering up this thread, that's what I made it for.
I dunno how far menopause is off for me. I seem to have a lot of what Suze has: no libido coupled with a raging internal drive to procreate. Weird; you'd think nature wouldn't throw those two things at you at the same time. Oh, also arse acne.
I'll be interested to hear about your experiences going forward. It'll give me something to look forward to.
Suze: Lichtenstein's do a good GF bread - there's a multigrain we like but costs shitload, like all of them. Noticed even the standard bread manufacturers are doing GF - all pricey as fuck but all taste like bread, to me anyway. I toast though. Don't have in sandwich so maybe that makes a difference. Also I like a crusty crunch.
Sorry to hear about the bottom acne Alex, I think you've mentioned it before. Oh well better there than face. I get the odd pimple and it was an utter travesty to be still getting pimples with grey hair, god...
I haven't had a libido for yonks, we talked about this. I just don't care for it to be honest, anymore. I haven't been clucky, was very definite I didn't want another child when Clokes and I got together (when I was 40) and he felt the same so that was at least something we gelled with. But if I hadn't had Princess I imagine my ovaries would be throwing out the eggs and doing everything possible to get me to conceive. Bodies are weird like that, so primal.
Last couple of weeks I've noticed I am so stiff achey and sore and with no reason. Apparently it's the reducing estrogen affecting joints. Feeling arthritic in fingers and feet, and knees. All of a sudden, but I stopped the herbs because of black cohosh. Might go back onto another type of herb without the BC. The aching legs - not nice - but they don't keep me awake. No alcohol is really helping with the sleeping, and regular walks too.
Gotta fly. Don't know if I've mentioned but we are moving - or looking for a house - and have started packing. Got to do more boxes. CIAO. I'll keep popping in over summer - not so busy.
PS Alex are you back home yet? I remember you were away for ages. Wish I knew what it was that kept you so far from home for so long. Mines?
Absence of libido works out in my favour, what with being single and all, y'know. Can't imagine it's much fun if you're living with someone who still has one though. Aches and pains and general stiffness I am NOT looking forward to.
You're packing your stuff before you've even found a place to buy? I admire your optimism.
And no, haven't been home for months. Should be any day now, though … provided no more juicy construction jobs pop up out here … and nobody stumbles across another cache of unexploded cluster-bombs.
Suze, so glad it's not bowel cancer (though very sorry, of course, about your sister)
I don't know if I'm going through pre-menopause (is there such a thing) but with the Mirena, I can't really tell. I've always had a ruddy complexion but feel more rubicund than usual. I definitely feel like I'm 102 although the mimicking-fasting thing has made me feel quite good. Wish I hadn't drunk so much on NYE as it really takes it toll and surely I'm old enough to know how stupid that is by now
Funeral over and done with. Let me tell you that I am disappointed with my sister's kids. Two of them didn't even go despite having six weeks to save the money for plane fare (and even offers of a loan of it from me). I paid for the whole thing, apart from about $850 I got from a GoFundMe page I put up. It's funny how people are all like: how tragic! Loved her! What can we do to help? And then when you give them an opportunity, there's crickets. But the kids! I don't get it. Their mother! And they are working... I had one tell me he couldn't conceive of when he could pay me back, so he refused. Argh. One incredible thing that did happen was one of my sister's friends had been helped a great deal by mother 30 years ago, including a loan/gift of $500 to help her set up a flat when she found herself homeless, pregnant and single (it went a lot further back then). That woman came and said it had been on her mind for 30 years and she paid her back! Anyway, it went well, my mother survived the journey and the funeral, and I got to see some friends I hadn't seen in some time after the funeral was all done and dusted.
Jesus Christ, that's rough, Suze. I know that most families aren't as close-knit as my mob, but I thought most folks considered going to a parent's funeral as pretty fundamental (y'know, unless you're estranged, or in gaol, or something).
At least now, that should be most of the pressing organisational stuff out of the way. I guess there's probably still the will / belongings to sort out, but there's probably not so much of a need to rush there.
You shoulda mentioned the GoFundMe sooner. I wouldn't have stayed out here this long if the pay wasn't decent, so I probably could've afforded to chip in a few quid.
Some odd fucking hot hard lump on my leg that my doctor doesn't understand.
Sent me to a dermatologist, who promptly lectured me about my circulation (and inevitably, my weight, which she wisely desisted from, I FUCKING HATE hearing that from doctors. I'm well aware I am fat, thankyou, when you are my weight and you've read all about the futility of trying to loose weight over and over again, a lecture isn't going to change anything) put me back on prednisolone and cut a big hole in my leg to send to pathology. So now my leg hurts more than the thing that sent me there.
I don't believe I've ever had a "hot" lump. sounds bad. Anyway, fingers crossed your tests come back okay.
As one of those super annoying formerly-fat people (seriously, we're worse than ex-smokers), I am distressed by your "futility of trying to loose weight" comment. Apologies if we've covered this already (my memory is turning to shit), but what's the story there? Is it to do with the medication you're on or something?
The story is that medically, once you reach a certain weight, while it's possible to lose weight, all the evidence that's piling up says that your body will spend the rest of its life fighting you in an effort to regain that lost weight, meaning that you will be able to eat less and less every time you lose weight if you hope to keep it off. I've already played that game once. Twice. I'm not a fan.
I like food. I like alcohol. I don't want to live like a puritan just to live an extra ten years (especially with the increasing likelihood that my end-of-life will be painful and I will not have the carefree retirement that I'd been promised when I was young). I've already had to make massive changes to my diet because of the Crohn's and it's even more challenging because it is the complete opposite of most of diet my husband is supposed to be following to prevent type2 diabetes.
And also, telling someone with a big hole in their leg to get exercise in the same breath as you've told them to elevate it at all times (especially when she has a job that involves a lot of standing) is infuriating too. I'm just angry about the whole thing, and need something to punch.
And I'm also angry because this whole thing is likely a result of that bike accident I had last year. If I hadn't been trying to get exercise then and be more active, I probably wouldn't be like this now. ie, even less active.
For me, it's not about length of life, it's about quality of life. Being fit (not necessarily thin) just feels so much better.
Also, I think most people who talk about women's fitness tend to put too much emphasis on cardio—running, cycling, aerobics, etc. Just try doing three lots of ten push-ups, interspersed with three lots of ten sit-ups. It should take less than ten minutes and you won't even have to leave your house.
Actually, some of the first posts I ever did on this blog were instructions for Melba on how to start doing push-ups and sit-ups.
I never did a post on squats, but they are also great because they work your legs and arse—which are giant muscles that burn a tonne of fat during recovery.
Yesterday arvo, we watched the clouds roll in from the west and knew the summer was over. I drank a bottle of bubbles in mourning. I am a little sensitive to the cold and my feet in particular today are feeling it even with ugg boots on. I will buy a new pair again soon as these ones are more than a little thin in places, which is why they are cold.
I'm trying to kick my addiction to sleeping tablets, which started when my sister died and really it's probably more psychological than anything, and to do with lack of time. When I don't take half a pill (which is nothing when you are my size BTW), I either lie awake a long time (if I'm sober) or I'll wake up in the middle of the night and then lie awake until almost dawn, when I will finally fall asleep again. I can't afford to not get a decent night's sleep and TBH, if my husband was less of a judgey mcjudgerson I would not even bother to try to quit.
I haven't been able to tolerate the cold since I lost weight. I don't think I'd survive moving back down to the south east. Seriously, I think it might kill me. That reminds me, did you once say you moved to Melbourne from WA? I imagine it's twice as bad if you're not a born native.
I've written before about my long-standing problems with falling asleep. For the last year or so, I've been watching "ASMR" videos before bed … and they've been working! My current favourites are …
… but there are literally hundreds of sheilas (and a couple of blokes) making these now. The chance of them working for you are probably slim, but when it comes to getting a good nights sleep, a slim chance is infinitely better than none.
Bubbles does equal champagne. Or in this case, Prosecco (Italian style, lower in alcohol, usually).
Those AMSR videos look a little hokey. I'll have to go back and re-read your comments about the science behind them. I had a quick look but hubby is in the room so the sound is off. The problem is not so much getting to sleep, but staying asleep, or getting back to sleep if I wake in the night (which is every night, I seem to have developed an unending need to wee).
Yesterday, hubby and I stripped the front deck and sanded it back in preparation for revarnishing, which is great, but we are both out of shape and let's just say that the old muscles have made their protests loud and clear. I took two Mersyndol last night to get some relief and will be doing the same tonight, which means no sleeping tablets are required. Though I think the groaning's going to continue for a couple of days longer. The Mersyndol's to try to knock the neck pain on its head before it gets entrenched - I would take nurophen but I'm not allowed to any more.
The deck thing has been interesting. Something that was advertised as being simple has been surprisingly painful and complex, but overcoming all the obstacles as a team has really helped Darren and I feel closer to each other.
Stuff like decking is simple if you've done it before and know what you're doing … otherwise, not so much. I know that soreness you're talking about. It tends to go away on about the fourth or fifth straight day of physical labour, but those first few days are never pleasant.
Also, there's no way ASMR videos will work with the sound off. You can probably get away with sound and no picture though. Maybe headphones?
By the way, there's no science behind ASMR, because—as far as I know—it's never been scientifically studied. For all I know it's entirely some sort of placebo thing … but—if all it takes is watching a video for me to send myself off to sleep, I'll take it. I don't see any reason why people shouldn't take advantage of the awesome power of placebo … so long as they're not being swindled out of their money, or letting their kids die from some treatable illness or something.
Don't reckon it'll help with the bladder problem though.
Anonymous posted that WWIII is imminent: http://www.news.com.au/technology/online/hacking/anonymous-warns-world-to-prepare-for-world-war-iii/news-story/85fcedd4537bdc5d30ce5fd5b6184c41
It's all a bit scary, the problem is Trump Trump Trump. No sane US president would have poked Kim's hornet's nest.
One thing though: the US has been rotating personnel in and out of Darwin and surrounds for over twenty years. I don't think it's as big a deal as they think it is.
Yeah but can't help but feel, given they probably know stuff (or do they? I don't know), a bit spooked. It seems like we all got over the possibility of nuclear war, like we feel it simply can't happen because it would clearly be so monumentally stupid. But that doesn't mean it won't happen
That's how we felt in the 80s about it though. M.A.D. So now I feel like my mother when she - not knowing really how it would actually work out - told me that she'd lived through it before in the 60s and nothing happened then, it was unlikely to happen now. And I remember my doubts and fears at the time.
And while I can't guarantee that nothing's going to happen, I'm not sure that even Trump is that stupid, and surely Kim has enough advisers to tell him that they will be crushed like a bug if they try anything against the US. China isn't stupid - they many have ambitions and billions of people, but they aren't in a position to start a full-scale war with the US either. So as long as nobody lets Trump push the button, I think we'll be okay.
Also, in case you forgot, Australia is a long way from anywhere (except Indonesia, and I still believe they are the biggest threat to our nation - hundreds of millions of them, a goodly number think we're all infidels and they don't have much space to live on.)
Hubby's father is coming to stay with us. For SEVEN weeks. That's going to be fun.
He's difficult. And silly, and hates being corrected when he does silly things. And I suspect has the early signs of a senile dementia, though lots of old people seem like that. I suggested that my husband go away with him just the two of them like they did last year (handy that was), and he said words to the effect of "I'll kill him if you don't come along". (I mean obviously there's no way he would kill him, but he can be so infuriating)
So if I come on here and vent, it'll likely be about him. The thought of having someone in the house for so long when we have only one sitting area is freaking me out. I like my quiet.
You're more than welcome to vent here Suze. My advice is to find some way to visualise the number of days passed and the number left to go. For some reason this helps me with unpleasant things if I know when they're going to end.
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Probably best to just have a text file on your computer or phone or whatever. That thing I did above will look better if you put it in a text editor with a monotype font. Also, you want to be able to see the whole 7 weeks at once. And avoiding awkward questions is a bonus.
Tassie was good. We had a good time. MONA was awesome, as was the steam train from Strahan. Jon wasn't that much trouble, he just did as we told him to for the most part and tagged along. Which was fine, if a bit passive. The funniest part was at MONA where they have a wall of c*nts, about 70 of them, I think. (called Cunts... and Other Conversations) Darren had done what Darren does at these kinds of things and run off to look at all the things at once, and I was standing at what is basically the start with Jon, wondering what to do, when he pointed at the vulvas and asked me "What are they Sue, fossils?" And I was so nonplussed by the question I just said "No Jon, they are vulvas". And he gave a kind of start then ran off down the hall with his eyes averted! OMG made me laugh to myself. For myself, I was more interested in looking at them and wondering which one most matched mine! (I don't know what other women do when looking at all that, but it did not make me uncomfortable, though a collegue of mine, when I was telling her, told me that the women she went with were mostly beyond retirement age and they found it confronting as well, which I also find surprising) We did a short walk at Cradle Mountain in the early morning. It was 4C and horizontal rain but actually that day I think we got the best of the weather at that time because after, when we were driving, it was awful. I was not enthusiastic about the walk, my feet hurt a LOT of the time in my normal life (I have collapsed arches and really bad corns), and and time on my feet more than 30mins or so makes one of my hips hurt a lot, but, as usual, once we were back in the car, I was glad I had done it. One thing though, I found out how good it is to have proper hiking boots for that sort of thing - never have before in my whole life, but we went and bought some fleece-line goretex jobbies and they were just great and for the next few days they were rarely off my feet, because of the cold (my feet are always cold as well, except when they are hot, haha).
Loved Hobart. Was once again forcefully reminded how nice it would be to live in a city with normal traffic, as opposed to the insanity we put up with here in Melbourne. More and more I dream of moving out of the city to somewhere I can breathe. But I need to live somewhere no colder than Melbourne. I wonder what the job opportunities in Launceston are?
I think I'd like to retire to the South coast of WA. Of course, since most of the immediate family are over here in the East, I'll probably end up braving the cyclones and settling somewhere on the Sunny Coast.
I dunno why anyone would be uncomfortable looking at a wall of cunts. … except homosexual men … maybe?
Am I correct in understanding that you went hiking in 4°C horizontal rain? That's keen. Good work on the boots, though. I am a big proponent of comfortable, sensible footwear. Speaking of which, about two days ago, I saw a forty-ish woman in a mini-skirt and knee-high leather boots—that had sneaker-like soles in them. "Wow", I thought, "Progress".
I have similar boots - they are doc martens, quite old now, below the knee with zipped sides and the most comfy soles ever. I also have these other boots which I've probably mentioned before that have a special key to release the ice grippers in the sole
South west coast of WA is my cup of tea, around Albany way
PS. I'm a bit late to watch this one but have been binge watching Girls. So funny but the episodes are kind of short (half hour). I'm up to Season 3 already
My next pair will likely be from here https://www.duckfeet.com.au/collections/womens/products/roskilde?variant=6811083396
I was *this close* to buying a pair of these when hubby talked me into the gore-tex ones. Which, don't get me wrong, I love, but they don't scream "I really live in this place" to me.
I don't understand the problem with the wall of cunts. I think it would be good for girls to see there's a great variety of shapes and size out there and you don't have to look like a porn star and have bits cut off your flaps for men (or women) to want to fuck you. (though there was one that was so shockingly hairy I would probably think twice about that if I was lesbian!)
I agree with Squib, Suze; while they do look pretty sweet, the price tag sours me a little bit. Especially considering that's $USD. Also, they don't have finger grips for pulling them on?
Squib, have you also got shoes with a knife blade in the toe?
I used to buy Blundstones, but I've noticed that since they moved their factory overseas (Thailand, I think), now their boots start falling apart after a couple of years.
A few of the people I've worked with swear by RedBacks, but they're not exactly stylish. I need something that can double as a dress boot and a work boot.
Melba put me onto "Girls" a few years ago. I think I watched the first 3 seasons (that's all there was then) and fucking hated it. A lot of the time with fiction, I latch on to antagonists, villains, and other unsavory or unlikeable characters, but I found the people in Girls absolutely intolerable. I cheered out loud when the boyfriend character got hit by that car, and then groaned miserably when I realised he wasn't dead.
Suze, I am appalled by the existence of cosmetic labiaplasty, and would probably be willing to embrace anything that stops women from wanting it. Although, the more I think about the phrase "wall of cunts", the more my mind wanders back to the front bench of the Abbott govt.
Yeah, I commented to the salesgirl about the lack of finger grips. I suspect though that once you'd worn them in, you'd also wear in some grab-points. The price is high, that's what stopped me from buying them on the spot. They are seriously shaped for my feet and felt great on (though I suspect the wearing in process would be a bit like wearing in DMs). The good thing is that they will resole them ad infinitum, which is a bugbear of mine - always my favourite shoes wear out before I tire of them. (I had a pair of Campers I loved SO MUCH, I actually wore right through the sole. And even then I kept wearing them until one day I wore them on a cold rainy day here in Melbourne and almost froze by the time I got home on the tram because of the water in my shoe. I still google eBay occasionally in the hopes of picking up a pair the same. I also regret having thrown them out without at least attempting to get them resoled.)
Apparently there's a new trend where you wear your outdoor gear as fashion. Or at least designers are suddenly making ridiculously expensive fashion that looks like outdoor gear (as if outdoor gear isn't expensive enough). But I wore my hiking boots while we were away to dinner, and I'm thinking I will do it more here (not to flash places though, I have *some* decorum) if I have to walk a distance to get there.
Alex, I think there is a place for labiaplasty, but not in young girls, and not in porn films. I have read of cases where things are so out of shape, from childbirth or just because (I have one of mine that's a little larger than the other because of an infected gland when I was in my early teens. I still don't know how that happened, but it was painful and left me a little altered, it's barely noticeable, but I can see how it could have been or got much worse), you know, so big and flappy that the poor woman is too embarrassed by it to even have sex and it's really obvious in bathers or shorts. When something is stunting your life like that, then I think it's okay to do something about it. If it's just because they *think* boys won't fuck them if they don't have tiny little petal lips, well I'm pretty sure if they showed their vulvas to a bunch of boys/blokes, they would not care a jot, if they thought they were going to get laid after looking. (as a colleague once said to me "an average looking naked lady in front of you beats the pants off the most beautiful woman in the world on paper". He's also the guy who said to me "any bloke who's put off sex by what furniture you have in your bedroom is looking at the wrong thing". He was pretty straightforward)
If it's true that outdoor gear is becoming fashionable, that's good news for me. I feel most comfortable in work gear; probably a side-effect of growing up in the country and working in labouring jobs.
Yes, the soles have been the failure point for most of my boots as well; they either split or detach. It wasn't so bad in the days when you could expect the better part of a decade out of a good pair of boots, but these days you're lucky to get two years. I've never considered getting them re-soled though. How much does it usually cost?
From personal experience, I tend to agree with your friend. If you're at the point where your pants are off, I can't imagine too many blokes backing out, regardless of how lopsided or flappy things are. I agree though, there's always going to be exceptions; like if there's pain or discomfort, or if things are so distended that they're hanging out when you go swimming. At that point though, I dunno if you can even call it "cosmetic" surgery.
I will see about adding search when I get some time to play around Squib. In the meantime, if you want to search a particular site with Google, you can type in:
site:urlOfSite search terms
(for example)
site:thisblogneedsabettertitle.blogspot.com girls
Here's the page where Melba and I discuss the show here, and here's the corresponding page from her blog.
So long as you don't call yourself Squib anywhere else, and you don't post any links linking this place to your real identity, I think you should be ~pretty~ right.
I'm even confident enough to use my real first name.
I am going to install a VPN for... an upcoming event which I don't my ISP tracking. I'm intending to use Easynews's VPN and software, but it seems a little black-box-y. (I haven't installed it yet, but have used Easynews for about 15 years for... similar things)
The problem I'm having is my Avast is having trouble scanning my entire laptop already and if I'm going to resume those activities (I took a little hiatus when the govt introduced forced record storage by ISPs last year because I knew I'd want a VPN if I was ever to resume), I want to be able to ensure my lappy is clean on a regular basis.
It's frustrating that there's this built-in obsolescence in that once you've had a machine a few years and installed a bunch of stuff on it, it slows down to the point where it's not usefully usable for all but simple emails and browsing. I know I could wipe the C drive and start afresh, but it's always such a palaver. In a lot of ways, it's easier to buy a new laptop.
Also, the weather this weekend is getting me down.
Oh shit, it's GoT season again already, isn't it? When's the premiere? I'll have to get a discussion page up when I get some time. And when does Orange Is The New Black come out?
Regarding VPNs: If you're overseas and you want to get stuff off iView or SBS or the like, you'll need to use a VPN server located in Australia; however, if you're in Australia and you want to hide your activity, you'll want to use a server located somewhere else.
$1.50/month seems awfully cheap. What do you get for that?
As for keeping your laptop clean; we're now at a point where people are releasing malware that actively seeks out anti-virus software and uses it to infect computers; effectively making commercial AV more trouble than it's worth. If you've got the time (and the horsepower) I recommend looking into virtualisation.
Also, while you can't stop your hardware from ageing, I find "slowdown" to be a feature most prominent in Microsoft products. With the amount of money they've made over the years, you'd think Windows would be the slickest system under the sun. Then again, you don't make that sort of money unless you give people a reason to keep buying upgrades.
Well interestingly AVAST found something in what was likely an old folder for Norton that came pre-installed on this PC. I f*ing HATE Norton. If there's anything that's going to grind your laptop to a halt, it's Norton (and Photoshop, but that's an even bigger gripe).
The slowdown you are talking about happens because we make myriad changes to a machine on a daily basis. The ones at work barely change because we are not allowed to install anything on them, ever. Or change anything for that matter.
And I don't think Apple is immune to it - my iPad is a slug because I was forced to update its OS a while back. I refuse to go beyond iOS 8 though, and that means there are now some apps that I can't install or update because they require 9 or 10, which is annoying. (I'm looking at YOU, Wimbledon app!)
Anyway, the VPN appears to be working fine for its purpose, I connected through Sweden, though that of course made things a little slow. That's okay, I barely use Easynews anymore anyway, so it taking a little longer is fine. The reason it's so cheap is because it's an add-on to the Usenet service I'm already paying $15/month for. There was a software install associated with it which seemed pretty dodgy (nothing was signed) but did not tweak my virus scanner. I have a tray icon now that I open and connect when I want to use it.
And: a white woman was shot by the cops in the US. Maybe now they'll look at the culture of the police over there and why these shootings keep happening.
It's a big deal here, because she was an Aussie, but unless she was wealthy & connected, I don't think it'll change much. People put so much emphasis on race & sex when it comes to people being given a raw deal; and while I'm not saying they're complete non-factors, I think in the modern era, class is usually a bigger factor.
I'll bet if you looked into it, you'd find that she's far from being the first white woman this has happened to.
The issue with the i(Phones/Macs/Books/Pads/Pods/etc) is that you're replacing the operating system that was designed for the device with an operating system that was designed for a much more powerful device and then retroactively shoe-horned to work on yours. Of course, if you don't keep your updates up-to-date, you end up with security issues and apps that won't work (as you said), so you're fucked either way.
I've mentioned before that I prefer to use Linux & BSD. Their open-source nature means that you can actually learn the system inside and out, which makes it much easier to maintain, and also to diagnose and fix problems when they arise. It's like being a mechanic in the old days, before they started shoving all this computerised crap into everything (I might live and breathe computers, but that doesn't mean I think they belong everywhere).
Also, if you're choosing between VPN servers in Europe, I hear Switzerland has the best privacy protection laws, although Sweden & Holland are also supposed to be pretty good.
It's a time thing. I've looked at Linux in the past, but TBH, I CBF learning a new OS and/or new software. I genuinely hate using Macs, so non-intuitive. Bitch an moan about Windows all you want, but from the minute I first installed Win95, I've had little trouble figuring out how to do the thing on a Windows machine. (though the less said about the new version of Office, the better. IT SUCKS)
I've only ever caught a virus once that I'm aware of that could not be cleaned and was cured by wiping my HDD. I did not lose anything because of the way it installed and I was able to create backups before I wiped it all.
No. I was considering adding it to the list, but by the sounds of things, I'd have to track down the original series, because I don't think I ever saw it. If I did, I don't remember it; which seems impossible, given the hype at the time. I think it might have aired at a point in time when I was living without TV reception.
I've also heard one person say, that if you want to get the most out of new Twin Peaks, you have to have seen David Lynch's entire body of work (apparently there's references to all of his films sprinkled through it).
In any case, I here it's quite abstract in places—which I don't mind, so long as it communicates the subject matter effectively and doesn't come of as wanky (I think Natural Born Killers is a good example of abstraction done right in film).
I watched it at high school. We discussed each episode in minute detail. I re-watched the old series recently with LittleSquib and now we're up to episode 11 of The Return. It's very trippy at times but never wanky. More a work of art. Definitely worth seeing but I think you have to watch the old Twin Peaks to enjoy the recent series. One of the old characters called Log Lady had to pre-record her scenes because she was dying when they started shooting The Return so every time she appears, it's a very sad
Did you watch the "Firewalk With Me" movie that ended the original series? What did you make of it? I hear fans are split on whether it's terrible or brilliant.
Also, what did LittleSquib make of the whole thing? I dunno if it's just my mob, but it seems like kids these days have trouble understanding metaphors. Lack of exposure, maybe?
I don't remember watching the movie. I didn't like Mulholland Drive - if that's any indication of Lynch's movies, I bet I would hate it
LS remembers which character is which and explains things for me. She also looks things up on her phone and provided a massive spoiler the other night. I haven't really been looking for metaphors - maybe that's why I'm like whaaaaat the hell is that all about
I checked out the parent advisory on imdb so knew to expect a graphic sex scene in ep 10, which I forwarded
I'll bet LS loves that—having mum fast forward through scenes in TV shows.
I'm trying to remember what I've heard about the movie. I think it's supposed to bookend the show, so a lot of it is flashbacks to stuff that happened prior to episode one. Also, I've heard it's full of graphic, violent, and rapey sex scenes … so might be worth avoiding, just on that.
Oh, here's a question: I know the show revolves around the murder of Laura Palmer, but is she actually a character in the show (like, presented through flashbacks or something)?
Yes, she's in the show. She's even in it 25 years later. I have never really seen a show where they've gathered so many of the original cast 25 years later - it's so bizarre watching people 25 years on
LS more than happy to forward the sex scenes. Who wants to watch an actor the age of your dad having sex, gross. Sex scenes are boring and stupid anyway
Even as a child I found sex scenes erotic and arousing.
It's only now as a middle aged woman I find them boring. The reasons why are probably myriad, but may be because there's so damn many of them nowadays. The only time I've been interested in watching one recently has been to see Kit Harrington's mighty fine arse.
Yes, sex looks and sounds absurd; but so does a lot of human behaviour, if you think about it too much.
However, I'm with Suze on appreciating sex scenes when I was younger. Of course, that was mainly in the '70s and '80s, when every other movie had at least one sex scene and they were all shot to look like softcore erotica.
Interestingly, sex scenes just about completely disappeared from feature films in the '90s, but seem to have re-emerged in American cable television shows.
I've actually seen a couple of docos on this subject. Quite interesting.
I just found Melba's email to me about her book, and thus that she has a blog reflecting her IRL identity.
*sigh* I miss her here (Blogger) though. And if her use of this space is anything like mine, she would not appreciate me dragging an association from here over to there. She could at least repost her blogs here. She mentions having listened to the S-Town podcast recently, which is something I was obsessed with when I heard it and would love to discuss!
I actually discussed this with Melba at the time. She was gonna set up her author's blog to promote her writing under her real name and maintain her Melba persona on Blogger for posting her real thoughts that she didn't want publishers and readers knowing about. I told her I'd stay away from her author's blog, to avoid cross-contamination and—well—frankly, because I don't really belong in a forum where people are trying to have serious discussions about literature.
The last couple of times I've heard from her, she's made references to spending too much time on Facebook and Twitter, so that's also probably a thing.
Oh my. Hard to explain. S-Town starts of as a sort of true crime thing and rapidly devolves into something else. My cousin - a criminal lawyer - has listened to it five times! (trying to glean info she missed the first time I expect) If you listen to podcasts I highly recommend it. I do occasionally (when one strikes my fancy) but I'm not obsessed. My husband is, he listens to heaps. I like audiobooks.
About Melba - she's using Blogger in the same way I am, I did post a comment on her blog which I'm hoping she might notice. I just thought since she'd written a blog she might as well repost the relevant parts of it here so we can discuss it too, but nvm.
Podcasts are my main form of news and entertainment these days, because I can listen to them while doing other things. Having said that, I'm a bit behind at the moment, because I've been writing a lot of code recently, and I need music for that. (Getting behind on news and current affairs too, I'm afraid)
So, is this S-Town thing fully factual, fully fictional, or a mixture of the two?
Also, what sort of podcasts are you into? I might be able to make recommendations if I come across something that's really good.
I don't want to describe it because it's such a fascinating surprise what it turns into, more of a compassionate character portrait of a man and the town and the people of that town. Don't google it for reviews or descriptions.
It's mostly true crime and mystery I've been listening to - like Serial, which was brilliant as well. Along the lines of the Netflix series Making a Murderer, where the listener tries to make up their mind whether a subject committed the crime they are accused of, or what really happened. I find it fascinating. Also I've enjoyed Here's the Thing. Conversations with Richard Fidler is worth checking out too.
Quick question for you. Remember that vlogger (I think she was Norwegian) who did little youtubes on various countries - can't find her. Did she have to shut shop?
She was Danish and her name was Victoria Flamel. You can find her English Youtube channel here; although, it hasn't been updated in about a year and a lot of her videos are gone.
I had a quick look around. It seems that about 2 years ago she had quite a substantial following; hundreds of thousands of viewers across three channels (English, Danish, Spanish), and even some dedicated fan forums. Then her output became sporadic, then it stopped, and then her old content started to disappear. No more videos, no more tweets, no more instagram, and nobody seems to know why.
I did notice that her Scandinavian videos are all gone. Dunno if that's relevant, but it might indicate she got a job somewhere that puts tight controls on social media activities. I've seen that happen before.
Anyway, Squib, how have you been? Why the sudden interest?
Why Finland? (also, thanks for giving me a neat idea for a post)
Hmmm, doesn't sound like the manuscript is going so well?
As for me, I have my ups and downs. Feeling pretty good at the moment though. Loving the fact that it's really warming up here. Currently sitting at my desk topless while sipping cold tea and writing simple easy little bash scripts (computer code). What more can you ask for?
I have news, Suze. I sent Melba a "Merry Christmas" email, and she responded. Sounds like she has had some catastrophic computer issues. Reckons she's completely locked out of her old Blogger blog - saw the comment you left there a while ago, but couldn't even post a response.
Also reckons she lost the address for this blog and my email address. Dunno if there was a hard-drive crash involved, she didn't go into details. Anyway, I guess that means we might be hearing from her again, soon … ish. Maybe. If we're lucky.
Well since moving makes me feel like puking I did go home from work today after everyone else arrived. Interestingly there's not a lot of blood, it's just PAIN. I am looking at trying to get the fucking thing cut out of me to end this nightmare.
I don't think it matters if it's period pain or any other sort of pain, if it's that bad, get yourself to a doctor.
I can think of a few people I know who started getting really severe period pain as they got older. I think all of them ended up having hysterectomies in the end.
Really? My doctor (and my husband for that matter) think what I'm asking is too drastic.
But I don't see why I should have to suffer like this for an unknown period of time until menopause. If they could definitively tell me that it will only be a couple of years, then okay. But they can't.
It's not one of those things where people talk about a 600% increase in risk, and then you find out it's the difference between 0.01 and 0.6, or something like that, is it?
I suppose I should know all this, but it's been quite a while since I've needed to use contraception.
The Mirena gets a lot of bad press but if it works, it really works - might be worth trying before you go down the drastic route of an operation, which also carries risks. My periods became so bad, I felt suicidal
Yeah my cousin is dead keen on hers. But I have an innate distrust in IUDs since my mum had such a bad experience with one when I was a child. I have a referral and will discuss all the options with the gynaecologist if she ever comes back from holidays. But there's another uterus related issue that's a little gross to mention in public which is the second reason I want the thing out. I have been convinced for the last (lots of) years that something is going wrong up there and the increasing pain is just making me even more convinced. Either way, a general anaesthetic is going to be required.
I think everyone knows someone who's got an IUD horror story. But I guess there'd have to be a lot of success stories out there too, just that people don't talk about them as much.
The idea of something being "too gross" to mention sounds a little bit concerning.
So much to catch up on but here is a list of my first thoughts:
1. Twin Peaks - The Return 2. GIRLS 3. I now have a list of passwords on both my computers 4. thanks Suze for not cross-contaminating my IRL to my Melba ID 5. nice to see you all again 6. I have missed you all 7. I have had a terrible (and wonderful) 2017 8. I'm hoping for a quieter less tricky 2018 9. Hapoy New Year to you all 10. I didn't need a password to comment here but for some reason my blog I can't get onto 11. I have become too addicted to facebook and twitter. This year I want to scale that back. It's mindless repetitive scrolling. Like I imagine gambling is. Stupid. 12. I can report my bottom is in excellent shape thanks to lots of water, Metamucil tabs, loads of salads and walking, my sinuses have still been bad but am on kefir, trying to breathe through my nose (parasympathetic nerve stuff) and did a bunch of probiotics, cut back on the alcohol and did a Dr Gundry Diet Evolution program. Lost a bunch of weight, controlled my relfux and digestive issues. Last year did some big walks and kept my hour-long walks up. Started tai chi. Then all of that kind of stopped in October when my daughter had an accident overseas and I had to go and help her. 13. Just got back from another trip - this time planned - overseas where I ate like a fucking oligarch in Russia so put weight back on, but am back on the Gundry program... read his book. The Gundry Diet Evolution or something like that. It's fascinating and almost every page I'm going 'ah!' it makes a lot of sense.
Great to hear from you again Melbs … you bloody tease! You can't just tell us you had a wonderful AND terrible 2017 and not go into any details. How is Princess!? You don't have to go into details on that one, but you have to at least tell us if she's all right or not!
How's work? How's writing? What were the countries like you went to (so much about Europe and the Middle East in the news, but nothing beats talking directly to the people)? Did you move house successfully? How are the rest of the family: parents, siblings, husband, step-kids, pets? It's been a year for Christ's sakes; dish up the goss!
Anyway, like so many shows, I have "The Handmaid's Tale" but haven't got around to watching it. My podcast player (old phone) tells me I currently have a 300hr backlog to get through (mostly thanks to Chrissy break & cricket season) so no S-Town either.
As far as passwords go, have you considered looking into using a password manager? They have their issues, but they're a lot safer than having your passwords sitting on your computer in a plain text file. Also, writing your passwords down on a piece of paper and carrying them in your purse/wallet isn't as risky as most people think (when was the last time you were mugged?). I'm sure I've written a post on this subject in the last couple of years.
I sent you a big long email with all the details but short answers:
Princess ok, more than. But she busted her ankle really badly in October Work is grouse but too busy Writing very good - new book in March Places we went were Russia - Moscow, St Pete and two towns on Golden Ring, Helsinki, Prague, Krakow. New Year's Even in St Pete was surreal - tv had Putin's address and we all had to be upstanding for the national anthem. it was very militaristic but I will say no one knows how to party like Russians. Also, Moscow has a high oligarch rating we felt. Moved house successfully - very successfully as I was in Perth when the physical move happened Everyone else good but our little cat Alan died in May - we were sooooo devo and I have never cried so much. Turned out the food we were feeding him wasn't good and about twenty other cats died in OZ, big facebook support group with about 300 people, and 100 distinct affected owners. Long story...
I'm sure you've mentioned password manager before. I think Princess has one/it.
GOOD TO BE BACK. (Read the email...) So the year has been a scrabble of keeping my mouth above the water line. And at times, just my nostrils!
Thanks for the email, Melbs. It pretty much covers everything. I'll have to sit down and compose a reply.
Two points:
1) Password manager is a type of software, so there are a few of them. LastPass was the one everyone raved about until about a year ago, when they were bought out. Don't hear so much about it anymore.
2) I'm not sure how to interpret "Moscow has a high oligarch rating". Do you mean that it's where a lot of oligarchs live, that there's a lot of oligarch money floating around there, that people are more favourable towards oligarchs than in the rest of the country, or something else entirely?
Welcome back Melba. I did see that P had had an accident - I trust she is all fixed up now? Awful about Alan. You aren't the only person I know who was affected by that, if you can believe it. Small world. Did you get another cat? Nothing better than a furry friend in your life, and it will help with the healing, I always believe. Also, there are so many cats needing homes, I always get sad when I see adoption sites.
2017 was terrible for a lot of us - a huge bunch of terrible things happened to almost everyone I know. One of the things I think is contributing to many people's belief that 2017 was bad is the ceaseless reporting of celebrity deaths and people seem to be taking them sooo personally. I mean, it was sad that Prince died (for instance), but I'm not going to shed a tear over it, even though I consider myself to be a fan (that will not change). Same for Bowie - the amount of self-flagellation over Bowie was completely over the top. You be sad for a day or so, sure, but don't spend six months actively mourning like he was your best friend, or your brother (yes I have seen this online). People need to keep it in perspective - he was brilliant, it's sad and it was a shock because he kept his illness secret.
I dunno, perhaps because I was mourning someone who was real and really in my life, the rest seemed superfluous and needlessly hysterical (especially the endless tributes), and I'm being unfair to people who were seriously affected. I have cried a bit over the years about Freddie Mercury, but his illness was so unfair - and he was almost at his peak when he got sick, he was still so young, and worst of all, had he got sick even 5 years after he did, he'd possibly still be alive now.
Anyway, Alex you need to listen to S-Town. Though I think I'd have to re-listen to have a serious discussion over it. Forget the other 294 hours or whatever, go straight to Shit-Town.
Hubby and I have done a Twin Peaks rewatch in anticpation of the new series, but as when it aired initially, I got shat with it halfway through S2 and stopped watching. It just got waaay too weird. Perhaps I have no faith in Lynch, but given the way S1 ended I didn't have high hopes of S2 making any more sense at the end and it was just ANNOYING me with its OTT impossible-to-follow-ness.
Yeah, diet books (I googled). I'm sure I could write one that makes people go "ah!" as well, having been on my own thing this year (still fat, but I think that's alcohol and sugar at fault. Oh well). I do not believe in the need to eat neandethals or paleolithics or whatever, except in respect that modern varieties of wheat are not healthy because they have been engineered to have a much higher gluten content to make them industrial baking friendly (and you can fix that by eating sourdough). But I do agree with the diet the man is spruiking (for the most part). So what he has done is write a really long explanation of diet things I agree with, using explanations I do not agree with, so I've just realised how clever he is and good for you that it has worked for you and good for him for making money off it. And I don't mean any of that to sound patronising - though I could see how you could take it that way - I'm actually head-slapping wishing I could do the same thing!
I did read an article (well possibly just the headline) recently that claimed that cheese is as addictive as.. I can't remember what they compared it to, but if you guys have tried that delicious gooey Fromager D'Affinois that's available at Coles/Woolies, you'd believe it.
I wonder what went wrong with LastPass. Maybe they were bought out by a group that people don't trust to keep their data safe? I had considered creating a Dropbox file with my passwords but I'm not sure Dropbox is unhackable anyway. :P
I gave up Twitter because it was too time-consuming, and also really hard to follow now that it's no longer linear. And try to keep Facebook under a couple of hours a day. Which I know sounds like a lot but I'm usually looking at TV as well and it's cut down from a LOT more. I can waste whole days online. Just like I am writing this post. So now I'm going to end. x
Thanks Suze. Sorry to hear about all your hard stuff subsequent to losing your sister. A very tough time for you, and with the health stuff too. Argh. I've heard that cheese is rated as addictive as heroin. Maybe a joke, maybe not. I don't know Fromager D'Affinois. I will check it out! MMMMMM. Guru Gundry doesn't mind a bit of cheese.
Dropbox I am wary of. And I don't use the cloud. I try to split my stuff around the place but am probably terribly protected. Clokes got cross at me (as much as he is able) when I sent my credit card details via email to a Russian restaurant to make a booking. But I split the emails and didn't give the actual CSV or whatever that three-digit number is.
About Twin Peaks - do you mean s2 is the recent one? I stopped almost half way through as well. Lynch's women. I cannot abide. He hasn't moved with the times and it is so sexist and reductive. They are sexy, or being beaten (or both) or shrill harpies, to wit Naomi watts's character. I couldn't stand it. And everyone going 'oh he is genius wow wow'. no. He might have been but it's all wearing thin and it was just so stupid. That is my review of that. There was NO HEART (it was all smart, or 'smart') and the first season had heart. I liked Mulholland Drive. I couldn't stand/understand the other one, the weirder one. IN retrospect I think Blue Velvet says it all. That female character? She is so abused and exploited... and the male characters. I think Lynch is a fucked up creep and I think his films are just his sandbox. As I'm realising is the case for so many male film directors, and other men in the public eye. Woody Allen. Louis CK. I don't know his work but apparently his 'characters' would go on about masturbating in front of women - when he was doing that in real life. So hiding in plain view. Now there is Aziz Ansari, whose character in Master of None stands up for women against a creepy workplace harasser yet has a questionable 'is this consensual? is this someone seeking enthusiastic consent from the other person, is this someone who is maybe getting off by pushing the boundaries and pushing ahead with sexual behaviour even though the other person is probably showing they really aren't into it' sexual end to a date.
This is partly why I haven't been here. It's just an outlet to offload but then I get caught up.
What good TV have people been watching? We are rewatching How I Met Your Mother - parts of it are just sexist cringe, other parts are SO FUNNY - because we just need something light and funny. WE saw Crown Season 2. Anyone else? Anyone excited for Harry's wedding. I AM!!
Good to see you, Melbs. Yes, Twin Peaks The Return was sexist - especially the agent woman who had a weird walk, which was supposed to be sexy but actually looked incredibly silly - but I was so interested in the aging process, seeing everyone 20 years later and the Log Lady etc Also, pretty much all the characters, incl. the men, are stupid or flawed in one way or another. The three women who traipse around in pink dresses were a complete send-up - at least I thought so and even found them funny because so absurd
The last season of Girls was slightly disappointing, made even more so by the whole Lena defending her accused of rape mate thing. Sigh
Yes, Facebook - endless scrolling. Also, sometimes the unfriending takes its toll because even though I'm not supposed to give a shit when someone unfriends me, I still do and it really doesn't matter how minor a character that person is in my life story. People who would otherwise, if you'd not been friends on FB, still be your friends - in whatever distant sense - because you don't delete people that way in real life. Anyway, I think it sucks
I've watched all the TV. I've run out. McMafia (BBC) is good - you'd like that one
Food - really enjoying a recipe book called 15 Minute Vegan by Beskow. Obviously I throw a bit of cheese in some of the dishes but honestly, the meals are delish without. And so nice and simple. I have a nice big stainless steel wok which I whip up some pad thai jay in - fabbo
Other big thing - since reading Kate Grenville's anti-fragrance book, I've defragranced nearly everything. I was never one for air fresheners and crap anyway but since doing that, I feel a lot better. Also, I ditched the aluminium deodorant for Moo Goo which you can actually buy here and which actually works woo hoo
The first time I noticed the over-the-top hysterics around celebrity deaths was when Steve Jobs died. People were having candle-light vigils, and throwing themselves on the ground screaming like kids having a bloody tantrum, and the amount of technical stuff that he was given credit for that was actually done by other people, was fuckin' insulting.
I think not being on social media means I avoid the worst of it, but I copped a gob full of Jobs because it was all over the tech press as well. Bloody sickening.
I don't know about cheese being all that addictive. I eat a lot of cheese, because it's the one thing in my diet that's both filling and doesn't require preparation. Some days I feel like I could live the rest of my life without ever eating cheese again.
I believe LastPass was bought by LogMeIn, and you're right, they don't have the same squeaky clean reputation that LastPass had as an independent entity. Also, DropBox is completely insecure. If you're going to use it, at least encrypt your passwords before syncing them.
Melba:
Feel free to unload as much as you like.
As for TV, the only things I've seen are Game of Thrones, which can't end soon enough as far as I'm concerned; and Stranger Things, which I thought had an absolutely terrible second season. I still haven't gotten around to watching last year's Orange Is The New Black.
Who is Harry? Is he a character from Crown?
Squib:
What is Moo Goo. I also tend to avoid fragrances. Don't really care for them all that much. Would probably stop using deodorant altogether if I never had to work around other people. Gave up shampoo and conditioner years ago. Just use regular soap now.
GENERAL:
I haven't seen the old Twin Peaks or the new, so does anyone feel like having a go at explaining to me why it's sexist? Is it just that the characters are broken and fucked up? Is it just the women, or the men as well? Am I the only person who likes stories with characters who are broken and fucked up?
I have no problem with calling Woody Allen a creep, but that's got everything to do with his private life and nothing to do with his movies.
I don't know anything about Aziz Ansari or Louis CK.
The real answer is: Prince Harry, marrying the black actress Meghan Markel, which is creating an uproar because *gasp* an inter-racial marriage! Nobody ever talks about all the cousin marrying that went on for hundreds of years and only stopped in the 19th century (and even then there's so much inbreeding in the aristocracy that they were all second cousins anyway, which ironically, genetically is worse than marrying a 1st cousin, but I can't remember the explanation for that, just something I learnt in Molecular Biology at Uni). I think it's a good match, though I don't know if she's actually a nice person, but a friend of a friend of a (British) friend insists that Harry is the nicer Prince and with their charity work, they might do some good in the world. Actually I've thought Harry was the nicer prince when he was lip-read as saying to William as Kate arrived "OMG she looks so beautiful!" without a hint of malice or envy on his face, but anyway...
I thought the way Louis CK handled the thing was completely appropriate - he acknowledged, accepted and apologised. Compared to Kevin Spacey "I'm gay, that's my excuse!" as if the whole world didn't know that, and that's not an excuse for jumping anyone, male or female. And since the whole Craig McLoughlin thing, I've been thinking, no wondering about just how bad does a man's behaviour have to be before it's allowed to ruin his career without proof or a trial or anything. Because I've been kissed by men I didn't want to be kissed by, and I wouldn't have thought it was something to ruin their career over. Rather, I should have kicked them in the shins for it instead. Or the nuts. Of course, I admit my view of this is a little skewed because we have tickets to the RHS that he was supposed to be in, and I'm upset about him being replaced.
I've ignored Aziz Ansari because I got sick of reading about it all.
Moo Goo is an Australian brand of skincare stuff cleverly packaged in gimmicky milk cartons - anyway they have a deodorant that uses milk of magnesium. You still sweat but you don't smell but you have to give your armpits a generous rolling (not like Mitchum which you can brush on and it last for 10 days cos it's so packed with aluminium)
I can't stand all these royal TV shows that have popped up everywhere - especially 'Victoria' because whose stupid idea was it to cast the Doctor Who assistant as Queen Vic? When I was a kid, I was really interested in the Tudors and in particular the nine day queen, Lady Jane, and I would order Tudor books from other libraries. Which is slightly weird, now that I think about it. Anyway, that's olds and it's all been done before so maybe that's why I can't be bothered with the all the royal telly shows
I think Woody's movies are way sexist. The men are always really old and/or ugly and the women are always stunning and WAY WAY younger than their love interests. Plus his films aren't even that great so I don't get why he's so beloved
Regarding Twin Peaks, a lot of the female characters are very 'stereotypical' to the point of being a bit absurd but the male characters aren't exactly clever or better than the women either
Craig's actions sound really juvenile and not like someone who was nearly 50 (?) at the time
Where do you get this Moo Goo from? Also, I've heard people talk about aluminium in deodorant for a while now. Are there actually health risks associated with it?
Cheers for the Twin Peaks explanation. Do you reckon it's definitely sexism then, or just general incompetence?
As for the characters in Woody's flicks, I guess he makes what he knows (*boom*tish*). But, to be clear, I'm not a huge fan of his work either. My point was that I think he's a creep because of the stuff he's done in his personal life, and not because of anything he puts in his fictional works. I ~generally~ try to separate the two as much as I can. I also try not to judge people too harshly on the fiction they consume. … *ahem* … I may have been known to read some really dark fantasy/horror with more than a hint of sexual violence … um … in the past … couple of hours.
Also, what's the story of Lady Jane? I know bugger all about that stuff.
Suze:
Oh right, that Harry. Is his missus black, is she? I haven't kept up with it. I do remember something about her name being spelt normally but having a funny pronunciation. Like Collin "Colon" Powell.
I dunno about him being the nicer prince, but he does get more respect from my Dad and his army mates that the other royals do. "The word" is that, like his uncle, he actually saw live combat, unlike his father and brother, who were sheltered from anything dangerous.
As far as the unwanted kissing goes, (I think we talked about this before) for me, there's two sort-of-separate issues here. When it's just two people at the pub or a party or something, trying to negotiate non-verbal signals of attraction over drinks, I'm willing to accept that mistakes are going to happen. But the golden rule is "no means no".
On the other hand, when it's your employer or somebody like that putting the hard word on you, and you're not sure if your job is at stake if you say or do the wrong thing, that's getting into different territory.
You get it from moogoo dot com dot au RE: whether aluminium deodorants increase cancer, as usual, no one agrees - some studies say no, some yes, some maybe
Twin Peaks probably is plain old sexism but given that 99 TV shows out of 100 are sexist...
Technically speaking, Lady Jane wasn't a queen. After little Prince Edward died, she was next in line so while she was waiting for the coronation, the top knobs (Privy Council) decided they wanted a Catholic so they tried to replace Jane with Bloody Mary. They threw young Jane in the Tower and eventually cut off her head
I have really enjoyed this year's winter olympics. I LOVE snowboard cross and slopestyle. It interests me that there are a bunch of new sports in the last two winter olympics. It seems that the winter sports are moving with the times faster than the summer sports.
Sorry for my absence. Should have a bit more time to spend around here now. Should.
I have also enjoyed the winter olympics, even though I don't understand the rules of some of the events (especially in the speed skating). Like you, I have found slopestyle and snowboard cross really fun to watch. I heard one commentator talking about how the X-Games have become a major force in world sports, and a lot of the athletes competing in the newer events have come up through that system rather than through traditional sporting organisations. I suppose it makes sense for the olympics to embrace anything that's popular/profitable. They are a business, after all. Having said that, I've heard rumours that they may be considering branching out into e-sports (video-games) as well. I think that might be a bridge too far for me. Nieces and nephews would probably love it though.
As always, my favourite sport has been the doubles figure skating (singles is crap). They might wanna start thinking about dress requirements for the women though. I heard that yet ANOTHER boob popped out, and I saw one woman get a massive front-and-back wedgie during a lift-and-toss move which she couldn't pick out until after the routine had ended. Then again, maybe this sort of quasi-risque "scandal" is all part of the appeal of the sport. There seemed to be a lot of people going off about how how the Canucks were pushing the limits of acceptability, even though I couldn't really see why.
The family and I caught some of the AFLX last weekend, too, and opinions were split. All of the youngsters seemed to like it, while everyone over the age of twenty found it fuckin' boring. There was much debate over the decision to play in Sydney, where they must have known there'd be an empty stadium, but none of us could come up with an explanation.
And speaking of poor decisions, I hope whichever Optus employee was behind the Cuba Gooding Jr ads got sacked. Jr might be a highly charismatic sort of bloke, but I can't imagine he came cheap, and those ads are the most annoying fuckin' things I've seen in ages.
Also, what's with the American ads that seem to be creeping onto our televisions? By which, I mean ads full of Yank actors that were clearly made for the Yank market. The current Microsoft ads come immediately to mind.
I can't complain about every ad that's on though. I've been absolutely suckered in by this Australian Spartan thing, and if I remember, will be tuning in to ch7 at 7 tonight.
I have missed the gala. I hope they replay it sometime because I can't watch it on-demand because of 7s stupid apps needing iOS X, which I am NOT installing.
I prefer the solo stuff myself, and have always though ice dancing a bit naff, compared to actually figure skating. HOWEVER, this year's have been fun to watch so I'm re-evaulating. At least I don't need to be an expert in spotting a triple flip from a double lutz (WTAF?) to enjoy ice dancing.
That gay American dude us awesome, and he's solo, BTW, so it's worth checking out.
Sorry but OLYMPICS is about ATHLETES. Video gamers are almost never ATHLETES. No aerobic capacity required. I can't accept that as a valid olympic sport. Though I do agree that the addition of X-games things to the Winter Olympics has really spiced it up (still not very excited about the snowboard half-pipe and don't get me started on how stupid the skiers look doing that one!). So I can see a place for parkour and skateboarding at the Summer games. Parkour in particular requires extreme athleticism and daring. I can't think of anything else off the top of my head (rock climbing?), but my cousin loves Ultimate Frisbee (who knew ANYONE still even had a frisbee??!).
I think they've already got BMX in the summer olympics. I anticipate seeing a bunch of rollerblading/skateboarding events next time. And yes, the half-pipe stuff was rubbish. Did you see the Yank who competed for Hungary, and didn't do a single trick?
And as much as I don't want to see video-games at the olympics, I concede that it's hard to make the athleticism argument when you've already got events like lawn-bowls and curling.
As with gymnastics, I am frustrated by the fact that the olympics excludes the more exciting elements of doubles figure skating (eg: adagio and acrobatics), as well as the teams events.
Also, I'm not a fan of ice-hockey, but this Canadian commentary is excellent. And I have to admit that I'm a little bit happy to see the Ruskies win. Oh sorry, I mean the OARs.
I wonder if they're gonna put an unedited version up on their website. I feel cheated that they stopped playing whole runs, and just went to highlights instead. Piss weak, 7.
Also, considering how much they were talking up the need for teamwork, it's a bit crap that most of the obstacles could actually be overcome by somebody working on their own. A bit more thought could have gone into the course, I reckon.
But aside from those gripes, and the fuckin' commentary, I quite liked it.
Look at the peptide scandal in the NRL, and the doping scandal in cycling, and the match-fixing scandal in cricket, and the general corruption scandal in soccer. My theory is that doping and corruption are absolutely rife in professional sports and most higher-ups at the various governing and regulatory bodies are either benefiting from it directly or doing their best to look the other way.
In fact, if I remember my history correctly, what kicked things off with the Russians, was a leak from a WADA whistle-blower who claimed both WADA and the Olympics were sitting on their hands and doing the minimum amount possible to investigate allegations. I also believe that Russia was only one of a number of countries caught up in the scandal. HOWEVER, at the time, Russia was very much in the international dog-house, over goings on in Ukraine (especially in regards to Crimea, and that plane that came down), so most of the reporting centred on their involvement.
Something had to be seen to be done!
But then again, Russia is a big country with a large population and a fair amount of wealth. And Ice-hockey is the #1 sport at the winter Olympics. So, you don't want all those mad Russian sports-fans staying at home with their rubles in their wallets and their tellies tuned into "Celebrity Oligarch Weight-loss Challenge" or whatever.
Not only that, Russia is part of the ever shrinking pool of countries that are still willing to host the games. Most populations no longer buy the horse-shit about making their money back through tourism, and aren't willing to see their tax dollars pissed away trying to impress the rest of the world.
How do you show the world that you're coming down hard on the villain of the hour without hurting your own interests too much? Well, you know the rest.
I was watching the news tonight, and in one of the items, the reporter described a swimmer as being in omnious form. I dunno the spelling, but it was pronounced:
OM-NEE-US
Has anyone ever heard of this word?
Also watched the second episode of Spartan with the family (so the volume was on). Commentary was much better this time around. I'm really enjoying this show.
Your theory about the Olympic comittees ignoring doping and the like has merit - but what is the solution? Open slather to take whatever drug you want to enhance performance and bugger the consequences? (like women growing a penis, men losing their balls and cancerous livers and god only knows what else...the biggest problem most people have with the Essendon FC supplements scandal was that they were essentially experimenting on the players with no real idea of the long-term consequences of the things they were giving them in the pursuit of fleeting success)
Omneeus, noods, aks, aloominum - there's a bunch of mispronunciations that shit me to tears in the media.
Have been watching UnREAL on Stan. First season was excellent, second was a trainwreck and I'm hoping they turn it around for the third. Apart from the appalling look into the world of reality TV (and considering it was developed by a producer from the US Bachelorette stable, I have to guess that at least some of it is true), the main characters have very quickly become very unlikable and like Sons of Anarchy, I'm only still watching in the hopes everyone who's awful gets their comeuppance.
Also got my latest car insurance quote. Why's it so fucking expensive to insure a car? Though this year I am not paying the inertia penalty - I am switching insurers. I have had quotes of $1700, $1100, $1200 and (I am not kidding) $3800. Also interesting, most want to know how many crashes you've had in the last 5 years, one the last 3. All of them seem to think that a 50-50 fault claim makes you "at fault", and there's nowhere to put in the info that the only reason I had one of the accidents is because the other party ran out against a red light.
Cars are a money pit. Don't get me started on rego. Sometimes I think I would be better off going back to just having a motorbike. Unfortunately, there's always going to be times when you need to cart around kids and old people.
Also, it's not just car insurance that's through the roof. I dropped my contents insurance years ago, in favour of starting my own personal insurance fund (basically, a separate bank account). This year, I upped my payments and dropped the auxiliaries from my health insurance as well (still got hospital though).
I've never seen UnREAL, but one of the podcasters I listen to used to work in the American television industry, and reckons it's a fantastic.
I don't normally get as wound up about pronunciation as I do about word selection. After all, I say nood and aloominium too. But aks is different. It's just so very VERY American. And speaking of Americanisms, why is everybody saying "candy" now. It's like the word "lolly" just fuckin' stopped existing at the end of last year. What the fuck happened!? Also, MEDAL is not a fuckin' VERB! And stop saying "literally" when you mean the exact fuckin' OPPOSITE of literally! ... Ahem. But getting back to omneeus, my issue there is, I genuinely have no fuckin' idea what the fuck it's a mispronunciation of. Ominous? The swimmer was in ominous form? That still sounds kinda weird.
As for doping in sport, I don't think there is a solution. You're not going to get rid of it, and I think there's probably less harm in pretending it's not as wide-spread and widely-accepted as it probably is. If nothing else, it stops it from being cool in the eyes of kids. I've said this before, but I never really cared that much about professional sports until I had young people in my life, but the youngsters in my family are absolutely sporting mad. I can't remember the last time I heard any of them talk about an actor or a musician. It's all cricketers, footballers, netballers, swimmers, runners, cyclists, skaters, surfers ... and Youtubers.
So what do you think about this nerve gas thing? The Russians seem like they don't give a shit and they seem to be dropping hints that it wasn't them. Mind you, they also said they didn't down that Boeing over Ukraine, when they obviously did
May ooks ridiculous, giving them a deadline when Britain is becoming more powerless by the hour over Brexit. Like Putin must be so scared. Not
The plane that was shot down, I don't put as much blame on the Russian/East-Ukrainian forces as I do the airline. They knew there were military planes dropping bombs in the area, and they knew there were ground troops shooting up at those planes. I know it's common practice to fly over war zones, but that still doesn't make it a good idea.
As for the ex-spy who was poisoned; while I think Russia, China, and North Korea are often used as convenient diversions, I don't think this is one of those times. I'd say that it's pretty bloody likely he was killed by the FSB, probably with Putin's say-so. Just like the last poor bugger. And the fact that they seem to have gone after his whole family, suggests that they wanted to get the message across loud and clear. Having said that, it's not like the Ruskies run around killing the families of everybody who's ever spied against them, so I don't know what made this bloke worthy of such attention. Must have been something though.
And as for what the Poms can do about it, probably not a great deal. The EU's already tried to put the screws on over Ukraine & Syria, and I don't see that it's had that much of an impact.
I don't know why they did it now, but I doubt it was to boost opinion.
This is nothing but a wild guess, but maybe they'd gotten word that the former spy was going to go public with some big revelation. It would've had to be massive though, to put any sort of significant dent in Putin's lead. And this is an even wilder guess, but maybe they'd been slipped some dud info by the Yanks, in the hope they'd do exactly what they did (don't reckon the Poms would've orchestrated a mess like this in their own back yard), thus making Putin look like a monster* right before the election, and adding a bit more fuel to the general anti-Russian sentiment that's out there.
Or maybe the timing was just coincidental after all. I really don't know.
* Putin is a monster, but so are most people in those sorts of positions. It comes with the territory.
The thing that interests me is: why, if it WAS Russia, would they do it in such a way as they can really be the only country blamed for it? Really sloppy work if it was them. The nerve agent used was exclusive to them, apparently.
As far as we know.
But it seems quite possible to me that some other lab synthesised the agent and it was used to poison him. I mean, if the movies are to be believed, it's risky but possible, common even, to extract a scientist from Russia in exchange for their knowledge, which is often really valuable to the opposition.
Though I think you are right, the only possible motivation for such a risky and blatant operation was to prevent him making some sort of explosive revelation, and you can bet that there are people who also know what it was he was going to do.
You are right though, it's not doing Britain any favours, globally. They look like a 3yo jumping up and down screaming about things being unfair. No stupid deadline, just expel the "diplomats" (most of whom are probably spies anyway), and be done with it.
What's the name for people who comment on behalf of regimes? I mean they're not trolls. They must have a name. Whatever they're called, I noticed one commenting on The Independent (which, even though it's gone downhill, still has some different angles on things). Anyway, so they said this:
'Wouldn't it be nice if a BBC journalist could ask what precisely Mr Skripal was doing working with Christopher Steele, the same Mr. Steele ex-MI6 agent who created the Trump dossier for both the Republican party to dig the dirt on Trump and nobble him in the nominations, and then for the Hilary Clinton team in the same capacity? What happened to the Novichok which the Americans 'cleaned up' at the chemical weapons facilities in Uzbekistan where the old USSR used to make this poison? Do they have stockpiles of it, and did they pass any over to the British at Porton Down (only 8 miles from where the poisoning took place)? Perhaps they could also surmise on the benefits for Russia in doing this just 3 months before they host the football World Cup? Does Russia want countries to boycott their World Cup? Or would it suit the British to see the Russia World Cup boycotted?'
OK, so it seems v.conspiracy theory-ish but these days who can tell what's true anymore. Anyway, I pasted mainly to show that there didn't need to be another lab with the same stuff. It could just be 'reclaimed' nerve agent
Most likely, it would be using a VGA connector, and thus, could be hooked up to either a CRT (box) or LCD (flat). And if the computer and monitor were bought together, it could have easily come with either. I dunno when CRTs completely disappeared from the shelves, but it was well into the 2000s, if my memory serves me right.
I still intend to come back and post more about Russian spies, but I'm dog tired. Doing shit with the family again this weekend. Kids are over the moon that QLD still have a chance of getting into the AFLW final, thanks to the doggies narrowly winning a ripper match this evening. All we need now is for the magpies to beat the crows tomorrow. Hmmm.
Also, is anyone surprised and/or disappointed not to have gotten a green Batman for St Paddy's day?
I'm a Batman voter and I'm only a little surprised. You really ought to have seen all the shit in the papers flying around.
eg Shorten's a two-faced liar about Adani, Bhathal is a branch-stacking bully hated within her own party ranks, old people being rung up on election day and told they don't have to vote, the local "Leader" paper which arrives in everyone's mailbox whether we want it or not featuring stories against Bhathal one week and a huge full-page FRONT-page ALP ad the day before the election.
There's a small contribution too I think from disaffected voters who voted green in the local elections only to find the green-dominated Darebin council only doing things that advance the green agenda (not that those things are bad, per se, though I've been angry a couple of times because they seem hell-bent on getting us all to abandon our cars in favour of walking or cycling, which is fine if you are young and healthy but a significant portion of the Darebin residents are very old and that's just not viable, meanwhile they are putting in traffic controls, freakin' lowering the speed limit everywhere and just making it harder to get around by car (in one instance, for no discernible benefit at all for anyone, and actually rendering the intersection far more dangerous), while neglecting things that really matter like the reinstatement of the green avenue after Melb Water ripped up all the trees on St Georges Rd and also threatening to rip up the remaining mature avenue to make a wider bike path, which is absolutely not necessary where they want to do it. This put me right off voting Green in this Federal seat. Their ideology is making my own life worse, basically.
And as for conflating the election with Adani, well I don't see how one newly-minted MP with no experience whose seat is in VIC can affect whether or not that mine goes through (I hope it doesn't, coal is as dead as it's making the Reef), so that was NOT an issue that I voted on, and I suspect a lot of Batman voters didn't consider it important either. The Labor candidate OTOH was female (tick), was a nurse 20 years, so understands the public health system (I assume) and recently ran an EXTREMELY successful union campaign here in VIC for the nurses union (shit if I could get a deal like that, I wouldn't be so desperate to change jobs). Not to mention - and this is something that's been horribly overlooked IMO - David Feeney, the previous Labor MP was not One Of Us at all. A rich man with six investment properties (one of which he claimed to have "forgotten" he owned FFS because he didn't declare it on the asset register, oh if I only had enough money I could forget I owned a WHOLE HOUSE) who could not even be bothered to LIVE IN HIS ELECTORATE - or even very close to it! No way Jose was I voting for him - I voted Green in the previous Federal election because he was so on the nose, and I know others around me who did as well, which I think led to the belied that the seat is more marginal than it is. I live south of the so-called hipster-proof fence and let me tell you, there are very few hipsters in my immediate area (it's mostly working professionals and families and elderly migrants) and I think the pundits missed the part where most of us are just working stiffs who want a fair go.
Ged Kearney is someone whose personal politics are just as progressive as the Green candidate as far as I can tell, but she is part of a party that actually can form govt, so IMO is in a better position to influence change, and AFAIK, nobody thinks she's a branch-stacking bully. So that was why I voted Labor and am happy with the outcome.
I know I keep saying this, but I really truly am going to write something substantial here when I get a moment. But for now, all I'm going to say is this: Three amazing matches in one weekend! Culminating in an astounding come-from-behind victory for the wooden-spooners! Yes, the 'pies won and QLD are through to the final! The kids nearly exploded!
Suze, everyone I've known who has had anything to do with the Australian Greens says that internally, they're every bit as awful as the other parties. Also, I think some of their ideallogy is a long way divorced from reality. In point of fact, I wouldn't be writing coal off as dead just yet.
Squib, see Suze's comment for your scoobie.
Is it just me, or does anyone else remember "scoobie" being used as a drug reference in the '80s/'90s?
I've voted Greens before. Ultimately the state of the planet is in dire straits. BUT I went back to Labor because 1. They listened to an issue I was having in my neighbourhood and at least tried to do something about it whereas my Greens woman actually conspired against me and made the issue worse 2. I was completely turned off by the Greens woman (another one) who had an affair with a Liberal guy - what the hell. I know opposites attract but that's a step too far. This was all a 100 years ago. Still, Bob Brown was the best
Alex it looks like our posts crossed paths in the ether last night. :)
What I meant by coal is dead is opening new coal mines is stupid. Sure we'll continue to use it for existing power stations and some will still use it as a heat source I know, but in the end, it's fucking killing our planet. There is no such thing as clean coal. Any money spent propping up coal mines (as Adani is asking for!! ) or coal-fired power stations is a waste when it could be spent on renewables or hydro or giving Tesla batteries to people or something more positive than propping up an industry that's helping kill the reef and a bunch of other things as well. '
And don't get me started on plastic and plastic waste. My husband accused me of racism for stating that 80% of the plastic problem in our oceans could be solved by damming only three rivers in SE Asia. Yep, they just throw that shit in the river and let it float down to the sea but I'm a racist for pointing out that it's Asians causing it??? Fuck that. I mean, it's not the people of say, Italy at fault here is it? I don't see how saying that Asian countries are responsible for this problem is racist, but according to my husband, it is. Yeah I was mad. I'm still mad at him over that. I'm not trying to pretend I'm not a little racist - I don't believe anybody is really not racist ever, frankly - but it's not like I'm calling them offensive words or joining a neo-nazi group or anything. Just laying blame where it belongs is racist these days?
Holy shit, Squib; your member was the woman who fucked Troy Buswell!? Y'know, I might even be able to forgive sleeping with a Lib, but Troy "The most loathsome cunt to ever set foot in the WA parliament" Buswell!!!? ... Geez.
To be honest, I don't know how she did it.
I think we've all voted Green at one point or another, simply because they happened to be the best option on the ticket at the time, but I worry that a lot of them seem to have their heads in the clouds.
I hate to say it, but the more I look into renewables, the more I get the impression that they're not all they're cracked up to be. A lot of the materials used are fairly dirty and energy-intensive to produce (and dispose of), and the figures around energy production and reliability are questionable to say the least. Ideally, you would want to phase new technologies into the existing system gradually, so you can iron out the kinks, and unforeseen problems don't turn into major catastrophes. Look at the debacle that's happening with the NBN, and that's small potatoes compared to updating the electricity grid. I'm afraid that if we race down the renewable path too quickly, we're going to find ourselves in a situation where average families are facing severe reliability issues and unaffordable prices. Hydro's good, and well tested at large scale, but a lot of the country's pretty dry. So, as much as it pains me to say this, if coal's really as bad as everyone says it is, I'm starting to think maybe we should be taking a serious look at nuclear. And yes, I know there's the issue of waste. And no, I don't have a spot picked out.
Also, if electric cars catch on, that's only going to compound the problem in the short term.
And no, I don't think it's racist to point out that there are problems in other parts of the world, but I also feel like I'm in the minority there. I can remember the first time I heard the question "Do Australians face racism from foreigners?" and my immediate answer was a bewildered "Australian isn't a race, it's a nationality". From what I remember, "racist" used to be a serious term, that described people who actively engaged in racial discrimination; then it became a catch-all for every type of discrimination not covered by "sexism" and "homophobia"; then it became a term to describe nationalists who didn't want open borders; and now (in the age of social media) it's little more than a cudgel you use to bludgeon (mostly) white people who say anything negative about any person or group other than their own.
People on the left throw the word "nazi" around now like the right-wingers threw around "commie" in the seventies. It's inevitable that at some point these words are going to become utterly meaningless.
PS: I can't imagine how crushing it's going to be if the Lions lose the final by a single kick like they did last year.
Instead of handing out death penalties for drugs, they should redirect all that police time and money into litter. People should go to jail for it. Take the drug dealers out of prison, throw the litterbugs in there instead
I take it that's a reference to Trump's latest brain-fart?
I agree, lock up the litterbugs and the people who let their animals shit all over the place without cleaning it up. And those idiots in bands who keep hard-working techies up till all hours of the night with their stupid rehearsals.
Also, Suze, I meant to say this the other night, but thanks for your reporting on Batman. I always love getting first hand perspectives on these sorts of things.
I've been watching UnReal and River and the Commonwealth Games. And trying to avoid messing up my back again, haha.
Aunt is having chemo and pretty sick, will be heading north for a visit in the near future because I feel the need to check she's okay. Especially since her only surviving child is not really coming to the party and showing concern. I tried to put the hard word on him, but he doesn't seem to be taking the hint. I mean, how much more pushy can I get than "when are you going to go visit?"
Happy belated birthday, Suze. Sorry to hear about your aunt. Sounds like there is a lot of parent/child disconnect in your family (I'm sure this isn't the first incidence of this you've mentioned).
What's River? I'm familiar with UnReal (though haven't seen it). Also, how have you been liking the games?
River is a British cop drama on Netflix. In a lot of ways it reminds me of that one with Idris Alba, the protagonist does not always play by the rules and is haunted by a woman.
Pretty sure my Aunt will live but she doesn't deserve a son like that. She drives across the country to visit her grandkids every year and all he said when she told him she had cancer was "when are you coming to look after the dogs so we can take the kids to Bali?"
...
Well actually I'm sure he said more than that, but that's what's been reported to me, so it was clearly the only thing that made an impact on her. I was complaining about him to my husband the other night but he's adamant I should let it lie, since I can't get any more pushy than I already have with a cousin I haven't really seen or contacted in over ten years. But really I don't care if he or his wife thinks I'm a cow. If she does die from the cancer, or (as seemed likely last week) from the chemo itself, he'll be gutted. Hubby says if that happens, he'll deserve it, but it won't ease the hurt that my aunt will feel over it, will it?
I dunno, perhaps it's not a thing for him as it is for me, but with my sister gone, I feel a real responsibility to a) outlive my mother and b) make sure she's okay, no matter what. Clearly that's not the case for my cousin.
Just read back on what I wrote about the Batman election and haha I must have been angry that day and shat that stuff out of my keyboard in less than five minutes! Who knew my high school typing classes on an old manual typewriter would set me in such good stead to write angry internet posts that only three (four?) other people ever read? Gold.
It's funny you talk about feeling a need to outlive your mum. I've been feeling that need myself recently. I was quite a nihilistic risk-taker when I was younger, but now I can't bare the thought of putting my parents through the grief of losing a child.*
* I suppose, technically, they already have, but I don't think still-born counts in the same way.
Geez don't let anyone with an "angel" hear you say that Alex - you'll end up in being called insensitive for diminishing their grief or whatever. Though from my mother's experience, it's horrible but not in any way the same as losing a grown child. I'm sad about my three miscarriages, but I know it's nothing like losing a term baby, or a child of any age.
But anyway, yeah, it's become imperative to me to outlive my mum. After she's gone, it matters little to me, I might become a gin-soaked whore and only live a week longer, who knows? ;) ;)
(actually becoming gin-soaked is definitely in my future anyway!)
Hubby and I went to Kangaroo Island for a few days for our 10th wedding anniversary. It was great, would recommend a trip if the natural environment, and food and wine experiences interest you. We could easily have stayed another week and done everything slower, and seen a lot more and the weather was pretty good. :) I did put my back out just coughing on the last day we were there, which made getting home a little unpleasant, and it's still bad, but that's not KI's fault!!
Just got back from a FIFO visit to my Mum in QLD and I KNOW I really want to move out of the city. Just being able to head out in the car, without battling traffic and stupidity sounds like bliss to me. I love our suburban house, but I fucking hate everything else about my life in this city now. My husband knows how I feel but keeps telling me that here is where the jobs are. True enough, but if we sold the house and move out to the country, I wouldn't need a job and he could "work" at home a couple of days a week and commute by train the others. *sigh*
The devil you know vs the devil you don't, eh? When I was younger, I didn't have any trouble just packing up and moving somewhere new, but not nowadays. Shows how cautious I've become, I guess. Then again, let's face it, regardless of what the official employment figures say, it's nowhere near as easy to find work as it used to be. If you can work over the internet though, that does open things up a bit.
Yeah my job requires a true physical presence in the place. There is no working from home for me. I'd be willing to pack up and move, I think about it a lot, but my husband isn't interested.
The only time I care about celebrities is when they're singing or dancing or acting or telling jokes or doing something that I find entertaining. Given how I feel about going to the weddings of people I actually care about, I just can't bring myself to watch the wedding of complete strangers.
You're going to have to be my filter on this one Suze. Let us know about all the good bits (and the not so good bits, of course ;)
They didn't do Jerusalem. Even though there's no mention of it in the hymn itself, hubby says it wouldn't be very PC considering the state of things in Palestine at the moment.
We rewatched it this morning because the Black American preacher stole the show by going twice as long as he was meant to and lecturing some of the most privileged people in the world about poverty.
Which made me LAUGH. Though I did want to applaud him when he finished.
After this, there was the vows, and a cheer went up when they were declared husband and wife.
And there was a black gospel choir and a black woman priest who had shaved off her hair and a black cellist and it all started to look very affirmative action until I realised that if they are going to go into it half-and-half, then this is really what it looks like and GOOD FOR THEM. I just hadn't expected it because of who he is.
The kidlets were cute behind Meghan as she walked up and down and there was an entertaining hour afterwards where I sat on the edge of my seat waiting for one of the lead horses in the carriage procession to bolt, since it clearly DID NOT WANT. It did almost walk its rider sideways into the crowd before its rider got it back under control.
I mean, even if you are republican, there's something to be said for the sheer SPECTACLE of it. Even my husband was caught up in all the celeb watching and stuff that we just didn't get for Wills and Kate's wedding, since it was all stuffy peers and political types in the church. This was MUCH more entertaining.
And I still think they should have done Jerulsalem, but hubby did recognise all the hymns sung and sang along... which led to a discussion as to why he did, since he's not at all religious, but he said he went to a church run school and I was like "separation of church and state?!" but he said that almost all the schools in Britain are church run, even if they are public schools, which I do not understand, and along with that, they had chapel. Which OFFENDS me so much. Religion shouldn't be forced on kids while they are getting an education. The hour a week they get here in public schools is bad enough. And don't get me started on church schools and other private schools. *rage*
It's not that I'm against the Royals so much as I just don't enjoy weddings very much. Have I mentioned I used to work for a wedding videographer? That might have had something to do with it; but then again, I don't think I was ever that into them to start with.
However, he also sites polls which show, even though the number of Poms who identify as Christian/Anglican is high, few of them actually believe in a biblical god or practice any type of worship. Conversely, while the Yanks make a big deal about keeping church and state separate, they still have relatively high levels of belief and worship. Why this is, I don't know, but it does suggests that formally separating the two doesn't necessarily result in a less religious society.
I didn't realise your husband was from England. No wonder he doesn't want to leave Melbourne. Cold and wet and crowded probably suits him down to a tee.
So, I fire up YouTube when I get home, and all I see being recommended are videos decrying the Royal wedding as a PR stunt designed to pander to the black community. And here's the kicker; more than half of them seem to be black Yanks, who (to paraphrase) "will not be placated by a token gesture involving some privileged, light-skinned half-caste."
Fuck you, YouTube algorithms! What makes you think I'd be interested in this shit!
Learn from my mistake, kids. Don't go on a YouTube bender without protection. Always use your browser's privacy mode.
Hi Alex and everyone else Have found my password again and signed in to look at my blog, especially the bad diaries I put back into drafts HOW ARE YOUSE?
I'm well Busy Business going nuts We have 8 educators now
Writing put to the side until the end of the year cause I can't do both but in summer will go into lockdown to focus Everyone well. Princess overseas backpacking at the moment
Apols in advance if I don't get back here again for a bit but am thinking of you and miss the old days for sure
Melba, you're in a perfect position to talk about quotas for women in literature, since you are a woman in literature and I'm sure are aware that most of the authors nominated for literary prizes are men. (there's a discussion below the post about comic books)
Hi, I kept the window open so I wouldn't forget to come back. New book is out... in all good bookshops now. This is the one you read Alex. You are acknowledged in the acknowledgements, and I called you 'Alex'. even though Alex is your real name? ( I think)... but I thought it was more mysterious to use the quotation marks. Yes we don't have all the people on the website, and there are two more people there now but one has left. So total of 8 including me and partner. Too busy but good I guess. We were told by a financial advisor (very short man, wore a weird waistcoat) that we are hobbyists and not business people so we are trying to work smarter and ramp things up.
Thanks for welcome back Suze. I am trying to be off twitter and other social media, have been managing quite well for a month or so. I read this book called Deep Work which made me realise how much time I was wasting and why I was finding it so hard to immerse myself in reading the way I used to. So am being conscious and strict with myself. I will try not to fill that gap with coming here though (even though the conversation here is much better).
'Alex'. I like it. Cheers Melbs. I'll see about picking myself up a copy.
I can only imagine how shitty things must be on Twitter at the moment, what with the ongoing purges and all. It's all anybody's talking about on the tech podcasts. Thankfully, it's not something I have to deal with personally.
So far it's only in the stomach but he needs 18 weeks of chemo and he's already skin and bones (60kg) Yes, it's the fast-growing kind (DLBCL) - hopefully he'll respond well (he's otherwise healthy). Back in October, the first doc he saw said it was acid reflux
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1 – 200 of 212 Newer› Newest»Working. Blergh. I went to Perth for the wedding of a dear school friend. Which led to me having another two days off work from being sick. Totally over taking cold tablets and endless nose blowing. I have been sick now (or not what I would consider well) since mid-june. Fucking hate Melbourne in winter. The trip to Perth would have been a nice break but the weather was bad there that weekend too and I picked up a cold from the friend I was staying with.
Hubby's sojourn in Canada has been extended until the beginning of Oct. We've never been apart for more than three weeks before and it's really starting to play on me. Google's obviously also picked up on the fact that we are continents apart and showing me FB ads for tracking apps I can install on his phone (!) and divorce lawyers. Fucking hell.
He's homesick and miserable and I'm just bored a lot of the time and unwilling to put in the effort to take care of myself properly. Only five weeks, only five weeks....
Hope you start feeling better soon Suze. Not sending you any hugs though, as I don't want to catch anything ;-)
I don't wanna seem like I'm reveling in your misfortune, but hearing about you & Melbs' poor health has made me feel really fortunate. Also feeling fortunate not to be living in Victoria anymore. I think the weather would kill me these days.
Don't know if I can suggest anything to deal with loneliness, as it's not really something I've ever had to deal with. I've always got things to do, and having other people around often feels like a hindrance. Take up a project, maybe? I dunno.
And I find the whole online tracking thing creepy and go to—what other people would consider—extreme measures to maintain my online privacy. (It's actually not that big a deal once everything's set up)
How did your abdominal pains go?
The weather is the reason I try to leave here for at least a few weeks in winter. If I can't get out of here in winter, I go absolutely spare. Even now with it warming up and feeling quite nice outside, I don't want to be here because the nights are still cold. Only a couple more months though and it will be awesome again. All the deciduous trees in our yard are in bud, that's always an exciting thing.
One of my neighbours has the most beautiful magnolia growing in her front yard. I absolutely love magnolias. I would plant one in mine, but I understand they only like sheltered positions and need lots of care and also grow really slowly. I also love love love Jacarandas, but they are such a messy tree. And they don't do so well here in Melbs, but with climate change, maybe now's the time to plant one...
I've actually had someone take over my computer remotely (some fucking usenet troll) because he had a beef with me. That was scary and I disconnected pretty darn fast, then took a bunch of precautions so he could never do that again. But there's no way to keep out a properly skilled and determined hacker, so I don't worry about it. Though I do worry about my parents online. No matter how many times I talk to them about the web sites they visit and not opening email attachments, every time I visit, I am forced to spend hours eradicating viruses off their machines. A conversation that always starts with "My laptop is misbehaving..." and ends with me pulling my hair out. Last time I visited it was literally arriving late afternoon, leaving first thing in the morning. I commented over coffee that at least I hadn't had time, so you couldn't make me fix your computers, and my husband piped up and said he already had! *headdesk*
I would never track my husband. If he's hiding things from me, it will out in the end anyway. Without me stalking him. I had a BF when I was younger who I was desperately in love with and it made me crazy not knowing where he was and what he was doing, it just fed my obsession. He spent a LOT of time with me and looking back I've no proof of anything and frankly wonder how he would have got the time to cheat, but I always thought he did. Thankfully after two years, he (did me a favour and) broke my heart and I swore after that I would never hold onto a relationship with such desperation again (once I regained my sanity).
The pains have subsided. I think it was all the porridge I ate. I mean they were two big bowls of porridge in a short space of time. I'm trying to decide whether to leave well enough alone or to test it be repeating the exercise. What I do know is I'm obviously not getting enough fibre, so will have to work on getting more fresh fruit and veg down my throat.
I don't know if my problem is lonliness per se, or just boredom. I'm working shift, so there's a lot of days off. And I have things to do, like gardening, but I do not want to do them, because it's not that much fun to do it alone. I watch a lot of TV which is fine, but sometimes when I add up how much, I'm appalled with my lack of endeavor to do anything else. Bleah. Whatever. When my husband gets home I'll be shamed into doing stuff. :P
You're right about jacarandas being messy. I hope you enjoy raking.
Parents are a bloody worry. I have set mine up so that they can only access certain websites from their computer (banking, share-trading, etc), and all other "internet stuff" is done on their tablets. The biggest worry is if someone gets the username & password for their webmail, because then they can reset the password for every other website.
For myself, I split my activities up into segregated virtual environments that can be trashed and replaced on a whim.
When I said I found tracking creepy, I was actually thinking about the way ad companies track your movements on the internet—but yes—tracking people (without their knowledge) via a phone app is as well. … Although, I can see how it'd be useful as a sort of safety thing that you could set up with a buddy.
Maybe you could take up writing or coding. They're things that you definitely don't want someone else around for.
Your comment about the webmail. Now I'm off to change my email passwords since I haven't done that for two years. No they are not the same as the ones I use for most other stuff. But seriously, if I had to make up a new password for every website I accessed I would need to have a paper list to keep them on.
So, Alex, what's the low-down on these massive cyber attacks? What is the point of them?
I think that needs its own post Squib.
hey we have started watching the circus which is commentary on us election... has been going for a while but we jsut started, so it begins before or during the primaries earlier this year. it's interesting... anyone else watching?
in other news i am busy with teaching and the business, 16 new schools this year. we are looking at moving house so going to inspections, hate hate hate it but excited for a change of scene. we've been here more than 7 years.
alan the cat is going well but he is very bitey and is terrible at the vets. anyone with particular cat experience with some tips? we have got advice from all quarters including internet, all contradictory. use a high voice, make squeals, use a low voice, say no in a low voice, push him off (yeah but what do you do when he's wrapped around your arm and hand and sinking the claws and fangs?) spray him with a water bottle, don't spray him with a water bottle, shake a tin with hard things inside to make a loud rattle, don't shake a tin with hard things inside to make a loud rattle
hahaha
i can't wait for december when i got into lockdown, i have to write like 70,000 words by April or maybe even march. but i hope to have news VERY SOON about novel # 2 - the one you read Alex. (But changed a lot, in a good way... all the bits you liked, there are more of them. got rid of the teen and adult bits, so it's all country, all child, very much kidworld v adultworld.)
hope everyone else well
xx
I'm having trouble imagining how the story flows without the characters growing up, but am looking forward to seeing it. When it comes out, I might have to find and re-read the draft you sent me, just to compare.
Is The Circus an American TV show? Is it like a doco or a dramatised thing?
Good to hear that Alan is well, even though it sounds like he's giving you strife at the moment. Don't think I can give much advise on training a house cat. We had farm cats, whose job was to prowl around and catch vermin. Usually, when one of them was behaving badly, they got a boot up the arse, which sent them scurrying away for a while. But from memory, most of them were pretty well behaved most of the time.
I think a lot of intelligent animals, including cats and dogs (and humans), benefit from being around well behaved adults when they're young.
Hi Alex, I think Melba means the general circus surrounding it all, not a particular show. Though Planet America (ABC) is a bit too good, if you ask me. So good it's depressing.
I honestly believe that if Trump wins, he'll start a nuclear war (starting with nuking Syria and god knows what else, just to end it). And while I respect and admire Hillary, I also think that she's much more of a military interventionist, something that Obama clearly is not, and she will also move onto the front foot in Syria/Middle East in general. I have found myself wishing we had a place to go that's away from civilisation, but where there's still magically running water and food, to wait it out.
About Alan Melba, just try all the things until you find something that works. I have resorted to smacking Barry on the bum a couple of memorable times! (never the head, you'll end up with a scared, scarred cat) When he's wrapped around a limb, there's not actually much you can do but pry him off. Though Barry responds very well to a loud NO! with a finger pointed in his face. He hates it (watch the pupils dilate while he considers attacking anyway), but usually backs down. Figure out what works and use it. We found a spray bottle useless as it was never to hand when he behaved badly, but then I found The Finger.
Is he unpleasant all of the time? If so, you might want to discuss antidepressants with the vet - yes, there is such a thing. There are also sprays such as Feliway which are supposed to help reduce extreme behaviour in cats, but I don't know if it works (you use it a bit like a facial hydration spray and spritz it in the air around the cat, I think).
The thing with the wrapping around your hand thing, is it when you've been patting him? Cats are funny beasts and can be demanding attention one minute and have had enough and become bitey and scratchy a moment later! The big trick is to read the body language indicating the change and STOP what you are doing, and back away slowly, if possible (assuming said cat is not on your lap). With Barry it's a small thing - he'll warn me by laying his lips on my hand, like a kiss almost, and sniff a bit, other times he'll flatten his ears back, or swish his tail violently, or just trying to move away from you.
The good news is that this behaviour has lessened as he's got older and realised we are caring for him, that his home and food are secure, and is not longer a teenager! (I assume that Alan is neutered?)
Hi Alex, I think Melba means the general circus surrounding it all, not a particular show.
I thought that too Suze, until she said this in another thread …
We are watching something called The Circus, a US doco that has followed the campaigns all year. It's so compelling. I love watching it as a narrative.
Funnily, I still think the chance of nuclear war is less with Trump; that he's more likely to let Assad and Putin deal with Syria. Hey, did you know that NATO has been amassing what looks like an invasion force along the border between Europe and Russia? Now, hopefully there aren't plans afoot to actually use it as such, but you have to think it's there as a deterrent for something. What're the chances, ya reckon, that Hillary's gonna wanna "sort things out" in Syria, or Ukraine, or both, early on in her first term?
Also, you know that what's going on in Syria is over gas pipelines, right?
The joys just keep on coming in November. Hubby's new position has turned him into an angry stress monster who I spend half my life trying to calm down - if he'd bloody get a diabetes checkup we might get to the bottom of half the problem, but he refuses, or claims he's too busy etc.
I have had some...shocking...intestinal issues the last couple of weeks and heading off for a (joy of joys) colonoscopy tomorrow. Can't wait to take that cleansing drink! (NOT!!!!!) Was everyone aware that you can get one done within a week if you phone around, but if that's not convenient for whatever reason it's a month. And that's private. Public could be nine months, but I'm not enduring that long of worrying about it, and feeling shitty (pun intended). Of course if you actually want to SEE the gastroenterologist, you will wait six weeks, so I booked it ass-backwards just to get it out of the way.
Best case scenario, haemorroids, worst is cancer and in between IBD, so fingers crossed for box No1!
What were the results, Suze?
And have you had any luck convincing your fella to get himself off to a doctor? You could always use the "What are you worried about; a diabetes test is nothing compared to a colonoscopy." argument.
Ugh, colonoscopies; something else we can all look forward to as we get older.
Hope it went okay, Suze
Two things: 1. I'm on Day 4 of the 5-day Mimicking Fasting Diet. It's fairly easy apart from numerous headaches. It's supposed to reboot your immune system and unregenerate you. I'm not sure if it's done that but I do feel better for it
2. Westworld the TV series - anyone seen it? I've just finished watching it. I think the start bit with the 3D printer etc is possibly the best intro I've ever seen to anything. I thought that the violence was a bit overdone just in terms of it being repetative and slightly boring
Did I say unregenerate? I meant regenerate!
It's hard to believe that dieting for only five days a month could work out long term, and I don't much like the sound of those headaches. Keep us posted on how it goes.
In the years since I started losing weight, I've used trial and error to craft a diet that gives me maximum energy with minimum ups and downs. My day-to-day food pyramid now looks something like this:
70% non-starchy vegetable
10% cheese
7% eggs
7% fruit
5% meat
1% starchy veg, pasta, bread, sweets, carbs, etc
***
Haven't seen Westworld but have heard many good things about. Will put it on the list.
A shame to hear the violence is over-the-top. I'm generally not a fan of gratuitous indulgence in sex/violence/gore/etc. Unless it's so over the top that it breaks through and becomes comedy.
You only need to do it several times a year (supposedly). It's not so much about weight loss but more about rebooting (I just felt meh and sluggish and inflamed - only way to describe it). I don't eat a lot anyway but the menu I followed was more like your pyramid above minus the meat
My normal pyramid would looks more like this. I'm not a grazer though and prefer to have two meals, brunch and dinner or lunch and dinner
45% starchy veg, pasta, bread
5% sweet things
18% cheese
7% eggs
7% fish
5% fruit
13% other vegies
I tend to get up early, eat a big breakfast (usually meat and veg), and then don't eat again until the evening (usually cheese, fruit, eggs, etc). I'd probably replace most of my beef intake with fish if fish was cheaper. Wouldn't wanna give up lamb though.
I know exactly what you mean about feeling sluggish & meh. I was getting to the stage where I would get up at 6AM, and by 9AM I wanted to go back to bed. It was one of the main reasons why I decided to get myself fit. Mind you, I was morbidly obese, so I'm sure that didn't help.
I find if I eat even a moderate amount of carbs now, I end up getting peaks and crashes, energy wise. I can't help but wonder if I didn't damage myself by getting that fat.
Also, this is a minor gripe, but it niggles me that my family was apparently fine with me being jumbo sized, but ever since I started getting fit, I've been dealing with regular accusations of anorexia and other eating disorders.
Sigh. I guess it shows they care.
Sorry have been AWOL. You'll all understand why by the time I finish typing this. (I note that Melba is as well, I hope the writing is going okay)
The colonoscopy was nothing compared the fiery hell that is the pre-cleanse. And even that would have been mostly okay had I had a) more jelly and b) been more careful to blot rather than wipe my bum (so that the skin around my arsehole didn't abrade off and leave me wishing to be dead by halfway through the process). That said, I did feel a little old (I'm 46, so not really), alone and helpless before I went in, but the staff were lovely.
I was told on waking that I have Crohn's disease. So, not an easy let-off, but not cancer. I resisted the prescribed Prednisolone for two weeks, but since I caved and started taking it, the bleeding has stopped so I presume the ulcers in my gut (I was presented with some lovely photos) are healing.
I have been following a FODMAP diet since, it's awful, but I admit my gut does feel better, and since so many things have been taken from my diet I have lost a few kilos since then (always welcome, though during the first week I was seriously worried about maintaining caloric intake as rapid weight loss is not healthy). I am currently re-introducing foods on the forbidden list to see if they make me sick. So far, I think onion is okay. Since I already knew I had a problem with lactose and fructose, this isn't as much of a shock as it could have been, but the polyols and oligos have been hard to replace. And gluten. OMG I miss bread SO BAD. Gluten free bread is like eating a meat substitute. You know it's not that bad, but it's not very good either. And it's $8 for about 12 slices, which is insane. Also, my diet has always been mostly carbs, alcohol and chocolate, so I'm not enjoying the changes (the lack of abdominal pain is only a small consolation for the loss of most of my favourite things in life).
On the same day as my colonoscopy, just after hubby had got me home and thankfully after I had eaten, my mother phoned me in hysterics to tell me my sister had been found dead. Turns out to be natural causes (or at least that's the preliminary info from the coroner), but for quite a while we thought her cunt of a BF might have had something to do with it. I went up to Mum's to stay with her for a while, all the time trying to damp down Mum's hysteria at my recent diagnosis, taking her partner to hospital in the middle of the night with gastro (which I caught, adding to the fun), and saving her dog from tick paralysis.
I had annual leave already booked for most of this but eventually went back to work for a couple of days but now have been forced to take a whole week off with a lung infection. All the while, trying to organise a funeral (and I have to pay for that because no-one else has any money). I mean, FFS, how much is one person supposed to endure? All the while, trying to pretend I'm okay with it being Xmas and do all the things one is supposed to do like go to parties and have fun with loved ones.
All in all, though I'm looking forward to spending time with hubby and his family at Xmas, I can't wait for 2016 to be over.
Suze, very, very sorry to hear about your sister … and, well, everything else too. Jesus, they're not wrong when they say, "when it rains, it pours". About the only silver lining I can see out of all that is that you don't have bowel cancer.
I did a lot of research on Crohn's disease about a decade ago, when a relative was diagnosed with it, but I can barely remember any of the details; only that it can manifest as anything from mild inflammation to severe ulceration anywhere along the digestive tract (basically, anywhere between the mouth and the anus). I do remember there being something about a diet (although I think that went out the window within six months) and there was something about the danger of "pockets" forming in the bowel. That's all I can recall.
Regarding the Xmas parties and stuff; I'd say go to the ones you want to go to and skip the ones you don't. Decent people will understand, and you don't want to push things with your health.
Happy New Year everyone. Suze, I am so sorry to hear about the shit time you've had, especially with your sister. That would have been an awful shock, for you and your mum and the whole family. I hope you managed to see out the year last night in a little bit of (gluten-free) style to mark the end of a bad year. Sorry also about your diagnosis, am so glad not cancer but Crohn's is tough from what I know of it. All these things seem to come at once, and with your sister it will take a long time for things to settle I guess, such a big impact.
On bums: blotting and not wiping is so important I've learned. Last year was big for me and my bum - awful, awful time with a fissure. Slowly healed so now I am all about fibre, water, pooing position and walking. And if necessary laxatives, pessaries and these sachet things that draw water into the stool and soften. Can't remember what they are called, they are excellent and better than laxatives for long term if needed.
I am really feeling a lot of these health-management things are to do with menopause.
Maybe I'll do a quick post now on my blog - it's so neglected - rather than clutter up yours here Alex...
Sorry I've been AWOL. It was a REALLY busy teaching year (we doubled our invoices from 2014 and are growing well.) Also the whole year, it feels, was spent waiting for the next publishing contract, which wasn't a guaranteed thing. I'll talk about that in my post as well.
Anyway hope you all well and that people marked the end of 2016 in a happy and significant way for them.
I just went and wrote a lot on my blog and then lost it somehow and I can't bear to have to re-write just now. I was just going to say there is some good GF bread that we get, it's much better than it used to be and to me is as good as gluten-riddled bread. I'll do a small post on my blog and get back to menopause later. I suspect it's going to be a bit of a theme for 2017 for me, the management of it. Anyone else with menopause, or peri-menopause?
Argh menopause. Mine's only just started I think (I'm not sure), but I want my libido back.
And I am fed up with these periods that swing between normal (for me) one month and a massive haemorrhage the next. And all the while still worrying about maybe being pregnant and so on. Grrr.
Info on gluten free bread would be most welcome (currently I am eating GFprecinct, which is just okay). I'm supposed to eat a lowish fibre diet which actually is harder than you'd think.
Good to hear from you again Melba. Glad to hear the teaching gig is going gangbusters, even if it means I hardly get to chat with you any more. And don't worry about cluttering up this thread, that's what I made it for.
I dunno how far menopause is off for me. I seem to have a lot of what Suze has: no libido coupled with a raging internal drive to procreate. Weird; you'd think nature wouldn't throw those two things at you at the same time. Oh, also arse acne.
I'll be interested to hear about your experiences going forward. It'll give me something to look forward to.
Suze: Lichtenstein's do a good GF bread - there's a multigrain we like but costs shitload, like all of them. Noticed even the standard bread manufacturers are doing GF - all pricey as fuck but all taste like bread, to me anyway. I toast though. Don't have in sandwich so maybe that makes a difference. Also I like a crusty crunch.
Sorry to hear about the bottom acne Alex, I think you've mentioned it before. Oh well better there than face. I get the odd pimple and it was an utter travesty to be still getting pimples with grey hair, god...
I haven't had a libido for yonks, we talked about this. I just don't care for it to be honest, anymore. I haven't been clucky, was very definite I didn't want another child when Clokes and I got together (when I was 40) and he felt the same so that was at least something we gelled with. But if I hadn't had Princess I imagine my ovaries would be throwing out the eggs and doing everything possible to get me to conceive. Bodies are weird like that, so primal.
Last couple of weeks I've noticed I am so stiff achey and sore and with no reason. Apparently it's the reducing estrogen affecting joints. Feeling arthritic in fingers and feet, and knees. All of a sudden, but I stopped the herbs because of black cohosh. Might go back onto another type of herb without the BC. The aching legs - not nice - but they don't keep me awake. No alcohol is really helping with the sleeping, and regular walks too.
Gotta fly. Don't know if I've mentioned but we are moving - or looking for a house - and have started packing. Got to do more boxes. CIAO. I'll keep popping in over summer - not so busy.
PS Alex are you back home yet? I remember you were away for ages. Wish I knew what it was that kept you so far from home for so long. Mines?
Absence of libido works out in my favour, what with being single and all, y'know. Can't imagine it's much fun if you're living with someone who still has one though. Aches and pains and general stiffness I am NOT looking forward to.
You're packing your stuff before you've even found a place to buy? I admire your optimism.
And no, haven't been home for months. Should be any day now, though … provided no more juicy construction jobs pop up out here … and nobody stumbles across another cache of unexploded cluster-bombs.
Suze, so glad it's not bowel cancer (though very sorry, of course, about your sister)
I don't know if I'm going through pre-menopause (is there such a thing) but with the Mirena, I can't really tell. I've always had a ruddy complexion but feel more rubicund than usual. I definitely feel like I'm 102 although the mimicking-fasting thing has made me feel quite good. Wish I hadn't drunk so much on NYE as it really takes it toll and surely I'm old enough to know how stupid that is by now
Funeral over and done with. Let me tell you that I am disappointed with my sister's kids. Two of them didn't even go despite having six weeks to save the money for plane fare (and even offers of a loan of it from me). I paid for the whole thing, apart from about $850 I got from a GoFundMe page I put up. It's funny how people are all like: how tragic! Loved her! What can we do to help? And then when you give them an opportunity, there's crickets.
But the kids! I don't get it. Their mother! And they are working... I had one tell me he couldn't conceive of when he could pay me back, so he refused. Argh.
One incredible thing that did happen was one of my sister's friends had been helped a great deal by mother 30 years ago, including a loan/gift of $500 to help her set up a flat when she found herself homeless, pregnant and single (it went a lot further back then). That woman came and said it had been on her mind for 30 years and she paid her back!
Anyway, it went well, my mother survived the journey and the funeral, and I got to see some friends I hadn't seen in some time after the funeral was all done and dusted.
Jesus Christ, that's rough, Suze. I know that most families aren't as close-knit as my mob, but I thought most folks considered going to a parent's funeral as pretty fundamental (y'know, unless you're estranged, or in gaol, or something).
At least now, that should be most of the pressing organisational stuff out of the way. I guess there's probably still the will / belongings to sort out, but there's probably not so much of a need to rush there.
You shoulda mentioned the GoFundMe sooner. I wouldn't have stayed out here this long if the pay wasn't decent, so I probably could've afforded to chip in a few quid.
Thanks Alex, but it makes me uncomfortable that my friends are donating and not my sister's.
Also, I kinda need this space (Blogger) to be a safe space where my family doesn't know I'm posting.
I don't know WTF they are doing. One is starting an apprenticeship and the other is just clubbing all night it seems by his FB.
I'm back at work now, though there's another health issue on the horizon. I want my health back.
Another one? Fuckin' hell, what is it this time?
Some odd fucking hot hard lump on my leg that my doctor doesn't understand.
Sent me to a dermatologist, who promptly lectured me about my circulation (and inevitably, my weight, which she wisely desisted from, I FUCKING HATE hearing that from doctors. I'm well aware I am fat, thankyou, when you are my weight and you've read all about the futility of trying to loose weight over and over again, a lecture isn't going to change anything) put me back on prednisolone and cut a big hole in my leg to send to pathology. So now my leg hurts more than the thing that sent me there.
Anyway.
I don't believe I've ever had a "hot" lump. sounds bad. Anyway, fingers crossed your tests come back okay.
As one of those super annoying formerly-fat people (seriously, we're worse than ex-smokers), I am distressed by your "futility of trying to loose weight" comment. Apologies if we've covered this already (my memory is turning to shit), but what's the story there? Is it to do with the medication you're on or something?
The story is that medically, once you reach a certain weight, while it's possible to lose weight, all the evidence that's piling up says that your body will spend the rest of its life fighting you in an effort to regain that lost weight, meaning that you will be able to eat less and less every time you lose weight if you hope to keep it off. I've already played that game once. Twice. I'm not a fan.
I like food. I like alcohol. I don't want to live like a puritan just to live an extra ten years (especially with the increasing likelihood that my end-of-life will be painful and I will not have the carefree retirement that I'd been promised when I was young). I've already had to make massive changes to my diet because of the Crohn's and it's even more challenging because it is the complete opposite of most of diet my husband is supposed to be following to prevent type2 diabetes.
And also, telling someone with a big hole in their leg to get exercise in the same breath as you've told them to elevate it at all times (especially when she has a job that involves a lot of standing) is infuriating too. I'm just angry about the whole thing, and need something to punch.
And I'm also angry because this whole thing is likely a result of that bike accident I had last year. If I hadn't been trying to get exercise then and be more active, I probably wouldn't be like this now. ie, even less active.
For me, it's not about length of life, it's about quality of life. Being fit (not necessarily thin) just feels so much better.
Also, I think most people who talk about women's fitness tend to put too much emphasis on cardio—running, cycling, aerobics, etc. Just try doing three lots of ten push-ups, interspersed with three lots of ten sit-ups. It should take less than ten minutes and you won't even have to leave your house.
Actually, some of the first posts I ever did on this blog were instructions for Melba on how to start doing push-ups and sit-ups.
I never did a post on squats, but they are also great because they work your legs and arse—which are giant muscles that burn a tonne of fat during recovery.
So the weather finally turned cold today.
Yesterday arvo, we watched the clouds roll in from the west and knew the summer was over. I drank a bottle of bubbles in mourning. I am a little sensitive to the cold and my feet in particular today are feeling it even with ugg boots on. I will buy a new pair again soon as these ones are more than a little thin in places, which is why they are cold.
I'm trying to kick my addiction to sleeping tablets, which started when my sister died and really it's probably more psychological than anything, and to do with lack of time. When I don't take half a pill (which is nothing when you are my size BTW), I either lie awake a long time (if I'm sober) or I'll wake up in the middle of the night and then lie awake until almost dawn, when I will finally fall asleep again. I can't afford to not get a decent night's sleep and TBH, if my husband was less of a judgey mcjudgerson I would not even bother to try to quit.
A bottle of bubbles? You mean champers, right?
I haven't been able to tolerate the cold since I lost weight. I don't think I'd survive moving back down to the south east. Seriously, I think it might kill me. That reminds me, did you once say you moved to Melbourne from WA? I imagine it's twice as bad if you're not a born native.
I've written before about my long-standing problems with falling asleep. For the last year or so, I've been watching "ASMR" videos before bed … and they've been working! My current favourites are …
Whispers Red
Gentle Whispering
Bright Grey
… but there are literally hundreds of sheilas (and a couple of blokes) making these now. The chance of them working for you are probably slim, but when it comes to getting a good nights sleep, a slim chance is infinitely better than none.
Bubbles does equal champagne. Or in this case, Prosecco (Italian style, lower in alcohol, usually).
Those AMSR videos look a little hokey. I'll have to go back and re-read your comments about the science behind them. I had a quick look but hubby is in the room so the sound is off. The problem is not so much getting to sleep, but staying asleep, or getting back to sleep if I wake in the night (which is every night, I seem to have developed an unending need to wee).
Yesterday, hubby and I stripped the front deck and sanded it back in preparation for revarnishing, which is great, but we are both out of shape and let's just say that the old muscles have made their protests loud and clear. I took two Mersyndol last night to get some relief and will be doing the same tonight, which means no sleeping tablets are required. Though I think the groaning's going to continue for a couple of days longer. The Mersyndol's to try to knock the neck pain on its head before it gets entrenched - I would take nurophen but I'm not allowed to any more.
The deck thing has been interesting. Something that was advertised as being simple has been surprisingly painful and complex, but overcoming all the obstacles as a team has really helped Darren and I feel closer to each other.
Stuff like decking is simple if you've done it before and know what you're doing … otherwise, not so much. I know that soreness you're talking about. It tends to go away on about the fourth or fifth straight day of physical labour, but those first few days are never pleasant.
Also, there's no way ASMR videos will work with the sound off. You can probably get away with sound and no picture though. Maybe headphones?
By the way, there's no science behind ASMR, because—as far as I know—it's never been scientifically studied. For all I know it's entirely some sort of placebo thing … but—if all it takes is watching a video for me to send myself off to sleep, I'll take it. I don't see any reason why people shouldn't take advantage of the awesome power of placebo … so long as they're not being swindled out of their money, or letting their kids die from some treatable illness or something.
Don't reckon it'll help with the bladder problem though.
WWIII, predictions?
Did something happen while I was asleep, Squib? I'm not seeing any catastrophic headlines in my news feeds.
Shit, can't dawdle I'm afraid. Will be back this evening.
Anonymous posted that WWIII is imminent: http://www.news.com.au/technology/online/hacking/anonymous-warns-world-to-prepare-for-world-war-iii/news-story/85fcedd4537bdc5d30ce5fd5b6184c41
It's all a bit scary, the problem is Trump Trump Trump. No sane US president would have poked Kim's hornet's nest.
One thing though: the US has been rotating personnel in and out of Darwin and surrounds for over twenty years. I don't think it's as big a deal as they think it is.
Yeah but can't help but feel, given they probably know stuff (or do they? I don't know), a bit spooked. It seems like we all got over the possibility of nuclear war, like we feel it simply can't happen because it would clearly be so monumentally stupid. But that doesn't mean it won't happen
That's how we felt in the 80s about it though. M.A.D. So now I feel like my mother when she - not knowing really how it would actually work out - told me that she'd lived through it before in the 60s and nothing happened then, it was unlikely to happen now. And I remember my doubts and fears at the time.
http://www.salon.com/2013/09/29/inescapable_apocalyptic_dread_the_terrifying_nuclear_autumn_of_1983/
But hey we're all still here aren't we?
And while I can't guarantee that nothing's going to happen, I'm not sure that even Trump is that stupid, and surely Kim has enough advisers to tell him that they will be crushed like a bug if they try anything against the US. China isn't stupid - they many have ambitions and billions of people, but they aren't in a position to start a full-scale war with the US either. So as long as nobody lets Trump push the button, I think we'll be okay.
Also, in case you forgot, Australia is a long way from anywhere (except Indonesia, and I still believe they are the biggest threat to our nation - hundreds of millions of them, a goodly number think we're all infidels and they don't have much space to live on.)
I posted my thoughts a few minutes ago, but I think you've covered most of it here Suze.
Hubby's father is coming to stay with us. For SEVEN weeks. That's going to be fun.
He's difficult. And silly, and hates being corrected when he does silly things. And I suspect has the early signs of a senile dementia, though lots of old people seem like that. I suggested that my husband go away with him just the two of them like they did last year (handy that was), and he said words to the effect of "I'll kill him if you don't come along". (I mean obviously there's no way he would kill him, but he can be so infuriating)
So if I come on here and vent, it'll likely be about him. The thought of having someone in the house for so long when we have only one sitting area is freaking me out. I like my quiet.
You're more than welcome to vent here Suze. My advice is to find some way to visualise the number of days passed and the number left to go. For some reason this helps me with unpleasant things if I know when they're going to end.
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Actually, there's a calendar in the bedroom that's not used for anything. I just don't know what I'll say if anyone asks about it.
Probably best to just have a text file on your computer or phone or whatever. That thing I did above will look better if you put it in a text editor with a monotype font. Also, you want to be able to see the whole 7 weeks at once. And avoiding awkward questions is a bonus.
Two weeks in already! I only wanted to him gone a few times, so not too bad.
We went to Tassie and it was cold. Plus there was food and alcohol and now I am fat again. Ooof.
Nearly a third of the way there Suze. It'll be over before you know it.
How was Tassie? Apart from cold.
Tassie was good. We had a good time. MONA was awesome, as was the steam train from Strahan. Jon wasn't that much trouble, he just did as we told him to for the most part and tagged along. Which was fine, if a bit passive.
The funniest part was at MONA where they have a wall of c*nts, about 70 of them, I think. (called Cunts... and Other Conversations) Darren had done what Darren does at these kinds of things and run off to look at all the things at once, and I was standing at what is basically the start with Jon, wondering what to do, when he pointed at the vulvas and asked me "What are they Sue, fossils?" And I was so nonplussed by the question I just said "No Jon, they are vulvas". And he gave a kind of start then ran off down the hall with his eyes averted! OMG made me laugh to myself.
For myself, I was more interested in looking at them and wondering which one most matched mine! (I don't know what other women do when looking at all that, but it did not make me uncomfortable, though a collegue of mine, when I was telling her, told me that the women she went with were mostly beyond retirement age and they found it confronting as well, which I also find surprising)
We did a short walk at Cradle Mountain in the early morning. It was 4C and horizontal rain but actually that day I think we got the best of the weather at that time because after, when we were driving, it was awful. I was not enthusiastic about the walk, my feet hurt a LOT of the time in my normal life (I have collapsed arches and really bad corns), and and time on my feet more than 30mins or so makes one of my hips hurt a lot, but, as usual, once we were back in the car, I was glad I had done it. One thing though, I found out how good it is to have proper hiking boots for that sort of thing - never have before in my whole life, but we went and bought some fleece-line goretex jobbies and they were just great and for the next few days they were rarely off my feet, because of the cold (my feet are always cold as well, except when they are hot, haha).
Loved Hobart. Was once again forcefully reminded how nice it would be to live in a city with normal traffic, as opposed to the insanity we put up with here in Melbourne. More and more I dream of moving out of the city to somewhere I can breathe. But I need to live somewhere no colder than Melbourne. I wonder what the job opportunities in Launceston are?
I think I'd like to retire to the South coast of WA. Of course, since most of the immediate family are over here in the East, I'll probably end up braving the cyclones and settling somewhere on the Sunny Coast.
I dunno why anyone would be uncomfortable looking at a wall of cunts. … except homosexual men … maybe?
Am I correct in understanding that you went hiking in 4°C horizontal rain? That's keen. Good work on the boots, though. I am a big proponent of comfortable, sensible footwear. Speaking of which, about two days ago, I saw a forty-ish woman in a mini-skirt and knee-high leather boots—that had sneaker-like soles in them. "Wow", I thought, "Progress".
I have similar boots - they are doc martens, quite old now, below the knee with zipped sides and the most comfy soles ever. I also have these other boots which I've probably mentioned before that have a special key to release the ice grippers in the sole
South west coast of WA is my cup of tea, around Albany way
PS. I'm a bit late to watch this one but have been binge watching Girls. So funny but the episodes are kind of short (half hour). I'm up to Season 3 already
I would love to find boots with sneaker soles.
My next pair will likely be from here https://www.duckfeet.com.au/collections/womens/products/roskilde?variant=6811083396
I was *this close* to buying a pair of these when hubby talked me into the gore-tex ones. Which, don't get me wrong, I love, but they don't scream "I really live in this place" to me.
I don't understand the problem with the wall of cunts. I think it would be good for girls to see there's a great variety of shapes and size out there and you don't have to look like a porn star and have bits cut off your flaps for men (or women) to want to fuck you. (though there was one that was so shockingly hairy I would probably think twice about that if I was lesbian!)
They look fab but a tad pricey
I agree with Squib, Suze; while they do look pretty sweet, the price tag sours me a little bit. Especially considering that's $USD. Also, they don't have finger grips for pulling them on?
Squib, have you also got shoes with a knife blade in the toe?
I used to buy Blundstones, but I've noticed that since they moved their factory overseas (Thailand, I think), now their boots start falling apart after a couple of years.
A few of the people I've worked with swear by RedBacks, but they're not exactly stylish. I need something that can double as a dress boot and a work boot.
Melba put me onto "Girls" a few years ago. I think I watched the first 3 seasons (that's all there was then) and fucking hated it. A lot of the time with fiction, I latch on to antagonists, villains, and other unsavory or unlikeable characters, but I found the people in Girls absolutely intolerable. I cheered out loud when the boyfriend character got hit by that car, and then groaned miserably when I realised he wasn't dead.
Suze, I am appalled by the existence of cosmetic labiaplasty, and would probably be willing to embrace anything that stops women from wanting it. Although, the more I think about the phrase "wall of cunts", the more my mind wanders back to the front bench of the Abbott govt.
Yeah, I commented to the salesgirl about the lack of finger grips. I suspect though that once you'd worn them in, you'd also wear in some grab-points. The price is high, that's what stopped me from buying them on the spot. They are seriously shaped for my feet and felt great on (though I suspect the wearing in process would be a bit like wearing in DMs). The good thing is that they will resole them ad infinitum, which is a bugbear of mine - always my favourite shoes wear out before I tire of them. (I had a pair of Campers I loved SO MUCH, I actually wore right through the sole. And even then I kept wearing them until one day I wore them on a cold rainy day here in Melbourne and almost froze by the time I got home on the tram because of the water in my shoe. I still google eBay occasionally in the hopes of picking up a pair the same. I also regret having thrown them out without at least attempting to get them resoled.)
Apparently there's a new trend where you wear your outdoor gear as fashion. Or at least designers are suddenly making ridiculously expensive fashion that looks like outdoor gear (as if outdoor gear isn't expensive enough). But I wore my hiking boots while we were away to dinner, and I'm thinking I will do it more here (not to flash places though, I have *some* decorum) if I have to walk a distance to get there.
Alex, I think there is a place for labiaplasty, but not in young girls, and not in porn films. I have read of cases where things are so out of shape, from childbirth or just because (I have one of mine that's a little larger than the other because of an infected gland when I was in my early teens. I still don't know how that happened, but it was painful and left me a little altered, it's barely noticeable, but I can see how it could have been or got much worse), you know, so big and flappy that the poor woman is too embarrassed by it to even have sex and it's really obvious in bathers or shorts. When something is stunting your life like that, then I think it's okay to do something about it. If it's just because they *think* boys won't fuck them if they don't have tiny little petal lips, well I'm pretty sure if they showed their vulvas to a bunch of boys/blokes, they would not care a jot, if they thought they were going to get laid after looking. (as a colleague once said to me "an average looking naked lady in front of you beats the pants off the most beautiful woman in the world on paper". He's also the guy who said to me "any bloke who's put off sex by what furniture you have in your bedroom is looking at the wrong thing". He was pretty straightforward)
If it's true that outdoor gear is becoming fashionable, that's good news for me. I feel most comfortable in work gear; probably a side-effect of growing up in the country and working in labouring jobs.
Yes, the soles have been the failure point for most of my boots as well; they either split or detach. It wasn't so bad in the days when you could expect the better part of a decade out of a good pair of boots, but these days you're lucky to get two years. I've never considered getting them re-soled though. How much does it usually cost?
From personal experience, I tend to agree with your friend. If you're at the point where your pants are off, I can't imagine too many blokes backing out, regardless of how lopsided or flappy things are. I agree though, there's always going to be exceptions; like if there's pain or discomfort, or if things are so distended that they're hanging out when you go swimming. At that point though, I dunno if you can even call it "cosmetic" surgery.
Can you add a search function, Alex? I want to read what Melba thought of 'Girls'
I will see about adding search when I get some time to play around Squib. In the meantime, if you want to search a particular site with Google, you can type in:
site:urlOfSite search terms
(for example)
site:thisblogneedsabettertitle.blogspot.com girls
Here's the page where Melba and I discuss the show here, and here's the corresponding page from her blog.
Cool, thanks. I didn't know it was that easy. Wait it minute, does that mean this site is very find-able and I need to be more careful what I say?
So long as you don't call yourself Squib anywhere else, and you don't post any links linking this place to your real identity, I think you should be ~pretty~ right.
I'm even confident enough to use my real first name.
I am going to install a VPN for... an upcoming event which I don't my ISP tracking. I'm intending to use Easynews's VPN and software, but it seems a little black-box-y. (I haven't installed it yet, but have used Easynews for about 15 years for... similar things)
The problem I'm having is my Avast is having trouble scanning my entire laptop already and if I'm going to resume those activities (I took a little hiatus when the govt introduced forced record storage by ISPs last year because I knew I'd want a VPN if I was ever to resume), I want to be able to ensure my lappy is clean on a regular basis.
It's frustrating that there's this built-in obsolescence in that once you've had a machine a few years and installed a bunch of stuff on it, it slows down to the point where it's not usefully usable for all but simple emails and browsing. I know I could wipe the C drive and start afresh, but it's always such a palaver. In a lot of ways, it's easier to buy a new laptop.
Also, the weather this weekend is getting me down.
And I have just realised we've already discussed this a little, because I googled for your post on VPNs.
I will give it a go anyway, and have at least picked up from that post that you recommend using a server in in Australia, which is worthwhile knowing.
It's only US$1.50 per month so probably worth it.
And Murdoch will never get my $ if I have any control of it. Motherfucker. So this is the way I am doing it.
Really, REALLY want HBO GO to arrive in Australia.
Oh shit, it's GoT season again already, isn't it? When's the premiere? I'll have to get a discussion page up when I get some time. And when does Orange Is The New Black come out?
Regarding VPNs: If you're overseas and you want to get stuff off iView or SBS or the like, you'll need to use a VPN server located in Australia; however, if you're in Australia and you want to hide your activity, you'll want to use a server located somewhere else.
$1.50/month seems awfully cheap. What do you get for that?
As for keeping your laptop clean; we're now at a point where people are releasing malware that actively seeks out anti-virus software and uses it to infect computers; effectively making commercial AV more trouble than it's worth. If you've got the time (and the horsepower) I recommend looking into virtualisation.
Also, while you can't stop your hardware from ageing, I find "slowdown" to be a feature most prominent in Microsoft products. With the amount of money they've made over the years, you'd think Windows would be the slickest system under the sun. Then again, you don't make that sort of money unless you give people a reason to keep buying upgrades.
Well interestingly AVAST found something in what was likely an old folder for Norton that came pre-installed on this PC. I f*ing HATE Norton. If there's anything that's going to grind your laptop to a halt, it's Norton (and Photoshop, but that's an even bigger gripe).
The slowdown you are talking about happens because we make myriad changes to a machine on a daily basis. The ones at work barely change because we are not allowed to install anything on them, ever. Or change anything for that matter.
And I don't think Apple is immune to it - my iPad is a slug because I was forced to update its OS a while back. I refuse to go beyond iOS 8 though, and that means there are now some apps that I can't install or update because they require 9 or 10, which is annoying. (I'm looking at YOU, Wimbledon app!)
Anyway, the VPN appears to be working fine for its purpose, I connected through Sweden, though that of course made things a little slow. That's okay, I barely use Easynews anymore anyway, so it taking a little longer is fine. The reason it's so cheap is because it's an add-on to the Usenet service I'm already paying $15/month for. There was a software install associated with it which seemed pretty dodgy (nothing was signed) but did not tweak my virus scanner. I have a tray icon now that I open and connect when I want to use it.
And: a white woman was shot by the cops in the US. Maybe now they'll look at the culture of the police over there and why these shootings keep happening.
It's a big deal here, because she was an Aussie, but unless she was wealthy & connected, I don't think it'll change much. People put so much emphasis on race & sex when it comes to people being given a raw deal; and while I'm not saying they're complete non-factors, I think in the modern era, class is usually a bigger factor.
I'll bet if you looked into it, you'd find that she's far from being the first white woman this has happened to.
The issue with the i(Phones/Macs/Books/Pads/Pods/etc) is that you're replacing the operating system that was designed for the device with an operating system that was designed for a much more powerful device and then retroactively shoe-horned to work on yours. Of course, if you don't keep your updates up-to-date, you end up with security issues and apps that won't work (as you said), so you're fucked either way.
I've mentioned before that I prefer to use Linux & BSD. Their open-source nature means that you can actually learn the system inside and out, which makes it much easier to maintain, and also to diagnose and fix problems when they arise. It's like being a mechanic in the old days, before they started shoving all this computerised crap into everything (I might live and breathe computers, but that doesn't mean I think they belong everywhere).
Also, if you're choosing between VPN servers in Europe, I hear Switzerland has the best privacy protection laws, although Sweden & Holland are also supposed to be pretty good.
It's a time thing. I've looked at Linux in the past, but TBH, I CBF learning a new OS and/or new software. I genuinely hate using Macs, so non-intuitive. Bitch an moan about Windows all you want, but from the minute I first installed Win95, I've had little trouble figuring out how to do the thing on a Windows machine. (though the less said about the new version of Office, the better. IT SUCKS)
I've only ever caught a virus once that I'm aware of that could not be cleaned and was cured by wiping my HDD. I did not lose anything because of the way it installed and I was able to create backups before I wiped it all.
Has anyone watched Twin Peaks The Return yet?
No. I was considering adding it to the list, but by the sounds of things, I'd have to track down the original series, because I don't think I ever saw it. If I did, I don't remember it; which seems impossible, given the hype at the time. I think it might have aired at a point in time when I was living without TV reception.
I've also heard one person say, that if you want to get the most out of new Twin Peaks, you have to have seen David Lynch's entire body of work (apparently there's references to all of his films sprinkled through it).
In any case, I here it's quite abstract in places—which I don't mind, so long as it communicates the subject matter effectively and doesn't come of as wanky (I think Natural Born Killers is a good example of abstraction done right in film).
What did you make of it, Squib?
The wrong "here" and the wrong "of" in one sentence. I'm on a role tonight.
I watched it at high school. We discussed each episode in minute detail. I re-watched the old series recently with LittleSquib and now we're up to episode 11 of The Return. It's very trippy at times but never wanky. More a work of art. Definitely worth seeing but I think you have to watch the old Twin Peaks to enjoy the recent series. One of the old characters called Log Lady had to pre-record her scenes because she was dying when they started shooting The Return so every time she appears, it's a very sad
Did you watch the "Firewalk With Me" movie that ended the original series? What did you make of it? I hear fans are split on whether it's terrible or brilliant.
Also, what did LittleSquib make of the whole thing? I dunno if it's just my mob, but it seems like kids these days have trouble understanding metaphors. Lack of exposure, maybe?
I don't remember watching the movie. I didn't like Mulholland Drive - if that's any indication of Lynch's movies, I bet I would hate it
LS remembers which character is which and explains things for me. She also looks things up on her phone and provided a massive spoiler the other night. I haven't really been looking for metaphors - maybe that's why I'm like whaaaaat the hell is that all about
I checked out the parent advisory on imdb so knew to expect a graphic sex scene in ep 10, which I forwarded
I'll bet LS loves that—having mum fast forward through scenes in TV shows.
I'm trying to remember what I've heard about the movie. I think it's supposed to bookend the show, so a lot of it is flashbacks to stuff that happened prior to episode one. Also, I've heard it's full of graphic, violent, and rapey sex scenes … so might be worth avoiding, just on that.
Oh, here's a question: I know the show revolves around the murder of Laura Palmer, but is she actually a character in the show (like, presented through flashbacks or something)?
Yes, she's in the show. She's even in it 25 years later. I have never really seen a show where they've gathered so many of the original cast 25 years later - it's so bizarre watching people 25 years on
LS more than happy to forward the sex scenes. Who wants to watch an actor the age of your dad having sex, gross. Sex scenes are boring and stupid anyway
Sex scenes are boring and stupid anyway
In Twin Peaks, or in general?
Even as a child I found sex scenes erotic and arousing.
It's only now as a middle aged woman I find them boring. The reasons why are probably myriad, but may be because there's so damn many of them nowadays. The only time I've been interested in watching one recently has been to see Kit Harrington's mighty fine arse.
In general. Sex looks (and sounds) absurd
Yes, sex looks and sounds absurd; but so does a lot of human behaviour, if you think about it too much.
However, I'm with Suze on appreciating sex scenes when I was younger. Of course, that was mainly in the '70s and '80s, when every other movie had at least one sex scene and they were all shot to look like softcore erotica.
Interestingly, sex scenes just about completely disappeared from feature films in the '90s, but seem to have re-emerged in American cable television shows.
I've actually seen a couple of docos on this subject. Quite interesting.
I just found Melba's email to me about her book, and thus that she has a blog reflecting her IRL identity.
*sigh* I miss her here (Blogger) though. And if her use of this space is anything like mine, she would not appreciate me dragging an association from here over to there. She could at least repost her blogs here. She mentions having listened to the S-Town podcast recently, which is something I was obsessed with when I heard it and would love to discuss!
I actually discussed this with Melba at the time. She was gonna set up her author's blog to promote her writing under her real name and maintain her Melba persona on Blogger for posting her real thoughts that she didn't want publishers and readers knowing about. I told her I'd stay away from her author's blog, to avoid cross-contamination and—well—frankly, because I don't really belong in a forum where people are trying to have serious discussions about literature.
The last couple of times I've heard from her, she's made references to spending too much time on Facebook and Twitter, so that's also probably a thing.
*sigh* Yeah, I miss her too.
So, what's this S-Town podcast about?
Oh my. Hard to explain. S-Town starts of as a sort of true crime thing and rapidly devolves into something else. My cousin - a criminal lawyer - has listened to it five times! (trying to glean info she missed the first time I expect) If you listen to podcasts I highly recommend it. I do occasionally (when one strikes my fancy) but I'm not obsessed. My husband is, he listens to heaps. I like audiobooks.
About Melba - she's using Blogger in the same way I am, I did post a comment on her blog which I'm hoping she might notice. I just thought since she'd written a blog she might as well repost the relevant parts of it here so we can discuss it too, but nvm.
Podcasts are my main form of news and entertainment these days, because I can listen to them while doing other things. Having said that, I'm a bit behind at the moment, because I've been writing a lot of code recently, and I need music for that. (Getting behind on news and current affairs too, I'm afraid)
So, is this S-Town thing fully factual, fully fictional, or a mixture of the two?
Also, what sort of podcasts are you into? I might be able to make recommendations if I come across something that's really good.
No it's fully factual.
I don't want to describe it because it's such a fascinating surprise what it turns into, more of a compassionate character portrait of a man and the town and the people of that town. Don't google it for reviews or descriptions.
It's mostly true crime and mystery I've been listening to - like Serial, which was brilliant as well. Along the lines of the Netflix series Making a Murderer, where the listener tries to make up their mind whether a subject committed the crime they are accused of, or what really happened. I find it fascinating. Also I've enjoyed Here's the Thing. Conversations with Richard Fidler is worth checking out too.
It does sound interesting.
Quick question for you. Remember that vlogger (I think she was Norwegian) who did little youtubes on various countries - can't find her. Did she have to shut shop?
She was Danish and her name was Victoria Flamel. You can find her English Youtube channel here; although, it hasn't been updated in about a year and a lot of her videos are gone.
I had a quick look around. It seems that about 2 years ago she had quite a substantial following; hundreds of thousands of viewers across three channels (English, Danish, Spanish), and even some dedicated fan forums. Then her output became sporadic, then it stopped, and then her old content started to disappear. No more videos, no more tweets, no more instagram, and nobody seems to know why.
I did notice that her Scandinavian videos are all gone. Dunno if that's relevant, but it might indicate she got a job somewhere that puts tight controls on social media activities. I've seen that happen before.
Anyway, Squib, how have you been? Why the sudden interest?
Thanks - weird, I couldn't find at all. Just wanted to show LS as she loves Finland
Good here, just plodding along, reworking my stupid children's ms, walking the dog, running the usual boring domestic side of things. And you?
Why Finland? (also, thanks for giving me a neat idea for a post)
Hmmm, doesn't sound like the manuscript is going so well?
As for me, I have my ups and downs. Feeling pretty good at the moment though. Loving the fact that it's really warming up here. Currently sitting at my desk topless while sipping cold tea and writing simple easy little bash scripts (computer code). What more can you ask for?
I don't know why Finland. She wants to live there
Has she even visited the place yet?
Nope, continuing the family tradition of moving to places not been to
I have news, Suze. I sent Melba a "Merry Christmas" email, and she responded. Sounds like she has had some catastrophic computer issues. Reckons she's completely locked out of her old Blogger blog - saw the comment you left there a while ago, but couldn't even post a response.
Also reckons she lost the address for this blog and my email address. Dunno if there was a hard-drive crash involved, she didn't go into details. Anyway, I guess that means we might be hearing from her again, soon … ish. Maybe. If we're lucky.
Bummer. Computer catastrophe!
Fingers crossed for a fly-by soon maybe
Is period pain a good enough excuse for a day off work? Discuss.
I've never had period pain but I'd say so, yes. I would also say menorrhagia is a good enough excuse for at least 4 days off work
Well since moving makes me feel like puking I did go home from work today after everyone else arrived. Interestingly there's not a lot of blood, it's just PAIN. I am looking at trying to get the fucking thing cut out of me to end this nightmare.
I don't think it matters if it's period pain or any other sort of pain, if it's that bad, get yourself to a doctor.
I can think of a few people I know who started getting really severe period pain as they got older. I think all of them ended up having hysterectomies in the end.
Really? My doctor (and my husband for that matter) think what I'm asking is too drastic.
But I don't see why I should have to suffer like this for an unknown period of time until menopause. If they could definitively tell me that it will only be a couple of years, then okay. But they can't.
I suppose you could always go down the route of munching down painkillers every month.
Personally, I hate taking painkillers.
I should also point out though, that I hate the idea of having surgery too.
So it's a Hobson's choice really.
Munching down painkillers, and calling in sick every month doesn't seem to me to be a good way to manage this.
The only other viable option is going back on the pill. Which becomes riskier as you get older.
Significantly riskier?
It's not one of those things where people talk about a 600% increase in risk, and then you find out it's the difference between 0.01 and 0.6, or something like that, is it?
I suppose I should know all this, but it's been quite a while since I've needed to use contraception.
The Mirena gets a lot of bad press but if it works, it really works - might be worth trying before you go down the drastic route of an operation, which also carries risks. My periods became so bad, I felt suicidal
Yeah my cousin is dead keen on hers. But I have an innate distrust in IUDs since my mum had such a bad experience with one when I was a child. I have a referral and will discuss all the options with the gynaecologist if she ever comes back from holidays. But there's another uterus related issue that's a little gross to mention in public which is the second reason I want the thing out. I have been convinced for the last (lots of) years that something is going wrong up there and the increasing pain is just making me even more convinced. Either way, a general anaesthetic is going to be required.
I think everyone knows someone who's got an IUD horror story. But I guess there'd have to be a lot of success stories out there too, just that people don't talk about them as much.
The idea of something being "too gross" to mention sounds a little bit concerning.
Hey I'm here!!
So much to catch up on but here is a list of my first thoughts:
1. Twin Peaks - The Return
2. GIRLS
3. I now have a list of passwords on both my computers
4. thanks Suze for not cross-contaminating my IRL to my Melba ID
5. nice to see you all again
6. I have missed you all
7. I have had a terrible (and wonderful) 2017
8. I'm hoping for a quieter less tricky 2018
9. Hapoy New Year to you all
10. I didn't need a password to comment here but for some reason my blog I can't get onto
11. I have become too addicted to facebook and twitter. This year I want to scale that back. It's mindless repetitive scrolling. Like I imagine gambling is. Stupid.
12. I can report my bottom is in excellent shape thanks to lots of water, Metamucil tabs, loads of salads and walking, my sinuses have still been bad but am on kefir, trying to breathe through my nose (parasympathetic nerve stuff) and did a bunch of probiotics, cut back on the alcohol and did a Dr Gundry Diet Evolution program. Lost a bunch of weight, controlled my relfux and digestive issues. Last year did some big walks and kept my hour-long walks up. Started tai chi. Then all of that kind of stopped in October when my daughter had an accident overseas and I had to go and help her.
13. Just got back from another trip - this time planned - overseas where I ate like a fucking oligarch in Russia so put weight back on, but am back on the Gundry program... read his book. The Gundry Diet Evolution or something like that. It's fascinating and almost every page I'm going 'ah!' it makes a lot of sense.
14. The Handmaid's Tale
15. S-Town - did you end up listening to it Alex?
also 16. podcasts generally - i want to listen to more this year. My daughter has given me a list.
Great to hear from you again Melbs … you bloody tease! You can't just tell us you had a wonderful AND terrible 2017 and not go into any details. How is Princess!? You don't have to go into details on that one, but you have to at least tell us if she's all right or not!
How's work? How's writing? What were the countries like you went to (so much about Europe and the Middle East in the news, but nothing beats talking directly to the people)? Did you move house successfully? How are the rest of the family: parents, siblings, husband, step-kids, pets? It's been a year for Christ's sakes; dish up the goss!
Anyway, like so many shows, I have "The Handmaid's Tale" but haven't got around to watching it. My podcast player (old phone) tells me I currently have a 300hr backlog to get through (mostly thanks to Chrissy break & cricket season) so no S-Town either.
As far as passwords go, have you considered looking into using a password manager? They have their issues, but they're a lot safer than having your passwords sitting on your computer in a plain text file. Also, writing your passwords down on a piece of paper and carrying them in your purse/wallet isn't as risky as most people think (when was the last time you were mugged?). I'm sure I've written a post on this subject in the last couple of years.
I sent you a big long email with all the details but short answers:
Princess ok, more than. But she busted her ankle really badly in October
Work is grouse but too busy
Writing very good - new book in March
Places we went were Russia - Moscow, St Pete and two towns on Golden Ring, Helsinki, Prague, Krakow. New Year's Even in St Pete was surreal - tv had Putin's address and we all had to be upstanding for the national anthem. it was very militaristic but I will say no one knows how to party like Russians. Also, Moscow has a high oligarch rating we felt.
Moved house successfully - very successfully as I was in Perth when the physical move happened
Everyone else good but our little cat Alan died in May - we were sooooo devo and I have never cried so much. Turned out the food we were feeding him wasn't good and about twenty other cats died in OZ, big facebook support group with about 300 people, and 100 distinct affected owners. Long story...
I'm sure you've mentioned password manager before. I think Princess has one/it.
GOOD TO BE BACK. (Read the email...) So the year has been a scrabble of keeping my mouth above the water line. And at times, just my nostrils!
Thanks for the email, Melbs. It pretty much covers everything. I'll have to sit down and compose a reply.
Two points:
1) Password manager is a type of software, so there are a few of them. LastPass was the one everyone raved about until about a year ago, when they were bought out. Don't hear so much about it anymore.
2) I'm not sure how to interpret "Moscow has a high oligarch rating". Do you mean that it's where a lot of oligarchs live, that there's a lot of oligarch money floating around there, that people are more favourable towards oligarchs than in the rest of the country, or something else entirely?
Welcome back Melba. I did see that P had had an accident - I trust she is all fixed up now? Awful about Alan. You aren't the only person I know who was affected by that, if you can believe it. Small world. Did you get another cat? Nothing better than a furry friend in your life, and it will help with the healing, I always believe. Also, there are so many cats needing homes, I always get sad when I see adoption sites.
2017 was terrible for a lot of us - a huge bunch of terrible things happened to almost everyone I know. One of the things I think is contributing to many people's belief that 2017 was bad is the ceaseless reporting of celebrity deaths and people seem to be taking them sooo personally. I mean, it was sad that Prince died (for instance), but I'm not going to shed a tear over it, even though I consider myself to be a fan (that will not change). Same for Bowie - the amount of self-flagellation over Bowie was completely over the top. You be sad for a day or so, sure, but don't spend six months actively mourning like he was your best friend, or your brother (yes I have seen this online). People need to keep it in perspective - he was brilliant, it's sad and it was a shock because he kept his illness secret.
I dunno, perhaps because I was mourning someone who was real and really in my life, the rest seemed superfluous and needlessly hysterical (especially the endless tributes), and I'm being unfair to people who were seriously affected. I have cried a bit over the years about Freddie Mercury, but his illness was so unfair - and he was almost at his peak when he got sick, he was still so young, and worst of all, had he got sick even 5 years after he did, he'd possibly still be alive now.
Anyway, Alex you need to listen to S-Town. Though I think I'd have to re-listen to have a serious discussion over it. Forget the other 294 hours or whatever, go straight to Shit-Town.
Hubby and I have done a Twin Peaks rewatch in anticpation of the new series, but as when it aired initially, I got shat with it halfway through S2 and stopped watching. It just got waaay too weird. Perhaps I have no faith in Lynch, but given the way S1 ended I didn't have high hopes of S2 making any more sense at the end and it was just ANNOYING me with its OTT impossible-to-follow-ness.
Yeah, diet books (I googled). I'm sure I could write one that makes people go "ah!" as well, having been on my own thing this year (still fat, but I think that's alcohol and sugar at fault. Oh well). I do not believe in the need to eat neandethals or paleolithics or whatever, except in respect that modern varieties of wheat are not healthy because they have been engineered to have a much higher gluten content to make them industrial baking friendly (and you can fix that by eating sourdough). But I do agree with the diet the man is spruiking (for the most part). So what he has done is write a really long explanation of diet things I agree with, using explanations I do not agree with, so I've just realised how clever he is and good for you that it has worked for you and good for him for making money off it. And I don't mean any of that to sound patronising - though I could see how you could take it that way - I'm actually head-slapping wishing I could do the same thing!
I did read an article (well possibly just the headline) recently that claimed that cheese is as addictive as.. I can't remember what they compared it to, but if you guys have tried that delicious gooey Fromager D'Affinois that's available at Coles/Woolies, you'd believe it.
I wonder what went wrong with LastPass. Maybe they were bought out by a group that people don't trust to keep their data safe? I had considered creating a Dropbox file with my passwords but I'm not sure Dropbox is unhackable anyway. :P
I gave up Twitter because it was too time-consuming, and also really hard to follow now that it's no longer linear. And try to keep Facebook under a couple of hours a day. Which I know sounds like a lot but I'm usually looking at TV as well and it's cut down from a LOT more. I can waste whole days online. Just like I am writing this post. So now I'm going to end.
x
Thanks Suze. Sorry to hear about all your hard stuff subsequent to losing your sister. A very tough time for you, and with the health stuff too. Argh. I've heard that cheese is rated as addictive as heroin. Maybe a joke, maybe not. I don't know Fromager D'Affinois. I will check it out! MMMMMM. Guru Gundry doesn't mind a bit of cheese.
Dropbox I am wary of. And I don't use the cloud. I try to split my stuff around the place but am probably terribly protected. Clokes got cross at me (as much as he is able) when I sent my credit card details via email to a Russian restaurant to make a booking. But I split the emails and didn't give the actual CSV or whatever that three-digit number is.
About Twin Peaks - do you mean s2 is the recent one? I stopped almost half way through as well. Lynch's women. I cannot abide. He hasn't moved with the times and it is so sexist and reductive. They are sexy, or being beaten (or both) or shrill harpies, to wit Naomi watts's character. I couldn't stand it. And everyone going 'oh he is genius wow wow'. no. He might have been but it's all wearing thin and it was just so stupid. That is my review of that. There was NO HEART (it was all smart, or 'smart') and the first season had heart. I liked Mulholland Drive. I couldn't stand/understand the other one, the weirder one. IN retrospect I think Blue Velvet says it all. That female character? She is so abused and exploited... and the male characters. I think Lynch is a fucked up creep and I think his films are just his sandbox. As I'm realising is the case for so many male film directors, and other men in the public eye. Woody Allen. Louis CK. I don't know his work but apparently his 'characters' would go on about masturbating in front of women - when he was doing that in real life. So hiding in plain view. Now there is Aziz Ansari, whose character in Master of None stands up for women against a creepy workplace harasser yet has a questionable 'is this consensual? is this someone seeking enthusiastic consent from the other person, is this someone who is maybe getting off by pushing the boundaries and pushing ahead with sexual behaviour even though the other person is probably showing they really aren't into it' sexual end to a date.
This is partly why I haven't been here. It's just an outlet to offload but then I get caught up.
What good TV have people been watching? We are rewatching How I Met Your Mother - parts of it are just sexist cringe, other parts are SO FUNNY - because we just need something light and funny. WE saw Crown Season 2. Anyone else? Anyone excited for Harry's wedding. I AM!!
Good to see you, Melbs. Yes, Twin Peaks The Return was sexist - especially the agent woman who had a weird walk, which was supposed to be sexy but actually looked incredibly silly - but I was so interested in the aging process, seeing everyone 20 years later and the Log Lady etc Also, pretty much all the characters, incl. the men, are stupid or flawed in one way or another. The three women who traipse around in pink dresses were a complete send-up - at least I thought so and even found them funny because so absurd
The last season of Girls was slightly disappointing, made even more so by the whole Lena defending her accused of rape mate thing. Sigh
Yes, Facebook - endless scrolling. Also, sometimes the unfriending takes its toll because even though I'm not supposed to give a shit when someone unfriends me, I still do and it really doesn't matter how minor a character that person is in my life story. People who would otherwise, if you'd not been friends on FB, still be your friends - in whatever distant sense - because you don't delete people that way in real life. Anyway, I think it sucks
I've watched all the TV. I've run out. McMafia (BBC) is good - you'd like that one
Food - really enjoying a recipe book called 15 Minute Vegan by Beskow. Obviously I throw a bit of cheese in some of the dishes but honestly, the meals are delish without. And so nice and simple. I have a nice big stainless steel wok which I whip up some pad thai jay in - fabbo
Other big thing - since reading Kate Grenville's anti-fragrance book, I've defragranced nearly everything. I was never one for air fresheners and crap anyway but since doing that, I feel a lot better. Also, I ditched the aluminium deodorant for Moo Goo which you can actually buy here and which actually works woo hoo
Suze:
The first time I noticed the over-the-top hysterics around celebrity deaths was when Steve Jobs died. People were having candle-light vigils, and throwing themselves on the ground screaming like kids having a bloody tantrum, and the amount of technical stuff that he was given credit for that was actually done by other people, was fuckin' insulting.
I think not being on social media means I avoid the worst of it, but I copped a gob full of Jobs because it was all over the tech press as well. Bloody sickening.
I don't know about cheese being all that addictive. I eat a lot of cheese, because it's the one thing in my diet that's both filling and doesn't require preparation. Some days I feel like I could live the rest of my life without ever eating cheese again.
I believe LastPass was bought by LogMeIn, and you're right, they don't have the same squeaky clean reputation that LastPass had as an independent entity. Also, DropBox is completely insecure. If you're going to use it, at least encrypt your passwords before syncing them.
Melba:
Feel free to unload as much as you like.
As for TV, the only things I've seen are Game of Thrones, which can't end soon enough as far as I'm concerned; and Stranger Things, which I thought had an absolutely terrible second season. I still haven't gotten around to watching last year's Orange Is The New Black.
Who is Harry? Is he a character from Crown?
Squib:
What is Moo Goo. I also tend to avoid fragrances. Don't really care for them all that much. Would probably stop using deodorant altogether if I never had to work around other people. Gave up shampoo and conditioner years ago. Just use regular soap now.
GENERAL:
I haven't seen the old Twin Peaks or the new, so does anyone feel like having a go at explaining to me why it's sexist? Is it just that the characters are broken and fucked up? Is it just the women, or the men as well? Am I the only person who likes stories with characters who are broken and fucked up?
I have no problem with calling Woody Allen a creep, but that's got everything to do with his private life and nothing to do with his movies.
I don't know anything about Aziz Ansari or Louis CK.
"Who is Harry? Is he a character from Crown?"
This made me laugh. The quip answer is: not yet.
The real answer is: Prince Harry, marrying the black actress Meghan Markel, which is creating an uproar because *gasp* an inter-racial marriage! Nobody ever talks about all the cousin marrying that went on for hundreds of years and only stopped in the 19th century (and even then there's so much inbreeding in the aristocracy that they were all second cousins anyway, which ironically, genetically is worse than marrying a 1st cousin, but I can't remember the explanation for that, just something I learnt in Molecular Biology at Uni). I think it's a good match, though I don't know if she's actually a nice person, but a friend of a friend of a (British) friend insists that Harry is the nicer Prince and with their charity work, they might do some good in the world. Actually I've thought Harry was the nicer prince when he was lip-read as saying to William as Kate arrived "OMG she looks so beautiful!" without a hint of malice or envy on his face, but anyway...
I thought the way Louis CK handled the thing was completely appropriate - he acknowledged, accepted and apologised. Compared to Kevin Spacey "I'm gay, that's my excuse!" as if the whole world didn't know that, and that's not an excuse for jumping anyone, male or female. And since the whole Craig McLoughlin thing, I've been thinking, no wondering about just how bad does a man's behaviour have to be before it's allowed to ruin his career without proof or a trial or anything. Because I've been kissed by men I didn't want to be kissed by, and I wouldn't have thought it was something to ruin their career over. Rather, I should have kicked them in the shins for it instead. Or the nuts. Of course, I admit my view of this is a little skewed because we have tickets to the RHS that he was supposed to be in, and I'm upset about him being replaced.
I've ignored Aziz Ansari because I got sick of reading about it all.
Moo Goo is an Australian brand of skincare stuff cleverly packaged in gimmicky milk cartons - anyway they have a deodorant that uses milk of magnesium. You still sweat but you don't smell but you have to give your armpits a generous rolling (not like Mitchum which you can brush on and it last for 10 days cos it's so packed with aluminium)
I can't stand all these royal TV shows that have popped up everywhere - especially 'Victoria' because whose stupid idea was it to cast the Doctor Who assistant as Queen Vic? When I was a kid, I was really interested in the Tudors and in particular the nine day queen, Lady Jane, and I would order Tudor books from other libraries. Which is slightly weird, now that I think about it. Anyway, that's olds and it's all been done before so maybe that's why I can't be bothered with the all the royal telly shows
I think Woody's movies are way sexist. The men are always really old and/or ugly and the women are always stunning and WAY WAY younger than their love interests. Plus his films aren't even that great so I don't get why he's so beloved
Regarding Twin Peaks, a lot of the female characters are very 'stereotypical' to the point of being a bit absurd but the male characters aren't exactly clever or better than the women either
Craig's actions sound really juvenile and not like someone who was nearly 50 (?) at the time
Squib:
Where do you get this Moo Goo from? Also, I've heard people talk about aluminium in deodorant for a while now. Are there actually health risks associated with it?
Cheers for the Twin Peaks explanation. Do you reckon it's definitely sexism then, or just general incompetence?
As for the characters in Woody's flicks, I guess he makes what he knows (*boom*tish*). But, to be clear, I'm not a huge fan of his work either. My point was that I think he's a creep because of the stuff he's done in his personal life, and not because of anything he puts in his fictional works. I ~generally~ try to separate the two as much as I can. I also try not to judge people too harshly on the fiction they consume. … *ahem* … I may have been known to read some really dark fantasy/horror with more than a hint of sexual violence … um … in the past … couple of hours.
Also, what's the story of Lady Jane? I know bugger all about that stuff.
Suze:
Oh right, that Harry. Is his missus black, is she? I haven't kept up with it. I do remember something about her name being spelt normally but having a funny pronunciation. Like Collin "Colon" Powell.
I dunno about him being the nicer prince, but he does get more respect from my Dad and his army mates that the other royals do. "The word" is that, like his uncle, he actually saw live combat, unlike his father and brother, who were sheltered from anything dangerous.
As far as the unwanted kissing goes, (I think we talked about this before) for me, there's two sort-of-separate issues here. When it's just two people at the pub or a party or something, trying to negotiate non-verbal signals of attraction over drinks, I'm willing to accept that mistakes are going to happen. But the golden rule is "no means no".
On the other hand, when it's your employer or somebody like that putting the hard word on you, and you're not sure if your job is at stake if you say or do the wrong thing, that's getting into different territory.
You get it from moogoo dot com dot au RE: whether aluminium deodorants increase cancer, as usual, no one agrees - some studies say no, some yes, some maybe
Twin Peaks probably is plain old sexism but given that 99 TV shows out of 100 are sexist...
Technically speaking, Lady Jane wasn't a queen. After little Prince Edward died, she was next in line so while she was waiting for the coronation, the top knobs (Privy Council) decided they wanted a Catholic so they tried to replace Jane with Bloody Mary. They threw young Jane in the Tower and eventually cut off her head
Jeez, poor girl.
99 TV shows out of 100 are sexist
Really? It's gotten that bad, huh?
… wow.
Sorta glad I don't really watch telly anymore, if that's the case.
I have really enjoyed this year's winter olympics. I LOVE snowboard cross and slopestyle. It interests me that there are a bunch of new sports in the last two winter olympics. It seems that the winter sports are moving with the times faster than the summer sports.
Sorry for my absence. Should have a bit more time to spend around here now. Should.
I have also enjoyed the winter olympics, even though I don't understand the rules of some of the events (especially in the speed skating). Like you, I have found slopestyle and snowboard cross really fun to watch. I heard one commentator talking about how the X-Games have become a major force in world sports, and a lot of the athletes competing in the newer events have come up through that system rather than through traditional sporting organisations. I suppose it makes sense for the olympics to embrace anything that's popular/profitable. They are a business, after all. Having said that, I've heard rumours that they may be considering branching out into e-sports (video-games) as well. I think that might be a bridge too far for me. Nieces and nephews would probably love it though.
As always, my favourite sport has been the doubles figure skating (singles is crap). They might wanna start thinking about dress requirements for the women though. I heard that yet ANOTHER boob popped out, and I saw one woman get a massive front-and-back wedgie during a lift-and-toss move which she couldn't pick out until after the routine had ended. Then again, maybe this sort of quasi-risque "scandal" is all part of the appeal of the sport. There seemed to be a lot of people going off about how how the Canucks were pushing the limits of acceptability, even though I couldn't really see why.
The family and I caught some of the AFLX last weekend, too, and opinions were split. All of the youngsters seemed to like it, while everyone over the age of twenty found it fuckin' boring. There was much debate over the decision to play in Sydney, where they must have known there'd be an empty stadium, but none of us could come up with an explanation.
And speaking of poor decisions, I hope whichever Optus employee was behind the Cuba Gooding Jr ads got sacked. Jr might be a highly charismatic sort of bloke, but I can't imagine he came cheap, and those ads are the most annoying fuckin' things I've seen in ages.
Also, what's with the American ads that seem to be creeping onto our televisions? By which, I mean ads full of Yank actors that were clearly made for the Yank market. The current Microsoft ads come immediately to mind.
I can't complain about every ad that's on though. I've been absolutely suckered in by this Australian Spartan thing, and if I remember, will be tuning in to ch7 at 7 tonight.
How good is this figure skating gala?
I dunno why they don't bring this flashier, funner*, and more acrobatic stuff into competition.
* Apparently "funner" is a proper word now. Who would have guessed?
I have missed the gala. I hope they replay it sometime because I can't watch it on-demand because of 7s stupid apps needing iOS X, which I am NOT installing.
I prefer the solo stuff myself, and have always though ice dancing a bit naff, compared to actually figure skating. HOWEVER, this year's have been fun to watch so I'm re-evaulating. At least I don't need to be an expert in spotting a triple flip from a double lutz (WTAF?) to enjoy ice dancing.
That gay American dude us awesome, and he's solo, BTW, so it's worth checking out.
Sorry but OLYMPICS is about ATHLETES. Video gamers are almost never ATHLETES. No aerobic capacity required. I can't accept that as a valid olympic sport. Though I do agree that the addition of X-games things to the Winter Olympics has really spiced it up (still not very excited about the snowboard half-pipe and don't get me started on how stupid the skiers look doing that one!). So I can see a place for parkour and skateboarding at the Summer games. Parkour in particular requires extreme athleticism and daring. I can't think of anything else off the top of my head (rock climbing?), but my cousin loves Ultimate Frisbee (who knew ANYONE still even had a frisbee??!).
I think they've already got BMX in the summer olympics. I anticipate seeing a bunch of rollerblading/skateboarding events next time. And yes, the half-pipe stuff was rubbish. Did you see the Yank who competed for Hungary, and didn't do a single trick?
And as much as I don't want to see video-games at the olympics, I concede that it's hard to make the athleticism argument when you've already got events like lawn-bowls and curling.
As with gymnastics, I am frustrated by the fact that the olympics excludes the more exciting elements of doubles figure skating (eg: adagio and acrobatics), as well as the teams events.
Also, I'm not a fan of ice-hockey, but this Canadian commentary is excellent. And I have to admit that I'm a little bit happy to see the Ruskies win. Oh sorry, I mean the OARs.
AUSTRALIAN SPARTAN:
Well, I almost made it to the first set of ads before I had to mute it. The commentary was driving me bananas. Still watching though.
Hmmm, once you turn the audio off and put some hard rockin' music on, this show's actually pretty good.
I wonder if they're gonna put an unedited version up on their website. I feel cheated that they stopped playing whole runs, and just went to highlights instead. Piss weak, 7.
Also, considering how much they were talking up the need for teamwork, it's a bit crap that most of the obstacles could actually be overcome by somebody working on their own. A bit more thought could have gone into the course, I reckon.
But aside from those gripes, and the fuckin' commentary, I quite liked it.
I don't understand that the OARs were allowed to compete in team events.
Seems insane
I can venture a guess.
Look at the peptide scandal in the NRL, and the doping scandal in cycling, and the match-fixing scandal in cricket, and the general corruption scandal in soccer. My theory is that doping and corruption are absolutely rife in professional sports and most higher-ups at the various governing and regulatory bodies are either benefiting from it directly or doing their best to look the other way.
In fact, if I remember my history correctly, what kicked things off with the Russians, was a leak from a WADA whistle-blower who claimed both WADA and the Olympics were sitting on their hands and doing the minimum amount possible to investigate allegations. I also believe that Russia was only one of a number of countries caught up in the scandal. HOWEVER, at the time, Russia was very much in the international dog-house, over goings on in Ukraine (especially in regards to Crimea, and that plane that came down), so most of the reporting centred on their involvement.
Something had to be seen to be done!
But then again, Russia is a big country with a large population and a fair amount of wealth. And Ice-hockey is the #1 sport at the winter Olympics. So, you don't want all those mad Russian sports-fans staying at home with their rubles in their wallets and their tellies tuned into "Celebrity Oligarch Weight-loss Challenge" or whatever.
Not only that, Russia is part of the ever shrinking pool of countries that are still willing to host the games. Most populations no longer buy the horse-shit about making their money back through tourism, and aren't willing to see their tax dollars pissed away trying to impress the rest of the world.
How do you show the world that you're coming down hard on the villain of the hour without hurting your own interests too much? Well, you know the rest.
I was watching the news tonight, and in one of the items, the reporter described a swimmer as being in omnious form. I dunno the spelling, but it was pronounced:
OM-NEE-US
Has anyone ever heard of this word?
Also watched the second episode of Spartan with the family (so the volume was on). Commentary was much better this time around. I'm really enjoying this show.
Your theory about the Olympic comittees ignoring doping and the like has merit - but what is the solution? Open slather to take whatever drug you want to enhance performance and bugger the consequences? (like women growing a penis, men losing their balls and cancerous livers and god only knows what else...the biggest problem most people have with the Essendon FC supplements scandal was that they were essentially experimenting on the players with no real idea of the long-term consequences of the things they were giving them in the pursuit of fleeting success)
Omneeus, noods, aks, aloominum - there's a bunch of mispronunciations that shit me to tears in the media.
Have been watching UnREAL on Stan. First season was excellent, second was a trainwreck and I'm hoping they turn it around for the third. Apart from the appalling look into the world of reality TV (and considering it was developed by a producer from the US Bachelorette stable, I have to guess that at least some of it is true), the main characters have very quickly become very unlikable and like Sons of Anarchy, I'm only still watching in the hopes everyone who's awful gets their comeuppance.
Also got my latest car insurance quote. Why's it so fucking expensive to insure a car? Though this year I am not paying the inertia penalty - I am switching insurers. I have had quotes of $1700, $1100, $1200 and (I am not kidding) $3800. Also interesting, most want to know how many crashes you've had in the last 5 years, one the last 3. All of them seem to think that a 50-50 fault claim makes you "at fault", and there's nowhere to put in the info that the only reason I had one of the accidents is because the other party ran out against a red light.
Cars are a money pit. Don't get me started on rego. Sometimes I think I would be better off going back to just having a motorbike. Unfortunately, there's always going to be times when you need to cart around kids and old people.
Also, it's not just car insurance that's through the roof. I dropped my contents insurance years ago, in favour of starting my own personal insurance fund (basically, a separate bank account). This year, I upped my payments and dropped the auxiliaries from my health insurance as well (still got hospital though).
I've never seen UnREAL, but one of the podcasters I listen to used to work in the American television industry, and reckons it's a fantastic.
I don't normally get as wound up about pronunciation as I do about word selection. After all, I say nood and aloominium too. But aks is different. It's just so very VERY American. And speaking of Americanisms, why is everybody saying "candy" now. It's like the word "lolly" just fuckin' stopped existing at the end of last year. What the fuck happened!? Also, MEDAL is not a fuckin' VERB! And stop saying "literally" when you mean the exact fuckin' OPPOSITE of literally! ... Ahem. But getting back to omneeus, my issue there is, I genuinely have no fuckin' idea what the fuck it's a mispronunciation of. Ominous? The swimmer was in ominous form? That still sounds kinda weird.
As for doping in sport, I don't think there is a solution. You're not going to get rid of it, and I think there's probably less harm in pretending it's not as wide-spread and widely-accepted as it probably is. If nothing else, it stops it from being cool in the eyes of kids. I've said this before, but I never really cared that much about professional sports until I had young people in my life, but the youngsters in my family are absolutely sporting mad. I can't remember the last time I heard any of them talk about an actor or a musician. It's all cricketers, footballers, netballers, swimmers, runners, cyclists, skaters, surfers ... and Youtubers.
RIP Australian Spartan. You were too beautiful for a world of cooking and reno shows.
So what do you think about this nerve gas thing? The Russians seem like they don't give a shit and they seem to be dropping hints that it wasn't them. Mind you, they also said they didn't down that Boeing over Ukraine, when they obviously did
May ooks ridiculous, giving them a deadline when Britain is becoming more powerless by the hour over Brexit. Like Putin must be so scared. Not
The plane that was shot down, I don't put as much blame on the Russian/East-Ukrainian forces as I do the airline. They knew there were military planes dropping bombs in the area, and they knew there were ground troops shooting up at those planes. I know it's common practice to fly over war zones, but that still doesn't make it a good idea.
As for the ex-spy who was poisoned; while I think Russia, China, and North Korea are often used as convenient diversions, I don't think this is one of those times. I'd say that it's pretty bloody likely he was killed by the FSB, probably with Putin's say-so. Just like the last poor bugger. And the fact that they seem to have gone after his whole family, suggests that they wanted to get the message across loud and clear. Having said that, it's not like the Ruskies run around killing the families of everybody who's ever spied against them, so I don't know what made this bloke worthy of such attention. Must have been something though.
And as for what the Poms can do about it, probably not a great deal. The EU's already tried to put the screws on over Ukraine & Syria, and I don't see that it's had that much of an impact.
Yeah, I guess it's a bit too coincidental right before the election
Have you seen the Russian opinion polls? I don't think Putin's losing a lot of sleep over it.
I guess. So why the need to boost opinion? It's all very fishy!
I don't know why they did it now, but I doubt it was to boost opinion.
This is nothing but a wild guess, but maybe they'd gotten word that the former spy was going to go public with some big revelation. It would've had to be massive though, to put any sort of significant dent in Putin's lead. And this is an even wilder guess, but maybe they'd been slipped some dud info by the Yanks, in the hope they'd do exactly what they did (don't reckon the Poms would've orchestrated a mess like this in their own back yard), thus making Putin look like a monster* right before the election, and adding a bit more fuel to the general anti-Russian sentiment that's out there.
Or maybe the timing was just coincidental after all. I really don't know.
* Putin is a monster, but so are most people in those sorts of positions. It comes with the territory.
The thing that interests me is: why, if it WAS Russia, would they do it in such a way as they can really be the only country blamed for it? Really sloppy work if it was them. The nerve agent used was exclusive to them, apparently.
As far as we know.
But it seems quite possible to me that some other lab synthesised the agent and it was used to poison him. I mean, if the movies are to be believed, it's risky but possible, common even, to extract a scientist from Russia in exchange for their knowledge, which is often really valuable to the opposition.
Though I think you are right, the only possible motivation for such a risky and blatant operation was to prevent him making some sort of explosive revelation, and you can bet that there are people who also know what it was he was going to do.
You are right though, it's not doing Britain any favours, globally. They look like a 3yo jumping up and down screaming about things being unfair. No stupid deadline, just expel the "diplomats" (most of whom are probably spies anyway), and be done with it.
I started writing out a list of all the scenarios, but I think I'm going to go to bed and continue tomorrow.
What's the name for people who comment on behalf of regimes? I mean they're not trolls. They must have a name. Whatever they're called, I noticed one commenting on The Independent (which, even though it's gone downhill, still has some different angles on things). Anyway, so they said this:
'Wouldn't it be nice if a BBC journalist could ask what precisely Mr Skripal was doing working with Christopher Steele, the same Mr. Steele ex-MI6 agent who created the Trump dossier for both the Republican party to dig the dirt on Trump and nobble him in the nominations, and then for the Hilary Clinton team in the same capacity? What happened to the Novichok which the Americans 'cleaned up' at the chemical weapons facilities in Uzbekistan where the old USSR used to make this poison? Do they have stockpiles of it, and did they pass any over to the British at Porton Down (only 8 miles from where the poisoning took place)? Perhaps they could also surmise on the benefits for Russia in doing this just 3 months before they host the football World Cup? Does Russia want countries to boycott their World Cup? Or would it suit the British to see the Russia World Cup boycotted?'
OK, so it seems v.conspiracy theory-ish but these days who can tell what's true anymore. Anyway, I pasted mainly to show that there didn't need to be another lab with the same stuff. It could just be 'reclaimed' nerve agent
PS. This Intel Pentium 4 - could it have a box-style screen? Or would it have a flat screen?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VGA_connector
Most likely, it would be using a VGA connector, and thus, could be hooked up to either a CRT (box) or LCD (flat). And if the computer and monitor were bought together, it could have easily come with either. I dunno when CRTs completely disappeared from the shelves, but it was well into the 2000s, if my memory serves me right.
I still intend to come back and post more about Russian spies, but I'm dog tired. Doing shit with the family again this weekend. Kids are over the moon that QLD still have a chance of getting into the AFLW final, thanks to the doggies narrowly winning a ripper match this evening. All we need now is for the magpies to beat the crows tomorrow. Hmmm.
Also, is anyone surprised and/or disappointed not to have gotten a green Batman for St Paddy's day?
Thanks r: the CRT box. Don;t have a scoobie what you mean re: green batman
I'm a Batman voter and I'm only a little surprised. You really ought to have seen all the shit in the papers flying around.
eg Shorten's a two-faced liar about Adani, Bhathal is a branch-stacking bully hated within her own party ranks, old people being rung up on election day and told they don't have to vote, the local "Leader" paper which arrives in everyone's mailbox whether we want it or not featuring stories against Bhathal one week and a huge full-page FRONT-page ALP ad the day before the election.
There's a small contribution too I think from disaffected voters who voted green in the local elections only to find the green-dominated Darebin council only doing things that advance the green agenda (not that those things are bad, per se, though I've been angry a couple of times because they seem hell-bent on getting us all to abandon our cars in favour of walking or cycling, which is fine if you are young and healthy but a significant portion of the Darebin residents are very old and that's just not viable, meanwhile they are putting in traffic controls, freakin' lowering the speed limit everywhere and just making it harder to get around by car (in one instance, for no discernible benefit at all for anyone, and actually rendering the intersection far more dangerous), while neglecting things that really matter like the reinstatement of the green avenue after Melb Water ripped up all the trees on St Georges Rd and also threatening to rip up the remaining mature avenue to make a wider bike path, which is absolutely not necessary where they want to do it. This put me right off voting Green in this Federal seat. Their ideology is making my own life worse, basically.
And as for conflating the election with Adani, well I don't see how one newly-minted MP with no experience whose seat is in VIC can affect whether or not that mine goes through (I hope it doesn't, coal is as dead as it's making the Reef), so that was NOT an issue that I voted on, and I suspect a lot of Batman voters didn't consider it important either. The Labor candidate OTOH was female (tick), was a nurse 20 years, so understands the public health system (I assume) and recently ran an EXTREMELY successful union campaign here in VIC for the nurses union (shit if I could get a deal like that, I wouldn't be so desperate to change jobs). Not to mention - and this is something that's been horribly overlooked IMO - David Feeney, the previous Labor MP was not One Of Us at all. A rich man with six investment properties (one of which he claimed to have "forgotten" he owned FFS because he didn't declare it on the asset register, oh if I only had enough money I could forget I owned a WHOLE HOUSE) who could not even be bothered to LIVE IN HIS ELECTORATE - or even very close to it! No way Jose was I voting for him - I voted Green in the previous Federal election because he was so on the nose, and I know others around me who did as well, which I think led to the belied that the seat is more marginal than it is. I live south of the so-called hipster-proof fence and let me tell you, there are very few hipsters in my immediate area (it's mostly working professionals and families and elderly migrants) and I think the pundits missed the part where most of us are just working stiffs who want a fair go.
Ged Kearney is someone whose personal politics are just as progressive as the Green candidate as far as I can tell, but she is part of a party that actually can form govt, so IMO is in a better position to influence change, and AFAIK, nobody thinks she's a branch-stacking bully. So that was why I voted Labor and am happy with the outcome.
I know I keep saying this, but I really truly am going to write something substantial here when I get a moment. But for now, all I'm going to say is this: Three amazing matches in one weekend! Culminating in an astounding come-from-behind victory for the wooden-spooners! Yes, the 'pies won and QLD are through to the final! The kids nearly exploded!
Suze, everyone I've known who has had anything to do with the Australian Greens says that internally, they're every bit as awful as the other parties. Also, I think some of their ideallogy is a long way divorced from reality. In point of fact, I wouldn't be writing coal off as dead just yet.
Squib, see Suze's comment for your scoobie.
Is it just me, or does anyone else remember "scoobie" being used as a drug reference in the '80s/'90s?
Alex, it must be going off in your family now the Lions made the AFLW final!
I've voted Greens before. Ultimately the state of the planet is in dire straits. BUT I went back to Labor because 1. They listened to an issue I was having in my neighbourhood and at least tried to do something about it whereas my Greens woman actually conspired against me and made the issue worse 2. I was completely turned off by the Greens woman (another one) who had an affair with a Liberal guy - what the hell. I know opposites attract but that's a step too far. This was all a 100 years ago. Still, Bob Brown was the best
Alex it looks like our posts crossed paths in the ether last night. :)
What I meant by coal is dead is opening new coal mines is stupid. Sure we'll continue to use it for existing power stations and some will still use it as a heat source I know, but in the end, it's fucking killing our planet. There is no such thing as clean coal. Any money spent propping up coal mines (as Adani is asking for!! ) or coal-fired power stations is a waste when it could be spent on renewables or hydro or giving Tesla batteries to people or something more positive than propping up an industry that's helping kill the reef and a bunch of other things as well. '
And don't get me started on plastic and plastic waste. My husband accused me of racism for stating that 80% of the plastic problem in our oceans could be solved by damming only three rivers in SE Asia. Yep, they just throw that shit in the river and let it float down to the sea but I'm a racist for pointing out that it's Asians causing it??? Fuck that. I mean, it's not the people of say, Italy at fault here is it? I don't see how saying that Asian countries are responsible for this problem is racist, but according to my husband, it is. Yeah I was mad. I'm still mad at him over that. I'm not trying to pretend I'm not a little racist - I don't believe anybody is really not racist ever, frankly - but it's not like I'm calling them offensive words or joining a neo-nazi group or anything. Just laying blame where it belongs is racist these days?
Holy shit, Squib; your member was the woman who fucked Troy Buswell!? Y'know, I might even be able to forgive sleeping with a Lib, but Troy "The most loathsome cunt to ever set foot in the WA parliament" Buswell!!!? ... Geez.
To be honest, I don't know how she did it.
I think we've all voted Green at one point or another, simply because they happened to be the best option on the ticket at the time, but I worry that a lot of them seem to have their heads in the clouds.
I hate to say it, but the more I look into renewables, the more I get the impression that they're not all they're cracked up to be. A lot of the materials used are fairly dirty and energy-intensive to produce (and dispose of), and the figures around energy production and reliability are questionable to say the least. Ideally, you would want to phase new technologies into the existing system gradually, so you can iron out the kinks, and unforeseen problems don't turn into major catastrophes. Look at the debacle that's happening with the NBN, and that's small potatoes compared to updating the electricity grid. I'm afraid that if we race down the renewable path too quickly, we're going to find ourselves in a situation where average families are facing severe reliability issues and unaffordable prices. Hydro's good, and well tested at large scale, but a lot of the country's pretty dry. So, as much as it pains me to say this, if coal's really as bad as everyone says it is, I'm starting to think maybe we should be taking a serious look at nuclear. And yes, I know there's the issue of waste. And no, I don't have a spot picked out.
Also, if electric cars catch on, that's only going to compound the problem in the short term.
And no, I don't think it's racist to point out that there are problems in other parts of the world, but I also feel like I'm in the minority there. I can remember the first time I heard the question "Do Australians face racism from foreigners?" and my immediate answer was a bewildered "Australian isn't a race, it's a nationality". From what I remember, "racist" used to be a serious term, that described people who actively engaged in racial discrimination; then it became a catch-all for every type of discrimination not covered by "sexism" and "homophobia"; then it became a term to describe nationalists who didn't want open borders; and now (in the age of social media) it's little more than a cudgel you use to bludgeon (mostly) white people who say anything negative about any person or group other than their own.
People on the left throw the word "nazi" around now like the right-wingers threw around "commie" in the seventies. It's inevitable that at some point these words are going to become utterly meaningless.
PS: I can't imagine how crushing it's going to be if the Lions lose the final by a single kick like they did last year.
PPS: Russian theories tomorrow.
I know! As in the Chair Sniffer!
Instead of handing out death penalties for drugs, they should redirect all that police time and money into litter. People should go to jail for it. Take the drug dealers out of prison, throw the litterbugs in there instead
I take it that's a reference to Trump's latest brain-fart?
I agree, lock up the litterbugs and the people who let their animals shit all over the place without cleaning it up. And those idiots in bands who keep hard-working techies up till all hours of the night with their stupid rehearsals.
Also, Suze, I meant to say this the other night, but thanks for your reporting on Batman. I always love getting first hand perspectives on these sorts of things.
(It was a reference to Buswell)
It's my birthday. I'm putting a brave face on it, but I'm pissed off about it. Oops
Hello?
I hope everyone out there is okay?
I've been watching UnReal and River and the Commonwealth Games. And trying to avoid messing up my back again, haha.
Aunt is having chemo and pretty sick, will be heading north for a visit in the near future because I feel the need to check she's okay. Especially since her only surviving child is not really coming to the party and showing concern. I tried to put the hard word on him, but he doesn't seem to be taking the hint. I mean, how much more pushy can I get than "when are you going to go visit?"
Happy belated birthday, Suze. Sorry to hear about your aunt. Sounds like there is a lot of parent/child disconnect in your family (I'm sure this isn't the first incidence of this you've mentioned).
What's River? I'm familiar with UnReal (though haven't seen it). Also, how have you been liking the games?
River is a British cop drama on Netflix. In a lot of ways it reminds me of that one with Idris Alba, the protagonist does not always play by the rules and is haunted by a woman.
Pretty sure my Aunt will live but she doesn't deserve a son like that. She drives across the country to visit her grandkids every year and all he said when she told him she had cancer was "when are you coming to look after the dogs so we can take the kids to Bali?"
...
Well actually I'm sure he said more than that, but that's what's been reported to me, so it was clearly the only thing that made an impact on her. I was complaining about him to my husband the other night but he's adamant I should let it lie, since I can't get any more pushy than I already have with a cousin I haven't really seen or contacted in over ten years. But really I don't care if he or his wife thinks I'm a cow. If she does die from the cancer, or (as seemed likely last week) from the chemo itself, he'll be gutted. Hubby says if that happens, he'll deserve it, but it won't ease the hurt that my aunt will feel over it, will it?
I dunno, perhaps it's not a thing for him as it is for me, but with my sister gone, I feel a real responsibility to a) outlive my mother and b) make sure she's okay, no matter what. Clearly that's not the case for my cousin.
Just read back on what I wrote about the Batman election and haha I must have been angry that day and shat that stuff out of my keyboard in less than five minutes! Who knew my high school typing classes on an old manual typewriter would set me in such good stead to write angry internet posts that only three (four?) other people ever read? Gold.
It's funny you talk about feeling a need to outlive your mum. I've been feeling that need myself recently. I was quite a nihilistic risk-taker when I was younger, but now I can't bare the thought of putting my parents through the grief of losing a child.*
* I suppose, technically, they already have, but I don't think still-born counts in the same way.
Geez don't let anyone with an "angel" hear you say that Alex - you'll end up in being called insensitive for diminishing their grief or whatever. Though from my mother's experience, it's horrible but not in any way the same as losing a grown child. I'm sad about my three miscarriages, but I know it's nothing like losing a term baby, or a child of any age.
But anyway, yeah, it's become imperative to me to outlive my mum. After she's gone, it matters little to me, I might become a gin-soaked whore and only live a week longer, who knows? ;) ;)
(actually becoming gin-soaked is definitely in my future anyway!)
Hubby and I went to Kangaroo Island for a few days for our 10th wedding anniversary. It was great, would recommend a trip if the natural environment, and food and wine experiences interest you. We could easily have stayed another week and done everything slower, and seen a lot more and the weather was pretty good. :) I did put my back out just coughing on the last day we were there, which made getting home a little unpleasant, and it's still bad, but that's not KI's fault!!
I don't care that much for food and wine but I find myself missing the bush more as I get older. :(
Just got back from a FIFO visit to my Mum in QLD and I KNOW I really want to move out of the city. Just being able to head out in the car, without battling traffic and stupidity sounds like bliss to me. I love our suburban house, but I fucking hate everything else about my life in this city now. My husband knows how I feel but keeps telling me that here is where the jobs are. True enough, but if we sold the house and move out to the country, I wouldn't need a job and he could "work" at home a couple of days a week and commute by train the others. *sigh*
The devil you know vs the devil you don't, eh? When I was younger, I didn't have any trouble just packing up and moving somewhere new, but not nowadays. Shows how cautious I've become, I guess. Then again, let's face it, regardless of what the official employment figures say, it's nowhere near as easy to find work as it used to be. If you can work over the internet though, that does open things up a bit.
Yeah my job requires a true physical presence in the place. There is no working from home for me. I'd be willing to pack up and move, I think about it a lot, but my husband isn't interested.
I am watching the Megary wedding. OMG there is so much rubbish being said. However the celeb factor is WOW. But WTF is Annabel Crabb wearing?
The only time I care about celebrities is when they're singing or dancing or acting or telling jokes or doing something that I find entertaining. Given how I feel about going to the weddings of people I actually care about, I just can't bring myself to watch the wedding of complete strangers.
You're going to have to be my filter on this one Suze. Let us know about all the good bits (and the not so good bits, of course ;)
Haha well: small kids as wedding attendants: cute. But FFS because there's no adults, no-one has straightened out her train and it's ticking my OCD!
She walked herself up the aisle until Chuck arrived to lend an arm. Her mum is struggling not to cry.
Queen wearing acid green, which is an achievement for a 90yo, to carry that off.
Boring bit has started so I'm off to pour another glass of champers.
Harry nervously checking he's got the rings - or that his fly's done up, one or the other.
They to learn a hymn, but if they don't do Jerusalem, I'm sodding off. It's the only one I like.
Boring prayer interlude.
Isn't Jerusalem the quasi-official English national anthem (Not UK, but specifically England)?
I dunno whether it'd be a bigger snub to have it or not have it.
They didn't do Jerusalem. Even though there's no mention of it in the hymn itself, hubby says it wouldn't be very PC considering the state of things in Palestine at the moment.
We rewatched it this morning because the Black American preacher stole the show by going twice as long as he was meant to and lecturing some of the most privileged people in the world about poverty.
Which lead to this:
www.instagram.com/p/Bi9XLoiAtmh/?taken-by=itspunkee
Which made me LAUGH. Though I did want to applaud him when he finished.
After this, there was the vows, and a cheer went up when they were declared husband and wife.
And there was a black gospel choir and a black woman priest who had shaved off her hair and a black cellist and it all started to look very affirmative action until I realised that if they are going to go into it half-and-half, then this is really what it looks like and GOOD FOR THEM. I just hadn't expected it because of who he is.
The kidlets were cute behind Meghan as she walked up and down and there was an entertaining hour afterwards where I sat on the edge of my seat waiting for one of the lead horses in the carriage procession to bolt, since it clearly DID NOT WANT. It did almost walk its rider sideways into the crowd before its rider got it back under control.
Cheers Suze, top notch coverage. It's like I was there, only it was over quickly and I didn't want to kill myself.
Haha. Is that likely?
I mean, even if you are republican, there's something to be said for the sheer SPECTACLE of it. Even my husband was caught up in all the celeb watching and stuff that we just didn't get for Wills and Kate's wedding, since it was all stuffy peers and political types in the church. This was MUCH more entertaining.
And I still think they should have done Jerulsalem, but hubby did recognise all the hymns sung and sang along... which led to a discussion as to why he did, since he's not at all religious, but he said he went to a church run school and I was like "separation of church and state?!" but he said that almost all the schools in Britain are church run, even if they are public schools, which I do not understand, and along with that, they had chapel. Which OFFENDS me so much. Religion shouldn't be forced on kids while they are getting an education. The hour a week they get here in public schools is bad enough. And don't get me started on church schools and other private schools. *rage*
It's not that I'm against the Royals so much as I just don't enjoy weddings very much. Have I mentioned I used to work for a wedding videographer? That might have had something to do with it; but then again, I don't think I was ever that into them to start with.
Also, I don't think the Poms are that worried about keeping church and state separate. There's a Pommy fella I listen to on YouTube who brings this up regularly. There's the schools, the fact the head of the monarchy is both the head of government and the head of the Church Of England (which is why it's so scandalous that Charley married a divorcée), and there's also something about positions in government that are reserved for the Church Of England, including a number of seats in the House Of Lords, I think. I'm sure there are other things that I'm not remembering as well.
However, he also sites polls which show, even though the number of Poms who identify as Christian/Anglican is high, few of them actually believe in a biblical god or practice any type of worship. Conversely, while the Yanks make a big deal about keeping church and state separate, they still have relatively high levels of belief and worship. Why this is, I don't know, but it does suggests that formally separating the two doesn't necessarily result in a less religious society.
I didn't realise your husband was from England. No wonder he doesn't want to leave Melbourne. Cold and wet and crowded probably suits him down to a tee.
So, I fire up YouTube when I get home, and all I see being recommended are videos decrying the Royal wedding as a PR stunt designed to pander to the black community. And here's the kicker; more than half of them seem to be black Yanks, who (to paraphrase) "will not be placated by a token gesture involving some privileged, light-skinned half-caste."
Fuck you, YouTube algorithms! What makes you think I'd be interested in this shit!
Learn from my mistake, kids. Don't go on a YouTube bender without protection. Always use your browser's privacy mode.
Hi Alex and everyone else
Have found my password again and signed in to look at my blog, especially the bad diaries I put back into drafts
HOW ARE YOUSE?
I'm well
Busy
Business going nuts
We have 8 educators now
Writing put to the side until the end of the year cause I can't do both but in summer will go into lockdown to focus
Everyone well. Princess overseas backpacking at the moment
Apols in advance if I don't get back here again for a bit but am thinking of you and miss the old days for sure
MELBA
XXXXX
Oh hey it worked
Last time I don't think I could leave a signed in comment
...
Good to hear from you again Melbs.
Staff of 8, eh? Last time I looked at your website, it was just you and one other woman.
Is your new book out yet?
Melba, you're in a perfect position to talk about quotas for women in literature, since you are a woman in literature and I'm sure are aware that most of the authors nominated for literary prizes are men. (there's a discussion below the post about comic books)
Also: welcome back!
Hi, I kept the window open so I wouldn't forget to come back.
New book is out... in all good bookshops now. This is the one you read Alex. You are acknowledged in the acknowledgements, and I called you 'Alex'. even though Alex is your real name? ( I think)... but I thought it was more mysterious to use the quotation marks.
Yes we don't have all the people on the website, and there are two more people there now but one has left. So total of 8 including me and partner. Too busy but good I guess. We were told by a financial advisor (very short man, wore a weird waistcoat) that we are hobbyists and not business people so we are trying to work smarter and ramp things up.
Thanks for welcome back Suze. I am trying to be off twitter and other social media, have been managing quite well for a month or so. I read this book called Deep Work which made me realise how much time I was wasting and why I was finding it so hard to immerse myself in reading the way I used to. So am being conscious and strict with myself. I will try not to fill that gap with coming here though (even though the conversation here is much better).
Will go and check out the discussion now.
'Alex'. I like it. Cheers Melbs. I'll see about picking myself up a copy.
I can only imagine how shitty things must be on Twitter at the moment, what with the ongoing purges and all. It's all anybody's talking about on the tech podcasts. Thankfully, it's not something I have to deal with personally.
Hi - so Mr Squib has got Non-Hodgkin lymphoma. He starts chemo on NY's eve. Everything has been really rubbish
Oh shit Squib, that's terrible.
Did they diagnose it early? Do they know how aggressive it is? I've heard NHL has pretty high recovery rates if those two things are in your favour.
So far it's only in the stomach but he needs 18 weeks of chemo and he's already skin and bones (60kg) Yes, it's the fast-growing kind (DLBCL) - hopefully he'll respond well (he's otherwise healthy). Back in October, the first doc he saw said it was acid reflux
60kg, how tall is he? Sounds like you'll have to go out of your way to keep him well fed.
Can I ask what the symptoms were? Doesn't sound like it was much if it was diagnosed as reflux. And how did you eventually get the correct diagnosis?
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