Grateful for my efficient reverse cycle heater. Grateful for knowing how to cook with minimal ingredients. Grateful for my colleagues who believe in me and want me to do well and make me feel a little more alive… and extra grateful to my boss for letting me take tomorrow off in lieu to get shit done. I feel a million times better knowing that I don’t need to be at work tomorrow.
The cat looks so upset at how inedible that haul is! So much delicious lemonade to be made out of that though, yummm.
My mum had a fine grade steel mesh filter as well, that sat on top of a metal jug. She’d put a layer of paper towel on top too (she used it to drain freshly fried items). Once it all filtered through she’d reuse the oil in curries. Nowadays she doesn’t fry enough stuff to do this any more. Neither do I.
Though one time I used too much oil when roasting some fennel so I poured the excess oil (infused with dry thyme) off the baking sheet into a glass jar and used it later to fry up onions and garlic and veg for a pasta dish. That was delish.
I had two really vivid dreams bathed in nostalgia and lovely warm vibes… The first I barely remember, except it had a very Harry Potter vibe and an incredibly rich and complex world with all kinds of back stories and secrets. Something about monsters and mazes. I briefly woke up wanting to go back to that world but ran out of plot. The second started out stressful because it was about middle school exams, but turned into this beautiful celebration with classmates with the school all lit up at night and people being lovely to each other. Ahh… 😌
…and now to GET UP AND FACE THE DAY!!! I am going to WALK to the other side of the suburb for a coffee and come back and then start looking at uni things!!!
I totally forgot The Bear s3 is out now. I hear it’s not as great as the first two seasons as it was filmed alongside s4 so it feels more drawn out, but that’s fine by me because holy hell the first two seasons were so intense I felt like I needed two weeks and a few therapy sessions to recover.
Time to get the fried rice out and fire up Stremio.
I’m trying to hang on until prices are below $1.75 before doing a full tank… the cheap BP on Heidelberg Rd is at $1.79, can’t be long now.
I was running a bit low to risk an airport run yesterday so I put in $15 worth at a 7/11 doing 1.84/L, I think. It was a very short stop… but it’ll get me through another week at least.
I’m definitely feeling the sleepy vibes today. The green tea is calming me down more than anything… good night.
Anyone got any of that rain that was supposed to be bucketing down on us this morning? Dry as a bone outside, I see the forecast was reviewed to “late morning”… Looks like most of it’s gonna fall into the bay :/
E: looks like it mostly hit the southeast. Been fairly unimpressive in the inner north east. Great morning to be in under the covers though…
E2: I rolled outta bed at 11:30 and am most pleased to see that the winds blew the rain onto the balcony for once (usually it’s in the other direction and my pots are bone dry despite a dumping of rain). The purple tatsoi has been slow to kick off especially with some rude thing nibbling at it, but it seems to be going somewhere!
Happy eeyoffee to you too Witch. I’m not directly affected by it but there is usually a flood of work to do just before, and for a week or two after (applications that made it in before 1 July and are charged old fees/rules/whatever that then need to be processed). Then rinse and repeat in Nov/Dec…
It’s nice to know you can relax for a while after the peaks though. I’m so glad for the work/life balance you can get in Australia.
Have a thoroughly delightful sleep, perhaps with some warm and fuzzy dreams to go with.
All my overtime over the past week clocked up to an extra entire day of work 😵💫 Luckily my workplace was super understanding and flexible and have redirected Monday’s site visits so I can take ALL of Monday off in lieu to get desperately caught up on a bunch of other things! 😌 I’m gonna sleep well tonight. Once I’ve finished standing around with my niece at this impossibly slow check in queue… It has been a solid hour… dont fly Scoot you guys.
Perfect news for a Friday!! Good luck and keep us updated.
The description alone sounds vomit-inducing. Key lime pie and cheap chocolate? No thanks. I appreciate you taking one for the team though.
Didn’t have to wait in the cold long for my tram today! Grateful also for the impossibly cheap yet delicious bahn mi at Hung’s Bakery on Vic St.
That’s an insane commitment for a volunteer role. Any chance you could carpool with someone who lives close by??
Well it looks like I won’t be taking that half day off this week. Two regular staff out of five being on leave near EOFY is a bit much… luckily one gets back next week. Annoyingly, I have some stupid site visits scheduled for Monday that I can’t get out of. I really wanted to take that day off. I’ll see if I can put off the reports for them for later in the week and leave early Monday otherwise I’ll never get onto the shit I need to do asap. And try and get some extensions on stuff that the returning colleague can pick up on so I can clear all that this week.
I am Tired. Glad that past me bought some frozen veg for a quick cheap healthy dinner on days like today.
Good on the nurses for negotiating a decent pay rise so that they’re less horrifically underpaid. It’s such a dangerous and important line of work.
I have developed an awful mouth ulcer just in front of the top of my lower left teeth so it stings even when I open my mouth and my teeth brush past it. To say nothing of attempts to eat anything. This is not helping my mood. Might have to bust out the salt rinse and Kenalog. I need an “off” switch for tonight so I can just start again tomorrow morning…
Yeah, it’s hard enough for me even when I manage to get home just before it’s dark - no motivation to go for a walk or anything, not even creative activities like drawing or writing or whatever. Just want to curl up and numb my emotions to go with my cold hands and feet until bedtime. Power down…
Confession: I didn’t get around to watching The Bear last night, and I didn’t get out of bed when I meant to this morning to walk across the suburb for a coffee 😑 I lolled around in bed reading about “pretendians” in Canada until I truly felt sick in the head from hunger/dehydration.
But! I have had a good day nevertheless.
Still had a coffee, then did the grocery shop, and cooked a heap of food, some for the freezer. I’m onto a new bag of basmati rice that is banging - real game changer, worth paying the extra $1/kilo, my hoppin’ John/pilao dish came out beautifully. I also teed up a couple of easy social events for the next two weekends which is great.
This is banal but I’m also proud of myself going to Officeworks to get two monitors and a dock on the very last day of the FY (couldn’t spare the cash until I got paid). It’s an oblique act of self care: a gift to myself to be able to WFH properly when needed, so I can manage my time and energy when I can’t handle people or early starts.
It was a lot of money (why are docks so fucking expensive) and i felt uncomfortable and could’ve just procrastinated on it even further; part of me wishes I bought everything second hand, like nearly everything in my house, or researched better brands… But I’ve accepted that right now it’s better to get something good enough and move forward, rather than insist on perfection and waste time and energy in limbo for too long. Like how it took me 2 years to get a second hand vacuum cleaner at the cost of a clean house and my sanity. Action is important. I’m glad I managed to be an adult for myself and get this done.
The biggest accomplishment for today was…
journaling!
I also sat down at the cafe and the library and had a few uninterrupted hours of journalling after a long, long time. Last weekend I cleaned my house; this weekend was about tidying up my mind a bit. I wrote down the things that are and aren’t working for me with my living situation, jobs, finances, etc.
It was so important to acknowledge both, and work out how to maintain the good, while also acting on or reframing the things I’m not liking. Getting the wfh setup was part of that. Taking back some agency, and not developing resentment against something I acknowledge I do actually have some control over. Worked out when I can afford to drop my hours and how to stay financially comfortable enough. It does mean negotiating a higher salary at my three month review…
It was a really welcome moment of evaluation because I really want to head into this last bit of study with a clearer intention and not fall into old, bad habits of WHEEE and then self-hate. Wanted to be aware of my unmet needs this time, so I don’t try and pile all my expectations on my new activity and then inevitably get disappointed/burnt out. I want to pace myself, seek balance, and still do some great stuff BECAUSE of moderation, not by pushing myself insanely.
I’m just watching a bit of The Bear now which is timely because Carmy is a great reminder of who I’d be if I didn’t wise up. And then bedtime so I can wake up recharged and ready tomorrow.