( I know this is kinda unpopular, but I like the Transformers movies.
They are well made, look great, have good actors, and the stories are meaningful. True, they are kids movies but being kids movies doesn't make them lame. )
One of my local pizza shops used to be run by the old Italians and they did a bitchin' salad, with bloody beautiful dressing. But that's certainly not the norm is it.
I was thinking more if you were to peruse a menu from a takeaway pizza shop and decide "I'll get a garden salad with my pizza". Even worse "I'll just get the salad".
Just finished doing a dress alteration for the lady that runs our local caff at the end of the street. Was able to fix her issue with a bought dress that was too long to dance in, but needed the long train for the photos. Heh heh, button and loop to hook up the train worked again! Free coffee all next week for 5 mins work and a button from the stash! Sewing is close to being the ultimate trade goods.
It's just as liberating as learning to replace a tap washer I reckon. Basic humaning skillset includes both. My dad used to reckon that there were 5 tasks that if you could do them, there was no situation for which you were completely unprepared. The older I get the more I think he just might have been right. Sewing on a button was one of the tasks.
Filling out passport applications. Fucking nightmare if you were born overseas with a non English spelling birth certificate with wrong dates therefore the JP translation is wrong, citizenship paper's wrong and marriage certificate is wrong. This is going to be a nightmare to undo. Just ranting.
I did the change of name paperwork the other day, and apparently it'll take 6 bloody weeks to do. Before they closed the BDM office for some reason, it was instant.
@tombruzzo@Gibsonisafluffybutt I'm in the process of switching over — I downloaded Firefox quite literally this morning.
I'm also playing around with NextCloud as a possible substitute for a number of Google's other services.
Unfortunately, it looks like Google jumped the shark at this point.
The accountants and managerialists are well and truly in charge. The people who actually cared about building a great search engine, or a great open mobile operating system, have been cast aside.
Panicked decision-making about LLMs and enshittification for profit seems to be the new norm.
I keep having weird dreams at my current accom. Last night it was a very vivid one where I'd somehow had to move into a share house full of irritatingly self-absorbed and messy adults who were in their little northside cliques and weren't keen on making space for me. It was so alienating and made me desperate to move back to my own place. I bolted awake thinking I needed to email my previous landlord asap and beg to go back to my own apartment. The relief I felt when I realised a few minutes later that I didn't need to do any of that...
The day before it was about my brother betraying my location to my dad. Definitely a theme of despair and being trapped, and waking up to remember what freedoms I do have.
I think it's the humidity. 90%+ every day indoors. It always brings up bad memories...
Yesterday was the only day on the island where we've had sun. Today it's overcast again and this afternoon it's back to more rain... slept in massively after two days of hiking (with a thoroughly unconditioned body), time to get outta bed and go walk to the nearest town for some coffee and to get some postcards.
How on earth do the trees in Japan look so naturally stylish over waterbodies though?!? Is it the tiered structure of the crown?
My dreams last night were weird like that too. My house became some sort of domestic violence shelter and then 2 crazy guys with baseball bats came over because they wanted to kill me. They attacked an old lady who worked outside and then broke the door down and for some reason I tried to confront them which didn't go well. Then I woke up. I actually had to turn on my light and do a double take and then had to calm down for about half an hour because the fear translated to real life and I thought the baseball bat people were actually in our house
Yesterday was the only day on the island where we've had sun.
I think Australia is a little bigger than an island, but ditto. It was a nice sunny day yesterday. Still chilly, but the sun was out
Word vomit and mental health incoming, feel free to skip
My sister told me today that my ex seemed fake the way he acted towards me. I agreed with her. It sucks that none of it was real except the love that I felt for him. Also that he seems gay. Friends also said he seemed gay. That explains a lot and would make sense.
Even though I forgive myself for staying with someone who didn't love me, I've had too many coffees today and lost my three day no crying streak. I logically know that the past has happened and it isn't worth dwelling on it. I logically know that I'm better off without the relationship, but the heart side of me kinda collapsed today. That is okay. Healing is not linear. He's definitely not sitting there crying over me, he's probably forgotten me by now. I just feel like I have no direction in life right now and everything feels pointless and bleak. I'm scared and I don't know if I'm going to make it through the rest of the year. But the fact that I have no direction or clue in life really means that there are opportunities out there that I can't see yet.
That therapy appointment couldn't come sooner. Just have to hold on for two more weeks.
Some better things:
tomorrow I'm going to sign up for an 8 week fitness challenge to get me back into working out. I haven't properly worked out consistently in about a year.
if I pass my uni stuff, I will also buy myself a drum kit or a cheap electric guitar. Watch me say all this shit and be good for three weeks and then fail.
I don't care if these things plus therapy are going to eat into my savings at this point, because I need a lifeline. I should probably also do one thing at a time. I'm sick of my mental state stopping me from doing the things I want to do and ultimately being the person I want to be. I've felt stagnant for probably the past 10 years. I'm done with feeling that way, because if I keep feeling that way, it's going to be extra hard to get through life.
I understand how you feel. The last relationship I was in turned out to be a sham of sorts. It threw me into a spiral for a little while.
I guess for me, I refuse to let someone have that kind of control over my state of mind. Easier said than done, sure, it's hard work but I think it's a good perspective to have.
All you can do, is live the best life that you can, because you deserve that. Because you don't need someone shitty ruining your vibe.
The guitar/drum idea is a good one. Making music can be really cathartic. Helps get the gunk out.
It's awful you feel this way and I wouldn't even know where to start.
If you're considering drums, also look at electric kits. They sound and feel as good as the real thing now, and you can programming them with different sounds and practice with headphones.
Maybe even look at grooveboxes. For about $500 you can get a little device you can arrange a whole song on. They're great if you have the time to tinker but don't want to build up the muscle memory of an instrument
So on a road near where I live two petrol stations have newly opened within 900 metres of each other. This is on top of a petrol station that already existed 400 metres away from one of these stations.
And I thought to myself, to make that kind of investment in a new station you'd have to be pretty confident in the future of petrol in the medium term.
This is what makes me somewhat skeptical about the imminent switch to electric cars or hydrogen ones for that matter.
I think EVs mostly are bought by people who are in 2 car family who also own a petrol car, or those who only ever drive in the city. Most people want to do longer trips for weekends, holidays, visiting family etc. So if it’s your only car, it’s unlikely to be an EV. Other barriers are that they are more expensive for the same size vehicle, nowhere to charge if you live in an apartment, higher insurance costs. It’s gonna be a while until EVs outnumber combustion engines.
Let's not forget the fact that once the battery dies it's very expensive to replace. And the thing is it's hard to factor in whether that's worth it right now since nobody has a very good idea about how expensive batteries will be in 10 years time.
@SituationCake@wscholermann I'm a single parent who lives rurally but comes into Melbourne roughly every second week for work. While I usually charge at home I'm minding a friend's house this month and they have street parking only. I'm heading up to Kyneton today. No dramas, my EV only has 30kwh battery but there are these things called fast chargers, they are a bit like petrol stations, you have to wait slightly longer, but 8 only have to use them when travelling long distances. While in the city I'll largely charge at work. At home I largely charged from solar, especially in summer. Having a family is no barrier and I don't have a second car. It's these kinds of myths about EVs that keep people from considering them in the first place. I pay less overall and the extra cost of the battery is paid off within 5 years of fuel at its current cost: who knows where petrol cost might be in 2 years let alone 5.
The problem with meth, apart from the psychosis inducing effects of the drug itself, is the propensity for staying awake for several days, which compounds the effect.
I remember hallucinations so vivid, I was literally hearing voices with my ears. That's how messed up the brain can get. And the hallucinations weren't positive, let's put it that way.
The people you see on the street, have most likely been in a psych ward until they are stabilised with meds, and then thrown out back onto the street with no assistance.
It happened to me. They just get rid of you.
There's a lot to be said for both psychiatric and addiction services in Australia.
As a former sufferer of really intense auditory hallucinations, I strongly relate to what you've said. I had long given up drugs but was still suffering from the voices for ages afterwards. It's hard to get people to understand just how real they felt. And so spiteful, mean and negative. Also hard to get some people to understand that it's strong enough motivation to never go back there and go through that horrifying shit again. The "once a junkie, always a junkie" crowd just don't get it at all.
I have a small hard case (it's like a strand bags rip off of a Samsonite). It is smallish, hard shell, unique colour, has an expansion zip, combo lock and can be wheeled on four wheels or two. Have taken it all over the world and it's awesome. I would go hard case everytime.
I can only tell you of my experience. I have had an Antler soft case for... I'm not even sure how long. 14 years? I've travelled a fair bit with it and never had any sort of issue with it. It can expand a bit which is nice. My only advice I ever give anyone is get something with 4 good wheels. 2 wheeled luggage is dumb.
Actually I have a 10year old Antler myself, and it’s held up incredibly well but getting a bit worse for wear. Was trying to decide if I replace with another soft case or change to a hard case.
I woke up early and decided against it. Just woke up now and only because I was having a nightmare. I feel free of brain fog for the first time in weeks tho. Sometimes 'bed warm' is the answer
I've recently started adding healthy squirts of lemon juice to almost everything I cook (generally some kind of mix of pasta, rice, veg and meat/fish, flavoured with garlic onion and chilli), and it has been making a big difference. Before lemon juice I was adding vinegar for a while which helped, but lemon juice is making everything much more tasty
Still COVID positive so still isolating at home, but not feeling too shabby so I have spent the morning absolutely smashing out some garden/outside house jobs in this fabulous weather, and am now going to reward myself by lounging on the terrace with a book.
Giant sleep followed by slow walk and coffee and now I am sitting on my couch with the sun streaming in. I am starting to think the cold I had a few weeks ago might have been the Rona (I tested negative but it was about 5 days in before I got to test)... That would explain the fatigue and ongoing breathlessness and shitty feeling.
Sun and walks and sleep and lots of water today to try to kick the last of it. My floors can stay unmopped.