Daily Discussion Thread: 🎠 Thu 25 Jan 2024

I went downstairs to the bin room. Left my door unlocked, because it's only as far as the bin room.

Came back up to find A STRANGER IN MY FUCKING HOUSE

WHAAAAAT?? More details please! What happened? Who were they? Why were they there? Are they gone now or did you make a new friend?
- Bitch seems to have taken my wallet and ipad
Jeez that would freak me out. Hope you're okay.
- Short answer is no
Are you ok?
- No, no I am not
Is there someone you can call to stay with you a while?
- Dad's been. I asked him to leave because it felt like I had to pretend to be okay. While I'm being observed, I have to pretend.
  I'll get there. I'm just not there now

One of my colleagues tried to organize a meeting tomorrow. Simple mistake yes?

Well the other party that was invited were reps from an Aboriginal organisation that is pretty cold towards us (Vic Gov) at the best of times.

Our director is giving him some feedback on 'reading the room' right now.

Oof.
- Yeah. The CEO of the org likes me, so guess who's taking over the meeting and the project.
  Told my manager that I better be getting some nice perks as I'm doing damage control.

Just got my locks changed.

My local locksmith is such a sweetheart. He seems to like me (he says "you're always pleasant"). Lovely guy.

Somehow I feel better for the chat

Anti depressent must be working. Had a dream last night mum and I caught up for a coffee and woke up feeling ok about it.

For context, my mother passed away 25 years ago and I lost all the family I had within a few months of her passing away.

Of course I wish I could have met her in real life now, but that I wasn't despondent when I woke up is a good sign I think.

Your ma loved you. Wherever she went, it's entirely possible she still does
- I don't know what I believe in, but whatever happens when I die, I'll be in the some place she is.

Bit of an update on my next door neighbour. I just ran into him as I took my bins out and he’s let me know that they now have a new baby born early at 31 weeks old.

It was lucky that they decided to get his wife to the hospital and I’m told both baby and mum are doing well though of course being born so early the baby has to be looked after for a good while.

So happy for them. Was worried because they had a rough pregnancy of late.

Also it explains why there was noise at 3am last night. My neighbour had his phone on silent so his sister came over and tried to scale his front gate using bins to do it.

Congrats to them! It's good it worked out well

I'm gonna put it out here. I'm gonna have some drinks tonight and play some Aussie music. I'm proud to be an Australian and I love this country and I'm not gonna be made to feel guilty for appreciating this beautiful land, people, flora and fauna.

The atrocities that were done to our first nation's people are unforgettable there is no denying that. I hope for a solution to Australia Day asap because it's gone on far to long.

Feel free to downvote me because I don't give a shit.

Same. I might even have a few drinks myself. I'll continue to celebrate Australia Day on whatever day it happens to be. I'm not tied to the date, just the day itself. My intention isn't to celebrate the date January 26, it's to celebrate Australia and I won't feel bad about celebrating Australia.
I'd guess most, nearly all Australians who celebrate Australia Day feel a similar way. Make it the 27th or 25th. Makes no difference to me.
- Exactly.
  I've already started 🍺 cheers.
@CEOofmyhouse56
Two things can be true at the same time right.
I'll help out whenever and wherever I can to get the sick date that commemorates the start of a genocide shifted to a different day, but whenever my day off work is granted by the powers that be, I'm gonna party on that day.
- Just make it a long weekend every year. That's the Aussie way.
You can celebrate being Australian
You can also acknowledge that the modern nation state came from very dark roots.
The two aren't incompatible in the slightest
We hear you. I feel something of the same way - we should remember the past but strive to do better going forward. Australia Day serves very well as a reminder to do just that. And lets face it, Aussie music is great.
Nothing wrong with celebrating those things, just any other day.
- I celebrate every day.

Saw car, drove car, liked car. Will buy car Monday.
Got the quote for the insurance. Given the higher value of the car and I suspect the recent claim... ouch. 😬

Insurance is still a probability game. They ask if you've made a claim because that's a parameter in their equations. You made a claim because your car was stolen? Is your car more likely to be stolen than we realised last time? If yes, insurance goes up. If they determine it was unlikely to be stolen and those chances haven't changed, then that part of their equations will remain unchanged.
It'll still go up, because your car is newer and because insurance companies. But they shouldn't shaft you over your claim.

Full bladder pelvic exams I hate you!! I just want to have a nice little chat with the person who thought, you know what, this person is having some serious pelvic pain so let's fill em right up where it hurts.

Last time I had one I had an active bladder infection and I cried so much I thought the technician was going to start crying from the amount she was apologising.

oh no, very very gentle hugs

Woke up with a headache still, nausea and feeling like shit. Called out of work, just gonna die at home 🤢

Also took day off because hardly any sleep and cbf🫠
- Brütal, I feel that. Sleep has been hard with the wack weather fo' sho. It's just gonna be one of those days lol
Hope it's just temporary, meanwhile look after yourself.
- Thank you 🙏
take it easy
- 💜

I had an awful sleep with a nightmare that had no right being as vivid as it was.

That sounds extremely dramatic and disturbing.
My nightmare last night involved the alarm clock going off way too early and having to go to work. I am hoping to wake up in bed some time soon.
Wow! That’s a dystopian horror movie synopsis right there
What an odd nightmare.
My nightmare last night was of being raided by terrorists. Out gunned. Lots of blood. I am not sure if I survived. My mates fell. Some in the backrooms had better chances.
bloody hell, ya gotta keep away from terfs.
- I was thinking it was like 60s classic dystopian sci-fi
This moon is making for some crazy dreams, I swear!! That sounds absolutely bonkers!
- The MOON! That explains a lot...
This is a wild ride! Not that I want you to have nightmare, but I dig how detailed it is because this is how I dream.
I hope you feel better!
- I haven't had such detailed dreams in a while but I used to have these kind of cinematic ones all the time as a kid and young adult (and then a spate last year because of some meds I was on).
  Pretty awesome when they're good dreams, but the nightmares are awful - the sleep disruption sucks and my body is in a heightened state of alert for the rest of the day.

Morning y’all

mornin mum
i am going to play video games today
Hi Mum 👋🏻

I have real clothes on today, even was able to stand and have a shower. I feel half human.

because labor bad is the only policy he has and by god, he's gonna jam it everywhere.
Ex-cop turned childcare magnate feels slighted and has a tantrum? Seems straight forward.
- The fact that he's the best the LNP has to offer as far as leadership speaks volumes of the party.
  The fact that he's actually a contender for PM speaks volumes of how brainwashed this country is.
  He's trying to start a culture war to divert attention from the class war we should be having.
The wrong people (in his opinions) are benefitting.
He doesn't care about the average Australian and just wants to make noise for the sake of making noise.

Ted Cat is watching Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey 😺🤗

Best two out of three?
Excellent
Edit - My favourite scene
- I registered Ted's name as Theodore and Bill is William 🤭

celebrating Hong Kong’s foundation day tomorrow

One good thing about being old is you have learnt nearly all the tricks .

mumbling is a good one, they talk so low and indistinctly they make you struggle to hear. It's a game. I just don't care. If they want to talk they can talk clearly.

I'm a mumbler but I don't have anything important to say so it's okay :)
Mumblers irl shit me. You say "pardon me" and they talk louder like I'm the idiot. Mumblers on tv require subtitles. Looking at you Welshman.
- they have the mental age of a five year old

Woke up early and couldn't get back to sleep (again) so did a dash to get something I needed at Bunnings and did a shop at Aldi to beat the OMG it's a public holiday must stock up for the apocolypse crowd. A few in doing likewise. My favourite Yiayia has cancelled today (hopefully only once) so unless they give me another job last minute, only one job with the old Greek guy. Fingers crossed they don't - still a bit tired from the jab and all the rest of it.

ooh reminds me to look at the special deals.
....aldi's got trumpets next wednesday dare I dare I?
- YES!!
- one of those vuvuzela?

Cheers everybody 🍺

I decided to see what the forecast in the BOM app looked like for Townsville with that cyclone coming up. Haha holy shit they have a whole separate icon and rainfall ranges that would make you think the app had glitched. They also have five active weather warnings - two cyclone watch warnings, marine wind, flood watch and a current heatwave.

Couldn't pay me to live full time in nth Qld, I tell you what. These poor sods have taken a real beating this summer

My parents, brother and his family all live in Townsville, so I'm up there at least once a year myself.
The locals are actually thinking this will be a fairly 'baby' cyclone that they should ride out fairly easily (fingers crossed). That said, the panic buying has still been nuts. First-timers expecting they'll need a year's supply of bottled water, when you can just fill buckets and the bathtub ahead of time and have all you need for most purposes.
Most people are fairly prepared. My dad is in full-time care due to advanced dementia, and a lot of the staff there have actually moved in with the residents to ensure they've got proper care should everything go south.

Some serious marge on its way here. I thought for most of today that the worst would pass north of us, but we're still gonna get some.

Marge arrived here (SE) about the time you posted.
- Judging by how close to my front door for wet it just be windy out there too.
  Wish it was a little cooler though.
  Looks like this is going to last for quite awhile from what I see.

Bit of a sad update. I was so excited about adopting a cat and now my housemate is having second thoughts. She just found out cats scratch furniture and is afraid that her furniture will get spoilt. I see where she's coming from so I offered to pay for any costs but then just said if either of us is having second thoughts best not to go ahead as I don't want it to cause problems down the line.

Also told my boss I'm taking a sickie for the rest of the day as I'm so deflated now. Sigh. I have to call up cat lady to cancel our appointment. 😞

That is sad. I have had cats all of my 40+ years, the last 20 in my own home. I've never had a cat scratch the furniture, but I have always provided multiple alternatives and now with all the options readily available it is so much easier to provide them. I have 3 at home now and my couch does not have a mark on it and it's 15 years old. The scratchers have copped a beating though!
- Her reason is that she has maintained the couch and the dining table well and that she could get back a decent amount of she sold them today. I personally don't think it's that expensive but if that's how she feels, so be it.
  I even offered to cover any costs, and even train the cat. Whatever I guess. I'll get one once I move to my own place in the future 😭
- Yep, lots of "no, but..." alternatives to choose from to prove a secondary and more preferred outlet.
This issue is something which makes me have second thoughts about adopting. But I think you can lessen the risk. If you're adopting a cat that is already trained to use a scratching post to scratch instead of furniture, and you provide that in your home, it's unlikely to happen.
"just finding out" cats can possibly scratch furniture is eyebrow raising.
I put some sticky plastic on parts of my sofa because Ted plays with the fabric
Does sound like second thoughts or a 'helpful' friend with a hate on for cats as pets. I think you've done the right thing pausing proceedings. Maybe encourage her to look at some Jackson Galaxy videos on how to stop bad cat behaviour might help her get her thoughts together. Does sound like she's not a small personal animal person though. Making the transition from non-pet owner to pet owner is a big one - like having a kid.
- Yeah that seems to have scared her off I guess. She was super excited to adopt with me. this was going to be a 50-50 partnership kinda things but oh well
WTF! How can you get so far through the process and only just realise that. Has she never met a cat?!
- I'm so annoyed... surely there's something she's not telling me. Gah!! I'm gonna go take a walk and get a haircut or something
:(
yeah nah. We've had three cats for 13 years and no scratches on our furniture.
Cats scratch to pull off claw sheathes. It's like an emery board. Give them proper scratching posts of various angles (eg: flat and inclined cardboard and a good sisal vertical) and your furniture is an inferior option.

I'm chilling out with a friend talking to her employee about some landscape designs and every time she mentions Philodendron xanadu, XAAAANAADUUUU 🎶 🎹 XAAAANA-DUUHUUHUU 🎶 (now we are heeere) 🎸 🎻 IN XAAANADU-UUU plays non stop in my brain.

The moment when you realise you’ve got access to Important People’s private info is weird.

I mean, I knew but it sort of fades into the background until I’m reminded?

Just remember that what you look up is probably logged. That's standard practice everywhere.
If you look someone up, and they cross reference that to a call you took, then that's fine. But if not, you might get a 'Please explain'.
- I didn’t do anything. I was very professional, did exactly what I needed to do to complete the task and nothing more.
  I just recognised the name and went “huh”

Haven't been feeling well the past few hours since making my way home (word vomited a comment that got lost in the ether, probably for the better). Collapsed when I came home and slept for a couple hours, having felt, and still feeling, nauseous + dizzy + lethargic + sad and bleary. I hope to hell it isn't the flu. I really don't need this now!

Dragged myself to the kitchen, made a big pot of arroz verde, took the bins out, about to collapse on couch with dinner and a movie and plenty of water and a couple nurofen. Begone, ill humours. May I wake up tomorrow feeling refreshed and healed. I think the shittiest part of living alone is when you fall sick...

I'm sending healthy vibes through cyberspace.. nnnnnnnnnnnow.
- Downloading patch overnight...
take care , rest up 🤗

Nearly home time. A Temu Pakige awaits me at home. Any bets as to whether I have to return anything from this one, or will everything actually be as advertised?

Edit: all appears as advertised. Many decals, plus some odds and ends including a little spout thing which works like an extender for my too-short kitchen tap. Seems to work.

I (grew up in the US) always heard "fudge is made". Is "chocolate" more common there in the saying? If so, a rare win for syllables in Australian English (some shortened slang threw me for a loop the first time I heard/read it).

Are you talking about my "milk milk lemonade" headline? Yeah it's always been chocolate but fudge would work too. It comes with actions also.
I think because fudge wasn't really around until 20 years ago for us, someone changed it to chocolate. That's how I remember it in the 80s.
- that's how I remember it from the 70s
- Yep! I'm also a child of the 80s and only remember it with fudge. I guess it's just a regional thing (and may even vary within the US, I guess, but even on television I've only heard the fudge version)
Canadian here...always knew it as fudge

92 years ago groucho marx sang a song about Dutton and the lnp

I don't know what they have to say It makes no difference anyway Whatever it is, I'm against it No matter what it is or who commenced it I'm against it

Your proposition may be good But let's have one thing understood: Whatever it is, I'm against it And even when you've changed it or condensed it I'm against it

I'm opposed to it On general principles, I'm opposed to it

He's opposed to it In fact, indeed, he's opposed to it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29E6GbYdB1c

Breakfast 🍏🍎🍐🍊🍋🍈🫐🍓🍇🍉🍌🍒🍑🥭🍍🥥🥦🥑🫛🍆🍅🥝🥬🥒🌽🥕🥐🍠🫚🥔🧅🥯🍞🥖🥨🧀🧇🥞🧈🍳🥚🥓🥩🍗🍖🫓🍕🍟🍔🌭🥙🧆🌮🌯🥗🍲🍜🍝🥘🍛🍣🍱🥟🦪🍥🍘🍚🍙🐠🍤🪼🦀🐙 🍗🥮🍢🍡🍧🍰🧁🥧🍦🍨🎂🍮🍭🍬🍫🥜🌰🍪🍿🍯🥛☕️🍵🍺🍶🥤🧋🧃🥂🍷🥃🍸🍹🧉🔋

No sleep gang. I'll take a shin to the temple please
- I could send a cat with a brick?
- 🦿🏛️
A coffee and some painkillers please 💀
- ☕️💊💊
Bit early isn’t it? I could do with a nightmare remedy. Bloody weather.
- 🍞🍵 and a hug
- 🐈
I can’t sleep, so maybe some turkey please chef? Or sleeping pills, whichever is quickest
- 🦃🍞 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNwYtllyt3Q
- ☕️
Organised my own eggses but can I have a bathtub sized latte plz chef
- 🛁🥛☕️
May I please have a fortune cookie and a strong latte please?
- 🥠🥛☕️☕️
  what does the cookie say

Who wants to do tomorrow's thread? If no one answers within a half an hour I'll do it.

I'm staying up for my meds so I can do it. :)
- 👍

Sitting here doomscrolling cyclone updates…🤞😕

My mum brought all her favourite pot plants inside and my brother stocked his eskies with “essentials” so they’re as ready as they’ll ever be…

I hope they don't get too much damage, just saw it's a category 3 after all.
- Thanks, yeah that caught a few people by surprise. They’ll be right I hope!
  Hope you’re feeling better soon!

I just did something dumb. Tried to microwave an old popcorn pack.

Stinks in here now and wasn’t really edible as it ended up burning in the microwave.

Lesson learnt, will throw away the rest.

Made the mistake of having a very rare coffee. Now I’m both exhausted and jittery. Dumb.

I hate to think what an epic or legendary coffee would do to you
- Probably something along the lines of what would happen if you gave a Bonacon acid

Not getting much art done. The amount of pressure I put on myself and the awareness of how much of the basics I still have to learn has given me the chokes.

Minecraft is pretty aimless too. There's so much now that would have been unthinkable when I played many years ago, and because I made new worlds and have it on peaceful I am running into rare stuff or biomes almost constantly. There are so many new plants and biomes and blocks. But after initial excitement I don't feel any desire to take them, or build on them, or change anything.

I put it on creative intending to build and am kind of just flying aimlessly away from spawn admiring the scenery. Whenever I find a village I will stop and equip it with lightning rods.

One thing I learnt about art is that I'm always a beginner. Always. Every time I get new materials, new brushes, try a new technique it's like I'm back at zero. So learning the basics is normal and is a sign of success. Just persevere. :)

I love cool summer evenings. Shorts and hoodie are the best combo

taps foot impatiently waiting for his call to say he won $150m*

Edit: it friggin jackpotted again!

If I win the jackpot, I pledge a 100k to every person in this thread.
- If I post from more than one account do I get multiples?
  It is very generous of you. If I win I pledge to keep it all for myself and to cackle madly every time I see my bank balance.

ooh just reading about the 4m great white shark over at sorrento.

Got me thinking about all the stuff I've seen when swimming which is... not much.

A seal, some dolphins coming up for air right on the shore (that was cool), a mini stingray and a little puffer fish and that's it.

4m shark in the bay is nightmare fuel.

There was a scare a few years ago at the back beach which turned out to be a big log bobbing offshore. Beach / water was packed and the panic was extreme.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rW23RsUTb2Y

🛁🥛☕️