Daily discussion thread: 🐀 Thursday, June 6, 2024

I've been calling him 'old man' because it makes me laugh. He is displeased and reminded me he is only 3, going on 4.

He's still my grumbly, chatty old man though.

He does have an old man face, in a respectful way!
Pretty sure he can be a handsome old man and a little baby kitten at the very same time.
I'd take advice from this wise old man
He looks wise

My daughter made a new friend today

Ain't no love like a ginger's love.
- She said it tried to leap into her arms ♥
Muuuuuuum he followed me home - can I keep him?

Apparently, I don't have enough money in my credit card to pay $0.00 for my kid to go on an excursion:

This is some oldskool software gore content.

Hooray! I did not throw up.

Feel for you. Dentists are not fun. Not even close to fun. I have an appointment at the dentist on my birthday next week. The only day available. Poo.
- Birthday dentist is mega poo! I’m not scared of them as such, but have a seriously messed up gag reflex which makes it very un fun indeed.

I've been walking past the dog's bed all morning giving him a little pat and talking to him (he likes to bury himself under his doona). I thought "oh you haven't popped your head up for awhile" so I have a proper look and he's not even in there. He's in the kid's room because they have a time share thing going on.

Mr Woof has made himself nice and cosy.

There is no dog in this picture

I woke her up by moving my foot every so slightly:

And thanks everyone for the pantry tips! Going to go stock up this weekend.

more pain meds have been taken, then a little more sleep and then I'll be up

For anyone needing petrol, this is the time to fill up, a good number of petrol stations have jacked up their price for the long weekend already.

Oh damn, thought about that this morning then forgot to do it and I forgot there was a long weekend. Hmm, do I brave the cold and the reversing back out into the traffic 🤔
- I just used 7-11’s fuel lock and I’ll take my time doing it next week instead.
$1.70/L for diesel in Dandenong. $1.79 in Creswick. Probably $2 on Saturday
- God dammit, best I saw on petrol spy was 1.86 for diesel in Keysborough, which I bought 50 litres of.

Nellie’s update has landed.

This time we get an encyclopaedic life cycle description. https://perthzoo.wa.gov.au/a-year-in-the-life-of-the-numbat?

... and females receive an augmented termite diet for optimal breeding conditions.
I wanna augmented termite diet!
Is there anything we can do to support Nellie?
- Other than give the zoo money? Not that I am aware of. Are you artistic? You could do a Thing for $ with a donation pledge ?

We stopped at Maroona station, which closed back in the 80s which was pretty fun.

I never quite realise the sheer size of these things until I'm standing at the same level as one and I'm about the same size as a wheel. Just like planes

Love me a good N-class. Used to take these a lot between Gippsland and Melbourne growing up. Shame they're all V'Locity's now :(
- They are good trains. I also saw one that had been debadged and was hauling a freighter, which looks.... Interesting.
Jelly. I like that trip on a train - did it a few times years ago.
- Really? They were saying it's the first time a passenger train has run to Mildura since it was axed in '93.

There's a bunch of jumpy Bois in front of my hotel!

They look kinda like rocks or something, but nah, they're all jumpies!

The train trip included a fancy dinner and drinks with the train crew. Obviously I can't drink [:(], so I just had a bottle of Pepsi Max to look the part. I also had to learn how to do fancy eating. Dinner and meal manners aren't something I've ever had to use before, so I never learnt them. But I feel under qualified to eat dinner now to be honest. I've never put a napkin thing in my lap, or wiped my face with a black cloth, or had 3 different knives + 3 different forks + 2 spoons + 3 glasses before. I was also the only person at my table under 50 (seriously, that's not a hyperbole), so that makes it harder to know how to act and what to do.

I mean it was a good experience, and I'm happy that I did it, but there's so many generational differences that it gets really hard to know what to do or say and how to act. 1 lady was super nice, but the dude next to me shouted at me to not play with my food (there was a flower on my dessert and I was trying to figure out if it was edible or not). It was that sort of formal.

That dude was a dick.
I am very middle aged and I still remember my first "fancy" dinner.. I kept.forgetting how to hold my knife and fork and my mate's mum leant over and helped. I still feel a bit out of place at fancy dinners. It's fun to play and try new things though.
- I was at a foster care house for a while and the foster carer and her son both got really, really, really angry at me for not holding a knife and fork right (I held a knife in my left hand and more like a broomstick despite being right handed), but neither of them wanted to teach me or explain what the go was. I only learnt how to properly hold cutlery and knives when I was 14/15. My previous fanciest dinner would probably have been an RSL, but since those tables aren't really shared, nobody gives much of a shot how you eat things as long as you're not obnoxious about it and meet their dress code thing.
  I've actually picked up a lot of my manners and social norms from old Australian soap operas (namely prisoner) + stories from my mum. Just generally speaking, I don't think much beyond basic manners is really a thing in my generation. Even an expensive sit down restaurant doesn't necessarily mean it's fancy or will even have a dress code, let alone any concern about manners or over a dozen types of silverware
Baku, I would've played with the flower too 🤷‍♀️
- After he yelled at me I decided to just eat it. I think it was intended mostly as decoration, but it didn't taste like anything so I assume it was intended to be safely edible. I was the only person that are it at my table though
Ignore the guy, he had very bad manners. The best good manners are a smile, please and thank you and a kind heart like greeeg's friend's mum.
And that train trip looks really awesome, so jelly. 🥰🚂🦘
- That was something that stuck out to me. Nobody was even really acknowledging the waiters at all, and I was the only person saying thank you to them each time they brought food and took plates and drinks and stuff. The only time I could justify not thanking them is if I was in a conversation, but even then I'd at least acknowledge them with a head nod, or duck to the side to make it easier for them to get the plates

Fixable finished off the coaching and most of the packing. Usually I wake up 4 hours before I'm due to leave and then pack from then, but I have to leave by 5:45 so that ain't happening. I've tidied up the house and cleaned out the new kids half of the fridge and freezer. Also packed so my clothes and most of my backpack, but I'll have to pack a few odd ends when I wake up. I'll also have to wake up around 4:45 or I won't get be able to get up until 5:30.

Although it's kind of a heritage train, the heritage is more about where we're going than what we're going in (which is the opposite of regular heritage specials). These carriages are the same ones that were on the Albury line before standard gauge vlocity trains like elsewhere displaced them. So I guess they're technically heritage now. But it feels weird calling something I rode in regular service like 3 years ago heritage, even if the stock is old. If anybody wants to keep up with what's happening, I'll post wrap of photos of the day in c/MelbourneTrains when I get a chance, and share whatever funny/weird/annoying experiences stand out to me here

God I was tired when I typed this lol
"Fixable finished off the coaching" was meant to be "finally finished off the cleaning"

Sometimes I read back on a professional email I’ve sent and think - wow I actually sound like I know what I’m talking about. Get me on the phone though and I become a mumbling mess sometimes.

I love the phone. I have a "professional" voice I put on. It's fun lol

My workplace has recently banned access to the Seek website. There have been quite a lot of departures recently lol. They also banned the website of a competitors company when said competitor took off with a few of our staff, and we were too stingy to match their pay offer

Yep. That'll totally stop 'em leaving.
I used to browse seek on my phone in the toilet years ago lol

@CEOofmyhouse56@aussie.zone please provide recap and review of your dinner/margarita last night. Also did you accept, wear and bring home a sombrero?

Well, first I didn't get the sombrero. I did see the fish bowl though, that was fucking huge. I got 2 margaritas, one strawberry, one mango. The strawberry was ok. The mango did not taste like mango. Did not expect them to come from a slushie machine.
The food was good. Prawns were great
Stuffed jalepeno were really good
And Chile fries were really good
I would definitely get these again but take away so I can make proper margaritas at home. The fajita was ok not great because the meat wasn't tender. Good experience 3.5/5

Look what I got on my bin

I hope the prize is cash cos that would come in handy right now.

What are the staple foods in your pantry? I've never bothered filling one before, but I need a source of cheap meals if required.

This is whole topic worthy of an extended rant. It depends on what you like to eat basically. Mine has (among other less used items) :
2 minutes noodles and other pastas
tinned fish
Couscous
tins of crushed tomato
tins of corn (small)
bricks of stock in various flavours and sizes
Rice(s) various
cider vinegar
spices & sauces like soy, sweet chilli sauce, hoisin
Flour/cornflour
Tea
Sugar
Spreads like jam, vegemite, peanut butter
In the fridge:
potatoes
carrots
apples
lemons
onions
garlic & ginger
bottle of mayo
Uht milks
Butter
Cheese(s)
These plus fresh green vegetables allow me to cook up a fast cheap meal in a variety of cuisines. If stocking a pantry, I'd keep shopping receipts for a month, and see what you've actually used and base purchasing decisions on that. Food that just sits in the pantry and isn't used is the most expensive of all.
EDIT: I forgot eggs & olive oil (or whatever oil you like to cook with)
- You refrigerate onions & potatos? This seems rather odd to me.
- I use vegetable oil for more unhealthy things, like stuff that needs to be fried or deep fried and olive oil for things that just need a drizzle. Vegetable oil isn't the best, but it's not the worst and it's generally quite cheap for massive bottles of it.
  Only thing I'd add to your list is some noodles. Personally I despise 2 minute/ramen noodles because a lot of days that was breakfast lunch and dinner for me for weeks on end (same reason I hate spag Bol), but you can buy it super cheaply and you can make it in a lot more ways than just boiling a kettle and letting it sit for 2 minutes. Also good if you get sick and need something easy, cheap, and not too hard to digest (just forgo the spice).
  Edit: noodles were the first thing on your list... FML.
plain flour, salt, rice, pasta, wokka noodles, tinned tomatoes, tinned beans, tinned coconut, thai curry pastes, soy sauce , sesame oil, herbs and spices, dried fruits, nuts, baking powder. lots of frozen vegies in freezer
- Dried beans are considerably cheaper, but you need to think ahead to soak them.
Dried pasta (many types), tinned fish / spam / beans if you partake (jaffle stuffings), flour if you bake, corn flour at least for sauces, tinned tomatos, you basically build it around what you like and longer shelf life stuff
Pasta, some tinned tuna/fish, 2 minute noodles and some canned stuff when they're on discount works for me.
Also some herbs and spices can so a long way in flavouring a meal sometimes.
Add to what the others have said some sort of packet sauce/curry for can’t be fucked cooking days, and about 8 varieties of hot sauce. I’ve usually got rice paper sheets, tortilla/wraps, Mustard and pesto. The spice list is too long to type.
Patsa, Pasata, Beans, Rice, Canned Fish, Frozen Veg, eggs, herbs/seasoning. You can make a ton of stuff from just those items. Get as MUCH as you can from Aldi too. The aldi pasta is god tier when compared to Woolies home brand. I'd probably just skip aldi's tuna.
Another good option is NEVER cook a meal for 1 meal. Batch cook. Make some soup or bolognese and freeze multiple serves from it, a big batch of chicken stroganoff reheats super well. Our Freezer has got like 10-20 meals ready to go at any point.
rice
Everything everyone else said plus cans of chickpeas, hummus and baked beans.
Rice, canned fish, pasta, pasta sauce, salt n pepper, hot sauce, soy sauce, instant ramen
Baked beans. I have some oats in there too. Oh and sultana bran.
Nothing else in there is or could be considered a meal (spices and whatnots). Classic bachelor pantry.
there's pantry foods and foods that need refrigeration
try not to buy foods that can go bad
buy from asian grocers, don't travel to shop unless you are walking, the cost of transport soon eats up any savings
Depends what you like to eat. Eg having dried pasta and a jar of your chosen red sauce you can throw in leftover chicken and/or veg and have an easy meal. If you like curries and stir fries it makes sense to keep rice. If you want to bake, then flour and sugar. For breakfasts things like cereal, jams, peanut butter, eggs, and keep some bread in the freezer for toast. Start small and build up what you need, and when you use something up put it on your shopping list to replenish. Buy quantities that you will use in a reasonable time. Buying in bulk can be cheaper but if it’s only one person you don’t want items going stale waiting to be used. Not everything is equal in being shelf stable, for example cooking oils can go rancid, so keep an eye on the expiry dates and don’t overdo the bulk buys.

Gaaaah! Why can no one at my workplace understand how to use SharePoint for document sharing/editing/commenting....!?... See attached for my edits on filename_edits(3).....

Daaaaaaaaaah!

I know the pain. To be fair, it can get confusing because it’s a bit different to how users would use the regular windows file saving they are used to. Can the company do some info sessions on SharePoint basics? A bit of training can go a long way.
- Oh there's been training... Also, I sent the document out, sharing it via SharePoint. So multiple people have downloaded a copy, added edits offline, then emailed it back to the group....I mean, all you have to do is click the bloody link in the email and it opens right up..... daaaaaaaaaah

I think I like metal now... I mean, soft metal... but I keep listening to all these Electric Callboy songs. I prefer the non-screaming bits, but appreciate value the screaming gives to the overall experience.

What specific kind of sounds/moods do you like?
Have you considered offshoots like viking metal or folk metal? Metal before it became a lot harder or aggressive? Or those bands that used to be black metal but turned fully into ambient or folk?
You might like Amon Amarth, Bathory, Myrkur/Amalie Braun or Venom. [[[[[ Ps. If checking out folk viking or black metal you might want to check out 'Is It Sketch' and stay the hell away from white supremacist bands. />>';/[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[
Edit: Judging by the above Melbcat strongly agrees on that
Anyway I'm willing to drop suggestions
Edit 2: Or instead of the more esoteric you might like something fairly straight up. Grave Dive - Municipal Waste
- You've got great taste in music!
You'll find yourself going deeper into the rabbithole looking for harder stuff. I like technical and progressive metal, it's amazing what some of those bands can do
I am ashamed to admit I haven't listened to much new music the past ten years
had a lot of metal albums when i was a teen, deep purple, led zeppelin, black sabbath, that kind of thing
not that i don't like new music, just that apps have make it harder to find new stuff, youtube and last.fm algorithms give you more of the same now, not much new at all
- I live to give music recommendations. 😁 What vibes you after?
- I try to listen to the hottest 100 each year to keep up with the times, but I must admit I seem to like less and less new music each year. Last year I really added lots of music to my library was 2019
My thing as far as metal goes extends to Symphonic Metal.
Nightwish, Within Temptation, Evanescence, Epica were some of my favourites.
Not a fan of screaming tracks myself.
- Did you catch the otamaphone cover of Bring Me to Life that's surfaced recently : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmxLja-DRIw
- Nightwish is so damn good. And Evanescence!
  I'll give the others a listen too 💜 this thread is giving me lots of reccs haha
I like all sorts of metal, my favourite being Power Metal. Blind Guardian is great, and Battle Beast has an amazing female singer who is just an absolute boss. Blind Guardian doesn't really do screamo, but Battle Beast has a raspy voice.
Silverstein is also good, not power metal, but half normal singing and half screamo mostly.
I'll give Electric Callboy a go, I haven't heard of them!
Edit: I also unironically adore Dragonforce. Amaranthe and Dynazty are great too!
- Did you go see Blind Guardian a few months back? They were awesome, as ever, and have such great fans 😊
Riverside might fit this bill well. Everyone needs more Riverside in their life. Criminally unknown. Youtube link
- Actually, you might prefer Ghost
Try a band called "Poison the well". Album is "apathy is a cold body".
Try the title track.

Here's my TV review

Korean Fried Chicken Rhapsody on Netflix

Holy moly. If you love chicken, you will love this. It's chicken porn. Sexy Hot chicken porn every which way in oil. It'll leave you hungry. 5/5 yum yums.

Haven't seen that one yet, but I have seen the other 'korean rhapsody's'. It actually came up in conversation today. I passed Mr Paiks restaurant around Healey's Lane in the CBD and mentioned the serieseses. There is pork, noodles, broth, can't remember what else. Good stuff
- Ooooo. I'll check it out. Thanks.

Would anyone here that works in IT please be able to offer a reference? My so called friend just dropped me completely

How IT are we talking about? I have an IT adjacent role that could convince people
- I'll DM you and thanks for offering ❤️
I can't help (never worked in IT) but I wanted to say I'm sorry this happened to you. What a shitty thing to do!
- I really appreciate it ❤️ I'll never give up easily.
Fuck that fuck noodle, he can go piss in his own beer. I'm mad on your behalf. Ugh. I'm sorry I cannot help, but I know you will get through this!
- Thanks heaps. I wish I didn't have to ask people here for help, but without this reference I'm sunk.
Oh what a shit head. Sorry I don't work in the right IT adjacent space to help but I will rage on your behalf
- Thank you ❤️ I'll be ok. I never give up no matter what.

Police helicopter circling near my kid's school. Distracting..

In unrelated news: I have never clipped a cat's claw before. When we adopted our void cat in February she desperately needed her claws clipped as they had curled under, almost pushing into her paw. We had them clipped at the vet and since then she has been great at using the many scratching posts we have. But I knew that if I could clip her claws it would be an added bonus.

Today, with the assistance of a treat, I did 3 claws! Just small clips and I stopped as it felt like an excellent start. No scratching or biting. One hiss but a bit of the treat helped her. Made sure not to go too low.

When we adopted our void
You dont adopt a void. Voids adopt you.
- Yassss

I'll tell you a couple of things this medicinal indica flower does: it makes my bed way more comfy and it makes rewatching Psych even better.

The probiotic/uti preventative supplement for Melbcat arrived... Cystopro. Cripes it's expensive for a small bottle of 30. For best results I might save it til she's finished her antibiotics to replace her good gut bacteria. Hoping the artificial chicken flavour isn't an issue with her poultry allergy and that she'll eat it sprinkled in her food

Edit: I just had a brainwave. She loves it when I have crackers and broth, so I can make some 'for me' and spoon a little into a bowl when she asks to share. A bit worried about the salt but the one I get is onion and garlic free

You are the best catmum. so many hugs and I hope Melbcat gets better soon
- Thanks. I hope so too, my poor little girl is in for a rough trot

Small victory. I tipped the Tigers tonight in an upset and got it!

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

Courage to withstand the dentist please
- 🍭
- Close your eyes and take yourself to a tropical island.
Instant ramen with some frozen veg and a couple eggs please
- 🍜🥕🫛🌽🥦🍳🍳

The discourse has been saying Apple Music is better than Spotify in every way, especiallu now it's also cheaper.

Does this only apply to Apple Music on Apple devices? The app is laggy and slow on my Pixel 8 Pro and I don't really notice a sound quality difference.

I assume, though, that playlists and Radio would get more personalised over time? Any knowers?

I have a nagging feeling that basically every positive thing I hear about an Apple product is hype/marketing.
- You're right, I could be more sceptical.
Fuck Apple Music. They delete all music that isn't bought on Apple.
- Yes my songs are somewhere hidden in the folders but no longer in the Music app. I use VLC now to listen to songs not on spotify
I love apple devices but I don’t see myself ever using Apple Music

I bought googly eye nail art stickers 😀 might be a bit too freaky 😹

I have now updated my budget ready for the new financial year. The tax cuts will help a bit, although an actual pay rise would be better.

TV review and a bit of a rant. Dostoyevsky. Made by Rossiia 1 tv station. https://www.historynewsnetwork.org/article/a-review-of-amazon-primes-series-dostoevsky

Stunningly beautiful and emotionally harrowing. 4 hobbits

Rant. I've studied Russian history, read so many books, read the great novelists, read modern history books, music, movies, watch so many documentaries and podcasts, keep up with news. No, I can't read/speak Russian.

and I swear I understand them less and less

I think the puzzle lies in the internal psychological conflict caused by the difference in the beliefs that Russia has about itself ( they think they have been a great world power for millennia) and reality ( as long as they are ruled by their medieval religion they will always be medieval )

The smart ones are cynical, like Gorky.

And it's so bloody cold.

Episode two. I fell asleep after 5 minutes.

The people they were elected to represent have been making repeated and strong representations to their members of parliament on this issue.
To not discuss it would actually literally be doing nothing.