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[darkelf9]

Afternoon all,

Another warm week. Just when you thought the warm stuff had gone. Keep hearing that the warm weather is gone only for it to return. Was hoping to get another couple of small painting tasks done this week but my back still hurts so no more painting. First time since Thursday last week that I've been able to walk with relatively no pain, still a few twinges. Doing anything just hurt a lot. Even sitting in a chair hurt. Hopefully on the road to recovery.

No Easter eggs for me this year. Still have some left over from last year. Not really a big plain choc fan.

If isn't school kids running around everywhere it's pollies appearing in the local areas sprouting their BS. Like where were they the rest of the year. The Libs look like a one trick pony, can't talk about anything else but Labor's costings and trying to implicate the public service. As if the PS doesn't get crapped on enough.

Just waiting to find out where the early voting places are. Will be using one of those this time around.

Amazing how the rich people are suddenly pledging money for the Notre Dame but avoid pay any tax. There is some irony in that.

Hope the rest of the week and Easter is good for you. I'll be spending it with Deep Heat, Tiger Balm and heat packs on my lower back.

 

[missswannie]

Back on Oz soil again, one more flight to go. Somewhat comedic with Qantas out of LA. In the lounge and I got asked if it was possible they could change me to the Brisbane flight then 20 mins later call me up and ask if the Melbourne flight would be ok. Naturally we negotiated a suitable move further up the pointy end, only for it all to come undone but they left me in the pointy end for being a good sport. Had a nice sleep.
Seems like we have a had a bit of a Freedom of Speech thing while I was away. I love it when people spout on about Freedom of Speech when they actually confuse it with wanting Freedom from Consequences. Neither exist in Oz, thankfully, otherwise you would have all sorts of people spouting on like it was a federal election campaign.
Looks like I am heading back west to a cold wet Easter from tonight. WA people don't do cold and wet very well. They can't merge lanes on the freeway in blue sky broad daylight. They just named the most dangerous roads in the west for accidents - all of them big straight roads that require a little merging or entry. Admittedly they are a bit cheap on reflective paint - when it rains you can't see any lanes, just have to guess.
Hopefully I can land some good traditional hot cross buns this afternoon. Lots of fruit and peel. I'm actually looking forward to a chocolate egg. I believe the waves are going to be 5-8 meters so I might need some energy to have some fun out in that.

 

[PertPerth]

So
Much
Chocolate

Happy Easter everyone! I hope you've all enjoyed the extra long weekend.

I'm back from Japan...thank fuck for that. What a fucking awful holiday. Not because of the place, but the kiddo. He's been a little shit - basically didn't want to leave the apartment (which was about the size of my laundry, no room for even a table and chair). He was so terribly miserable and home sick the entire time I cried most days just trying to get out and see the place. The little that we did see, was good and fun....but it was book ended with fights and tantrums from both the kiddo and me. So we're both glad to be home. The flight home was a disaster too. We boarded the plane, waited 3.5 HOURS before taking off. Kiddo vomited at landing (phew! At least it was over) and we ended up getting home at 4am. I'm still recovering!

Thankfully I have this week off work. I'm getting my part games ready for next weekend (my 40th!). I'm going to have some games and make people play...have a score board and prizes. I've got a few games sorted, just need a couple more! Hopefully people will actually participate. Most of my friends are too cool (way too boring) to play games and just want to whinge about their own lives over a glass of wine.

 

[Zach_lost_in_Aus]

A strange week in prospect. Monday holiday. Two days work. Thursday public holiday (Anzac Day) one day work, weekend. Couldn’t we just have the whole week?

 

[darkelf9]

So
Much
Chocolate

Happy Easter everyone! I hope you've all enjoyed the extra long weekend.

I'm back from Japan...thank fuck for that. What a fucking awful holiday. Not because of the place, but the kiddo. He's been a little shit - basically didn't want to leave the apartment (which was about the size of my laundry, no room for even a table and chair). He was so terribly miserable and home sick the entire time I cried most days just trying to get out and see the place. The little that we did see, was good and fun....but it was book ended with fights and tantrums from both the kiddo and me. So we're both glad to be home. The flight home was a disaster too. We boarded the plane, waited 3.5 HOURS before taking off. Kiddo vomited at landing (phew! At least it was over) and we ended up getting home at 4am. I'm still recovering!

Thankfully I have this week off work. I'm getting my part games ready for next weekend (my 40th!). I'm going to have some games and make people play...have a score board and prizes. I've got a few games sorted, just need a couple more! Hopefully people will actually participate. Most of my friends are too cool (way too boring) to play games and just want to whinge about their own lives over a glass of wine.

Sounds like someone wants to control what others want to do.

Life is possibly book ends. You throw a tanty about things you don't want to do when you're a kid and whinge about stuff when you get to middle age. Also there are diapers on both ends of that timeline.

 

[darkelf9]

A strange week in prospect. Monday holiday. Two days work. Thursday public holiday (Anzac Day) one day work, weekend. Couldn’t we just have the whole week?

Well I reckon trading 3 days leave for 11 days off is fair, besides those people with families usually take the school holidays off as well, even if their kids are old enough to look after themselves.

 

[darkelf9]

Morning all,

Well water buy-backs. Wonder if the Libs would be interested in buying the water in my toilet? As Barnaby says water is water. So folks after it rains gather up the water in the puddles and sell it back to the govt. You too could be a millionaire.

So the first quarter of the year has gone and what did I learn:

- After applying Tiger Balm to the respective parts of your body...don't touch your dick. Pee first.

- Realise that there are tasks you shouldn't do at your age

- Ladders are the enemy of dudes approaching old age

- Things hurt for longer

- Doctors use a standard set of solutions and when those fail, they use your age to explain things.

My back issues have finally calmed down. Washed the car yesterday with no back pain and yep you guessed it, rain is forecasted for today. Not enough rain to wash a car though.

Hope everyone has purchased an ANZAC pin and that the rest of the week is good for you.

 

[missswannie]

Anzac Day and the dawn service was nice with clear skies and the sun coming up over the Swan River. Plenty of extra security around quietly asking to inspect bags and a couple of crews up high on vantage spots. After the Sri Lanka connections to Australia coming out it was good to see them on alert.
I think it is time for them to start focusing on more recent actions as well. There are a lot of young guys and and girls sporting deployment medals and not enough relevance to their actions. No offense to the old diggers at all, but a rebalance would be appropriate as there are a lot of people struggling with some of the stuff they have been up to.
Pretty quiet about the place except the beach. I think the fall of the holidays have worked well for people.

 

[scumbag]

Anyone following the NFL draft?

I have found this one very interesting, lots have slipped a long way.
Rounds 4-7 tomorrow and my Skins have had a ripper so far in my eyes. At 15 we got who many analysts thought to be the best QB. Then traded back into the 1st to get an edge rusher, that normally would have gone about 5th except for a mis-diagnosed heart condition. Great receiver in the 3rd that played with the new QB and has exceptional speed. Then we traded our last 3rd which was late for two 4th's.
So tomorrow you normally have 4 picks, and we have 7.
Looking forward to it, and if any of you are NFL fans, how's your team doing?

 

[warrior queen]

Hiya aussies

Update on my situation.... I had my operation on 4th April and it seems to have gone well. I went from having 15% use of my wrist and hand to about 50% now - and that's before I even begin physio (starts next week).
To say I am thrilled would be understating it somewhat! Almost a year since I broke my wrist, and having to wear a hard brace that whole time, and finally I am seeing improvements in both range of movement and pain levels

My home situation, on the other hand, isn't going so well.
It looks like now that my last child has left home, I will be homeless within the next couple of months
Unfortunately, being off work for this past year due to my wrist is coming back to bite big time.
I absolutely cannot afford to stay in this rental by myself, and my landlord won't allow a co-tennant other than family.
I have been hunting for another cheaper rental, but they are non-existant here it seems.
And without a fulltime job in the next few weeks..... something I am less than hopefull of happening, given my area's woefull jobs statistics..... I fail the income test to keep this house.
I may have to move far away from my kids just to keep some kind of roof over my head.
Been to housing, but the current wait time here is 7 years for non-urgent social housing.

I have been planning to fit out my van as a camper, but I still have another trip to WA to do before I am able to concentrate on that, so it's going to be a very tight schedule to achieve all this before my date to vacate! Plus, rehab on my wrist means I am a little limited on how much actual heavy work I am able to do anyway.

I should be more stressed, but I am surprisingly calm. What is, is. And I will just have to deal with circumstances as they arise.

I spent Easter alone this year - no kids, no friends (they all disappeared into the ether when I had my operation, despite all saying 'call us if you need help after your op!'. Surprising how that works!?!
I managed, sorta, but there were a lot of things I couldn't do for a while. My OCD got quite bad as I couldn't clean the house the way I like, and I lost weight because I had a very hard time making meals and generally just ate whatever I didn't have to cut up and cook, lol
Still having a few issues there, but getting better.
Upside...... no chocolate because not being able to drive meant I couldn't go shopping!

I am the current poster child for middle-aged female [potentially] homeless statistics.
Debating emailing each of the big name candidates and asking what their policies are to tackle situations like mine.

Apart from all that, I am doing well otherwise and just generally offloading excess furniture and belongings to make it easier and cheaper to move out when I have to.
One good thing is that I feel much free-er with less 'stuff'

I hope you all enjoyed the rare extended break that Easter and ANZAC day being so close gave us!

Be safe x

 

[Wanna_play]

Good news about your wrist.
As for your living arrangements, best of luck with it all. I'd offer you a place to stay if I had room but unfortunately I don't have the space. Sorry.

 

[Zach_lost_in_Aus]

Well I reckon trading 3 days leave for 11 days off is fair, besides those people with families usually take the school holidays off as well, even if their kids are old enough to look after themselves.

No such luck unfortunately. Leave I had planned had to be cancelled for reasons beyond my control... school holidays were before Easter up here. All days off are good mind you

 

[darkelf9]

I have found this one very interesting, lots have slipped a long way.
Rounds 4-7 tomorrow and my Skins have had a ripper so far in my eyes. At 15 we got who many analysts thought to be the best QB. Then traded back into the 1st to get an edge rusher, that normally would have gone about 5th except for a mis-diagnosed heart condition. Great receiver in the 3rd that played with the new QB and has exceptional speed. Then we traded our last 3rd which was late for two 4th's.
So tomorrow you normally have 4 picks, and we have 7.
Looking forward to it, and if any of you are NFL fans, how's your team doing?

I don't follow the AFL draft either so not really a concern about the NFL draft for me. I remember channel flicking and seeing it on the menu. Was a bit surprised since I know the season doesn't start till later in the year, then realised what it was.

I'm still waiting to hear if the free to air channels will show the Ashes, probably not if the Summer season is anything to go by.

 

[darkelf9]

Anzac Day and the dawn service was nice with clear skies and the sun coming up over the Swan River. Plenty of extra security around quietly asking to inspect bags and a couple of crews up high on vantage spots. After the Sri Lanka connections to Australia coming out it was good to see them on alert.
I think it is time for them to start focusing on more recent actions as well. There are a lot of young guys and and girls sporting deployment medals and not enough relevance to their actions. No offense to the old diggers at all, but a rebalance would be appropriate as there are a lot of people struggling with some of the stuff they have been up to.
Pretty quiet about the place except the beach. I think the fall of the holidays have worked well for people.

Before any acknowledgement of recent deployments the RSL has to determine the issue of descendants marching. I heard at least one old salt saying it wasn't appropriate but then those WWII vets were happy to have their family members with them during the march. Having an ANZAC march with just the banners isn't very appealing for those who come to watch the march. Might as well set up a slideshow.

 

[darkelf9]

Hiya aussies

Update on my situation.... I had my operation on 4th April and it seems to have gone well. I went from having 15% use of my wrist and hand to about 50% now - and that's before I even begin physio (starts next week).
To say I am thrilled would be understating it somewhat! Almost a year since I broke my wrist, and having to wear a hard brace that whole time, and finally I am seeing improvements in both range of movement and pain levels

My home situation, on the other hand, isn't going so well.
It looks like now that my last child has left home, I will be homeless within the next couple of months
Unfortunately, being off work for this past year due to my wrist is coming back to bite big time.
I absolutely cannot afford to stay in this rental by myself, and my landlord won't allow a co-tennant other than family.
I have been hunting for another cheaper rental, but they are non-existant here it seems.
And without a fulltime job in the next few weeks..... something I am less than hopefull of happening, given my area's woefull jobs statistics..... I fail the income test to keep this house.
I may have to move far away from my kids just to keep some kind of roof over my head.
Been to housing, but the current wait time here is 7 years for non-urgent social housing.

I have been planning to fit out my van as a camper, but I still have another trip to WA to do before I am able to concentrate on that, so it's going to be a very tight schedule to achieve all this before my date to vacate! Plus, rehab on my wrist means I am a little limited on how much actual heavy work I am able to do anyway.

I should be more stressed, but I am surprisingly calm. What is, is. And I will just have to deal with circumstances as they arise.

I spent Easter alone this year - no kids, no friends (they all disappeared into the ether when I had my operation, despite all saying 'call us if you need help after your op!'. Surprising how that works!?!
I managed, sorta, but there were a lot of things I couldn't do for a while. My OCD got quite bad as I couldn't clean the house the way I like, and I lost weight because I had a very hard time making meals and generally just ate whatever I didn't have to cut up and cook, lol
Still having a few issues there, but getting better.
Upside...... no chocolate because not being able to drive meant I couldn't go shopping!

I am the current poster child for middle-aged female [potentially] homeless statistics.
Debating emailing each of the big name candidates and asking what their policies are to tackle situations like mine.

Apart from all that, I am doing well otherwise and just generally offloading excess furniture and belongings to make it easier and cheaper to move out when I have to.
One good thing is that I feel much free-er with less 'stuff'

I hope you all enjoyed the rare extended break that Easter and ANZAC day being so close gave us!

Be safe x

Hey WQ,

Sorry to hear about the housing issue but may be time to lay a guilt trip on one of the kids and that they will get a free babysitter at least until your hand is back to normal. Child care is expensive so just remind them of how much they will be saving.

Yep we sure do have a lack of social housing, they used to call them commission flats when I was a kid. Then there are the not for profit organisations. Everybody needs help at some stage in life.

Good news at least on your hand. I was laid up with severe back pain just prior to Easter, could hardly walk and standing for longer than a minute was really painful. Took over two weeks to get over it so the basics was very difficult to do and didn't have any help doing things. The price of freedom.

Good to see that you're staying positive, keep going.

 

[darkelf9]

Afternoon all,

Well it's a new month and also today marks 5 yrs since I resigned from my last job and in fact left the workforce. Don't regret it and also discovered a world outside of working. My health instantly got better once I stopped working and I saved about $10,000 a year by not working.

Had to laugh at the hike in stats of people falling off the Grand Canyon due to trying to take selfies. Now that's natural selection in action. If you have to warn people not be stupid, then perhaps we don't need their gene pool. I mean just look at the gene pool in Parliament we surely can do better.

Saw that the early voting places are up and running although will have to go for a short drive to the nearest one to me. The early voting place for the state election was right near the supermarket so nice and convenient. Obviously not being used for the federal election. As for the respective campaigns, if you didn't know better you would say Shorten was in power and ScoMo was the angry opposition leader. Shorten just looks calmer. All ScoMo can manage is that smirk on his face when asked a question. Looks like someone showing contempt for the other person. The Libs are keeping the Onion Eater and Mr Potato Head under the bed. Not a peep from either of them. And as for Barnaby, well he just keeps repeating the name of the opposition party.

Getting a bit of rain in Melbourne today although it's being pushed through quickly by those northerly winds. It was brilliant sunshine when I came out of the supermarket and it got warmer. Waiting for the next front pass thru Melbourne, from the west this time. Managed to stay dry when I was out and about. Happy for it to piss down now that I'm home. We need the rain....just not on me.

Hope the rest of the week is good for you. I'll be driving across the city tomorrow, not looking forward to it if the forecasted thunderstorms actually happen.

 

[scumbag]

Getting a bit of rain in Melbourne today although it's being pushed through quickly by those northerly winds. It was brilliant sunshine when I came out of the supermarket and it got warmer. Waiting for the next front pass thru Melbourne, from the west this time. Managed to stay dry when I was out and about. Happy for it to piss down now that I'm home. We need the rain....just not on me.

We have had a fair bit last two days and more coming in Radelaide. So that should work for you.

 

[darkelf9]

We have had a fair bit last two days and more coming in Radelaide. So that should work for you.

You could predict that if Adelaide gets rain then Melbourne will get some it, but not in the last few years. We can now easily miss out. Got a bunch of rain from the north last week which was unusual given the time of year, now it's coming from the south west, hasn't turned true south yet. Then it's those chilly winds from the south, so that's yet to come.

 

[milkmepls]

i know its not winter yet and the sun has been out and we do need the rain
But I am already over having to wear jumpers and jackets.
Please cant we just give the winter a miss this year

 

[darkelf9]

Afternoon all,

So only a couple of weeks to go before all the BS campaigning ends. Can't watch any day time TV without seeing news about who is trying to buy votes. The video games are getting a good run when I'm not doing stuff around the house.

Went shopping last week to discover that Woollies now has self scanners for the Rewards cards. Main issue being the lasers have trouble picking up the bar code. It's like those auto wash basins where you have to do Tai Chi to get the water to turn on. You also don't know when to swipe the Rewards card. In the end I had to get the checkout person to swipe the card for me. A task that used to take a couple of seconds now needs two people doing Tai Chi. Be one with the card...use your core...and swipe the card...exhale.

Had some more rain this morning, well more like passing showers. Nothing heavy. Only supposed to get one dry day this week so that will be good for the gardens, although not so good for the tradies on the houses down the street. Had it all last week, tradies working on two houses plus the council contractors doing the drains in my small street. It was big boys and their toys on show.

Going to use the early voting system this week once I find the place. Funny how you live in a neighbourhood for nearly 20 years and don't travel around most of the locals streets. Only use the ones to get out to do stuff.

Hope the week is good for you and that you stay dry. Thankfully these days I don't have to drive in peak hour in heavy rain.

 

[darkelf9]

i know its not winter yet and the sun has been out and we do need the rain
But I am already over having to wear jumpers and jackets.
Please cant we just give the winter a miss this year

At least there isn't a chance of bush fires, more like bad hair days for those who have hair

 

[warrior queen]

Just thought I'd pop in and let you all know I got signed off by my physio today
I have about 75% use back in my wrist and hand, and should get the same back in strength over the next few months as I slowly increase use.
And..... those awful hard braces I have worn for nearly a year are gone! I am now in a soft elastic brace
The freedom is exhilerating!
Ten days till I have my final orthopedic checkup, and then hopefully back to some kind of normal

 

[darkelf9]

Just thought I'd pop in and let you all know I got signed off by my physio today
I have about 75% use back in my wrist and hand, and should get the same back in strength over the next few months as I slowly increase use.
And..... those awful hard braces I have worn for nearly a year are gone! I am now in a soft elastic brace
The freedom is exhilerating!
Ten days till I have my final orthopedic checkup, and then hopefully back to some kind of normal

Would make a joke about a certain part of your body being glad you have use of your hand again...but possibly more relevant if you were a dude, so I won't.

 

[darkelf9]

Morning all,

Well the end of the week and the same pattern of rain as last week and just like last week whilst there was rain about it wasn't there when I would out doing stuff. Actually haven't had much rain on my side of the city, and mostly at night but not the high totals predicted. Mainly in the west. Chilly day today compared to yesterday. More like Winter.

Will be doing the drive around the bay for Mother's Day lunch. Thankfully it won't be a wet day. Hope all the mothers have a good day.

The price of petrol this week is outrageous. $1.66 where I live and I need to fill up for the drive on Sunday so not impressed. Funny how the market just spikes on these occasions.

Did the early voting thing this week, although finding the place was a bit more of an effort than I thought. Haven't been to that area before plus the streets leading to it are on the weird side. Who puts a square in the middle of a road where the street name changes twice and it's only one way so if you make a mistake you have to go around again. As for the voting itself well a few more people than I thought but I wasn't in line for long. Took longer to find the parties on the white ballot paper. It's long but not as wide as in previous years. Plus some of the parties have similar sounding names so I reckon some people will end up mistakenly voting for a party they didn't intend to.

Rather noticeable that the Libs are not united. Their previous leaders where a no show at their launch where as Labor had their previous leaders on show. Must have done some dealing for that to happen. Even Hawke and Keating got together, wow. As for that article in the Murdoch paper well that was just trash journalism. Wonder if the journalist and editors at the Daily Telegraph care about their mothers. Would be far easier if newspapers and journalists just came out and stated which party they support rather than implying they are not a propaganda tabloid for a particular party. Just put a party badge on the front page so we all know who they support.

Went to my local Westfield yesterday and discovered that they installed parking sensors to show which car parks were empty. Wasn't quite sure what they were for at first. However they might also be used to keep tabs on how long people are parking for.

Hope the weekend is good for you.

 

[darkelf9]

Afternoon all,

Well the weather gods didn't play ball yesterday. Wasn't expecting to encounter any of the wet stuff on the drive around the bay. Although it was quite patchy, even by suburb. Lunch was good and the venue had undergone a revamp so things were changed around. Could actually see the kitchen. Part of that new thing about dinners being able to see the kitchen staff working. They must feel like gold fish.

Something new in the local paper I've seen for the last couple of months is a rainfall graph. Shows that climate change is even making the local papers. Also seems to be the one topic everyone agrees on...that's it's happening not on what to do about it.

Was charged 20c for a paper bag last week. Thought we were trying get rid of plastic not paper...smells of a rip off. Will have to remember to take a bag next time which is just annoying. Don't normally just walk around with an empty bag. Seems some small businesses are just passing on their costs to the public and claiming its for the environment. What next, the local fish and chip shop starts charging extra for the paper to wrap up your fish and chips or the pizza joint charges you for the box containing the pizza.

Hope the rest of the week is good for you. Supposed be a rain free week in Melbourne town, but anything could happen.