Melbourne

I don't like bragging, but this is shortlived so I'm gonna own it.

I got my other assignment back yesterday.

Again.

I thought I was looking at the previous one. But nope. 2 x 92's in a row. Couldn't believe it.

Just had a slightly tearful goodbye meeting where they brought in some old colleagues too for my goodbye. Have handed in all my gear and am off to the pub while I wait for other peeps to finish and join me! Feeling.

Update on the diverse lifestyle magpies in my street, as of last night. Old Mrs magpie has moved 3 streets over and found a new (male) mate known to all as the Admiral (a long term resident), but still enjoys rolled oats from my hand. She hasn't built a nest yet. Young Mrs magpie has taken a young male mate (as yet unnamed by us), and has built a nest just over the road in a street tree. It's too far up to see if there are eggs yet, but we can hope. The young male, who is a complete dill and alternates between doing his duty by feeding young Mrs magpie, and begging food from her. He doesn't take food from humans yet, though young Mrs magpie has started doing so for the first time just a week ago. We think he's still learning how to do husbanding properly, but as he's less than 2 years old that's not surprising. Young Mrs magpie is also about 2 years old. Will keep you all updated on this teenage romance.

Im drunk and I'm going to bed. Most of y'all are pretty cool and i hope the greebles don't get you tonight

I've had a wonderful start to the week. Since it's book week I got invited to a couple of schools. I did some talking about my books and writing and read a couple of chapters to kids from grades 3/4 and 5/6. I asked the kids if they liked scary stories, and then what scary stories they like and one kid said 'Revenge of the Flightless' which had me all teary-eyed.

Also scored a box of chocolates.

Yesterday I was a 'celebrity' reader for another school so I read a couple of chapters to about 40 kids who mostly seemed enthralled (though I am sure I heard one kid whispering 'this is boring' lol). And after that I did a writing workshop. I thought I'd get like 5 kids interested, but had 30. It was like my own classroom and we started thinking about stories and how we write them and I got them to talk about scary experiences in their lives and how we can use them as ideas for stories, creating characters and all that. It was really fun.

I got the 92 on my assignment.

I was also told that the librarian at my daughters school (who recently bought my books for their library) is reading them and really likes them.

This morning I got a message from the parent of one of the kids in the workshop thanking me for doing it and how her son came home talking about it, and being confident in sharing his work (I mentioned at the end to not be afraid of sharing their work with friends and family and how it took me 35 years to have that courage).

And finally, I volunteered to read in my daughters class this morning (not my books) and I got to see a glimpse of how classrooms look and work before I got to read. It went well which was good and my daughters face was priceless (despite her asking me to do it).

So all in all a damn good week so far.

Back home now after work.

Don’t forget to get petrol folks. Price is expected to go up in the next few days.

Also to end the day I was greeted by this after it rained.

I should have tidied up my stationery earlier - I found $100!!!

I recall a couple of years ago thinking I must have been overly optimistic in my estimates of how much money I had received from selling some of my stuff, I guess I was right after all. Shoving my cash inside a random notebook until I could put it in the bank seemed like a good idea at the time.

There was a lovely story yesterday about a Jack Russell who alerted a neighbour that her owner was having a medical emergency and basically saved the owners life.

My husband: Gee some dogs are smart. Some have jobs and do some remarkable stuff. Your dog eats tissues.

Can someone tell me what planet is in retrograde or why I have such random anxiety today? There's no reason but it's been shocking all day. I had a great night's sleep last night too...

I've taken today off to look after the boys. It will be nice to look after them properly instead of trying to watch them whilst tethered to a laptop

I hate doing the dishes. That is all.

Morning all

My brain is not working today. Totally zonked out. Must.focus.on.work.

P-p-p-p-paaaydaaay

Flaming Lips in Feb - secured. Let's go

The new double edge razor brush for cats has already removed 4 knots from Ted, the annoying one under his chin too. Poor little guy, he didn't ask for all that fur. ( I have to wear gloves or Ted shreds me )

I had a great ride with the boys this afternoon. It's great to have nice weather and a bit of afternoon sun again.

We caught some of that light sun shower so we got to see ac rainbow on the way home

Ok bad mood cured by instant pot beef bourguignon. So yum so tender hhhnnnngggg

Mickey's vaccination all done and caught up. Poor puss hates the carrier, but hates the vet more haha

After so much bullshit and fighting I got an assignment extension for 3 days! This really takes off the edge and gives me much more breathing space... thank fuck.

Progress is still slow, but solid, and definitely adding up. I'm starting to feel less shitty about my reduced mental capacity and more excited about being back in the world of logic and empirical data, not just lazy opinions. Got to chat to some people that really lifted my spirits/rejuvenated things and made me feel like maybe this is all actually heading somewhere meaningful.

I'm going to feel PARTICULARLY great once I get this thing off my plate though! I can just feel the satisfaction already.

Omg JLo is so cringe. Fancy making a film about how much in love you apparently are, only to divorce the love interest for the second time a few months later.

Why do I have so much stationery?

I fucking hate the new underlining of text on reddit videos.

it forces people to read at a pace set by the video, not their own pace

it also ignores the fact that most people read in blocks of words, not word by word

it really makes the whole site worse

Pakige on board for delivery today. Not sure if it is the cat food or the dishwasher tablets. Not the most exciting surprise, but better than nothing.

Edit: it was the dishwasher tablets

The humidity this morning is horrific. Not looking forward to today.

Roadworks in my street today. Wonder how long it'll last this time. It's only been a couple of years since the last lot, and my street is only 10 houses long!

dumb question, is everyone elses bedside draw full of... junk? I've got cables, old watches that still work but I rarely wear, headphones, but nothing I actually use? Theres no better place for some of it, but it ends up being a draw full of rarely used stuff.

I googled to find out what the best meal replacement shakes are and canstar strongly recommended Aldi's one. The trouble with Aldi is that you can never be sure you can get what you want there. I just got back from Aldi and sure enough.. nope no sign of them. If I did manage to get some and wanted to use them regularly there'd be a chance they just wouldn't have them the next time I needed some. I'm really really underwhelmed by Aldi in general so this didn't help. I did grab a bag of coffee beans though.

Meanwhile.. I've invited someone over for dinner next week. Any suggestions on what I should cook? As far as I know there aren't any special dietary requirements but I might actually double check on that.

Today we get tortured by whatever the fuck Departmental Speed Dating is. Meltdown anticipated later.