Spyke
aussie.zone

I have photographic evidence of possibly the exact moment when my brain flipped from being interested in ninja turtles to being interested in ladies.

This is me and a 24 or 25 (I think) year old Kylie Minogue at my dad's work xmas party one year. Judging by my style/pudgy face I'm going to say it was around 1993 or 1994. I hadn't seen this photo in decades but my mum sent it to me over the weekend.

17

The thing is, I can't quite tell whether you're looking at Kylie, or into the distance at some kind of airborne bandanna'd turtle...

8

My god, look at her. Imagine meeting her in person. I remember the Spinning Around music video came on Rage one time and I understood the appeal then.

5

Why was Our Kylie at your dad's work Christmas party?

4
aussie.zone

So far today:

  • Moved 1.73 shittonnes of crap out of the garage for the hard rubbish.
  • Cleaned house.
  • Repotted the mini peach tree, the ginger lily and the bonsai fig treelet.
  • Two loads of laundry.

Still to do:

  • shopping
  • batch cooking lunches for next week.

I'm exhausted already. May resort to bort lunches.

17

jells I was planning on doing garage stuff, but the cold got my arthritis and MD all fucked up so His Lordship took me to noodle about shops instead.

2

This is why I can't use the duster anymore.

Also I downloaded the full seasons of Ninja Turtles and Transformers from the 90's. So much nostalgia!

15
aussie.zone

That's so cute!

I had a proper feather duster that I stupidly left lying around and the dog got to it ripped all the feathers out. I have a lambs wool one that he eyes off now 😠

9
aussie.zone

Insomnia. Again. So, DDT meet my Tommy. A bit of a belted around alley cat, but 🖤🖤🖤

14
Catfishreply
aussie.zone

Yeah, he needs a bit of a restuff & buff. Scared to attempt it myself and the really good Bear Hospital people have retired.

3

Bedtime I think. Alarm is set for 6am. Getting back into the swing of a routine for when I've found a new role.

Goodnight everyone, from the fluffy butt household

14

Oh her precious little face, I could kiss her on her little forehead. So cute! Hope you only see this message when you wake up tomorrow morning!

5
aussie.zone

My month long trip to the UK has ended. I have landed in Melbourne. I am sad, now that I'm back to work from tomorrow. Someone give me tips to beat jet lag? Also surprisingly super sunny and chilly. Loving the weather!

13

Too late for my jet leg method which is changing your sleeping pattern to Melbourne time a day before leaving/continuing where possible on the plane :(

6
aussie.zone

Enjoy the sun while it's here, I got back a little over a week ago and after a bit of a sunny weekend the relentless grey was punishing 😭 How was your trip? Any highlights? I imagine it'll be hard to adjust after a month away...

Re jet lag, I use melatonin to help reset my circadian rhythm, but you have to bring it in from overseas or order it off iHerb, the OTC stuff here (unless you're over 55) is homeopathic.

4
aussie.zone

The trip was amazing! But I also felt I had enough and wanted my space after living with family for a month. I had to sleep on an air bed due to lack of space so am vvvv grateful to be back on my bed 🥲

Highlight would definitely be Cornwall (county on the SE of England with beautiful coastline views and sceneries). The Cornish pasties are to die for 🤤🤤

Also, re: melatonin, how often do you take it and what's the strength?

2

Haha there is nothing like that feeling of coming back to my own bed. A month is a long time, definitely some positives to feeling sick of being somewhere else so you appreciate home that much more. I have only ever been to the UK once for like 4 days on a school trip 20 years ago. I'd love to go again, I do have family there.

I take 0.3mg once a day about an hour before I want to fall asleep, for max 5 days (it does result in weird dreams and morning grogginess). A lot of melatonin out there is in wild amounts like 3mg, 5mg, even 10mg. I had a bottle of 70 x 3mg that lasted me like 7 years - I cut the pills. I do not find that "more is better" as I feel horrifically awful in the morning with the high dosages, and the marginally shorter time it takes to fall asleep isn't worth it.

3

Right. I've setup a trial Entra tenancy to practice on. I've got my server 2016 VM setup ready to practice a faux migration. I've got a couple of old PC's to enrol in server instead of using VM's which should help make things easier.

English: My IT test lab is up and running lol

A lot to learn!

13

Do you have proxmox? if not, worth a play to familiarise yourself now that a certain company is shitting the bed. You can also practise virtualising some machines.

3
TinyBreakreply
aussie.zone

Great stuff. I really should have one myself rather than using prod as the test bed.

2

I signed up for a free trial for a month which gives me enough time to get familiar I reckon.

If I can complete this migration, I'll be over the moon. Also going to try enrolling dummy devices I've created on VM's to see if it's possible.

1
aussie.zone

Fuck! Yesterday, the man decided to kill his sickness with garlic and chillis. Today, I'm living in a second hand garlic cloud. 🤢

13
Catfishreply
aussie.zone

You don’t want to know about the jerk chicken then. Hot enough to have consequences.

5
aussie.zone

When I say garlic and chilli what I mean is a tub of toum and a tablespoon of Carolina reaper paste chaser. Jerk chicken wouldn't make a dent.

4
Catfishreply
aussie.zone

This is full of Habs. Has caused vomiting when eaten without fair notice 😇

3
Seagoon_reply
aussie.zone

i never found garlic or chilli to help. Honey and lemon, an aspirin and rest helps

4
aussie.zone

What chilli and garlic? I bet he cuts an onion and uses the segments as a spoon to scoop up food. Just a guess.

3

Yeah the chilli and garlic. No on the onion spoon, however! He used to have these weird "special cotton" that he would burn and sniff to get rid of nasal congestion.

It actually fucking worked, but man, it sucked.

4
Duenanreply
aussie.zone

If it’s a cold Armaforce does wonders but it’s a tad pricey.

Used to use it all the game and would avoid colds and similar stuff by taking it early.

It’s like olive, echinacea and something else.

3
Duenanreply
aussie.zone

I haven’t heard of that one. What does it do?

3

Anti-inflammatory, and antibacterial. Can boost your immune system and white cell production but not good for people with autoimmune disorders.

2

Anti-inflammatory, and antibacterial. Can boost your immune system and white cell production but not good for people with autoimmune disorders.

1
aussie.zone

I have been to Outside. The giant purple wooly cape is totally justified. Zero fucks given that it makes me resemble a circus tent. Warm!

10
Seagoon_reply
aussie.zone

I have a friend who wears a knitted green mohair cape, it looks so elegant and warm on her. It's a short cape and she's so slender.

5
Catfishreply
aussie.zone

Elegant isn’t the word for mine. It’s electric violet and made from an opshop blanket. (Best way to get wide width 100% wool!)

5

First time making cauliflower "wings", a bit time consuming and a fair bit of mucking about, but came out really nice especially after dunking them in the sauce - made with my lovely homemade hot sauce - and then doing another 5 minutes in the air fryer.

Unfortunately the green manzano peppers I used for tonight's arroz verde ended up spicy as well (Russian roulette with those things), so everything's clearing out my sinuses.

Discovered a bottle of mead in the fridge from goodness knows how long ago and poured myself a rare little tipple with soda water to wash down the spaaaaaice 🥵 🌶

10

I decided to learn Chinese! Day two and I'm bad at it, as expected. But I managed to use words I know to form a phrase!

今天太冷了

I sure hope that's right.

9
aussie.zone

It could just be bureaucratic idiocy. My work blocks access to their own rostering system over the organisation's wi-fi, you can only use it on the wired network or using your personal connection.

2

One handed bunnings snag consumption is more challenging when the serviette is still in place.

My tongue is really dancing today

9
aussie.zone

I'm watching old Sherlock Holmes movies and it's so nice to see all the expressions of friendship between all the men.

9
aussie.zone

I grew up on old movies, and a lot of international films and shows from SBS. It's a stark contrast seeing how men act towards each other in that media compared to now.

I feel like there's been a kind of, dumbing down of the portrayal of men in western media in general. They're either jesters, playing the hero, or being a piece of shit.

Maybe I'm biased because middle eastern culture is so different to western culture.

8
TinyBreakreply
aussie.zone

Nah you’re right. I can’t speak to middle eastern culture but there’s something really wrong with male relationships in western culture.

6
aussie.zone

I agree and disagree...

I agree, modern media representation for healthy heterosexual male-male relationships are lacking. Which makes the toxic traits that are represented frequently more likely to be picked up by younger men/boys.

And I disagree...in the real world, there are plenty of healthy male relationships... part of the problem is that men tend to only display these aspects of themselves to their closest friends, for fear of toxic masculinity from others.

3

I dunno. The ammount of fear for being seen as “homo” is insane. The contempt some people feel for spending time with “the boys” and also the difficulty men experince talking about anything remotely serious with the same boys is all pretty terrible. But deadset agree not enough positive role models in media.

3
Duenanreply
aussie.zone

Was a great game with some dodgy calls and maybe some questionable tactics as well.

Sorry for your loss :(

4

That was a clear 50 in the last few moments and earlier they didn’t pay a touched mark.

It was enough to take the game away from you :(

There’s always next time.

3
Duenanreply
aussie.zone

I do. I was watching it.

Arguably some dodgy umpiring that could have turned the game the other way.

4

Ah, I know nothing about sportsball but I'll add some background screams just because

2
aussie.zone

Nah. I'm taking my bat and ball book and glass of water and going to bed. Big busy cold week coming up I might as well get some rest in. Night all.

9
aussie.zone

Dear god Moorabbin dfo's parking lot is a shitshow

8
Duenanreply
aussie.zone

Yeah. I don’t go down there often but that car pack is a bit of a mess.

4

it needs a complete rebuild tbh. Those roads are nowhere near wide enough

2
aussie.zone

This is a fiendish plan by (insert name here) to kill off the homeless by freezing them to death before they bring property values down.

5

That'd freeze everyone to death, homes or not. You might be able to survive that if you had access to something with amazing insulation like a walk in freezer, but no guarantee you'd be able to open the door to leave it when the mother of all cold snaps was done.

That's an extinction level cold.

3
aussie.zone

What are the chances that I'll still have to pay my rent on Friday. Can't bloody win

4
aussie.zone

I think I nearly fell asleep somewhere between 12 and 1. I was having tons of success with just focusing on relaxing rather than trying to sleep, but it hits a certain point and my brain just snaps and falls back on its defences. Mrs b said to make sure I wake up early, haha that’ll be a no thanks.

8

Even just resting with your eyes shut has a benefit. Knowing that might take the pressure off

6

I changed the sheets yesterday and put on my trusty soft-touch blanket that I've been using since 2015. Game changer! A pain to put on as only half is tucked in (so I can wrap myself like a burrito and it doesn't come loose). But 500% warmer and so toasty that I fall asleep much faster and don't even need socks, let alone any heating.

Problem is I think I'm starting to oversleep, heh. Must've been 10-11 hours last night... woke up at 9am today... waking up at 6:30 on Tuesday and Wednesday is gonna be a biatch. Beyond overjoyed at the sun being (partly) out though. Will not try and force myself to do heaps today as next week will be full on, but need to condition myself out of sloth mode too.

8
aussie.zone

I tried to be kind, ants.

I tried to be discouraging. I tried to be dissuading. You did not listen.

Now you've got the coopex.

8

I don't mind them on my property. It's when they comes into mah house that I get red.

3
aussie.zone

Decided to go to MKS today so I could combine it with a cuppa at a friend's place as she very recently had to put down her cat (who I've looked after many times - little black thing).

::: spoiler my friend's predicament and finances

It's still a raw experience as she thought she was coming home with her cat and some medication, only to have to make a life and death decision in a split second and return with a permanently empty cage - it breaks her that she wasn't even allowed to hold her beloved friend in her last moments. Poor kitty always had a few health issues but nobody expected her to be gone so suddenly.

My friend is under great financial pressure too and I feel badly with how much she's struggling on centrelink, while also doing a course that's so full on that there's no way she can work part time. She feels she could've saved her cat if she wasn't so poor and it eats away at her... :(

I think I'm going to go round again one of these days with some food packages as it's the least I could do even if it's not worth a lot financially. Saves her time and energy at least and feel less miserable on the little she has. (She would not accept a loan under any circumstance) :::

The big plus was getting to share some cracking vadas from MKS (the best - seriously perfect every time), and giving her some little things from Japan that she loved.

Another friend came over later to help me move the last two heavy planter boxes back to my balcony so I've got all my buddies back now, yay! Feels nice and secure to have a full balcony again and get back into regular maintenance. My one healthy hobby 😄

Pruned back the manzano hard as it's gotten way too leggy and lopsided. Meant I had to take off some green fruit along with the surprising bushel of ripe ones, but surely these'll ripen off the plant. Onto some watering and fertilising, stocking up on veg, and cooking for the week ahead.

8
Catfishreply
aussie.zone

Consolidate, but do not mix the straight & crinkle cut.

7
aussie.zone

How come all the coffee shops shut so early? I wanted a coffee at like 5:01pm yesterday and the only option within walking distance that was open was a 7-11 and the hotel foyer.

7

I hate they close early too. If I want a "late" coffee when I'm out, I usually end up at Macca's. I don't mind their cappuccinos and they come in a good-sized large.

But yeah, even in Brunswick most close at 3pm. Green Refectory closes late, but they do dinner as well as coffee/cafe food. But they do not have a good-sized large, so I consider that place an extra nice treat.

5

I’m with you. Very few of them stay open after I finish work as well.

It’s usually down to a very select few or bars or stuff to get a coffee at 4-4:30

4

It's the opposite problem with Japan where they all OPEN at 10-11 and close at 7 so you can't get a goddamn morning coffee except at a dumb chain that sucks.

1
aussie.zone

I'm feeling incredibly low. The weather doesn't help but life is a struggle for a lot of genuine reasons.

7

Went to the Essendon Farmers Market today and loved it, would thoroughly recommend, it had a really great vibe and excellent stalls. We got a variety of dips, breads, drinks, brownies, donuts, meats and pies and I'm as fat as a flea and regret nothing! Also ethical dishwasher powder and laundry powder. Will definitely be making it a regular thing.

6
aussie.zone

curry on stove cooking, much housework done, house doesn't smell catty anymore, even did some work on my terrace garden

I'm feeling so much better :)

6
TinyBreakreply
aussie.zone

Ooooh what’s the curry? I was feeling a curry but ended up just reheating some stroganoff.

1

Went to Panton Hill Winery today and it was like going to regional Italy.

I'd also say it was like going back in time, but from what I've heard regional Italy is already like going back in time.

6

The other dune books aren't meant to be as good but it's nice to revisit a style of writing where every move feels calculated and everyone says one thing and uses a tone that means something else.

I've never been a big series reader but I can appreciate going back to a familiar world and style of writing

6

Hold onto your socks. WE MIGHT ACTUALLY WIN ANOTHER GAME THIS YEAR 💙🤍💙🤍💙🤍💙🤍

4

Ohoo methinks i'll give these a go tomorry.

I've been getting back into baking now we finally have a house with an oven that's not a complete piece of shit...so i'm looking at air fryer recipes. Because logic.

4
aussie.zone

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

4

🧀🧀🧀🧀🧀🧀🧀🧀
🥩🫚🥕🧅🧄🌶️🫛🫑🥬🥒🍅

3

I got some really delicious green jasmine tea so no more coffee after 4 and I'll see if I sleep better

4
aussie.zone

Has anyone tried these coffee bag things? Someone at work recommended them. I used to be able to drink instant till my stomach went “yeah, nah!” So was thinking about giving it a go.

3

Are they the ones you sometimes get in hotels? I thought they were basically instant coffee. Ok in a pinch but not my thing.

3

I tried the ones in Japan that are like filter style (you open the bag, perch it on the side of the cup with a little flap, and slowly pour hot water into the bag) like so:

Stomach did not like. Taste was bleah too

1

We had them at work and I thought they were pissweak. Tried two bags and.. I guess they just aren't to my taste. Might have been shit ones too 🤔

1

Late movie review. Wild Mountain Thyme. I watched this because I love the song and I enjoy everything with Emily Blunt .

It's a love story set in rural Ireland and everything you would expect. The stars and the better than average screenplay made this movie better than most.

3 hobbits

1