After being "a really amazing candidate, ɓut we just had this other person with x" for way too many jobs, I've finally been offered a job that's interesting, uses some of my skills, is 20 minutes from home, and is good money. Fucking finally.

I said goodbye to my beautiful cat today. My house feels empty tonight.

E: thank you all.

I was made redundant last week, which I'm still coming to terms with. But after wallowing for a week or so, today I went to the zoo and saw the baby elephants. And now I've opened champagne. It's my birthday today, my (quite large) payout's just come through, and I have an interview on Friday. I'm going to be fine.

Tommy Cat is 10 today. He has had prawns for tea and is now basking in the sun, pretty well satisfied with life.

In-person interviews are a lot, especially at 9am on a Monday. But I'm now done. Early slots are worth it.

I think it went pretty well. We'll see.

Between heart problems and his teeth deteriorating Tommy probably doesn't have very much time left, he's struggling to eat now. But we're still having lots of snuggles 💕

Breaking news: cats are pretty nice.

Thursday next week marks one year since I was hit by a semi trailer at high speed. I somehow walked away, but my car was smooshed and there was a bit of trauma to work through.

I'm not generally one to put too much heed in anniversaries like this, but it's looming at me a bit. I'm not sure what I should do on the day. Hide inside until it's over? Do something positive to celebrate that I survived and am mostly ok? Deep clean the house to distract myself?

I know this is news to exactly nobody, but job hunting sucks balls.

Gratitude thread. I'm grateful to have a roof over my head, and glad it's still attached.

Grateful for the SES and all of the various emergency workers.

And grateful for fluffy cats.

Some of us need an early night tonight.

My highly intelligent cat woke up from his nap, walked past his (full) food bowl and came to tell me urgently that he was HUNGRY and he needed to be FED or he would WASTE AWAY AND STARVE.

He would last maybe 10 minutes in the wild.

Tommy:

I took about 5 years worth of e-waste to the tip. And then bought myself a cherry pie to celebrate a tiny bit of adulting.

I survived day one of my new job and nobody is obviously crazy, I'll take this as a win.

The good news: there is an office dog (!).

The bad news: the office dog (and her mum) is on leave for next few weeks and the office is currently dogless.

You might think you've had struggles in your life. And I'm sure you have. But they're nothing compared to the agonies of a spoilt cat who only gets fed three times a day and isn't getting attention right at this minute.

Rejected for a job because I was basically too good (?), but they've invited me to apply for a more senior role coming up next month. Not really sure what to do with this information.

I brushed this boy's teeth and lived to tell the tale, winning.

Are you sitting down right now? Is it painful? No? Enjoy that.

This comment is brought to you by an allergic reaction to haemorrhoid cream.