Yrae Chronicles

I'm in paaaaaaain D: Today's fitness was running up a frigging hill. I run on the beach. I wonder how it manages to register 12m gained over 5km when I'm running right on the shoreline. 400m uphill, then 400m back down, 2 minute rest, four times. My calves are feeling it, 'sgonna be even worse tomorrow D: Thankfully no fitness scheduled, so I'll go for a walk around the botanic gardens instead.

On Saturday we went to the Women's Ashes at Adelaide Oval 💚 Absolutely dominant performance. Every match, England's been getting better and better, til the previous match in Canberra where it came down to them needing 22 of the last over, they got a four off the first ball of it, then it started raining and we won on Duckworth-Lewis. We probably still would've won but damn I would've loved to have seen the end. Anyway, come around to Adelaide, annnnnd that was a flogging. I even fluked filming the catch of the night! During the innings break, a kid was being interviewed in the crowd and they finished by asking him to give us a cheer, to which he went, 'Let's go, Strikers, let's go!' The Strikers are the local Adelaide team. We were watching Australia X3 BUT three of the players, including the skipper, are indeed Strikers, so y'know what kid you weren't far off.

After the win we got selfies with all the players bar Darcie Brown, the Thunder from Kapunda, because idk she forgot to go north of the dugout after the game. She's one of the three Strikers so it's not like I won't see her around again, but still. At least I got a photo with ma girl TMac 💚

Final match starts tomorrow, which is the Test at the G under lights 🤩 omg so excite.

Australia Day barbie on Sunday was delightful :D Up at Mum and Dad's so it was, like, 32 degrees, perfect barbie weather and a very chill afternoon. We ended up in the pool with a bottle of cider just floating around and having good conversation. This is what Australia Day is to me. I know there's ~*controversy*~ around it being Invasion/Survival Day, and I'm sure its days of being on 26 January are numbered, but so long as it's in summer and we get a public holiday for it, I don't care when it is. There's a case to be made for May 8, cos it sounds like maaaaate, but May is way too late for a barbecue and floating in the pool with a cider, so no. My vote is for, like, the third Monday in January or something equally irrelevant. Always a long weekend, not tied to any date, everybody's happy. But it's gotta be chill and have plenty of sport surrounding it.

I've aaaalmost finished the alchemist fic. I think it works? I'm not as proud of it as the tree prison one but it's only 1000 words. Maybe I'll get better at writing shorts over the course of the year. 'But you used to do these challenges all the time!' Yeah but they were never self-contained. That's the challenge here, and it's really ruling out using my established characters. I'm still determined to write in Tsyllaes (though this alchemist one's not entirely canon, since I've got a very clearly established way magic works and alchemy ain't it) cos I don't want to give up on this world. Even if I've given up on SH, way too much time and research has gone into Tsyllaes to just throw it all away. There are still thousands of stories I can write in Tsyllaes. Sucks absolute arse to try and accept it, but SH just isn't one of them.

I'M AN AUNTIE! To an adorable little cherrub called Airlie, and about whom I've talked in a flocked post cos I don't want to release anything without Mumma's permission. But she's beautiful and I love her.

Australia update: Our curve is definitely flattening. No further restrictions, though idiots in Brisbane/Gold Coast and Perth keep going to the beach without socially distancing, so Gold Coast beaches are now closed and the WA premier's threatening to close Perth beaches if Perthlings don't pull their heads in. But that's it. Sydney's epicentre is Bondi. WHO FRIGGING KNEW, RIGHT? Geeze it's almost like there were thousands of people gathering at Bondi Beach two weeks ago or something! Jeusm Christmas. Anyway. We're doing well! Australia cases are at... 5700 I think? We hit 5000 late last week so that's definitely flattening. Few enough people in hospital so the health system isn't overloaded so we've still only had the 40 deaths.

SA in particular, we recorded 2 new cases yesterday, and 2 new cases today. A third of all our cases came from the damned Ruby Princess, another third came from other cruise ships, and the rest has been mostly two tour groups in the Barossa (a group of Americans and a group of Swiss, for some reason, didn't know Switzerland was a thing until then) and this cluster at the airport. Still no deaths, GO SOUTH AUSTRALIA. Of all the places in the world to be through this, I feel so, so goddamn lucky to be here for it. I know, it's still shit. People are still losing their jobs, businesses are still shutting down, but it's shit the world over. Australia: super low morbidity rate, awesome healthcare, curve flattening and yet we still have reasonable freedom. We're encouraged to stay home, groups of more than two are policed, any business involving groups of people is closed, but we can still go outside. We can still go to work, still go shopping, still go visit people. SA is the only state not fining people for gathering with more than two people. This is absolutely the best place in the world to be right now. I swear that's not SA bias talking, it just IS.

THAT SAID. I'm now home. I have two weeks 'leave', after which, shit knows :D This is why I look for the positives. Today I was only in to set up the booze client's EDM which needed links that only became valid today due to this period's specials only just going online. Apart from that, we got one order for the entire day. Once the booze client's stuff goes out later this week, there'll be a whole lot more twiddling of thumbs. So yes. I'm off, unless something happens where I can go into the office and do something.

Going to make the most of it tho, as is my wont. I'll be making a list of things to do, like use up all the stuff in the freezer (mostly it's stock, so presumably a lot of soup and risotto will be happening) and clean the bathroom, maybe fiddle with my web folio because I'm not entirely happy with it anymore, contact the bank and ask them about worst case scenarios. Keeping up the fitness will be harder, because until now I've pretty much been doing it after work, so I've already been out of the house and go to the beach or the botanic gardens or somewhere to do the said fitness. If I'm at home all day, tho, making myself leave the house just for that will be Tough. I'll DO MY BEST. I'm about 1.5kg away from my first reward purchase, which is socks. Trust me you guys this is more motivational than it sounds. My fitness sockies have lost their elastic and one has a hole in the ball of the foot. I need new sockies.

I got my yuzu tree! Went down to McLaren Vale on Saturday to pick it up and went for a walk in Onkaparinga Gorge afterwards. I'm super excited for this thing, which is supposedly going to start fruiting by next season, so that's pretty awesome. I'm used to citrus taking two or three seasons to start fruiting, so to only take a year, that's kickarse. I want to put it in a pot so I can take it with me when I eventually get a house, so I'm now considering half-wine barrels. That'll be a thing for the list over the coming two weeks.

So yeah. Things are all right. Everywhere's shit, but I'm so bloody glad I'm here for it.

Merry Christmas, my lovelies <3! It would appear I've left myself to another massive life update. Again. I swear to g this will change next year. But we'll get to that. I have a couple of months to catch up here yet.

So. October was the last update, eh? Cool beans. The biggest thing that happened was Gran, the old battle-axe of the family, 98 and a half years old, finally passed on. We've all been halfway-expecting her to make 110, certainly a hundred, but despite that it wasn't a major shock. I mean, how much of a shock can it be at 98 and a half years old? She fell over back in September, on the way back from posting her marriage equality postal survey, and broke her shoulder. From there she went to hospital, and whether consciously or unconsciously, we figure she just decided it was too hard to get better and so just said 'bugger it.' She moved through to respite care, which then became a nursing home, and despite all her medical stuff saying she was about as healthy as your average 80-year-old, she stopped eating and drinking and just faded off. Peacefully, in her sleep, one of her dear sons holding her hand... literally couldn't have asked for better (except that she wanted this like ten years ago, but that's her problem).

I haven't cried. I figured out this is mostly because I can't feel sad for her. Like I say, she was healthy right to the end, still living at home until she'd fallen, pretty much her decision to die anyway, peacefully in her sleep. Everyone dies. I don't think it's possible to die better, so good bloody on 'er, I say. Also, she's been preparing us so well for this. We've always openly joked about her age and death and everything with her, usually with her being the one to bring it up, so yeah. Go Gran. More power to you o7

The marriage postal survey happened! Which was a massive waste of $120 million but it had a MASSIVE turnout of 80% of the voting population, of whom nearly 62% voted yes, the law should be changed to allow same sex couples to marry, and rainbows exploded all over the country. The whole campaigning process was toxic, with the no campaigners basically running nothing but a fear campaign, saying boys will start going to school in dresses and that goddamn argument about the baker not being able to refuse to bake a cake for a gay wedding that just will not die, and 'Safe Schools' coming back and warping kids' minds about what sex and gender is... It was all just so hateful and unresearched and wrong. I was so scared it wasn't going to go through. I'd hoped for more of a landslide, but it was enough for the pollies to recognise that most people DO want this to happen, so yay. Fiiiinally, by the last week before Parliament knocked off for the year, the law was passed and more rainbows exploded across the country, so we'll start seeing our first gay weddings in January, I believe. WOO! 23rd country in the world but we got there in the end.

At work, we've been doing 'Lunch and Learn' sessions, about improving out salesmanship skills. I hate all these things. I've had so many workshops at this place that show me how to be a better salesperson. I am not a salesperson. I am a graphic designer, but we've had absolutely zero upskilling for graphic design. I just learn by doing and observing what's going on with other design around the place. I have one workmate who's a graphic designer, and honestly he's more programmer than designer. How much programming and salesmanship does a graphic designer have to do in an actual graphic design studio? I genuinely have zero idea. What, exactly, is involved in professional web design? Do I have to know the coding or do I just design it and palm it off to a code monkey to make it happen? No idea. Maybe I can figure this out .-.

Anyway, sidetracked. I had a sales win! After seven years of people trying to shoehorn me into a sales role, I actually did a thing. Someone rang up asking first for envelopes, regular DL and DLX for machine inserting. Except that their machine was broken, so they'd have to do it all by hand. 'Oh, we can do that for you :D' says me. 'We could even print all the letters for you, if you haven't done that bit yet.' So in the end we covered their entire 1200-ish mailout, with barcodes and lodgement with Australia Post and everything, when all she asked for was envelopes. I DID A THING YAAAAY it felt good. Sure as hell not something I'll ever want to do for a living, but nice to have a win.

And now we're into Christmas and holidays and all that entails, YESSSSSS. First extended time off since Japan <3 So Alex has come over from Sydney, we've been to disgustingly hipster cafés for breakfast, lunch and dinner, been swimming in Mum and Dad's pool and went to see Thor: Ragnarok again because it's just such a fun, hilarious movie. Lunch and shopping tomorrow, probably the same on Saturday and NYE on Sunday night with the girls. Woo!

Christmas we've done in three parts, owing to the availability of various persons. Last weekend we were down with the Goolwa connection, because Colin and Laura were with Laura's folks for Christmas Day and one of my cousins had gone back home to Darwin. Second was just the five of us (Mum, Dad, me, Colin and Laura) at Mum and Dad's, when we did presents and a relaxed and awesome lunch from Mum. Christmas Day was back down at Goolwa, same people as the previous weekend with a few extras and a few missing. So, disjointed but so, so much amazing food. We stayed down there the night at Dad's brother's beach house with an amazing view down the South Coast.

And now we're here! This year, I had a diary wherein I wrote lists of stuff to do each month, including a bunch of standard stuff that had to happen every month, and it worked out really well. I got a lot of stuff done each month. Next year, I'll add a weekly list, and on it will be LJ post. I work well to lists, so if I have that on there, it'll get done. Maybe I'll miss one here and there, but at least I won't get so behind as I've been doing this year. No specific day, because there'll always be something that comes up and interrupts it. I kinda want to do a journal, too. After Gran's death, I went back through my LJ and a journal I'd kept when I was 14 and it was pretty fascinating to read back on. The journal especially, because I wrote it without the intention of anyone else reading it. We'll see.

For now, I need dinner.

Merry Christmas, my lovely darlings! I love you all dearly <3 <3

BOUGHT PLANTS. Not all the plants, but a good portion of the plants. Cyclamens seem to be only available as individual plants rather than punnets of 4-6 plants, and they're like $6 each, so I'll hold out and get them later. I did get six from the 'save me' table so they were only $4 each. Also all the ferns, so many gorgeous ferns and pretty leafy things. Photos tomorrow when the sun comes up.

VOTED. Woo, democratic responsibility fulfilled, Australia's biggest sausage sizzle participated in, and $10 donated to my local CFS. Senate voting sucked balls this time around. I mean, at least our senate paper isn't as insanely long as NSW, but it still creeps up the sides of the ballot box. I swear it was smaller than last election, tho, so that was nice. It's always in the past just been number 1 in the box of your party of choice, then fold it up 20 times and you're done, so I've only ever searched for my party of choice, stuck in the 1 and buggered off. This time it's a number from 1-6 deal, so I had to look at all of them.

'Okay 1, 2...... now what? Frigging.... 3 for Marriage Equality Party I guess? 4 for..... Voluntary Euthanasia Party.................... Bloody 5, 6, THERE I'M GOING HOME.'

I just didn't want any of them, and strongly disagreed with most of the how to vote card. Family First can suck my non-existent balls (by 'Family First' they think man + woman = parents and that's it), nobody with the word 'Christian' in their name should have anything to do with politics, Shooting and Fishing Party want to abolish the gun laws that came in after the Port Arthur massacre on the grounds that they haven't made a difference (HAH), and everyone else sucks on various grounds and nobody cares enough about what I want so stuff 'em all, basically.

I'm just so disillusioned with Australian politics lately.

On the plus side, I have plants. YAY GREEN.

I was pleasantly surprised at the lack of obnoxious stars-and-stripes-ing on the internet today. Then I remembered it's actually only just gone July 4 for that bit of the world and most of the obnoxious stars-and-stripes-ing will come tomorrow.

In completely unrelated news, the Nothing Like Australia ad is really beginning to get on my nerves. IT'S THAT DAMN SONG. I don't even know what it is but it's like a needle in the back of your head whenever the damn thing comes on.

Happy Straya Day for yesterday! We all know I love my country, we'll leave it at that :D

SIMILAR NOTE: New Working Dog movie eeeeeee <3 Guys who did two of my favourite movies ever btw, The Castle and The Dish. I AM SQUEE and I'm so totally seeing this in the cinema.

ALSO. Next time we have a public holiday on a not-Friday-or-Monday I'm so taking the intervening day off. Today started off feeling like Monday and finished so totally feeling like Friday. IT FELT LIKE A WEEK IN ONE DAY. When the hell is ANZAC Day this year? Wednesday. Hrm. I'll just book the whole week off.

Number one, happy belated Australia Day! I went up to Mum and Dad's, watched the cricket, had lamb on the barbie for dinner and a rollover pavlova for dessert. The only thing that could've made it more Aussie would have been if we'd won the cricket. Always feels a bit wrong losing the Australia Day one-dayer >>

Number two, I didn't buy the car =( Took Colin's friend, who is a Holden mechanic, to have a look at it and, well. Looooooong list of issues, topped by a cracked manifold, which is close to a grand on its own to fix. In all, it would have cost another $2500-ish to get it back in proper working order, and with that and all the hassle involved--now and probably later down the track--I said goodbye to it. So, back to car shopping for me. Just printed off another seven potentials, yay. I hate car shopping.

Number three, IT'S SUMMER. We're stringing, like, three or four days of 30+ in a row now. Not only that, but 40+ 8D Went to Normanville yesterday arvo and had AWESOME fish and chips for dinner. The sea was so warm, bloody beautiful <3 We have so needed this~ *^^* Only took until the last weekend of January to GET summer, but now it's here, I'm bloody loving it X3

So. We have a government now. Nearly a full MONTH after the election. And it's not even the one I voted for. THANK GOD IT'S OVER.

I heart Australia Day *^^* Plonked myself in front of the cricket until Anna P turned up, then we lazed around in the pool on giant inflatable thongs (ours had Aussie flags on them, tho) with the Triple J hottest 100 cranked for a couple hours. Watched the end of the Australian innings, then went down to her place for a barbie~ of lamb chops and sausages, followed by minipavs. The cricket was on in the background, with interspersed channel switches to check on the tennis. We had planned on going to the beach after our very early dinner, but the weather suddenly turned windy and too cool for the beach, so we've made a raincheck on the beach for Saturday instead. In the end we just stayed and watched the end of the cricket--fabulous Aussie win with the South Australian bowler taking five wickets and man of the match at the Adelaide Oval. Couldn't possibly have ended any better *^^*

Just about my favourite holiday of the year, second only to Christmas. I love my country~ *^^*