Yrae Chronicles

My ankle is fully functional once more 🥳 I've been walking or running around, so far, three of the parks in the Parklands, with varying levels of interest, but mostly I'm just pleased I can finally use my ankle again and restart my workout. Despite the almost-month off, Garmin is still confident I can achieve the reset goal of 5km in 35 minutes, so that's a relief.

This was a busy weekend! On Saturday morning, caught up with Cassie's friend Maya, who was down for the week-ish, so we went for breakfast down at Brighton then a walk along the beach before it got too arse-bakingly hot. It was already 30°C when I woke up at 8:30 but it was still early enough that the Norfolk Island pines along the beach cast shadows in the beachy direction, so. Coulda been worse?

That evening, Amanda and I went to Orpheus, technically my second show of the Fringe after I won the freebie tix to Tommy's Naughty Forty last week. Orpheus was fantastic. Beautifully written, beautifully told, the little bit of audience participation with a comparatively small audience was so touching and I had a wonderful time 😊

Sunday~ was round 1 of footyball! Wherein Amanda won a free double pass through the Rainbow Crows so I got to go, too =3 We were behind the goals right next to the opposition cheer squad, who were St Kilda (Victoria). Preface: it has not rained since last year. On Wednesday, the forecast for Saturday was 39 with a 70% chance of 5-10mm, which are incongruous in Adelaide. I was dubious, to say the least. By Friday, the 39 hadn't changed but the rain had changed to Sunday, and was now a 70% chance of 0-2mm. By Sunday, it was a 70% chance of <1mm which... idk what that even means. A 70% chance of sweet piss-all? Does that mean a 30% chance of something? (spoilers: no, it doesn't)

So, during the game (which we won by 10 goals, 'spretty sweet), precipitiation started happening. 'Drizzle' would be a lie. 'Spitting' would be generous. When you're standing in the shower and you have that mistiness splashing off of you? That's what started happening. All the Victorians instantly got out their emergency ponchos and waterproof North Faces and being ridiculously prepared for rain. In Adelaide. HAH. None of the South Australians moved, except to knowingly roll our eyes at the Vics and wonder what the hell this weird wet stuff misting down from the sky was. Sure enough, the misting lasted about 20 seconds and that was it. That was our 70% chance of <1mm, not even enough to warrant wiping it off your glasses, it was that nothing.

More importantly, we won a game of footyball! Convincingly! This gives me hope for our season.

While watching, someone mentioned the score at the cricket, wherein we were 5/500-odd. When the footy finished, we'd declared for 600-something and already had two Queensland wickets, so instead of going home we headed up North Terrace to Karen Rolton Oval, during which time the Queenslanders lost another wicket, and turned up in time for the final session of the day. When you've finished watching your South Aussie boys flog some Vics, why not pop across town to wathc your other South Aussie boys flog some Queenslanders? :D Another two wickets fell in the final session of the day and we headed home, promptly forgetting to pop a bottle of Croser for the Crows because it's been so long, whoops.

RIGHT THIS IS GETTING RIDICULOUS, SELF. Regardless of... whatever excuses you come up with... neglecting LJ is Not Cool. I do read it daily, but apparently I don't update, like, ever. So this changes now. Minimum weekly updates from here on. Because the last one was in frICKING JUNE. AND THAT WAS ONLY A NOTHING POST. Actual life update was MAY wtf. So yeah.

Winter happened. Not much went on in winter. I dropped the ball on fitness which I firmly blame on the weather. The fitness thing I was doing started requiring daily walks, which is Hard when you get home at bang on sunset and literally every walk is in the dark and cold and potentially wet, so that didn't go much further than mid-June, sadly. I picked it up again this week, so this program will take me through til Christmas, and the weather will only improve in the runup. Also, daylight savings means I'll hardly ever have to do the outdoor stuff at night.

Also in winter, some family drama that I've been sworn to secrecy over and that has been going on since lasts December all came to a head. That week I didn't manage to go a day without crying about it, and I still can't make it through a week without at least one or two crying-fits about it. This has been consuming me all year, but even more since it 'finished' (it didn't) in August. UGH shutting up now before I say anything incriminating.

IN OTHER NEWS. Art of Cocoa is becoming a thing. That is a purely default layout, btw, including the header image that has nothing at all to do with cocoa. I was going to keep it totally secret until I was ready to make it properly public, but I'm too excited. I love that logo. I had so much fun making it! The plan for this month is to make up a welcome pack for ten local cafés, with a sample jar of the mix for the café to distribute to customers and a short survey for customers to fill out. This is to see whether the idea is even viable as a business, and whether people are likely to buy it. First plan is for selling it to cafés, then if that goes well, see about getting it into supermarkets. I'M SO SCARED BUT SO EXCITED AT THE SAME TIME. After job hunting for over four years (well, three, since I've deliberately not done any job hunting this year) and getting nowhere, I thought I'd give this a shot as a backup plan. omfg how awesome would it be, though?

Last weekend, Joe (boyfriend) and I drove to Melbourne for the AFL Grand Final because MY BOYS MADE IT! omg the week leading up to it was so awesome. Crows stuff all over Adelaide, streamers and balloons in cafés and supermarkets and hanging from fences and letterboxes, excitement everywhere, EEE! I knocked off work early on Friday and we headed off at 3pm, driving up the freeway with hundreds of other cars with Crows scarves on the dashboards, hanging out the windows and on the back shelf. Every town was decked out in the navy, red and gold all the way to the border and it was so exciting 8D Then we got over border to Victoria and even the electronic street signs were saying 'Welcome, Crows, to Tiger Country.' Really they should've said 'Tiger Land' being as that's their theme song, but whatever.

For the game on Saturday, we went to a local pub with Joe's dad and his wife, who live in Essendon, so while the pub was full of Victorians, it at least wasn't Richmond and they were more just jumping on the Richmond bandwagon rather than actually die hard supporters. As we Crows were X)

The first quarter was AWESOME. We came out of the blocks hard, scored the first two goals in emphatic fashion, and I was super confident. All through the year, as long as we've won the first quarter, we've been sweet. If we stuff it then we're playing catch-up and we suck at that. But we came out hard and it was SO MUCH FUN waving my Crows scarf around amongst the half-hearted Tigers. Won the first quarter, then lost the second by not scoring a single goddamn goal all quarter, but we were still only nine points down. IT'S FINE it's only nine points, that's bugger-all in footy, not even two goals. But somehow, we just collapsed after half time. Couldn't kick straight, fumbled everything, did not at all play like the team we'd been all through September. Eventually the final siren ended our agony at 60 to 108, so that sucked. Felt despondent the rest of the weekend, didn't turn on the telly all Monday, but at least we didn't lose by anywhere near as much as Port did in their last Grand Final, so we've still got that over them :D?

ALSO I got into work on Tuesday (public holiday on Monday) to find my workmate had managed to secure me a mini SNES over the weekend! So I promptly paid her for that and now have it in my hot little hands here ♥

Rory continues to be an adorable tiny kitty, though he's probably fully-grown now. He's SUCH a sweetie I love him.

This month I'm going to replot the end of Gold AGAIN and maybe get back to writing it. Also going to make a genuine effort at commenting on friends' stuff cos damnit that's the only contact I get with people. AND POST MOAR omfg. Weekly! WEEKLY POSTS! DO IT!

192/585 photos edited, or around about a third. This is pretty much all I did today until I got bored at dinner time and watched tv instead. But I'm doing them! Then catch up on emails and in tray and I believe I'll be back on track. Wish I could've taken another week at the end just to have a holiday from my holiday XD Alas, no annual leave left.

Other things that have happened:
Teppanyaki dinner at Mum and Dad's featuring the saké I brought back from Japan!
Pizza dinner with Linda at Tony Tomatoes! Much yum was had.
Dentist! The chipped off bit that has been chipped off for years (but not painful or anything) has now been filled in and the old filling replaced. I have tooth there now. 'sweird.
Dinner on Friday night with boything Joseph! Regaled with tales of Japan but not showing photos until they're edited.
Suspected last beach day of the year yesterday. I'll be surprised if it gets warm enough again to go down til next summer.
Footy is awesome right now. Crows ladies won the inaugural AFLW Grand Final, and the boys have started off the season 3-0, including knocking off the flag favourites in round one, our Achilles heel the Hawks in round two, and the Power in the Showdown last night. I have very good feelings about this season 8D

Now I'm going to go read, because I've had enough fiddling with levels and saturation for one day.

General life update is go! Thursday was my brother's 29th birthday, but we had the celebration on Friday night because then you can a) not drive home and b) sleep in the next day. Thursday was footy night, where we kicked 28 frigging points omfg. And North still lost. Might've been embarrassing kicking from my boys, but North still lost. I knew they'd be found out. They've only been beating the bottom eight. Come up against a genuine contender and they're screwed. Apart from the woeful goal kicking, my boys played brilliantly, still beat them by over 5 goals (or 28 points and a goal, ahaha). YAY FOOTY.

Friday night, Colin's birthday! Up at Mum and Dad's as per tradition, where Mum did amaaaazing duck four ways that I think Colin's requested for the past three birthdays now, but omfg it is SO GOOD. Beef fillet for main, and salted caramel brownie with home made salted caramel ice cream for dessert. so good I love my mum.

Over Thursday and Friday it'd been pissing with rain, with the forecast being for more of the same over the weekend, so Mum and I decided to forego getting dirt as was the plan. BUT. Saturday morning was sunny! So I suggested doing the dirt to Mum and she agreed with speed that suggested she'd been thinking about it, too. So off we went, rented a trailer and bought some lovely garden bed soil from Crafers. The guys there are so lovely. When he was lowering the scoop into the trailer he held it right down, carefully tipped a tonne of dirt in to make a nice big mound, then used the tractor scoop to pat down the top of the mound. Idk I just find that really cute XD Then we used buckets, filled them up and loaded them into the wheelbarrow to empty into the pallets. Still a fair bit left over, maybe enough for a half wine barrel that I could then plant a lemon tree in, but for the moment it's just in a wheelie bin at Mum and Dad's. This weekend we buy plants 8D

I've also finally been looking at NBN plans, after my street was connected to it, what, two months ago? Probably end up sticking with Internode, even though they seem to be the most expensive (barring Optus and Telstra). I just trust them more, and it makes a big difference them having their head office in Adelaide. All the el cheapo companies don't seem to get much of a rap on Whirlpool. Even though they're like half the cost, they're unreliable and slow, especially in peak time, so I don't want to go with a 12 month contract and live with a year of frustrating internet. HMM.

I've organised to get a quote for fixing Yoshi, so we'll see where that goes. Estimating $2000 but I sure as hell won't be paying it =|

Finally, I think, TV and associated home theatre system which includes bluray player and speakers. The speakers come in white! Which I hardly ever see, especially not for the stand-up ones. Also they're pretty. So that'll be my full entertainment system for about $3500, not bad. Kinda like a Sony telly, too, but I don't know that it's worth the extra money right now. Haven't actually bought them yet, I'd like to first check if Hardly Normal can do any better, or if they've even got the speakers in white at all, but either way I'm getting them tomorrow 8D

Dinner time, then OitNB yaaaaay.

WATCHED FOOTY.

WON FOOTY.

SO STOKED YOU CAN'T BELIEVE IT.

So in AFL, teams have what's called a salary cap. They're only allowed to pay their player list a total of a certain amount, which is the same across the board, with some exceptions we're about to get to. This means that even the super rich teams can still only pay their top players so much, because otherwise it'd leave nothing left for the rest of the team. Therefore, in terms of pay, reasonably even playing field so one team can't just throw money at the top players and win every year, so the competition stays reasonably even.

To the same end is draft picks. At the end of the year, various players who are either out of contract with their club and feel like not playing for the club, and also new blokes who haven't played for anyone yet, go into the draft. Depending on their skill they're ranked at number 1 through to idk however big the draft is, I guess. Pick number one--best player in the draft--goes to whoever was the bottom of the ladder at the end of the previous year. Pick number two goes to the team second from the bottom, all the way to the team who won the Grand Final getting the bottom picks. Idea here being that even the shit teams get to bolster their numbers with talented new blokes who will make them improve in the years to come.

Now we get to the exceptions where all this goes out the window in favour of the dollar. AFL's dollar, specifically.

AFL is pretty much only followed in Victoria (where the sport began), SA and WA. New South Wales and Queensland both have teams, but they're rugby states and tbh nobody there gives a rat's what's going on in AFL. The only reason Sydney and Brisbane have teams at all is because the AFL pumps money into them in the hopes of also getting money out of them. That salary cap? Theirs is higher than the AFL-traditional teams. The draft picks? Better than they really should get for their finishing position. So teams like Sydney, who we just played, can throw shedloads more money at the top players. They dominate, even though their home cities couldn't care less what goes on in AFL. Brisbane won three Grand Finals in a row* and nobody in Brisbane even knew about it, let alone cared, because they're not a traditional football town. Why the AFL keeps persisting over there I have no idea.

To give you an idea of traditional vs non-traditional cities, Adelaide has a population of a bit over a million, and the Crows and Power have a combined membership of a bit over 100,000--roughly 10% of the city. Sydney has a population of about 4.5 million, but their two AFL teams combined barely pull 40,000--less than 1% of the city. Why the AFL persists over there I have no idea, but whatever. Point is, Sydney doesn't give a shit.

Anyway. Four years back, one of the Crows ditched us. Initially the expectation was that he'd go home to the Gold Coast (near Brisbane, brand new team, even MORE money from the AFL but so hilariously bad they didn't win a single game the entire first season), so we were all thinking aww, poor homesick babby, can't hack it down here where it's cold and his friends aren't. The Crows, btw, had flown half his family over here to make him not homesick. And also we loved him and cheered him as we would any tall forward who's on the verge of pissing off home.

He went to Sydney, little dipshit, and left behind him a salary cap breach that cos the Crows some serious cash and draft picks for the next two years. So he was money-grabbing while he was here, and money-grabbing when he pissed off to Sydney.

Now, if you hadn't guessed already from my general demeanour, Adelaide is parochial like you wouldn't believe. City in general, not just the Crows. When it comes to our footy team, though? If you leave for money, we will boo the ever-living shit out of you when you have the balls to come back here. If you leave for money, and leave a scandal like that in your wake? We'll pack the Adelaide Oval with the express purpose OF booing you.

The next year, when Sydney came back to Adelaide, Tippet was still on suspension from those salary cap breaches, so he wasn't playing for Sydney. Year after that, Sydney didn't come to Adelaide to play the Crows. Nor the year after that*. Last year Sydney came, but Tippet had bunged his knee, so he didn't play. Weasel.

Last night, after four goddamn YEARS, playing for a team that just throws money around and still struggles to get half the membership of the Crows in a city four times its size, Tippet came back to play the Crows.

Oohhhhhh man, the boos when he went near the ball. It was glorious. We have been waiting FOUR YEARS to boo that money-grabbing little traitor. 51,000 strong, whenever he went near it. I was hoping we'd keep him goalless as well, but eh, keeping him to two isn't bad, especially when this is Sydney. I don't like Sydney, I hate how the AFL pampers them and just lets them buy the star players from whoever they feel like, and I hate how nobody gives a shit about them.

I love, LOVE, that my boys beat them. It was up and down all night, Crows never down by more than a goal, but never ahead by more than two. Those 51,000 may have booed Tippet with passion, but the ROARS when the Crows kicked vital goals. aksjdghas goosebumps 8D And Eddie Betts omfg you absolute STAR. We got him through some clever trading and idk what else the season after Tippet's salary cap screwed us over. He booted one from what's become known as Eddie's pocket, because it's so tight nobody can frigging kick it from there except by pure dumb luck, unless you're Eddie Betts, who I've never seen miss from said pocket. He kicked the sealer, the one that put us too far in front for Sydney to come back in the time remaining. For that one, the crowd was already cheering at its loudest when he got his hands on the ball and was running for goal, that it couldn't get any louder when the ball went through the goal. He was genius and class and just so grinning and stoked whenever he kicked one.

Tippet kicked two. Eddie kicked four. We won by less than two.

Sucked in, Sydney. With all your money and subsidies and exceptions, you can't to half of what Adelaide can do. I LOVE MY BOYS.

Oh my god I love my boys



*Brisbane is now shit and couldn't beat a team of under-9s. The system works!
** Seriously AFL screw you and your anti-SA bias.

Y'know what social media in general needs? LJ included? An 'I have read this' button. For stuff you don't necessarily have anything to add to or need to comment on, but just so a) the people who post it don't feel like they're shouting into a void and can also know they can launch right into discussion with the person who's read it rather than explaining and have them go 'oh yeah I read that post, moving on' and b) so the people reading with irritatingly busy lives don't feel quite so much pressure to comment and don't feel like such a dick when they don't. Because hey. I READ it I just have to go to bed in half an hour and I still have about an hour's worth of other shit to do. The 'I have read this' button. That's a thing that should exist everywhere.

Gran's 97th birthday was yesterday! We did a high tea for her up at Mum and Dad's and it was delightful. Also saw tiny babby Leo, my cousin's one-year-old, who just had his birthday the day before. 97-year-old outlasted the one-year-old by about 15 minutes. Go Gran!

Unrelated because tpyo gets like that when it's been a while, last Tuesday I went to see Kung Fu Panda 3 after work and it was beautiful. What a good movie. I got tears at the beauty of it, the this is what 3D animation is MADE for beauty of it. All the stylistic scenes and the spirit realm, swirling colours and papercut shapes, it was just so beautiful and uplifting. The whole thing was so happy and smiley. Even the perilous bits were beautiful and I loved it. Tomorrow I'll see Zootopia, and maybe I'll have enough points saved up to see Kung Fu Panda again in 3D because I think it'll warrant it.

Um. THE CROWS. I am loving my boys all over again. Not that this is any surprise to anyone who's known me five minutes, but omfg Eddie Betts you superstar. And Tex bombing it from frigging 60m like he's just passing it off to someone who'll then kick the goal but fuckit he's Tex he can kick it that far.

I have plans to develop my own calligraphic alphabet. I've got lowercase 'a' and associated letters (d and g, most of q but I'm not totally set on it) sorted. I'm also going to another day-course, this one being for brush lettering--with an actual brush rather than a brush pen that I've already been doing--so I can tie everything together! Then I might see about doing something on the side with it and my brush pen lettering! Pencils have always been my jam, and everyone does frigging watercolour, so I'll see if I can tie that in somehow.

Tomorrow I will call people about clearing the back area and installing the new tank. There. I've said it now it'll happen.

<footy>

HOLY SHIT I LOVE THE CROWS. That was the best match I've seen in a long time. Not only did we beat the team second on the ladder but we totally THRASHED them. First quarter ended at 51 to 1. We kept the second-ranked team in the AFL goalless for the first term. Homg it was beautiful. And our kicking was so straight! What was it, 6 or 7 goals straight, before the record was blemished by a WEagle rushing a behind? The crowd all booed him for tarnishing our beautiful run. And the coach was looking so proud of his boys, and they were all patting each other on the back, and grinning and just so HAPPY. I mean, I know we've just thrashed Brisbane and Essendon but about 100 points each, but they're pretty crap teams these days. THE WEAGLES. HOLY SHIT I can't get over it. I want to watch that match again. Crows not just making up the eight, now. They're a contender.

</footy>

Days like these make me happy to be back in Adelaide. I mean, it's still very much jeans and jumper weather, but the blossoms are all out and it was a lovely drive over to Mum and Dad's, sun's out and all dappled through the gum trees, AMAZING footy with people who are just as excited about it as I am, noice coffee with a lovely view... though tbh I've gotten a lot of coffees and lunches with amazing views over the last two weeks XD It's just nice to have a view which is also familiar.

Still frigging cold, though.

Right I need a list. Because I have a lot of shit to do over the course of the next week and lists help me.

o Comment on All the Things. Fics x3 and pics x1,000,000
o Photoshop and upload Sydney/road trip photos
o Post Sydney/road trip photos (oh god that's going to take ages)
o Scan group certificate proving period of employment at Flinders Street, upload for FEG claim
o Find homes for birthday presents
o Vacuum
o Sweep/mop floors
o Put clothes away
o In tray. Always the in tray
o Look into Netflix
o Finish chapter 15. It's like 4 pages in. I can manage another 3 by week's end
o Tidy living/dining
o Tidy studio
o Clean bathroom/loo/laundry

I'll update that as required.

House things, in dot point form because it's all little fiddly fartarsey crap:

o Patched up and painted the ceiling holes, though at least two will need another coat and I accidentally poked a hole in one of the patchup jobs in the bedroom so I'll need to shove some more No-More-Cracks into that one. Whoops.

o Tomorrow I pick up offcuts of carpet that I've finally had turned into nice little edged carpets to use as doormats and kitchen-exit-to-dining-room mats to keep tracking dust through my carpet. FINALLY. Taken me bloody long enough.

o Saturday Dad comes to install dimmer switches in living room and studio, screw the hooky thing for the blind in the studio into the wall, and hang up the pinup board for my jewellery in my bedroom. I'll be plastering the cornice piece into place in the studio. Fiddly fartarsey things that will likely take most of the day.

o Curtains come in on Tuesday! Then that's IT for the permanent inside-house stuff.

Last weekend was the first game the Crows played since their coach was murdered and I think the whole country, not just the whole supporter base or even the whole state, was proud of them. For starters just for turning up, but oh man, they did NOT give up. They even won two of the four quarters, and against a team I probably would have expected us to lose against even without current circumstances.

And then the siren went and half of the players started crying. And they did the circle in the middle of the ground as all the teams have been doing this week, arms over shoulders, Eagle-Crow-Eagle-Crow, and I think probably most of them were crying by that point. The Eagles all waited on the ground applauding as they walked off, and the crowd. This was in Perth, not Adelaide. They cheered my boys off like they were their own. I mean a serious, standing up, clapping hands over heads, shouting WOOOOO! for the opposition, all the way back into their rooms. So then I was bloody crying.

And Foxtel did the respectful thing and didn't follow them down into the rooms afterwards with cameras, which was really jolly nice of them. The CEO thanked them at the press conference for that, so it wasn't just me and Mum who noticed.

I love my sport. Nobody could give a shit about the final score. I am just so, so proud of my boys, and so proud of my sport and everyone involved in it. Except Eddie Maguire. He's a pratt will always remain one.

Homg that was such a tense match. So glad we won. It's frigging Carlton it should've been a percentage game. Omg don't do that to me, boys.

Curtains are expensive. I was anticipating maybe $1000-$1500 across the two windows, ohhhh no, Spotlight's quoted me $4255. If I accept the quote in the next 21 days then I get a 35% discount which brings it down to $2890, which is still... ouch... I can't see the local guys quoting any less but geeze that's a lot of money.

I'm now going to spend the rest of my long weekend writing, aww yeah.

MY BOYS ♥ As I said, aaaalways been done in the change rooms, by every club ever, after they've won the game. As of this weekend, the Crows are doing it on the ground with the fans. I frigging love them. I LOVE THEM.