Yrae Chronicles

USELESS WORKMATE IS SACKED. I may copy-paste the shitshow of his demise from Discord later, but omg. This week has truly been glorious for watching dipshit men implode. First Trump, then Lehrmann has been found liable for Channel 10's court costs in his failed defamation bid, now my absolute dipstick workmate has been... well, officially suspended, but that's only cos you have to give two weeks' notice. He's not coming back.

What a delightful example of schaudenfruede this has all been.

Good shit: We're up to 10 days in a row with no new cases here in SA :DDD Grand total of, like, 14 active cases, none of them in ICU. NT hasn't had any new cases in over three weeks, ACT has been declared COVID-free and across the whole country we're generally getting fewer than 15 new cases a day. Many states are rolling back restrictions, we're not because ours were never as stringent as the rest of the country anyway. Federal Government is looking at easing certain restrictions this Friday, but only if enough people download the COVIDSafe app. We're at 3.5 million and need roughly 10 million to cover 40% of the population, which is the target.

Less good shit: I'm now officially part time, working Monday, Wednesday and Friday until further notice, which cuts me by about $190 per week. It sucks, but I mean, anything to actually keep a job, right? My boss is even putting some of his own money into the company to keep us alive. We're not kidding ourselves that everything'll just bounce back to normal as soon as restrictions are lifted and everyone can go back to work. But I mean, the sooner the better. Idk how much longer my business can survive having no goddamn business. We had an almost all day meeting on Friday discussing how to come out of this with work, so we've been each put in charge of some sort of marketing-related thing/s. Cross your fingers for us, guys.

Fitness continues, though it's very suddenly become winter and it's making it hard to motivate to do the thing. Like, I'm still getting out and doing the thing, but I feel like I start halfarsing it and just getting it done, rather than fully going at it like I was in nice weather. I have to go for a run today and it's been on and off raining all day. Mostly I'm scared for my new phone. How do people deal with non-waterproof phones? This stupid thing, if it so much as sniffs moisture in its charging port, it won't charge. Like, running and holding it as my timer/tracker, my hand gets sweaty, and that screws it up for like three days. I feel like that's a design flaw. So now I put stickytape over the charging port whenever I go running now, ugh. Rain, though? I'm going to have to put it in a plastic bag and rubber band it closed. First and last time I buy a non-waterproof phone, I swear to G.

I made banana bread! It's perfect!

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.

I'm scared. Not for the virus itself, but for everything surrounding it.

General Australia status: we're not in lockdown, but any business which revolves around gatherings has been closed. Pubs, gyms, cinemas, all those sorts of things are closed. Cafés and restaurants are allowed to do takeaway. Obviously social distancing is mandatory, with fines for anyone not observing that. Basically no gatherings allowed at all, weddings restricted to five people, funerals to 10 people. Retail hasn't been specifically mentioned as yet, but restrictions on how many people are allowed in rooms are applied there. Schools still open, though some states (not SA) have brought forward school holidays forward. Everything not specifically mentioned counts as an 'essential service' because people are earning money and staying in jobs and not getting into the million-people-strong queue at Centrelink.

So far, my business counts as one of those. We're still open, but I'm scared. Our major clients are booze and ice cream/hot dogs. The booze is the one that pays my salary every two months; lose them and, well... Jon says 'people will lose their jobs' but lbr it's me. I'll lose my job. Bottle shops still count as an essential service. This client works in 2-week periods for their promo/specials, and we typically do two periods at a time. I just finished doing the artwork for period 21+22, just got that approved on Monday, and they pulled period 22 yesterday. Today I got an email asking for one of their staff members to get trained on the EDM system (Electronic Direct Mail, all those marketing emails you get from companies you sign up for loyalty programs and such). I've been doing them for the past two years, but no more.

Until then, we'd been kinda cushioned a little bit, specifically because of them. Ice cream/hot dogs, who operate in shopping centres, fell off a cliff two weeks ago. Things have been quiet, but we're still getting orders from the medical clients, the major car servicing client, Government. Still keeping... busy is the wrong word, but still getting work. The booze, though... I'm scared.

This week, I've had lunch in the fridge at work but have gone to the café to get takeaway lunch every day just to support them for as long as I can. If I'm still coming to work on Monday I'll be amazed.

Still doing fitness, going for a run on the beach as long as I'm allowed to. Brighton, my closest, isn't a particularly busy beach anyway, especially late in March when it's only, like, mid-20s. Even in normal times you're typically spread out with, like, 20m betweeen people unless you're passing dog walkers and other fitness walkers/runners. Not at all like the dickwits at Bondi on Sunday. So anyway. I started last week running for as long as I could, which was eight minutes, then each day tacking another two minutes on. Today I got up to 26 minutes! Pretty stoked with self for this progress. I haven't at any stage given up and taken a break before the timer went off, go me. I need something to cheer and, y'know what, my own improving health will do nicely.

I'm scared.

Because people need a bit of happy right now, here, have some happy :D

One of my workmates has a daughter in year 11 at a public all girls' school. Yesterday as he was driving her home from school, she asked if he remembered some girl who went to her year 8 birthday. She doesn't see much of her lately (the other girl's going more in the humanities direction and my workmate's daughter is more STEM, so once you get to year 11 your classes don't match up so well anymore) but still acquaintances.

Anyway. 'She's decided she's going to be a boy, so now her name is Jaime!'

So I just grinned and went, 'Good on 'er! Or him, now,' while simultaneously thinking of all the different layers of awesome in that one statement:

- workmate, a white, middle-aged male, is neither weirded out nor wildly shocked by this. It's a topic of conversation, sure, but there was zero disgust or amusement or anything negative that may have been there, say, 5 years ago.

- he asked his daughter what she thought about it, who said, "It's a bit weird, but... *teenager shrug*"

- as I mentioned, all girls' school, but they're letting Jaime stay

- coming out as trans high school, brave kid, but clearly knows there are enough supportive people around that he's not going to get overly bullied for it. Cos otherwise you'd just hold off until after year 12, wouldn't you?

So much of this makes me happy. I'm still riding the squee from it now. I wonder if him coming out is anything to do with the plebiscite last year? Like, not just the result, but what discussion it must've caused at school. It'd already been publicised that my generation and younger overwhelmingly voted yes (or rather, said they were going to in phone polls, because of course the vote itself was private). For a kid to be coming out as trans a year and a half from the end of school? There must be a shedload of support at that school. I'm happy *^^*

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

This past month I've done business cards for Katie Lang, Neill Young and Jodie Mitchell.

Waiting for a Sallie for package opening :D I posted it early in August, from memory, with an eta of 6-8 weeks, and it turned up yesterday, hurray!

Alsoooo I got my assessment from the Government back about my claim for money from when Flinders Street went under last year. I applied in very early June with an eta of 26.2 weeks and just laughed and forgot about it, not expecting anything until roughly Christmas. While I was away in Sydney, (or more accurately, Ballira by that point, I think) I got a call asking for a thing to prove my beginning of employment date, which I did the Monday I got back, and on the Tuesday got the email back :D

So, the administrators had just told me about my annual leave, which was about $1500 that tbh I wasn't expecting to see a cent of, seeing how administrators work. So when I found out about this Government thing about 3 months ago and started filling out that form, it also mentioned payment in lieu of notice. As a full-time employee I'm supposed to get two weeks' notice before my employment is terminated. I didn't get 10 minutes notice, so that two weeks of pay there is something the administrators conveniently left out =| But Government did not! So that brings me up to about $3200! FINALLY! Well and truly pays for Sydney, or a new tv perhaps, the garden... basically it's 3k I was never expecting to see, which I'll be getting in about 2-ish weeks, from the sounds of it.

CAN HAS A SALLIE YAAAAY.