RustyRaven

RustyRaven, 10 days ago

I had a dream that I bought a house which was perfect, except for the fact that it was in USA and the front yard was decorated in red, white and blue with multiple American flags. I was worrying the neighbours would be upset when I removed them. Then for some reason I was in a cemetery across the road from the house, which was very busy with multiple funerals and some sort of market/day of the dead festival event happening.

RustyRaven, 10 days ago

It was an improvement on my standard dream of random things stopping me from getting to work on time and also preventing me from calling in to let them know. They tend to feature lots of ludicrous scenarios. In one my taxi turned into a donkey for some reason, which was being held up by roadworks. In another the car I was in was unable to complete a river crossing, forcing me to swim and then get lost in a jungle. American flags and funerals is definitely a lot better.

RustyRaven, 10 days ago

If you find one let me know, the neighbour’s blackberry thicket is out of control again.

RustyRaven, 9 days ago

Mine should grow over winter, but have so many critters eager to eat them that the plants often don’t get established. I planted some seeds a while ago, I need to go out and see if I have any that managed to sprout. I’m definitely a long way from actual pods even if they have survived.

RustyRaven, 9 days ago

Strongest link - organisational skills & the ability to create systems

Weakest link - social skills, including all abilities that allow me to be in positions where my strengths can be usefully employed ☹️

RustyRaven, 9 days ago

Be prepared with a beanie for when the weather turns cold unexpectedly.

RustyRaven, 11 days ago

After a couple of years of self-imposed junk food ban I decided to stop for KFC on the way home. The electronic order board thingy had to be poked a few times before it deigned to take my order but otherwise worked well. But I noticed no one else that came in after me used them and just ordered at the counter. Was I doing the weird thing, or were they?

The wrap seemed smaller than I remember and much more cabbagey. The chips were undersalted and lacking even a hint of crunch. A bit underwhelming and I’ll be happy to abstain from fast food for another few years I think.

RustyRaven, 11 days ago

I did not know wings (wicked or not) were a thing at KFC. I am afraid my menu knowledge is limited and I just looked for a picture of something that looked vaguely familiar🤣

RustyRaven, 14 days ago

Google timeline for April just arrived. According to Google the highlights of my month were a trip to the dentist in Blackburn South, followed by my exciting shopping trip to Supercheap Auto to get headlight bulbs. Sadly, I think this may be accurate 🤣

RustyRaven, 14 days ago

A bowl of aurora coloured jelly please. It might be the closest I get to seeing one, given my view to the south is the wall of a townhouse and I had to sleep before and early start to work this morning.

RustyRaven, 14 days ago

Bacon is serving aurora jelly you might like if you missed out on sky pretty.

RustyRaven, 14 days ago

It is strangely satisfying when your side of a minor Reddit argument gets the most upvotes. Also slightly disturbing, given that this feeling is what no doubt fuels unhealthy pile-ons where everyone wants to join in on the “winning side” and abandons rational argument entirely. I should be the better person and focus on the benefits of thoughtful and reasoned discussion over competitive point scoring. But just for a little bit I’m going with HA HA you petty judgemental b*&% I win.

RustyRaven, 13 days ago

It counts as a highlight by being pretty much the only place I have been outside of home and work. It’s definitely an improvement on some of those lockdown months where the highlight was stopping for petrol on the way home from work.

RustyRaven, 15 days ago

There has not been a particularly high volume of alarms this morning, it must just be randomly near you.

RustyRaven, 14 days ago

Ouch. It might be ok for a couple of days a week but it is not ideal. You basically have to write off those days completely and you also can’t do any of the little chores you would have otherwise done around or after work either (things like doing your washing) so you lose a little bit of other days too.

RustyRaven, 14 days ago

I did a few months of 9 hour days with a 3 hour commute. It paid the bills, but I can’t say it was much fun. It did have a major bonus that I could get time off to go to job interviews though. When I strarted my new job with 8 hours work 15 minutes from home it felt like I’d gone part time!

RustyRaven, 16 days ago

OMG it’s Friday. Why am I still up?

Do you think it might have anything to do with those cups of coffee I had today, even though I knew I was overdoing it after having abstained from caffeine entirely recently?

RustyRaven, 16 days ago

I gave up coffee because I was starting to feel the ritual of making coffee was something I was being trapped by, not something I was really enjoying any more. And I was right, I have been enjoying not feeling it is something I have to do every morning and can instead choose to do if I want to. But I might have chosen it a couple of times more than I should have considering my reduced tolerance - I normally go to bed sometime around 8 or 9, still being awake at 2am is going to hurt me tomorrow!

RustyRaven, 16 days ago

Those microwavable discs are great at holding heat, but Miss Meow showed no interest in lying on it. I think too hard and not flat enough. Even with some padding on top she ignored it in favour of sitting on top of the computer.

RustyRaven, 16 days ago

I cut and paste into Emojipedia to get the official answer:

Melon

A melon fruit in a light greenish-brown rind. Depicted as a cantaloupe by most platforms, but can resemble a honeydew at a distance.

RustyRaven, 16 days ago

That is odd. There are some emojis that don’t show on all systems, but the blueberries should. If you would like to see what they are supposed to look like this emojipedia page shows you the design for all the different compute systems.

RustyRaven, 16 days ago

I managed to get a rare shot of both my snoozy pets in the same frame!

https://aussie.zone/pictrs/image/57a70662-b750-4287-892c-06596fceabdb.jpeg

RustyRaven, 16 days ago

It seems to be common for people to leave the family home to all the children jointly and just give the carer the right to live there. If that is the case it can often lead to a situation where the other siblings resent paying a share of the costs of a home they can’t get any benefit from and maintenance is neglected. Even if it is inherited in full it can leave the carer unable to fully support themselves if they did not get a chance to establish themselves and save money independently first, again leaving them dependent on the good will of other family members to help them.

Putting people into residential care or paying for home care is hugely expensive, it’s sad that so many people who are carers for family are not valued at even a fraction of what a paid carer would receive and are instead pushed into poverty. We are lucky in Australia that we at least have a carer’s pension available to help (and unemployment benefits if you stop caring), even if it is less than minimum wage. It sounds like some of the people in USA have literally nothing and are completely dependent on the person they are caring for. No matter how horrible a position they are in they can’t stop without becoming homeless.

RustyRaven, 16 days ago

I used to think USA states were similar to Australia’s, but once I learned more I realised it’s a lot closer to Europe and the states are a lot more like separate countries. Different towns and regions within the states also seem to be a lot more distinct and seem to be closer to what our states are.

Minimum wage for carers is a good thing, as is the training. The carer’s pension here is a bit less than minimum wage (although once you add in a few bonuses and extra assistance if you are renting it gets pretty close). I haven’t seen any training even available for elder care (outside of courses for people seeking actual employment).