There is some real fascinating shit buried under layers of creaky old historic bureaucracy. I totally dig it.

The top hat survives in Australia as a piece of paper over one's head in Parliament... though I'm not sure if anyone still does it. :D

I try to freeze as much as I can, but my bout of flu in July wrecked my stores and I've not been able to catch up since. I'm hoping to do some mega cooking over Cup Day weekend, maybe - if I don't end up spending most of it asleep...

Whew... Finished up at 7pm, well past when I'd hoped to finish at 5pm, and there's a couple of small outstanding but non urgent items. But I got through the worst of it - all the yucky stuff that made me renew my deep dislike for humanity and was very much due. Dobby is free!!!

...From one job, at least - next two days are gonna be real candle burners as well with the huge backlog from work trip last week and my not being available the next two weeks. I love that place though, so I'm kind of looking forward to getting stuck into it to help the team out.

48 hours to go before I'm on the way to the airport, yippee. For now, is dumplings time (swapped from lunch), and this week's episodes of OMITB and Slow Horses :)

I recently learned about fasces too! Its a bundle of sticks and the iconography goes back centuries (to the Roman Empire at least). And some allegedly non fascist countries continue to use the fasces in official iconography - the wiki article has heaps of examples from the US.

I went down this rabbit hole after watching some videos on the silly antics in the UK parliament including someone trying to walk off with the mace and learning the mace evolved from the fasces and why it's a symbol of power.

Unrelated but did you know until 1998 if you wanted to make a point of order in the House of Commons, you had to wear a top hat? (this was so you could be easily distinguished by the Speaker amongst any chaos. In fact, just before that clip the Speaker actually said "get the hat, I'll hear him. Otherwise I can't", in an already thoroughly farcical debate on banning the use of French in Parliament as a response to the French trying to ban the use of English derived words in their Parliament... how did I get there, I think it was about learning that vestiges of Norman French still remain in the formal parliamentary process. From the 1400s!!!! Okay, I've digressed significantly...)

I've definitely been cooking a lot less from scratch over the past 6 weeks or so because of the labour involved. I am most definitely grateful for frozen veggies, sauces/pastes and the like! There is something very very satisfying about it when you do get around to it though.

Hahaha, I only have myself to blame for this backlog (procrastinating on the unpleasant stuff - bandaid being truly ripped off today). It's much more frustrating when the delay is caused by others!

And that does sound like a very sumptuous meal to look forward to (succulent, even) - I definitely hear you on the food coma though! Leave the easier stuff to after you get that in your gullet :D

I am infinitely grateful to be wfh on a gorgeous day like this, ngl. Blasting the music and regularly getting up from my chair when I'm bored/frustrated has been helpful. How are you going with the work? I'm making progress, bit spotty but I'm 30% of the way through the shitty reports. If I can get all the worst done by 2pm leaving just banal easy work for the rest of the day, I'll be winning.

Also what leftovers are these?! I love a good lunch that you can look forward to.

This upcoming break couldn't come sooner, although it's unfortunate timing for work as it's a busy period with all the storms and shit. Thankfully they have never made me feel bad about leave as I generally tend to deliver otherwise.

I have a lot of tedious, unfulfilling work I REALLY don't want to do today but need to clear by COB before I go on leave. I've had a slow start to the day and a battle of Feels. Thankfully, the sun is shining so that makes it easier to stay on the good side for now

Today's strategy:

• keep reminding myself of the reward after getting through today
• remind myself efficiency is a good thing too
• enjoy all the good food - today's medicinal carb is a Woodfrog bakery croissant. Dumplings for lunch
• go out and weed my planter boxes at lunchtime for some serotonin 'n shit
• blast all the feel-good 70s/80s pop rock. Currently on Toto, next up is classic Chicago
• celebrate the end of the day by calling/messaging people I love

I got this!...

e: busting out the ELO now. Thanks to this Russian dude who uploaded 2x 2h complications!

Wtf?? Hahahaha that is gross. Did she get the photographer to do both the house and her Instagram pics then uploaded them all? That bathroom pic, seriously unnecessary

I buy mine from the local grocer, they've always got stock. Not the cheapest but not hideously expensive either

I use it in pasta dishes too. so good.

Tonight's mood booster is some peri peri mock-chicken strips bought on a whim yesterday. I shall throw a zucchini in there for helth, and half an onion, and.. idk. Eat it with rice... cooked in broth! With cloves and cardamom! (I highly recommend the latter for really elevating even the simplest rice dish.)

Also just remembered I stress-bought frozen dumplings last night. I'm set for lunch tomorrow, woohoo!

Doxxing capacity maximised... 👀 beautiful part of Melbourne to be in though that's for sure.

Haven't had the heart to tell my supervisor at this job that I'm seriously mentally struggling atm. I'm off for a week from Friday night so I feel like I should see how I go with that before I go any further. I think I'm going to have to leave one of my jobs and cut down my overall hours to make this work, but it's really bad timing in terms of workload...

Hot chips might not be the healthiest way to deal with one's problems and crying all afternoon... but they are A Way. Hooray for the air fryer. Helping me eat something rather than nothing

If you say so, MinisculeSeparation

Research not going well. Its clear I can't commit the time originally needed so it's been massively downsized which is eminently sensible but I also feel like I don't really care about it that much either now, it's just another job, albeit one I don't get paid for. I could've been more responsible about understanding time frames and my own interests from the start but I didn't. On top of that, I feel pretty mediocre at work - I'm efficient enough but don't have any new insight to offer or areas of growth. So I'm pulled in multiple directions and can't do any of them well.

Think it's just partly a round of the ol' black dog making everything look like a failure and feeling like nothing truly interests me any more, I'm glad I've got some time off ahead... but I feel like it's also a sign that maybe I need to finally step back from the industry for real once I'm done in 8 months. Move interstate or whatever like I'd thought I might do this year. in the meantime I'm going to have to just phone everything in to stay afloat. meh. Sad.

Feels a lot colder than they say it is. Don't wanna leave my nest of coziness...

Absolutely! We all need a good reset every so often, I forget how to do this. And to your point I am SO glad I cleaned the house before I left, even though it was really tough to squeeze it in... Felt so luxe coming back to a tidy house, sparkling kitchen, clean floors, neat bed...