I came across this article yesterday after hearing that the CEO mentioned has officially resigned. I don't know any of the people, but the words "toxic culture" will always have me interested. Reading through it I had to stop, send it to my colleague and ask "Is this what we dealt with?" regarding our former manager. Examples: “That’s a typical example of behaviours of, say one thing, formally write down another,” he said. Yep. “She’d say, ‘I want you to do A, B and C, please’. And so you do it, then the next week she’d go, ‘No, no, no. I ask for D, E and F’.” Oh yep. It's like I was there. In my previous role, we had to manage up to such an extent we'd convince our manager that any idea was hers. We'd plant the right seeds at the right time so she'd come to the same conclusion we came to months earlier, and only then she'd allow something to happen. Fuck, we became some manipulative people. Turning up 20 minutes early to meetings, to plan how to approach the entire conversation - and it was just a weekly check-in! She finished up last week, I got invited to the leaving drinks and it'd be weirder to not turn up. So I was there with my former colleagues and I could see the tension start to ease as she made her farewell speech; knowing she'd not be back in the office the next day. Anyway they're picking up the pieces and seeing if people are willing to return. People like myself. But I can't. I enjoy my new job too much and also fuck that noise - not even for the money they'd offer. Eyes forward and all that. I finally got a copy of House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski. Looking forward to tucking into it."One senior leader described having a meeting with George, where they made crucial decisions about an upcoming project, only to be sent an email summary 30 minutes later that wasn’t representative of the things the pair had agreed upon.
Another person said they experienced similar confusing behaviour.
Another person spoke about having “meetings before meetings” to figure out “how to not get attacked” or to get something over the line.
Three weeks into my role in IT, having finally left office management. It's amazing. The people are friendly, the work is interesting, and I'm so used to a stupidly hectic workload that what they're asking of me is quite doable, even as I'm learning the ropes. Plus there's actual clarity around the role. I have a portfolio of things to take care of, tickets come in when the helpdesk can't solve it, and away I go. I'm even working from home today, which wasn't ever really an option before. Is.. Is this, room to breathe? What a concept.
My partner got a promotion - she's practically a new person. Doing something she enjoys, getting more money, she works later hours so she gets more time to do things around the house (the fact that I do most of the cooking/cleaning has bugged her for years). Win-win-win. My employer has announced a round of voluntary redundancies. I prepared an application and ran it past my boss, just to see what they might pay me to close off my job. It was immediately declined, so I guess I'm sticking around until the involuntary redundancies (which have also been announced, just for a later date) come around. I've got an interview next week. The trouble with being a shitty employer in what is effectively a "corporate town" where everyone is employed by that company; when you announce layoffs? Everyone slows down. Everyone pulls back. Productivity has plummeted and trust has been destroyed. You can't hire new people to fill critical gaps, because everyone knows this massive organization is up shit creek and nobody wants to hitch their star to that particular wagon. My fellow managers? We were a team of 6, but we've been 4 since January, and still no replacements on the horizon. We have approval to recruit, but nobody wants the job for the salary we offer and be under the cloud of uncertainty. "Take a paycut and maybe get fired within the next 12 months? Kindly fuck off". So we all pick up the slack, burn out faster, and we leave a slightly larger pile of crap for whomever remains. Yay. Not all doom and gloom though, hobbies are continuing to be fulfilling. Writing, piano, gardening, stupid but hilarious youtube series. Our new cat is settling in nicely (her name is Penny), though she's a much more "charged" creature than the previous critter. The demure, fastidious and sadly deceased, Elvis. Penny is a riot. Everything she does, she hauls ass. Off to eat? 100km/h. Receiving pats? Not fast enough, let her help expedite the process by headbutting your hand. Need to clean? You best believe she's full force. An absolute wrecking ball. She now answers to Eggs Penedict, Lumpy Space Penny, Penelope Pants and of course, Gremlin From The Void. She got the last one after she halloween-catted down the hallway towards me one night. It was fucking horrifying to see the eyes glaring, then the arched shaped scuttling towards my ankles. She just wanted some love. But she doesn't receive love, she takes it. You will know about the transaction.
One I watched years ago that I'm yet to encounter someone else mention These Final Hours. Follows a young man in Australia, as the last nine hours of humanity are being counted down. The asteroid has already hit, and the last people are just waiting for the encroaching wall of fire to sweep them out of existence. It was much, much better than I expected. Really moving. Nope might be a shade popular for what you're after, but I really enjoyed it. A solid horror flick oozing with atmosphere. Hunt for the Wilderpeople wholesome, funny, quirky - and also I want to plug some NZ films. Annihilation was pretty wild. I've heard it's polarising for some, so perhaps I'm just an easily pleased goon but I enjoyed the uneasy Sci-fi/horror edge. Two Distant Strangers a short movie where a young black man is stuck in a time loop and continously encountering a racist, white cop. The Rider I'm not one for westerns but this absolutely captivated me. Finding out the main characters aren't professional actors and are instead portraying fictionalised versions of themselves, was something else. That's not a spoiler, just what I found when I looked it up to see if they had been in any other movies.
Heatwave! 30 degrizzles Celsius. Might not sound bad to some, but in New Zealand, that roasts you. I'm sporting sunburn on my noggin from 30 minutes in the sun yesterday. My application to wear shorts to the office, is still pending. Work is.. Fuckin' wild. This week alone there's been hospitalizations, Covid cases, full blown fights between departments. AND YET. The new staff are amazing. One woman arrived from Germany late last year, applied and got the job, and she's just thrown herself into everything. Figures it all out. The staff love her already. Making me feel far better about my own job, having awesome people to look after. As an update: I did just get into a shouting match with a lecturer, who is super stressed but also just said the wrong fuckin' thing to me. One of my staff supports him directly, and was admitted to hospital yesterday. Now having an operation, so it's obviously urgent. But still.. He said.. "You need to do better." Ohhh my dude, I am not getting into a pissing contest with an academic. If you disappear? The program continues with another academic in your place. If I disappear? 6 departments, of 12, go tits up and fly blind for half a year trying to figure out how everything worked. It's like fucking with the people who handle your food. You just don't do it. He sent me an email an hour later apologizing. So that's nice. Still, I'm wary of him now.
Christmas was a hoot. Our family descended upon the scorching south, I got a bit of colour on my skin and drank a few beers with my cousins. Boxing day we went from a sleepy little town called Te Anau, and drove north to Milford Sound. Gorgeous views. It reminded me of what is at my backdoor if I choose to forget about work for a while. Back home now, and while I loved seeing my family, I can now unwind on my own terms. Here's the view from my backyard (I have three yards, front, middle and back.) That rhubarb has uhhh... Gone to seed. A few times. There's so much space up here it's almost overwhelming, but plans have started at least. 2023 Goals: Gym = 100kg Overhead Press Home = Greenhouse installed and renovation on the bathroom begun Hobbies = Finish at least one of my writing projects Reading = I read about 40 books this year, and while I don't like tacking a numerical goal to reading, I'll aim for more this year. Not like, "I must read this many" but, as a way to keep me looking for new things to read. Work = Fuck knows, but July 2023 will see me get a noticeable pay increase, so I'll stick it out and try to foster good relationships
Truly an enigma. That will go down like a cup of vomit. I had to explain to my manager about "Quiet Quitting" as she took it to mean 'people are skating by and we need processes in place to catch them red-handed'. She thought it was a challenge to overcome with brute force and vicious management. I said, 'no, it's where they realize skating by is far better for them, compared to being hyper productive for no discernable benefit'. Then we delved into the fact that of the 60 administrative staff in our area, only 10 are getting a payrise next year. The others are either at the ceiling, or weren't considered 'good enough' to merit an increase. How exactly do you encourage people to be more productive when they know it only means more work and stress? She argued that the 'opportunity to develop and blah blah blah'. It's not enough, and we're reaping the results. I raised a similar question with her a year ago, when I realized that one of my best staff members was burning out. This member was someone I could trust to get any task done, and I leaned on her when an area was struggling. She had a hard time saying no, while I was new and didn't realize the potential damage I was doing to her energy levels. So her being talented and willing was to her detriment, where someone on the same pay scale could do half the work with no major stressors. I asked my manager how to reward her in a genuine way, what cards did I have up my sleeve? I had none. Come performance review time, I wrote a glowing recommendation for an accelerated pay rise - both the accelerated and the standard increase were denied. She left soon after. Now? I'm not asking any of my team to do more than they need to. They're tired, stressed and have been so for a long fucking time. They work with egomaniacs in academia and clinical settings. They work for an organization that has chronically underpaid it's staff for years, and it's now under massive financial stressors while being unable to backfill vacancies because they simply don't pay enough. We're possibly looking at another round of redundancies. Most have one foot out the door for their own sake, and I don't blame them one bit.The productivity plunge is perplexing.
Tech CEOs such as Google’s Sundar Pichai and Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg have been pledging to boost productivity, calling out low performers and asking their workers to do more.
Quiet Quitting
Declined the job. My boss is also on the hunt for a new role, so I'll wait it out. I didn't expect to feel sympathy at this stage but I don't like seeing her so unhappy in her own role. Did she do a lot of the damage she's now having to tidy up? Yes. But I still want good things for her. Just, away from me. It's vege planting season! My raised beds are almost ready, minus some extra soil to be added this week. Spuds, carrots, peas and going in this weekend. I also have about 50 days of annual leave owing, and HR is frothing at the mouth for me to take it - so I have all of next week off. Nothing planned, just gonna do gardening, tidy the house up, relax, write and play some games. Next weekend is the annual Beer Fest in my city, usually a highlight of the calendar year. Our groups theme for the day is "clashing" so I've found the most obnoxious ensemble I could and will be wearing it proudly. Loud Hawaiian shirt, pink bucket hat, shorts with pineapples on them.
I see there is some discussion on employment. I have an interesting time that I somehow survived. Under the latest setup with my work, people in any administrative role can technically be uplifted and embedded in any other department in the University. Will this be effective? No. Will they try it anyway? Turns out, yes. I got a phone call from my bosses, bosses, boss. I'm on good terms with him, I've helped new staff enter this cesspit of "structural change" since I started, all out of my usual office hours. He called me to ask if he could visit, I said of course, and he's headed over. Now this is odd, I wonder why he's coming to talk to me in person? Turns out, he wants to yank me out of my department (also the only effective department under his control, because of yours godamn truly) and place me into the worst performing one, because the administrator there is extremely unhappy and wants to be relocated. "Why is she unhappy?" I asked - thankfully he was very honest, which I think may have been his undoing. He said the Head of Department and the Finance Manager both make life very difficult for her - she feels bullied and unwanted there. Well that's a simple answer for me, thanks but no thanks. He fires back with "You're the only one I can ask to try and steady this ship" (He's referencing cricketer Kane Williamson but I ain't about that). I then asked, is there any chance of me getting a payrise or some kind of compensation out of this? He is again honest, not a chance in hell. I decided to say I would think about it and let him know ASAP. I call my boss and let her know, and she admits he told her about his plan just yesterday and his words then were "This is a courtesy call really, he doesn't have a choice". Which is when I decided to say no in the way that makes it very hard for me to be shifted. The next day I sit down with him and my boss (who is supporting me staying, if nothing else because whoever they replace me with, simply won't be as good) and I explain that I am worried about being placed in a known toxic environment, and that if I were to find it unpleasant enough to want to leave this could be considered constructive dismissal, given there is clear evidence of said environment. I explained that asking the lowest paid person in the department to fix the issue of an arrogant Head of Department who is one of only a handful gastroenterologists in the country (who are also interested in medical education) is a big fucking ask. One that would require some serious HR support and financial compensation, but given that HR exists to protect him from me, and not me from others, I don't have high hopes for my success. He blinked a few times and agreed that wouldn't be healthy. Long story short, I'm not going anywhere. Fuck structural reviews. "Can we pay these people less and make them work more? We can?! Do it".
I honestly didn't believe he said that, initially. Surely he wouldn't say something like that. But he did. I mean, it's possible he was trying to say "Of course numbers are going up, we're testing more and more. If we didn't test the cases wouldn't increase the way they are". But he's just done an absolutely awful job of conveying his thoughts? God that almost sounded like I defended him but I really want to know how that lil tumbleweed thinks.
Kia ora kotou katoa Hubski! With Reddit frothing on both sides of the fence whenever New Zealand gets mentioned on the site, I have backed away a bit from the internet and just focused on things I can control. I still browse Hubski but I very rarely have anything relevant to say, so lurking is the style for me. But as of 1pm today we have 1 active case remaining in the country which is pretty sweet. I started a hefty whisky collection while in lockdown. Alongside some basic spirits so I could make some nice drinks for my partner and I after a hard day of doing my civic duty, by doing sweet fuck all. I am about to launch into the Highland side of things, so wish me luck. Recorded a lot (hours and hours) of videogame footage with my friends, am now making some fun videos with them which I've found really entertaining. Currently working on videos of our exploits in Sea of Thieves. With the gym reopening, I got to experience what 8 weeks away will do - a shitload of DOMS. Some mild strength loss, but less than I expected thanks to the bodyweight routines while at home. Hope you're doing okay, nga mihi nui
My partner is using my PC and monitors as she needs two screens more than I need them, as handy as they are for me. So my work station is currently this via laptop. Could be worse!
So amidst this panic, my friend came round over the weekend with 10 different samples of whisky. We started with Famous Grouse and I hated it, barely finished my serving. On to Talisker, Mortlach, Monkey Shoulder, Islay Mist and Ardbeg. All of which I thoroughly enjoyed, particularly the Islay Mist and Ardbeg. We never got round to the Laphroaig but I hear good things, especially around pronouncing it after a few drinks. I enjoyed it enough that I went out and bought myself a bottle of Islay Mist - it doubled as an anniversary present - 3 years with my lady as of St Patricks Day. She was trying the whisky's as well and her tastes mirrored mine. Rugby has been cancelled for the foreseeable future, both club and professional setups. If my gym closes I'll be buying some dumbbells and doing whatever I can to maintain strength. We've hit 20 known cases in New Zealand, and it's kind of endearing in a small-town way, that we can very accurately track the cases. One of our PhD students has a sister in London who has had the virus and is recovering so that was some interesting information to hear from said student. I'm ready to work from home but the Ministry of Education is being quite steadfast in not letting University staff leave at the moment. They want us to have a face for the students and from the meeting I was in yesterday, one of their massive concerns alongside financial loss is the public losing faith in the institution. Either way, lemme do my job from home it'll be fine I promise - no whisky till like 5pm. OK 4pm. Our PM has issued some strong thoughts on tourists arriving with no plans to self-isolate - could be looking at straight up deportation. In non-COVID-19 news, abortion is set to officially be legal in New Zealand, finally.
New Zealand has three coronavirus cases, no lemon or lime. Work has picked back up finally and all the students have come back to the city. On one hand it's great to see life breathed into the place, on the other hand by god do they make a mess. I walk down probably the most infamous street in New Zealand each morning, during the day it's calm but at night... This was taken in 2009, I was in there... Somewhere.. as a fresh faced 18 year old. Things have carried on much the same every year. February hits, students flock back and Castle Street gets absolutely dealt to. In other news, I attended the first meeting of the Craft Beer Club a few friends have created. Everyone was issued a style to bring, I was on "stouts". It was actually rather fun, everyone went really hard on getting things that were unique and a bit odd. Along with my stouts, I threw in a pickle flavoured beer to see if anyone would even try it and I nearly got kicked out of the group. The blueberry stout saved me and I live to drink another day.
I was born in a town of about 3000 people, and lived in a township of (I think) 125 out in rural South Otago. All through my teenage years we did the usual rural stuff - lighting stuff on fire, drinking and smoking, having sex at 14, hooning around the farms in paddock-bashers. Regular fucking idiots. Then the end of high school came and half of our school year (30 people) went to Universities around the country. I went up the road no more than an hour yet I was fuckin' dead to everyone back home. I'd known them pretty much my entire life and we'd formed countless memories together but going back in the first mid-year break? Going to the pub was an ordeal because they wouldn't talk to me. I'd left the farming area and now I was a townie. Like suddenly I had forgotten how to shear a sheep and order the farm dogs. They came around eventually, but there was some kind of betrayal they appeared to have felt in regards to people leaving their little nest. I'm on good terms with most people once more, but it took an effort to prove I wasn't a "townie" or more accurately, to prove that being a "townie" isn't a bad thing. Better weed, more things to do - just don't bring up the country vs town rugby 'rivarly' (if you can call country losing for the past 80 years a rivalry) and you're fine. One friend turns 31 this year, lives with his parents and refuses to get his license or a job. I'm not quite giving up on him, but boy we've run out of ideas. Anyway I echo your thoughts, seeing how everyone reacted to me leaving reinforced my decision to do so. I was glad I left, I became a much more well-rounded person (eventually). I wouldn't give up the memories I made for anything, but I'm making new ones now and they're just as important.But man, 23! I went from being 21, drinking absinthe and racing down an icy street on a fridge door, to being 29 living with my partner and cat with our weekends spent gardening, watching movies or going to the beach. But I wanted this softer life after all the havoc I caused. I'm not peaked yet and I don't see that happening till my late 30s or early 40s if that. You've not even come close to peaking!
Man everyone at my department is a professor or lecturer in their 50s at least. I'm still in my 20s and that blows their mind yet I feel aged already (rugby eh). Despite this, every year I find more and more things to occupy my time - it really is never ending. Hobbies I never would have given a second glance in my teens I'm now quite into.
Hot damn. I remember having colds and thinking they were nasty - then in 2017 at the ripe old age of 27 I had my first case of actual influenza and my eyes were opened. In bed for a week, pain in my joints, absolutely drained of energy. I'd have welcomed a little case of the sniffles. The concern here in NZ is our cold and flu season is yet to start and we may enter it just as the travel restrictions ease up.
At the risk of throwing myself at a wall of negativity.. My previous government job had me interviewing clients to determine what kind of assistance they would need post-injury/surgery. ACC, New Zealand's fantastic compensation system. My role was essentially in a glorified call centre, we got paid very well but had to turn over a shit load of clients to meet the expectations. 20 minutes an interview was the expected run-time, I could do it in 4 but the Case Manager who got my interview script would have sweet fuck all to go on, so it wasn't worth the hassle doing calls quickly and answering further questions the next day. We were measured on all numbers of things - a large flatscreen in our open space office would display something similar to Klein's picture - current call time, current "mode" (if you take a piss, you had to dial 69), number of calls taken and number of calls completed, and if you were on outbound, number of calls made and number of calls connected. They'd track you daily, weekly, monthly and pull you up if things slipped. I made the mistake of learning quickly so my numbers were solid from the get go, but then any lull required a meeting. We hated it, of course. Being chained to your desk in all ways but physically. I accidentally left myself in toilet break while on a nasty call and it looked like I had just passed out taking a dump somewhere in the building. Current job? My Performance Review is now based on things a lot less... metric-y. There's no numbers to crunch, it's more a feel for how people think I'm doing. My interactions with others, how involved I am, how quickly I respond to problems or pre-empt them. If you wanted, you could coast in this job and never get a pay-rise or considered for promotion, but you would stick around for a decade. Or until they restructured.. But if you want to get more money, get more involved and offer yourself up to help newbies in different departments - failing money, I have been gifted at least 6 different times with craft beer from a thankful staff member or manager. Our reviews are personally handled - before the review we get the chance to write as little or as much in the template, and our manager will go over it and add to it as they see fit. I wrote damn pages because I was so involved with things and I wanted to wax lyrical about everything I did. It helped, and my manager agreed with it all. So you are sort of put in the spotlight trying to justify the work you do, but you aren't held to straight up numbers that prove to be a detriment to you doing a good job, so that's nice. I didn't really answer the question did I..
Just had the final of three guests in our new house. My girlfriend's parents visited, then my brother and his girlfriend, then my friend from the UK, whom I've never actually met as we only know each other through the rugby podcast we're on. He had never been to New Zealand so I got the pleasure of showing off the southern gem that is my city. Basically we ate a lot of really nice food and he got sunburnt on an overcast day cause New Zealand hates you if you're pasty. Was great having guests, but being back to just me and my girlfriend is very nice. I've read my usual new book over the New Year break, now to bust out this macrame set I got given as a gift.
Ohhhh so many. Since building my PC I now have a few things to spend my time on if I feel like it. PC, Switch, PS4 covers a good few bases. PC Destiny 2 - it's Free to Play on Steam (need to purchase the DLC if you want to progress to where everyone else is playing though) and I've been playing with a group of friends. - Terraria - Forgot how much fun this game is. Every time I think I've completed it, there's a whole new world that gets opened up for me and I'm getting kind of ridiculously powerful in some cases (like 3 seconds to kill an early game boss that took almost an in-game night previously) but hilariously weak in the next stage. - Path of Exile - Again with a group of friends. It's pretty fun and easy to pick up, plus the Kiwi-inspired design and voices are always enjoyable. - The Witness - I still don't fully understand this one, it's just a world full (and I do mean full) of puzzles to figure out. They all pretty much link up with other puzzles so you wander through the map doing what you can. Very peaceful! - Kind Words - You write letters to people who are having a hard time or need advice. - Binding of Isaac - I'm terrible at this, but my partner is like incredible. When we first met she mentioned she had a good amount of time put into it and me being a veteran of many games thought I would see if I stacked up. I did not. She cuts through runs like a knife through butter while I run in circles from an early-game enemy. PS4 The Witcher 3 - another playthrough since watching the Netflix series. I know exactly how the game will pan out but I still thoroughly enjoy hooning around the map on Roach and deciding on which quest to do next, fight that werewolf or find the old lady's missing frying pan? - Modern Warfare (the new one) - campaign is pretty cool, but I'm way past these games to be honest. Used to love playing them in my younger years, and I was good enough to win competitions back then which should tell you how much time I committed to it.. Nowadays it's a bit of fun with friends. - Monster Hunter - god I'm awful at this. Truly awful. But again, friends are playing it and I have the game so why not. It's kind of fun actually, my friends will often record battles and you can see this wonderfully in-sync team hacking at this monster with precision strikes and I'm in the background figuring out how to draw my sword and accidentally bringing out a campfire to cook a roast. - Dead Cells - A beautiful and punishing game. Lovely music, lovely artwork, the mechanics are so smooth and crisp. Once you get the hang of it you'll be playing at breakneck speed and boy is it satisfying. - Borderlands 3 - Finished it, but occasionally hop on with some friends to cause some havoc. Very much what you'd expect from the franchise, not as amazing the 3rd time around sadly. - Okami - My partner has been playing this. I got it for her as she recalled enjoying it years ago.
Happy New Year! The day is almost over for us here in NZ, but we woke up to this -- https://imgur.com/a/NvBFmg8 - I promise you, there has been no filter slapped onto that. It's just that yellow. The fires in Australia have sent smoke across the bloody Tasman Sea and have arrived in our land. If this is just what made it over, I hate to think how those dealing with the fires are going.. Hope you all celebrate safely and that 2020 treats you well!
Man I swore I took photos of the PC. All I have is this the boxes, the CPU fan being put in and the finished product but it's got a tempered glass side so it's all reflective. Anyway, Started with all of these - https://imgur.com/a/aXstYW1 All but the SX-700 worked. In my haste to buy these things, I didn't notice it was intended for a much smaller case and the power supply cables simply didn't reach. This can be altered but not quickly (at least not quickly by me), so my friend who helped me pick out the parts gave me his spare Power Supply as he felt guilty for not checking that one link and approving of all the others. Mostly installed into the motherboard - https://imgur.com/a/qg9xu2s I can't get these photos to embed properly for some reason, I'm doing something wrong but hopefully nobody minds having to click the links to see. Here I've installed the RAM, the CPU and it's cooler (big ass fan centre stage) and the ssd up near the top. Installing the motherboard was surprisingly easy but I was very nervous handling it all together with my clumsy rugby hands. Here it is just sitting there doing nothing - https://imgur.com/a/0NvV3Aj Poor quality, I was taking these very sporadically. I'll get a better one of all the lights when it powers up tonight. But yeah, that's all done! On to the garden next - our peas need stakes, they're getting too tall.
We got a cat! Long story short; our ex-flatmates who have recently bought a house, found the previous owners cat lurking around. He was extremely friendly but extremely determined to get into, what he understands as, his house. The new owners have a cat named Lily who is both tiny and entirely unaware of how tiny she is, leading to a lot of lost fights. So, they called the previous owners for an idea of what to do - we now think they might be going through some bad times as neither of them replied as a unit, only offering their own opinion. The wife wants to put him down, the husband wanted to find a home but couldn't under short notice so left the cat with the neighbour (hence why the cat keeps returning home, it's very close). Learning that he might be put down if he's not allowed to terrorize Lily, my ex-flatties rang me up and asked if we'd like to meet/take him away. We went to meet him on Tuesday night, he was very affectionate and purring loudly. The previous owners said we could take him if we wanted, and gave us his vet history etc. So we bundled him into a crate and took him back to ours. He's got a sweet pad, little cat house with fluffy blanket, scratching post we bought this week anticipating a cat, an enclosed litter box for while he's adjusting to the house, some toys and treats etc. As soon as we got him home we took him into the lounge as it's the best place to keep him in for now. Opened the crate and he shot under a couch, where he's been ever since. This morning he ventured out! He's used the litter box un-prompted, eaten the food we left and drank the water, as well as munched the treats we left by the couch opening so he didn't have to move far. We coaxed him out and he was rubbing his face on everything and purring away. About 30 minutes of that and we had to get ready for work so he slinked back under the couch when we left him alone, hopefully that's a first sign he's getting adjusted though, only on our second day so need to be patient. I tried taking a photo but he moves so damn fast so it's blurry and shite, but it'll do until he can sit still and pose. Meet the currently unnamed cat (previous name was Elvis but he doesn't seem to answer to that anyway).
My good friend sent me "Do you Shower with your Dad Simulator" as a 'gift' on Steam, might have to buy him this as revenge.
Another week, another funeral. I dunno how much more emotional battering I can take! I feel quite adjusted to it now though - it's just when I see someone else tear up, I suddenly feel the tears coming on for me. Gonna tuck into a beer this weekend that's for sure. Plus side, we might be getting a cat this Saturday. Photos will be shared.
Two things - my cousin is in one of those videos, where Colbert trains with Piri Weepu and DJ Forbes. Bloody hilarious how small NZ is that my family member can just rock up to a field for practice and get asked to be on camera with Colbert. Secondly - yeah our healthcare system sometimes has it's faults but holy shit, we get well taken care of a majority of the time. My sister having her son? Spent a week in hospital and had no bills, just some baby stuff to take home to make things easier. I've had specialist appointments after a inner ear issue, all paid for. My prescriptions never cost more than $5 a pop, and they may last me for 6 months - so $10 for a year of medication if needed. My mum had a stroke in 2013 and is on a variety of meds since then, $20 a year for the lot of them. My brother is a severe hemophiliac, entirety of his treatment was government funded - I estimate in the early years before treatment really got good, we cost the NZ government millions with hospital visits, surgery, and Factor 8 treatment.
Well I don't know who to believe now. https://imgur.com/a/PbyGotd Found this photo from a few years ago - my first foray into beers that weren't easy to quaff lagers. I got it cause it had a funny name, Jack the Sipper, turns out I really like dark beers and thus I was converted. It's certainly not as heavy as the beers I moved onto, but I have a strong nostgalic feel for my first "different" beer.
Spent a few hours in the garden of my new place over the weekend - tilling, preparing then planting. I've currently got... Carrots, potatoes, peas, spinach, and capsicum in the ground. Fuck knows if it'll work, Dunedin weather is a bit wild but apparently these should all grow nicely. My partner was sitting on the deck picking the tunes while I dug the ground, it was a nice afternoon. She's gonna pick out the herbs and plant them herself this coming weekend, I hear mint is the devil in disguise and needs to either be heavily handled or simply not included, so we'll just avoid it. Possibly the most fun part of a fun weekend was actually running around the stores finding things to buy. Looking at hoes, comparing carbon fibre to wood handles, picking out the seeds/seedlings and various tools and chatting to the elderly man who worked at the store about what mulch to get. He leaned in conspiratorially and said "If you want mulch, go to [nearby garden store] they'll give you three times as much for half the price of here". So I headed over there and sure enough, they basically chucked a fuckin' bale of the good stuff in my car for half the price of the other store. Next month I go to Japan, the month after we officially move into the new house and it's Christmas/New Years/Summer, the month after that we'll adopt a cat and our family begins. All the while, the Rugby World Cup is in full swing and I've just planted a hopeful garden. Oh and Touch Rugby season has started. What a time to be alive.
Super thankful my parents never bought into the "We could do it in our day, why can't you?" shtick. They've just bought their first house this year, they've been renters all their life as we shifted a great deal up and down the island. I could buy a house now, at 29, though what's stopping me is the absolute cut-throat nature of real estate in our country now. I'm sure it always has been, but now it's glaringly obvious how fucked you are if you don't time it right. My two flatmates just bought their house last week, a really exciting time for them but I watched them bounce from open to open home, all absolutely packed with families of 4/5 wanting to buy a two bedroom home because it's all they could afford. Then come auction day a 2 bedroom house with an RV of 190k going for 450k - seeing them return home each day entirely outclassed in the finance realm by people just wanting to add to their investment portfolio. I don't have anything against making wise investments, but the way we treat housing as a source of income scares the shit out of me. My flatties wound up buying a place by strategically attending the first open home on a weekday so families would find it harder to attend, getting alone time with the vendor, writing a soppy letter about making milestones in the house and the sound of kids running down the hallway and making an unconditional offer knowing that's pretty much what you have to do these days. The worst part? They're never going to have kids. They don't want them, they just knew they had to present themselves in a certain light or they'd never get a look in. So the letter was fabricated and it worked, the vendor is an English teacher who loves kids and wanted the house going to a similar minded couple. She said the letter was a huge factor in the decision and they got the offer accepted last week. Shits fucked man.
I listen to music in the shower and practice little dance moves first thing in the morning. Some for lifting/gym training. Very specific things that don't do anything outside of mark mental cues for when it's 'go-time'. The butt wiggle before a deadlift, the hands clasped before bench, the head nod (3x, no more, no less) before unracking a bar for a squat. Actually, training itself is a sort of ritual. It signals the end of my day - I walk from work to my gym, then go about my training for the next couple of hours. Once I'm done there I'll hop on the bus or get in my car if I drove, and that's my day done. The ride home I'll listen to some soft music and unwind, before cooking dinner (which I find relaxing) and hanging out with my partner and flatmates. An important one though, whenever I get home and my partner is already home, the first thing I do is seek her out and kiss her as a greeting. She's on to this now, so she'll hide and I have to earn that kiss. If I beat her home I'll hide and she has to find me for said smooch. I also leave for work before she gets up, so our morning ritual ends with me giving her a kiss on the cheek, and she'll sleepily turn her head to get another kiss on the lips, then I'm out the door. I asked her once if this annoyed her as she's clearly still sleeping, but she said whatever her sleepiness conveys, she'd be distraught if I changed it up now.