Bleahhhh took today off on leave to try and squeeze out the last of uni fieldwork but nope spent most of my time driving, still a long way to go :( as the days progress my results are starting to look more and more sus… the angle of the sun is really messing around with it I think.

Friday looks like my last chance entirely. Another leave day I’ll have to burn unless I make up for it next week. No way I’ll finish everything. I’ll have to do my best to cover as much data as possible. And then the mad, intense, insane 2 months of data processing and WRITING commences. I really ought to book in some kind of treat for the end of the whole damn thing

Really crossing my fingers that the next place is much less of a shemozzle!

I’ve definitely had to exercise a lot of patience and calm on the Monash (which I normally avoid like the plague). Today I just felt really short with people going too slow in a way that was impossible to get around easily. But it’s much much easier in the Nice Work Car which has dynamic cruise control and all the things to warn you of other cars doing silly things

Huh, seems like today’s the day for feeling an unspecified sense of unease. Bad memories keep floating up today. Angry at traffic. Constantly feeling anxious about my bladder. Had to use my own work phone rather than shared device for work fieldwork today and its battery life is getting from bad to worse. Even the battery pack isn’t saving it. Sitting in the car waiting for it to get to at least 10%… shame, I had hoped to power on through and finish this entire section today (and throw the shit part - and only the shit part - to someone else 😬)

I’m over my uni fieldwork for sure (it’s such a long drive just to get to the start of this second section…) but what I do love is that it’s a good few hours off my device; and these past two nights I’ve been meeting my old school friend visiting from overseas, which has been a really really good balm for my soul…

…my lack of hydration earlier in the day is definitely catching up with me though. Owwww headache owwww… back out in the field for work tomorrow so I need an early night…

I am 100% of the same opinion. You’re right, August is the worst - everyone’s sick of it all by then - but I’d take Melbourne’s 4 seasons any day over the tropical swamp I grew up in (shitty every month of the year). Autumn is my favourite season hands down. Days like today are just magic.

I finished the Severance finale. My only question is why doesn’t this place have more security.

He is just so effortlessly hambsome that it’s not fair. Especially with your picture perfect beachside patio.

wow I’ve had a few tonight after an awesome work event (love that these guys are so much more sociable with our client). Pretty tipsy but this is the good thing about having easy PT close to home. Everyone looks pretty attractive through these wine goggles.

Gonna catch up on the Severence finale shortly and maybe The Pitt and then catch up with an old school friend Sat night and Sun. ☺️ Times like today I feel a bit like less of a loser and more of a part of Melbourne

Absolutely fuck this 88% humidity, wtf. Literally woke up from all the sweat

Yep, getting bupkis in the inner east. At least it’s finally cooling down

E: now getting a nice good dose of steady rain. Hooray! Hot chocolate weather.

Alright I have bought a carrot, quarter head of cabbage, red capsicum and some green beans to cook with the remaining eggplants and new pack of tofu puffs. And braved Glenferrie Rd to get the requisite spice paste earlier. Let the sayur lodeh commence. Even though I will not have lontong to eat with it

E: it only took an hour but it is done. It is not really sayur lodeh but an inspired stew absolutely overstuffed with vegetables. I should’ve really kept it to cabbage, eggplant, half a carrot, green beans and tofu puffs. But I also threw in leftover bottle gourd, red capsicum, and tempeh. Barely enough space but it all cooked. Half of it is going in the freezer.

Still not much rain over here until 4:30pm or so. Went out to the shops to see if I could hasten its arrival but no dice. Rain seems to have dissipated by the time it gets here…

Definitely milk that flexibility as much as you can. Spending all that time and energy stuck in (and causing) traffic is not how we were meant to spend our lives as humans 😭

I’ve been going down a good length of the Monash counter peak a couple days a week the last 3 weeks for work, and I always look at the peak direction hellscape with a mix of horror, pity, and depression. It’s horrible. Even at 7:30am it’s backed up in Dandenong…

More return to office mandates is my guess.

Looks like you are not far from Gibson’s current digs 😺

I meant to set up my uni stuff last night. Ended up having a 2 hr phone call from a friend in distress… Every cell of my being is happier that I used the time to help a friend when nobody else could’ve (it was a very specific situation)

But I ended up only finishing data prep at 1pm today. It’s now too late for me to collect data today. I have “wasted” the one last suitable day (clear sunny skies) in quite a while and I may not be able to hit my Absolute Latest Deadline of collecting all the data by the end of the month :/

I’ve accepted that I made my choices (esp slacking on the weekend, which would’ve avoided this whole situation)… and tbh I had such poor sleep and other issues that frankly I really need the rest more than anything else.

Now to just desperately hope there’s just a couple more sunny midday periods before the end of the month 😖 🙏🏽

Accuweather and BoM have wildly different forecasts for next Monday in the northern suburbs. Please let Saturday and Monday be sunny enough, pleaaaase

Another long long day and I’m feeling so bleah about having to go sit down and do my uni stuff now… I want a treat to motivate myself… but I gotta keep things tight until Friday. And frankly I’ve been putting on a bit recently