In brief

Tuesday:

I never seem to get around to posting, these days. Maybe because I don't have a lot to say?

Bad news is, my weight keeps going up and up... Covid kilos. From sitting at home all day. And eating. Bored and lonely. I'm up to 83.6kg, getting very close to my highest weight that I fought so hard to lose (with the help of Duromine). Spring has just started here, I'm trying to get out for a walk on the nice days. And doing a bit of gardening. Cold and grey today though.

Good news is, after many months of silence my workplace finally contacted me to come in for some casual work. It's only for two weeks (so far)... and not until November! But it made me happy because it shows I am still their preferred fill-in employee, and I can expect more work as people start taking time off again. Everyone must have a lot of holiday hours saved up, since we can't go anywhere and no one has been taking leave. It will be lovely to get back into the library, seeing my colleagues and helping students. Giving my life a purpose other than collecting every battle pet in World of Warcraft - I now have 1157 pets and have the 9th biggest collection on my server and about 2800th in the world out of about 8 million players (collecting battle pets is only a sideline for most WoW players, it is not the main focus of the game). I have around 60 more to collect that are still available - until the new expansion comes out in about 6 weeks with probably lots of new ones to collect.

So that is what I do all day.

Legion

Tuesday:

Well it seems I have a cold; runny nose, stuffy head etc. At least it explains why I'm feeling a bit down. It is also gloomy outside so it is hard to convince myself to leave the house. I only got as far as the mailbox today.

There is a bit of excitement here because our favourite computer game, World of Warcraft, has an expansion, "Legion", coming out this evening. The game was originally released in 2003 and I started playing about a year after that during Jasmine's nap times when she was a baby so that is more than 12 years ago! There have been stretches where I haven't played for a while (I switched to Rift when I ran out of WoW content) but they keep producing more countries, more quests, more levels, so I keep going back to it. I think it has something like 8 million players, it a pretty popular game. I believe there is a way I can look up how many hours I've played over the years but I'm a bit scared to look!

Distractions

Thursday:

Did I mention that working from home has its distractions? Firstly, the Olympics. I was watching a close beach volleyball game while eating breakfast today, then tried to walk away from the television, then the bastards put on synchronised diving! Second is the internet, I can scroll through cute pictures of kittens all day without a boss looking over my shoulder. And thirdly my favourite computer game (actually the only one I play), World of Warcraft, is bringing out a new expansion in a few weeks and they have released some new content in the lead up to it so obviously I need to explore that... And of course lastly I am an avid reader and get lost in whatever I am reading... it's no wonder the house is a mess and I never get any writing done. This is why I sometimes try getting out of the house to write.

Friday:

Today I had lunch with my sister-in-law near her work, which was lovely. I've been to that café twice before, the food is nice but the servings are enormous! As usual, I ate less than half my meal. I did enjoy it though, and had a good chat with Ping. I walked around the big shopping centre and finally got my hands on the new Harry Potter book, then did the grocery shopping.

Scans and vinegar

Friday:

I forgot to mention I picked up my pelvic bone scans the other day. The gyno had looked at them and said they were fine, so we're just continuing with the fibroid surgery whenever I come up on the waiting list. The report with the scans mentions that I have arthritis (I'm 46, I'm not old!) and also "increased blood pool activity, suggesting inflammation ... clinical correlation is suggested to determine if further imaging would be warranted" so I'm not sure why this isn't significant? Maybe the other imaging I've had already covers this? I didn't actually speak to the doctor.

In other news, after a couple of weeks of "giving up" on the plantar wart on my foot - after months of various treatments - I decided that giving up wasn't helping. I looked around on the internet and there are some really weird interesting home remedies (like burning it with a red-hot fork, banana peel, or (my favourite) getting someone to buy it from you, literally giving you money and the wart magically disappears) but one that kept coming up was using apple cider vinegar. I didn't have any, but I did have rice wine vinegar and decided to give it a try. I soaked a tiny piece of cotton wool in vinegar and put it under a waterproof bandaid. 24 hours later half the wart peeled off! This has happened before, each time after about three weeks of continuous acid treatment, but it's always grown back straight away. So I am hopeful but not too hopeful. I am visualising the rest falling off, mentally pushing it away. Yesterday, before the half came off, it was a really good day with not much pain but today it is extremely painful. Sharp shooting pains even when I am not walking. Definitely worth it if it's working! Imagine if after all that time and pharmaceutical treatment and pain, a bit of vinegar does the trick!

No way I was getting out to my park today, just walking around the shops was more than enough for one day. Very sore.

I wonder why reading a book is considered a praiseworthy, almost noble, pursuit; but playing a computer game - also sitting still and participating in someone else's imagination - is a waste of time to be frowned upon. Someone else mentioned in their blog (hi Martha!) that people wandering around outside playing Pokémon Go looked like zombies and that maybe they should try looking up at the real world, and (although I like the real world too) that made me wonder why is an imaginary world "bad" and the real world "good" to experience? If we take the exercise component out of it, compare someone saying they spent the weekend driving along the coast looking at the beautiful scenery, and someone else saying they spent the weekend playing World of Warcraft which has amazing and beautiful scenery too - on a screen. The first would (by many people) be considered quite nice and in no way a waste of a weekend, something you could even boast about a bit as if you achieved something, the second would (by many people) be considered a complete waste of time, something to shrug a bit shamefaced about, I "just" stayed home and played computer games. But why? And maybe I'm misrepresenting other people here, but seems that is how many people think. Both involve sitting and staring, enjoying what you are looking at. I often play WoW with my husband and children as a team, we are looking at the same things on our screens and co-operating and talking, no less interaction than if we were sitting in a car together - indeed probably a great deal more. Sorry for the rant, I am honestly trying to work out if I'm missing something.

I've been worried for a couple of weeks that my sister-in-law Ping was upset with me, though I wasn't sure and didn't know why. The only thing I could think of was that I didn't go to the movies with her, and took 24 hours to get back to her about it which didn't seem like a great reason, there was nothing obvious but I just had this feeling. Anyway, I just got an invitation to someone else's baby shower and suddenly remembered! A few weeks ago she asked me to host her baby shower (in a few months) and I didn't react with enthusiasm. It was a bad moment, I was feeling particularly wiped out with all the health and hormonal issues, I'd never had a baby shower myself and only been to a couple, and a friend of hers hosted her last one (I wasn't living nearby then) and it was magnificent and elaborate which really scared me a bit to compete with that. Although I said I'd do it, I know I was rather negative and hesitant. And then forgot about it. And since then have had this subtle vibe that she wasn't happy with me. So! I just sent her a much more enthusiastic text asking for details of when she wanted it etc and she texted straight back with a very lovely message. I feel so relieved. I don't think I was imagining things! We are very fond of each other and I'm sure she was very disappointed with my initial reaction after she showed her love by choosing me. Hopefully it's all sorted now.

Weird plant

Monday:

It's been too hot here to do anything much, what we mainly did on the weekend was play World of Warcraft (computer game) as a family team of four. We've been playing together since we moved a few months ago, and just got to level 60 (out of 100 levels). Of course there are challenges playing with children. Aiden's character sometimes leaps ahead into combat whether we are ready or not, Jasmine has a tendency to run away if things are going badly. I act as the team's healer, so as well as fighting it is my job to watch over them all and keep them alive. And it's a job I take very seriously! I also do the virtual cooking. It's a lot of fun. Tim gives the kids virtual money, and gets overexcited during combat and shouts instructions.

Have I posted this picture before? It's Aiden's Kylo Ren lunchbox - which I bought before we saw the movie, after we saw it we weren't so keen on him! Sulphur-crested cockatoos (big white parrots with yellow crests) are a problem at his school and the kids are told to keep their backpacks zipped up and turned to face the wall outside. According to Aiden, one actually unzipped his bag. Not sure if that is true but they are pretty smart birds. This is the damage they did to his lunchbox trying to get in to his sandwich and apple!

He has a Minions lunchbox now.

Here is a random photo of our wild backyard. So far as I know, this weird plant is called a "black boy" (ie Aboriginal child) but it's likely they've changed the name to something more PC. It's doesn't look exactly like a child to me! Hmm, maybe that's not what they mean by the name...

It's not burned or anything, it just looks like that. You can see some little ones on the ground around it. A bit creepy really. It's probably old and valuable, but I think it's horrible. Interesting though.

World of Warcraft

Saturday:

In between sessions of unpacking (which didn't progress as far as I'd hoped, there is always more left than I thought) we played World of Warcraft. We have enough computers and devices that we can all now play together as a team. Tim and I have often played as a team of two, but now the kids have joined us! World of Warcraft is a computer game, an mmo (massively multiplayer online) which means people all around the world are playing at the same time and you can see their characters and interact with them while you are fighting the bad guys (fantasy world, trolls and dragons etc, something like watching a Lord of the Rings movie where you are the hero). Most of the game is set up for one person but there are challenging parts where a team of five is optimal so we nearly have that with just us. Of course these early levels are very easy but remember we're playing with a nine year old boy who likes to have his character run off ahead. I have chosen a character who can magically heal people so I'm trying to keep my family safe. It was a lot of fun.

Sunday:

This area has been very quiet so far, until last night. Our neighbours had a party and the music was so loud! In our house with all our windows closed it was like being inside a nightclub, I hate to think what it was like over there next to the speakers. I guess they were in the backyard. Aiden's room is closest and he couldn't sleep. I went to bed late because I knew there was no point trying. The noise stopped around midnight. If I didn't have children I wouldn't have cared, but there are lots of kids in this street who wouldn't have been able to sleep. Tim could have gone over there to talk to them but we decided not to. It was just a party, a rare event, on a Saturday night before Christmas. If you can't party then, when can you? But it was just so loud!

Today was much like yesterday, unpacking alternating with World of Warcraft. Then dinner at my brother-in-law's. A very nice weekend.

Pandaria

Sunday:

No time to write. Busy playing World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria while my legs atrophy.

image courtesy of Blizzard entertainment