EXCHANGE INTERFACE

3 degrees around here. The heater that I have is barely keeping the cold at bay. I think the space needs a few more curtains to cut down the area that needs warming...

Anyway, I'm just here for another night.

Good to catch up with my friend B, who used to be on LJ and has a DW account but probably hasn't used it in over a decade! I haven't seen her or her husband, C, since 2023 when her FIL died, and haven't seen her sons since...even longer. They were shorter than me when last I saw them, they have since shot up and tower over me at a 6-foot minimum. Haven't visited her family down here since before the pandemic, and she's had a lot going on in so many dimensions.

Got down here last night, ate pizza and had a long chat to catch up on all the things that don't get put on FB. Went for a walk today around town and did more talking about directions and futures and stuff, then back home for lunch, and out for dinner. Tomorrow is markets.

I gave her the rough (exceedingly rough) draft of my novel, and promptly found a bajillion spelling and name mistakes. I'm in the process of cleaning it up, but it's slow. Rewriting the next novel will be even slower, trying to fit everything in. There's a lot of stuff to get through!

For the cold tonight, I've piled a few extra things on the bed to help keep me warm - pillows, clothing, etc. It'll be fine, just a wee smidge colder than I'm used to (and I like things warm and toasty, but can't be helped). Like I said, it's only for one night.

Good to catch up with B though.

inexplicably tired. I even got 8 hours pretty solidly last night. (I think. I don't remember waking up anyway.)

Will try for more sleep. MOAR SLEEP.

Wish me luck.

I have to remind myself that I've been doing things all along. Letterboxing and wearing the shirt around and talking to people and recruiting friends.

And that I have a work system go-live the weekend after, and two weeks in Melbourne, and a full-time job and...and...and...

Look, I come by it honestly, at least. I called my mother this morning (to see how she was doing and to ask if she would be willing to help me hand out How To Vote cards) and it turns out she's busy tonight...and tomorrow...and Saturday...and Sunday...

So, yeah. It's not just me!

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Bugger. I think I overdrew one of my cards.

I've booked the trip! Finally. It only took me, oh, three months. Then again, I had a bunch of decisions to make - the US or not the US? Singapore? Portugal? Canada for how long?

It is going to be: Singapore, Hong Kong, Georgia (the country), Amalfi Coast (Italy), the UK, Portugal, the Netherlands, Canada, and then home.

There are tours for Georgia, Amalfi Coast, and part of the UK, there will be family in HK and the Netherlands, and friends in the UK and Portugal and Canada (and possibly Singapore if I can persuade her).

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Looks like Canada is backing sanity (mostly), although I have no doubt it will be closer than anyone likes.

May it be so in Australia this weekend!

Speaking of our own elections, I've been working with the local independent campaign for the last month and wow it's tiring. I mean, one large part of it is because there's a lot of things to do and not as many people to do them as I hoped. We're running at 110% and it's going to be absolutely exhausting until Saturday, completely wrecking on Saturday, and possibly dribbling over to Sunday.

Overall, it looks like the country is likely to re-elect the present centrist govt (coloured red on our electoral maps), but the specific question of whether the independent makes it in vs the current incumbent? Yeah, we still don't know that. There's a lot of people who are interested, but the question is whether there's enough.

I'm doing what I can, but it doesn't feel like enough. B1 has been yelling at me to rest, and she's absolutely right to do so! It's a lot and it's draining me dry. Saturday will be the huge test - I'm going to be the poll booth captain for the independent candidate's volunteers. Here in Australia, we're allowed to hand out 'how to vote' flyers to people to show them how to vote for her, and yes, it's a bit of a gauntlet to run.

That said, when everyone votes, you're going to get informed voters and uninformed voters, but at least it's everyone not just the extremists who were roused by fear, anger, and hatred. Also, no "well I don't have to choose any evil at all, I'll just stay home" although a lot of younger people here appareently vote mostly to avoid a fine.

This year, though, young women are definitely leaning leftwards. Whether the candidate is leftwards enough for them? Hard to say, although both the Centrists and the Greens have put her down as their 2nd preference.

Sheesh, explaining preferences to people has been a job and a half.

It isn't helped by the way the term is used, nor that we're using one term to refer to two aspects which are enacted in very different ways.

( preferences: one word, two meanings )

Anyway, on election day, I am the booth captain for my candidate at the local booth. We are greatly stretched because we have about the same number of voters in the neighbouring electorate...but about 3x the geographical area (quite a bit of rural lands). It's a great place to live but a difficult place to electioneer in!

Anyway, I guess we'll find out how it all goes in a couple of days. There are people doing AMAZING things these last weeks - delivering flyers up and down streets, everywhere and all the time. And the prepolling locations are busy. Apparently about a quarter - perhaps as much as a third - of the nation is going to vote at pre-poll or mail ballot. And the prepoll locations have been busy. And a bit rough, too. The conservatives are going all-out on this, vicious behaviour, all kinds of pushiness, social media is full of tales of bad behaviour from the conservatives. Which, you know, it might just be social media, but...there is a platoon of conservative supporters at each booth, a handful of my indie's people, two or three Labor vollies, and often just one or two Greens. Maybe a One Nation. Haven't yet seen a volunteer for Palmer's Pissants party.

The 'Trumpet of Patriots' (it's actual name) is a newly-created party by a billionaire who spent a shitload of his wealth under a party he basically called [HisOwnName] Australia Party to get a bunch of parliamentary seats in 2022 and...he only ended up with a single seat in the Senate (IKEA absolutely skewered him: their seat only costs $80).

"Unfortunately" this year he couldn't register [HisOwnName] party due to legal issues about it. So he decided he would go with another name and thus we are stuck with Marimba of Morons in the ballot box. He's running a freaking candidate in EVERY FREAKING ELECTORATE in the freaking country.

Anyway.

Flugelhorn of Fuckwits is my preferred term for his party. May he go down in flames.

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I don't have anything on Thursday or Friday night, so I may need to make an effort to get a bit more sleep.

I may be a little stressed

( dreaming of American politics )

It was weird.

I suspect it's a relegation of my stress about the current state of Australian politics and the volunteering for the indie.

That said, things seem pretty positive right now. I've done doorknocking and handing out leaflets at the station. I actually prefer doorknocking, because people are more civil. Then again, we've mostly been doorknocking in the 'new districts' where the electoral boundaries have changed and people are trying to work out who they vote for now.

Some funny moments: incumbent has been running around, shaking hands, schmoozing, putting the effort in...but a bunch of his corflutes (signs) are not legal. They have to have an "Authorised By" line, to show that this is a proper and authorised member of a party.

And some of his signs don't.

They're being reported, every which way you look. So he has to replace them. LOLZ.

Admittedly he has the weight of the conservative party behind him so UGH. They'll replace them within a few days.

I haven't been able to do much volunteering this week - I was away last weekend, and this week and coming weekend I have to be free for various work-related things. So that's draining.

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I had to work over the weekend, about 1.5 hours at 9am, 1.5 hours at 3pm. The actual thing I was doing? Took about 15 minutes, but it was all the back-and-forth co-ordinating that was a pain. Also, trying to work out if I was actually going to be needed. They're getting charged half a day, though.

Work this week is weird hours and not much happening, but when it does happen it happens all over the place! My colleague (who's above me) has left to go on holidays, but...we didn't get me onto the necessary email authorisation before he left. So now I don't have access to the inbox for our group and...we can't find anyone else who does have access...

Got that sorted out yesterday.

Unfortunately, it seems that there are two things happening on the weekend - Saturday and Sunday - which we've just been told that we have to be available to keep an eye on the situation.

Also, the person currently running the teams leaders meeting seems very young.

Man I'm glad I'm not usually working at this level and my colleague is happy (or, at least, uncomplaining) about doing this...

Chook troubles again. I don't want to go into it too much. It's just..tiring. And troubling. Everything is tiring and troubling right now.

The major issue with the chook issues is that B1 is moderately invested in making the chook survive. Not because she's particularly attached to it, but she feels bad about having to tell the vet that she wants the chook put down, and so she goes the medication and the care option. It's the whole "I'm a bad person if other people think I'm a bad person" issue.

We have spent entirely too much on this chicken. She's not even one of our favourites!

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The independent is going hard, but the local candidate is going harder. Apparently he has ambitions of being Prime Minister someday, which obviously he can't be if he loses his seat. But he didn't need to defend it before, so now he's angry that he's having to work. He has the incumbent advantage, too - it's not a guarantee against the toxicity of the party leader ("Temu Trump") but it is an issue when we're talking about how has access to the resources of the electorate - emails, addresses, a party structure for contacting people.

A particularly significant downer is that the independent's campaign manager has hardly been seen, and apparently is not accustomed to running something on this scale. Nice guy, just maybe not up to the challenge. So we have a few old hands who are running things. A lot of old hands, in fact. Including the wife of the man who was the previous MP of the electorate - from the conservative party, dyed conservative to her toes. I may have mentioned her before, and have come to the conclusion that she's both admirable and terrifying.

But seriously, we're wearing out, and the election was only just called.

I'm doing some doorknocking this afternoon. New section of the electorate that's been rejiggered. We're hopeful of getting these people to think of voting for the indie.

I'm also offering to do some doorknocking in an area that's got a high percentage of East-Asian voters. Finding someone who looks like them on their doorstep might give us those few minutes to ask questions.

I need to put up the corflute for the indie on my driveway. It might deter people from using it as a turning point. But also, if they're going to use it as a turning-around point, we might as well get some use out of it!

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Work is busy and getting busier. Lots of meetings this week. I hate meetings. I'm going away this weekend with some women from church, but I also have some work to do on the Saturday. Which I can do remotely (although I'm technically not supposed to, we're all turning a bit of a blind eye on that.

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Still prosecuting the case of card fraud. ARGH.

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Garden is going well. Did I mention I had a glut of persimmons? Sent a bunch away with a friend this morning for her to dry, return some and keep some. But wow. That was at least 100 persimmons, possibly more.



I also managed a capsicum! Never managed that before, so that's exciting. And the capsicum is pretty tasty, too!

Next year: eggplants!

Actually, before that: BRASSICAS. I have made a good start by starting them growing, and planting them out in beds, and watering them with nutrient rich solutions: seaweed solution, compost tea, biogrow, and cauliflower tea.

The 'cauliflower tea' is interesting: it's basically cauliflower leaves left in water until they've rotted away. Because Australian soil is so low in boron, it makes growing cauliflowers and other brassicas difficult unless you add boron for them to form their heads. At least, that's what I've heard. Any rate, I have an assortment of weed teas and the garden is getting fed micronutrients through them.

Okay, I have a meeting in 15 minutes. Another one. *sigh*

We have 13 players this year for a "full team" this year. That's assuming that one of the players who said she's not playing is actually playing.

15-16 is usually a good number, to include injuries and sickness, and players who might have to play two games...

How many players does Team 1 have? IDEK. But usually you'd stack Team 2 because Team 2 can play up but only so many Team 1 players can play down.

If I'm reading the list right, we have listed one player who said she isn't playing. We've lost one centre half who's a significant anchor player for the team. The other centre half isn't playing this year. And our centre forward has decided she'd like to go up into A-grade. Who else did we lose?

Hm. The friend who I recruited last year isn't on the list - does that mean she's in Team 1, too? I thought she put down for Team 2.

Anyway, hopefully this is a 'not fully compiled' list - I just noticed that the woman who is relatively new to the club hasn't been included on our Team list and I know she's not good enough to go in Team 1 - but it does seem a little bit haphazard, all things considered. Then again, I guess this season has been a little haphazard...

So, I had to open a fraud charge on my card. Cancel the card, get it replaced. The card company is investigating and will doubtless, refund me the money. And if they don't, I'm going to be exceedingly grumpy. About $500 in three UberEats transactions, which my sister says could have been used to pay for anything, and one transaction that looks vaguely legit from a proper provider, but which

Anyway, the card company sent me a text notifying me that they'd noticed unusual activity on Wednesday night and requesting that I confirm it as a false charge, or do nothing and let the charge go through. I confirmed it as false and pretty much immediately got a call from the bank.

It's a pretty good bank, keeping an eye on these things.

Still, really annoying right now.

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Hockey is back. I've applied for team 2, which has been moved up to Grade B. No help for it, that's what happens when your team wins almost all their games and the grand final.

But it's going to be a bit of a rough year of it. We'll grow as a team for sure, but for me, at least, I don't know how well my body's going to hold up. At least we have quite a few younger players who are developing their skills along with their enthusiasm. And some older players who are cunning and canny. We'll be fine.

I doubt they'll put me in Grade A. Too many players in my position who are already good at what they do. And this year, I think I'm fine with that.

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Local indie candidate is gaining momentum. Election still hasn't been called - we know it's going to be in May at this point, due to things like Easter and the ANZAC Day long weekend. Which is good. We have time to jog along, getting her name out and up, and letting our Opposition Leader hang himself by the American Prez's actions. So many people have been coming up saying they're relieved an Independent is in the running, because they don't like the OppLeader, and unfortunately voting for our MP (incumbent) means voting for OppLeader.

That said, we haven't hit election season quite yet. It'll get nasty once we do, because our MP is running scared. (Did I mention he's lightened his traditional Liberal blue colours, until they're a kind of sky blue? Like, you don't want to be associated with the Liberal party, but you won't give up their money and their backing?)

For the Americans: "Liberal" = "Libertarian". Free markets, individual rights, neo-conservatism, etc.

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The US has made the decision for me: in the absence of any sign that due process might take place should someone in authority feel that I have not been 'respectful' enough to their Chosen North, then I am not going to visit later this year.

Canada it is. Now the question is where to go...

I am already tired and it's not yet tomorrow.

Am using a more uplifting moment to get past it.

Neighbour down the road (friendly-ish, but we're not hugely close, we just have similar thoughts on a bunch of topics) heard about my trip and was all "if I can get time free during school holidays, would you be interested in travelling around Iceland with me?"

Now I don't think it was a serious offer - you know how people say things but don't actually follow through? That said, she's messaged me before about doing a road trip out of the area for an evening so we could see some astronomical event that wasn't visible from Sydney. I kind of wish I hadn't had to be realistic about it. It would have been fun!

Anyway, it was lovely to have her make that offer, as though she didn't mind spending time with me. After some of the anxiety/depression/negative thoughts that I've been having, it's...so nice to know that someone thinks I'm someone they'd like to spend a week with, maybe even two.

I have to hold onto that when the brainweasels have the conn.

It's been rough lately, what with politics throughout the world and, well, some saddening/oblivious comments from friends. I love them, and I recognise that they don't have the emotional wherewithal for a broader perspective, but...