Heading to Sydney for the weekend to catch a Devin Townsend concert. Looking forward to a change in scenery even if it's only brief!
Man I love this time of year - out of the grim misery of winter, lots of birds being noisy, stuff getting green again, no freezing my ass off getting up in the morning or getting out of the shower. It's so nice.
Man that Moroccan earthquake sounds horrible. Having been through the Christchurch ones, any time there's news of a big quake now I get the heebie jeebies, and just feel so awful for the people suffering through it. Especially in countries like Morocco and Turkey, where building standards aren't good.
I'd be fine with defederating. I don't care if they bring in more numbers and more 'engagement' if that engagement is generally shit and too difficult for the mods to moderate with the current tools available. I'd much rather be part of a smaller but friendly community that is actually familiar with NZ, than a larger more popular one that just turns into another cesspit.
We paid off the mortgage yesterday! I don't mean to gloat (especially when the cost of living and interest rates are making things so tough for many at the moment) - we're not telling anyone in real life though, so I just wanted to let some of my excitement out, even if anonymously.
I'm 38, and the only family help was a $5000 loan from the in-laws which we paid back within a year. We bought really young (didn't feel like it at the time, but it was - early/mid 20s), so benefited from much lower prices and interest rates (though the first rate we had was 7.5%, that's also the highest one we had). That first place got earthquaked though and we had to start again from scratch, so it wasn't all smooth sailing.
The house is old and tired, and there's a lot of deferred maintenance (no curtains match anywhere, the carpet is shit, and we still have single glazing), so that'll take up the savings for a good long while. But man, it feels like a weight has been lifted.
Such a great effort! They're really cool wee creatures.
I love cats. But I also love birds, so our two kitties are indoor-only cats and they're happy as. They have company, warmth, food on demand, and are much safer. Just yesterday I saw a cat that had been hit by a car, and it was quite a horrible sight. I hope it didn't suffer long. Its injuries were very, very unpleasant to see.
I don't really care about the main reason noted in the article (visiting cats and poop), for me it's more about protecting birdlife, and the safety of the cats themselves. I'd fully support a curfew for cats, like some states in Aus have. And mandatory microchipping and desexing.
I peeped into the r/nz sub earlier, and man it's so full of toxic angry people. It seems to be turning into a far-right talkback radio style cesspit. Mods don't seem to give a crap at all. This place is smaller and slower, but at least it's sane.
Anyway. Two months until I'm off to the states for a few weeks. Can't wait to get a change of scene and have some warmer weather (hopefully - it'll be heading into autumn there).
Got my Bill Bailey tickets, pretty decent seats too.
It was brilliant seeing him a couple years ago, it was one of the first large events I went to after lockdown times. Nice to have him back so soon.
Good to see. I hope it continues to slowly decrease or flatline, and stay there for a long time to give incomes a chance to catch up. I own my house (with a small mortgage), so that's not said out of "envy" or whatever other mild insult often gets thrown at potential FHBs. It's simply wrong that something as essential as shelter has been turned into a commodity driven to ridiculous prices purely by greed.
The novelty of winter has worn off, and I would like to be warm now please.
Merry Christmas!
The cats really upped their present game this year - a puke in the laundry, and a puke on the coffee table (looks like it was gifted while running, given the impressive spread). I'm not very grateful. Good thing they're cute!