I’m annoyed by taxes as much as the next person, but I’m generally content paying taxes as a side effect of the privelige of being able to work full-time in an interesting job that pays me enough money for a comfortable life.
More importantly, I’m very happy to pay my taxes, knowing that (most) Australians have easy access to cheap healthcare and cheap education.
To be honest, I don’t need this tax cut, but that doesn’t mean I’m not looking forward to getting it. It will help with the work that I need to do to my house to make it the place that I be happy to live the rest of my life in.
I also need to get serious about philanthropy, but working out which charities to give money to has always been a struggle for me. There are a lot of charities covering a lot of different things, each with different approaches and different levels of efficacy.
I used to give regularly to a charity that then took it upon itself to call me regularly, asking me to increase my donations. Spending my donation on staff who call me to ask me to donate more is the best way to piss me off.
Money isn’t the only thing to donate. I regularly donate blood plasma. I should blog about it, but today’s the last day of #blogjune! I made it! I didn’t post every day, but there is a post for every day. That’s better than I’ve ever done in the past.
]]>It’s also also air tight as a convertible with its top down.
100 years ago, the way you stayed warm in winter was to burn lots of wood. Burning lots of wood inside meant that the house needed to be very well-ventilated so that its inhabitants didn’t die of carbon monoxide/dioxide poisoning.
The lovely ventilation meant that the house is bitterly cold at the moment and we have lots of blankets on the bed and the couch to stay warm.
What do I need to do to make this house warmer in winter and cooler in summer? I have a plan, but it will take time and money.
The problem with the inexpensive things is that by themselves they don’t achieve much. I’ll be doing bits and bobs here and there, but to little effect. It will be hard to stay motivated while I save up the considerable amount of money I need to make this beautiful and well-located home actually liveable.
My partner said I should document everything I do as a resource for others who live in the area with similar houses. Not sure the best way of doing that - perhaps I’ll keep blogging once #blogjune is over?
]]>After my failure to go to parkrun in Europe, I was intending to go this morning. But the 12 hours of sleep meant that by the time I woke up, many people would have already finished the run. Maybe this coming weekend?
It was nice to have a day where there was nothing new or unexpected. A day where my brain could just switch off and not have to incorporate anything new into its mental model for how the world works.
I like exercising my brain as much as the next nerd, but being “on” all the time is exhausting.
]]>Fell asleep on the couch at 19:30 last night so went to bed at around my normal time.
Woke up at 01:30 to find my partner was already out on the couch, watching TV.
Played videogames for a few hours then crawled back to bed for a further three hours.
Send coffee.
I somehow make the most exciting travel seem mundane, but #blogjune is about quantity not quality, right?
Right!?
]]>I also managed an entire day of work (from home), got my inbox from 150 messages down to 50 and had a few productive meetings.
Have I somehow avoided jetlag?
]]>Didn’t sleep a wink. I was in the middle seat and the passenger in the aisle seat was very comfortable as he manspread his way into my space while he slept.
Caught up on some TV shows, though. Also watched most of a French Netflix series called Furies, which I didn’t hate. Yes I had to read subtitles (I know enough French to order a meal but conversationally I’m not great) but it didn’t require much more brainpower than that.
We arrived home on time, at least. A quick taxi ride home and time for bed.
]]>Thankfully, due to it being our second time at Doha Airport, we knew the nicest place to hang out and made a beeline there. Also had our first American franchise junk food of the trip in the form of some onion rings and fries from Burger King. Turns out that Burger King in Doha still uses the “old” onion rings that are uniform in size and shape (Hungry Jacks in Australia has been making onion rings out of actual rings of onion for a couple of years now).
It’s interesting to see what offerings the American junk food franchises have in different countries. We glanced at a McDonalds in Prague but didn’t notice anything. In Doha, we noticed a paneer burger, but weren’t hungry enough to order one.
Long flight coming up next…
]]>I’m always jealous of the easy nature of long-distance train travel in Europe and wish that something like that would be possible here.
Perth to Sydney is a… 4,000km drive. The straight line distance is only 3,300km but that crosses over the Great Australian Bight.
So let’s say we can build a straight-ish train track that tunnels through mountains, minimising climbs, and is 4,000km long. The fastest high speed trains in China are operated at 350km/h, so it could do that in 11 hours if we’re not stopping anywhere on the way. We also need to maintain that speed the whole time. I think that’s fine for a sleeper train.
Cost of construction and maintenance aside, I think the biggest barrier to a high speed rail link like that is actually wildlife. Hitting a wombat at that speed could be catastrophic!
]]>Unfortunately it’s raining quite a bit so no parkrun tourism for me.
I’m pretty bummed out, especially seeing I haven’t really done much exercise since I came off my bike and hurt my shoulder a couple of months ago.
]]>Art has always been a struggle for me. My brain doesn’t understand metaphor that well (although I am good at analogies!). I failed high school English and my first choice university didn’t accept me as a result. I suspect it’s a neurodiversity thing.
When I look at art, the things that tickle my brain are colour combinations, technique, and detail.
The Albertina had an exhibition on Roy Liechenstein, who I had not necessarily paid very close attention to until now, but his style of pop art certainly did tickle my brain. Except when he worked his way into cubism, which isn’t really my jam.
The exhibition by Eva Beresin only tickled my brain when I learned that she had created the sculptures by creating a miniature in clay. The miniature was then scanned, 3D printed much larger and painted.
I really enjoyed the photos by Gregory Crewdson and the detail he put into all of his photos.
There is also a permanent exhibition featuring many of the impressionists - who I’ve come to appreciate over the years.
The Albertina modern had a lot of dicks.
Finally, the delight of the day came in the form of lunch. My favourite thing to eat in Europe are chanterelle mushrooms, which are seasonal summer mushrooms available everywhere in Germany in July/August.
I thought we were here too early for chanterelles this trip, but it turns out they have a different name in Austria! I’m used to looking out for Pfifferlinge on menus, but in Austria they seem to be called Eierschwammerl.
So I had some pork in chanterelle sauce with some Bandnudeln - think home made pasta reminiscient of tagliatelle.
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