What made you happy today?

[stui magpie]

By the time you reach Uni you should be able to study what interests you and/or for your preferred career.

STEM subjects should be no more compulsory in Humanities based courses than the reverse.

If you're studying Applied Physics and want to add a gender studies subject, knock yourself out but it doesn't count toward your qualification score.

[think positive]

Took the kids to dinner at crown then the Elton John concert, so damn good! Even with his little political speech! The music, the voice, his songs are stories, just an amazing showman!

[Dark Beanie]

The red headed chick passed VCE.

She is pretty happy with her results but a bit disappointed that scaling brought a couple of scores down. Averaged Bs in most of her SACs which was good as exams not her best suit.

Like her brother her score was a reflection of the amount of study she did - which was not much when you look at what other kids do, unfortunately neither of my kids are big on study - but we are just happy that she got more than 50.

Her score should get her into the course she wants but will wait and see. She is taking at least 6 months off next year to work and save money for a trip to Europe with her cousin in April.

Managed to get through the year with relatively little trauma (a few tears & occasional meltdown) so big tick there.

Now our school journey is finished. Both kids have passed and the red headed chick achieved her goal of being a sports captain each year at Glenny.

Last event is presentation night next Wednesday - she is getting her final sports award and I am presenting a couple of awards on behalf of the PA.

[think positive]

wow, that fantastic, well done to you all.

as for those scores, meh, at the time it seems huge, the whole scaling thing is quite frankly bullshit!! I remember the eldest being in floods of tears because She didnt score quite well enough for Monash, She went to Warn Ponds, did a year which quite frankly looking back, She would have got more out of a gap year and it would have been cheaper, but She switched courses, went to RMIT, got brilliant marks for the whole degree, and scored a fantastic job that 3 years later She is still at, still enjoys, and is highly regarded by her bosses, and her co workers! She was naturally clever, but didnt put in in high school, so i get where you are coming from. its hard for them to comprehend at the time but it really is true that those scores just dont matter in the end. Even if they are aiming for law or medicine, there is more than one pathway.

Junior had to work for her marks and She got them, it took miss bust a gut 18 months for her to realise She wanted to change, She switched and finished her degree on a high note, Shes now almost half way through her masters. She delayed graduation as we were overseas, and should be graduating tonight, but the school �$%$ed up and her and a heap of other kids will have a special graduation in March!! Shes not fussed as Her masters will be the big one!

Congrats on Her graduation and her sports award, and well done to you, you must have put in heaps of effort. Gees i remember discussing netball when She just started out!! time flies. Hopefully She has a wonderful trip, the world is her oyster, and dont forget to give yourself a big pat on the back, those tears and meltdowns are hard on Mums too! cheers, enjoy xxx

[David]

[watt price tully]

[stui magpie]

Congrats Dark Beanie, that's a journey completed. Tick the box and give yourself a big pat on the back.

[watt price tully]

Spin class yesterday: worked hard. Sweated a lot and the heart rate was up.
Went to Geelong to catch up with the oldest with Mrs WPT, took the diesel out for the run: impressive 6.3 litres/100 km’s in the 2.0 Hyundai Turbo Diesel

Bike ride to Frankston this morning minus Olivers Hill: turned around at the Nepean Highway BP station. On the way there a small group in Brighton in the beach road went past. I joined their tail. They were motoring (men & women) doing about 32-38 mostly 35 km’s per hour. They burnt me off by Mentone.

Met a friend for coffee (Soy flat white) in Mordialloc on the way back then we joined a bigger group doing about 28 km’s (didn’t have to work too hard).

75 km in total
2:45 total riding time
Average speed was 27.6
Fastest was 42.5

Nice ride without pushing too hard. Put sunscreen on but that like being a pies supporter was optimistic

[stui magpie]

Back from Toc to Melbourne's shit weather. 8am I was loading the car in trackies, no shirt and bare feet. Soon as I got over The Great Divide on the trip home had to turn the air con off.

Anyway, beautiful weather up there over the weekend. In for a hot spell next week so mowed yesterday morning and made sure I pumped plenty of water into the ground. Had the mowing finished before breakfast Saturday so just potted around for a while, went out for brunch overlooking the river, then while the hoses were going did a bit of work on the bathroom ceiling and put some architrave round one of the doors, then kicked back with a book and a beer with the cricket on the radio.

Booze and tucker shopping done for the week, organise dinner later, only got 4 more days of work for the year. Looking forward to a break.

[watt price tully]

[Wokko]

It's the same when I visit mum in Torquay then come back to Ballarat. It's like its own climate here, 10 minutes out and its warm and sunny then get into town and its 10 degrees colder with a biting win and some rain. I sometimes wonder if this city is through some kind of dimensional portal.

[stui magpie]

Not that Torquay is real close to Ballarat, but I've long been fascinated how places quite close geographically can experience such different weather patterns.

Watch the BOM rain radar a few times and see how one town gets drenched regularly while another nearby gets nada.

[stui magpie]

Finished work for the year today, don't go back til Jan 13

And, I found out that Gary Larson has finally created a website for his Far Side cartoons after being retired for ages.

https://www.thefarside.com/

Loved the far side. He's also on Instagram if you want to follow him there.

For bonus points, explain "Cow Tools"

[think positive]

um... cow tools? hmm ill have to think on that! i know a few old-cows that are tools! does that count? how long you heading up to TOC for? enjoy the break!

so today is just a day of awesomeness!

my eldest and her co workers were told to work from home to avoid the heat and shitty train services! The youngest brought home the 2 kids she takes care of before school, and also another 10 year old! The 13 year old boy is a gem, comes to the footy with us, got some cool shots of him, and the 2 10 year old girls OMG! i took over 400 photos! they are dancers, and they love to dress up! I bought a couture kids dress (on special ive been dying to get one) and id saved it for my little muse and She did not disappoint! She was the first kid i had in studio, such a Little poser! got some great acrobatics in the pool shots too! the kids just left, hubby just got back from his break up pub feed so he will flake it on the couch, and im settled with a Jim Beam and photoshop!

BUT the bestest best news, Junior spent a week panicking and studying for the new exams for kids doing their masters to teach high school, its a stupid graded system, average is 70 percent, and so many fail. She passed literacy AND maths!! each was broken up into about 6 columns and She bettered the average in every column! She cried, I cried!!

I also got a parcel from my favourite online store, ive wanted these $200 jeans, but i wanted to fit in them first, last week they were down to $29 so i bought my size now and the size i want to be, and the size i want to be....FIT!! everything fit! Gawd i feel so much better now ive lost the lifeguard ring around the middle!

so guys, I hope your day is as good as mine! cheers, life is good!

[stui magpie]

Good stuff.

I've had an entertaining day.

Dropped the Redline up at the dealer for a service this morning bout 7:45 and walked the near 2k home.

Breakfast, do a load of washing then have to take the old girl to the dentist. FML, the dentist is right near Greensborough plaza, where I went to park but it's fkn choccas. I suggested I could drop her off opposite then go find a car park but that would have involved crossing the road so, No.

When she walks, she spends most of her time looking at the ground rather than where she's going, so after eventually finding a park she has to walk probably 300m including stairs instead of the 20 if she'd let me drop her off. Walking through the shopping centre, she gets in behind me. That way she can stare at her feet without fear of some numbat bumping into her because I walk in straight lines and they peel around me. Very fkn slow straight lines constantly looking over my shoulder to make sure she's still there.

After the dentist she was wonky so got her to sit at an outdoor cafe while I went and got the ute and came back for her. Saved her 250m of walking.

Then had to go pick up the redline after the service. Only 42 outside, near 2k walk. Took a bottle of cold water and a damp cooling scarf thing. It didn't feel that hot although I was the only person outside on foot for the whole trek, but half way there the water was warm and the scarf was dry.

Got the Redline and refilled the water bottle with cold water at the dealer, then went and got the Christmas meats before everyone descends on the shops in the coming days, home, beer and red wine with the aircon on.