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Fix My Car

I’ve had my car for more than a decade now and I think it’s starting to break down. It’s lasted for such a long time, especially since I actually bought it second-hand and I can’t really remember how long the person before me owned it for. This car is black in colour and is still very shiny when I get it washed. The interior is soft and made of the kind of material that isn’t leather. Over the years, I’ve decorated the inside of my car with little dangly knick knacks and bobbleheads, and also added some lovely car freshener scents to make it smell nice for guests.

My car has also frequented a number of car repair shops, as it’s had its fair share of problems over the years. Flat tires, scrapes while parking, that kind of thing. One of my windscreen wipers even broke off in the crazy winds that happened about five years ago in South Australia! Luckily, it was never dented in the hail that same week. A few of my friends’ cars got destroyed by the hail and those were some pretty costly repairs. Especially when almost everybody in the city had the same issue.

One thing I have to do soon is find a place that offers a car air conditioning regas and electrical service. Adelaide has a few of these around, but I’d love to find one that specifically deals with older cars. I’m not too concerned about the warranty or anything since I’m not planning to resell; I simply want the problems fixed. If the mechanic can fix them professionally and to a high standard, it’s very possible that my car could last for a lot longer than I had originally thought. Who knows? Maybe I’ll be driving it when I’m in my forties. Maybe I could show my car to my kids and bring them up driving in it. That would be pretty great.

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Going to Hollywood

I am smarter and more talented than everybody around me. That much has been clear since I was a young child. I was a prodigy in almost everything I tried. Now, my focus has turned to film. I am a standout local actor looking to break into Hollywood for the first time. I can also write, direct, produce and do all the technical behind the scenes stuff. My only real issue steps in at the post-production phase, with editing. That’s why I’m hiring the best video production company Melbourne has to offer to get them to work on the short film I’m currently creating.

The thing is, you can’t break into Hollywood and become a well-known filmmaker without having some very clear experience under your belt. I need something to prove my worth, essentially. Something to prove my abilities. I wrote up a script and designed all the shots, then hired the cast and crew and we started filming about six months ago. It’s finally wrapped up with almost no time issues and even came in under budget. That means I was able to splurge on a really high-quality editing company.

Usually, they can be pretty affordable but I really want to give this film the greatest chance of success and that can only happen with the best effects and editing Melbourne has. This video animation company can also complete fun little drawings on the short film to give it the vibe I’m after. A bit surreal, you know? That’s what I’m looking for, and I feel like adding a bit of animation to the live action can achieve that. Once everything has been completed, I’ll cut a trailer, start some intense marketing efforts, and premiere the short film at my local film festival. Hopefully, it picks up the traction I need for it to purchase me a ticket to Hollywood. That’s been my dream for ages, and I can feel it in my grasp.

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Moving Eye Clinic

I’m moving to Melbourne and I’m currently planning everything involving the switch to the new city. It’s going to be a lot of work. Not only because I’m moving there for a new job and hopefully a chance at a new career, but also because moving, in general, takes a lot of effort. Especially if you’re moving interstate, like I am.

One of the things I looked at when choosing where to live in Melbourne was all of the amenities offered in each area. For example, I wanted to ensure that my area would have a good therapist and optometrist. Bayside seemed like a pretty good option in this regard. It also has a lot of other great aspects, like leafy green parks, safe family surroundings, access to public transport, a dining precinct and a shopping centre. The optometrist is located in this shopping complex, a convenient ten-minute walk from my house. It’ll be great, since the first thing (or one of the first things) I have to do when I arrive in Melbourne is visit a behavioural optometrist clinic to get my eyes checked out. I want to join a local soccer team in Melbourne, but my hand-eye coordination has been a little bit off recently. My vision is unbalanced and blurry, so I feel like I won’t be a very valuable player to my new team until I get all of that stuff sorted out.

In the meantime, there are lots of other things to plan, such as getting my luggage and all of my possessions from my house in Adelaide to my new house in Melbourne. It makes it a little bit easier if I hire someone to do it for me, but it’s also more expensive that way. I need to double check what the salary is going to be at my new job before I go around making those decisions.

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Blocked Kitchen Drains

Believe it or not, I don’t hate cleaning my kitchen. It seems like the type of job that would be really long, gross and tedious, especially living in a house of four girls, but it’s actually really satisfying. I didn’t mind wiping down the fridge or the microwave. Heck, I didn’t even mind wiping down the bins. It was satisfying because I knew that by doing it myself, it was being done right.

I’m a bit of a germ freak, you see. Especially when it comes to places where we eat. I wish that I had been in charge of the cleaning roster from the start, because I would have put myself on the kitchen area multiple times. I also would have realised sooner that we are in need of a blocked drain plumber. I hadn’t realised because I didn’t need to fill the sink up until I did a big clean of the kitchen. It took so long to drain after I had done all the dishes that I know for a fact that we have a blocked drain. I don’t know how none of my workmates noticed this. Or if they did notice, I have no idea why they didn’t say anything.  

Of course, as the most responsible workmate, it’s my job to call one of the local plumbing companies servicing Melbourne homes. I get annoyed that I’m the only person who takes initiative in these sorts of situations. But I guess that’s the payoff when you live in a share house. Someone has to be the person who does all the organising or otherwise it’s the type of thing where everyone expects someone else to do it and no one ends up doing it.

I wish I had figured out this issue sooner. The fact that no one has brought up this issue yet makes me question whether or not anyone has actually cleaned the kitchen properly since we moved in.

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Cost Of An Architect

As I grow older, I worry less and less about what people have to say and think. As a young person I was so caught up in keeping up appearances. I was worried that if anything slipped through the cracks and showed people that I wasn’t perfect, I’d be shunned from society. Mind you, back then, society was quite harsh but in reality, everyone was too worried about themselves to really take notice of anyone else. Even if I had slipped back then and accidentally showed the world my flaws (or so I thought of them), as long as everyone was too busy thinking about themselves, it wouldn’t matter. 

The reason I say this is because my daughter is currently right in the middle of caring too deeply about the perceptions of others. She is so caught up in what people think that she’s decided to employ an architect to design her home, rather than just getting one of those standard home designs. How much does an architect cost? Whatever the cost is, I’m sure that money would be better spent somewhere else. She has a young child to raise. She shouldn’t be caught up in having a bespoke home. It’s a silly and vain thing to spend money on when money is such a valuable and hard to come by asset. I wish I didn’t understand why she’s doing it, but alas, I do understand.

The fear of being found out as not only a normal, run-of-the-mill person but also a person with flaws is too scary to come to terms with. She would rather invest in the services of Melbourne’s most esteemed residential architects than have people find out who she truly is. I understand her pain, but not accepting herself is the worst possible thing she could do. Not accepting yourself leads to years of questioning your self worth. She’ll learn one day.

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Advertising My Business

Running your own business can be a lot of work, but it’s ultimately very rewarding. It is more work because I tend to physically work more hours than most people in a regular nine to five job. I often also work on weekends, which is okay because I am not married and do not have children. I want to establish myself before I commit to starting a proper family.

One of the hardest parts of running your own business is advertising yourself. It’s quite difficult to find marketing opportunities that are affordable but still have a decent impact. I am planning to hire a video production company. Melbourne has several of these, however many of them are more expensive than I can afford. After all, I am only just starting my business and am yet to see any major profits that would allow me to reinvest back into the business. When I’m looking at these company websites, I’m looking to see what services they provide. For example, I really need a production company that can film, edit and write scripts. It would be even better if they could distribute it too. I did manage to find a really good video animation company, but I’m not sure if animation is quite the vibe I’m going for. I do think some animations can work well, but it depends on the business itself.

Obviously, I am not a marketing expert, so I might talk to the professionals before I start discounting major video genres. But since my business is very design-focused, I don’t think animation would be a good way to showcase all the homes I am building and all the different rooms I am styling. Who knows, though? Maybe there’s a trend where customers like to see couches with eyes or fridges with smiles and teeth. I would personally not like that, but who’s to say what the younger generation finds appealing? I look forward to seeing what the advertising company has to say about my video advertisement.

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CCTV Everywhere

I’m looking forward to getting out in the sunshine. It’s been a rather pleasant morning, despite some mishaps. I’m doing my best to remain positive today and I think getting outside and going for a walk will be just what I need. This morning I’ve been overseeing commercial CCTV camera installations within the building where I work. I’m not sure why I was given this job seeing as I know literally nothing about CCTV cameras or how they’re installed, but I guess my boss just wanted someone to make sure nothing went wrong, seeing as he’s paying for it. As if I’d even know if something was going wrong. Oh well.

Once the CCTV camera installers go for the lunch break, I’m going to go on mine. I need to tee it up that it’s the same time because if my boss realises that I’ve left my post and let the experts just get on with their job (oh the horror), I’d be in serious trouble. I’m not particularly interested in getting in trouble this week so I’m just going to do as I’m told and hope for the best. Anyway, being able to go and get some fresh air will be really nice. I might even check out the local op shop on my lunch break, just because. 

Well, I’m back from lunch. Why do lunch breaks always feel like they go so fast? One hour of lunch feels like it’s over within ten minutes, whereas one hour during the rest of the workday seems to drag on for two. Anyway, I’m back watching the CCTV camera installers do their thing, and it’s kind of making me want to look into residential CCTV installation for my Melbourne home. It wouldn’t be a bad thing to be able to keep an eye on who’s near my house and what they’re doing. I’d probably feel a lot safer knowing that I could look back at the vision whenever I needed to.

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Hardware Store Escape

set of hand various work tools on grey background top view including different kinds of wrenches, pliers, clamps, calipers and other

“This is insane. You’ve completely lost your mind.”

“No, trust me, this is totally going to work.”

Vai rubbed her temples. “This doesn’t even make sense, scientifically. Paint doesn’t explode when you set it on fire.”

Maphira continued setting up her brilliant plan to escape the hardware store. It wouldn’t have come to this if they’d gone to a Hampton hardware store instead, but here they were, in Cheltenham, about to do something awesome.

“It doesn’t matter if it doesn’t explode,” Maphira said. “But let’s be honest, we have no idea what’s in this paint, so I’m not ruling out the possibility. It’s all in the fumes. You got a lighter?”

Nodding, Vai dug through her pocket and pulled out a small, metal object. “Any chance I’m going to get this back?” she asked.

“Not at all,” Maphira said. “Thanks, your sacrifice is appreciated. I’m almost done, so get your gas mask on.”

Her mission to get electrical supplies around Cheltenham had been a failure, unfortunately, but at least they’d get out of here alive with her incredible plan. When they both had their masks on, Maphira took the lighter and set several scrunched up pieces of paper on fire. She used a rubber glove to toss each small fireball into a nearby paint can. Once that was done, she threw the lighter into the biggest can of paint.

“Let’s go,” Maphira said, dragging Vai out of the aisle.

As they snuck through the hardware store, the air became hazy, and slowly they began to hear the coughing of nearby people. Using the coughing as a guide on where not to go, they made for the exit.

By the time they reached the front of the store, several of their hunters lay on the ground, knocked out by the overwhelming paint fumes. The Great Mechanist was nowhere to be seen.

“Well I’ll be damned,” Vai said. “That actually worked. No explosion though – I told you.”

And that was when a great rumbling came from the back of the store, lighting it up in a brilliant fireball.

“You were saying?” Maphira teased, running out the door and escaping the hardware store.

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The Heater Broke

I whistled as I cracked open the front door of my house, excitement at escaping the brisk winter air getting the better of me.

         ‘Honey, I’m ho—’

         The frigid air inside the house shocked the breath from my lungs as I rapidly pulled the zipper back up on the jacket I’d been about to remove.

         ‘Honey?!’ I called out into the house.

         My wife appeared in the hallway, bundled into layers of all her winter clothes and smiling at me.

         ‘How was your day?’ she asked, walking towards me.

         ‘How was my— what happened in here?’

         She looked confused for a second, then the penny dropped.

         ‘Oh, you didn’t know about the heater.’

         ‘The heater? What’s wrong with the heater?’

         ‘Nothing, nothing,’ she soothed me. ‘But it is broken and not turning on.’

         ‘That’s something,’ I shook, the images of me taking my feet off near the heater duct after a long day, slowly freezing solid in my mind.

         ‘We have someone coming to look at it, don’t worry.’

         ‘How long will they be?’

         ‘Not long.’

         ‘How long?’

         ‘A week or two.’

         ‘A week?!’      

         ‘Or two.’

         ‘Why?!’

         ‘Well,’ my wife crossed her arms, ‘this is their busiest time of the year, when everybody needs their professional ducted heater servicing. Around Canberra it’s even worse, apparently – we should consider ourselves lucky.’

         ‘I’m not feeling very lucky,’ I glowered, kicking my snow-covered boots off.

         ‘Oh relax, it’s just a bit of cold,’ my wife laughed. ‘You’ll be okay.’

         ‘I was looking forward to being warm!’

         She giggled again and walked into the kitchen. I followed after her, still dutifully zipped into my jacket.

         ‘How many places did you call?’

         ‘Places?’ she asked.

         ‘You know, companies that do heating services, near Canberra.’

         ‘All of them, dear,’ she rolled her eyes. ‘I know how dramatic you get when it’s cold.’

         ‘It’s not dramatic,’ I protested, ‘it’s proportional.’       

         ‘Right,’ she rolled her eyes again.

         ‘I have very low body fat,’ I defended myself weakly.

         ‘Yes, dear,’ she said. ‘Pie for dessert?’

         ‘Yes, dear,’ I sighed.

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Office Drop-In

‘I hate it!’ I heard a screech from outside my office door. With a sigh, I slowly closed my laptop, mentally blocking out the next hour from my schedule.

The door burst open, and a small woman in a gigantic fur coat stormed in.

‘Harold, darling,’ she greeted me. ‘We need to talk!’

‘Hello, Doris,’ I sighed again, quickly sweeping some breakable items off my desk and into a drawer where they’d be safe. ‘How was your drive in?’

‘Oh, darling,’ she rolled her eyes. ‘Like I’d be caught in this peak hour traffic? I took the chopper.’

‘It’s one o’clock,’ I frowned. ‘And we don’t have a helipad.’

‘No, but the hospital down the street are happy to let you land on theirs,’ she said with a sly grin. ‘Once you tell them it’s a medical emergency, of course.’

‘What can I do for you, Doris?’ I said, massaging my temples and practicing my breathing exercises.

‘This office,’ she barked. ‘It has to change.’

‘To change?’

‘Yes, it simply cannot stay the way it is.’

‘Are you talking… layoffs?’

‘What?’ she looked shocked. ‘Layoffs? No, nothing like that. Although, now you mention it—’

‘What’s bothering you about the office?’ I quickly cut her off, before she had time to finish having the thought.

‘Ah, yes,’ she shook her head clear. ‘I’m sending you the name of an office space design expert, near Melbourne.’

‘What’s wrong with our office design?’

She let out a short, shrill laugh and clicked her fingers. A burly man in a suit opened my door and handed me a piece of paper with a name and number.

‘You’ll be in good hands,’ she assured me. ‘Just do everything they say.’

‘Isn’t this a fashion company?’ I frowned.

‘Yes, they designed my gala dress, darling.’

‘So shouldn’t we hire the best commercial office design company around Melbourne?’

‘I just did,’ Doris frowned. ‘Did you forget your coffee this morning, Harold?’

I sighed again, as she stood, bundling her coat behind her.