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Kitchen of Jealousy

I’ve recently become intrigued by home renovation television shows. They’re so much fun. I think it’s the format that appeals to me; taking something decidedly average and transforming it into something incredible. I guess that arc really speaks to my younger self, who always adored princess films.

I have been inspired by these television shows to begin my own kitchen renovation. I already have a fair bit of money saved up for my own personal rainy day activities, so it’s not like I’m going to be going into debt on a whim. I could have used my savings for travel, but I feel like I can complete my renovation in a really affordable way and still have heaps of money left over for a plane ticket to the hot spring pools in Iceland.

After binge-watching all these renovation shows, I have a pretty good idea of what a kitchen should look like. There are a number of things to consider, such as where to put appliances and benchtops in order to maximise space, and also how the kitchen flows to the rest of the house. This can include aspects such as the literal walkway from the kitchen to the rest of the house, but also aspects such as colours and material textures.

I’m thinking I might employ a kitchen design company. Melbourne has a number of really affordable companies who specialise in assisting renovators with their kitchen, bathroom and laundry layouts. Getting some advice from the experts may be just what I need to ensure my kitchen looks incredible and completely flawless when the renovations are complete. Obviously I want the kitchen to be functional so that I can cook and clean and move around in it relatively effortlessly, but I want nothing more than to invite my friends over and have their jaws drop purely from astonishment and awe because of how beautiful the kitchen looks.

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Spending My Money

I’ve recently come into a large sum of money. I’m not gonna say how, but I can confirm it was completely legal. Anyway, it means that although I still have to work, I am able to splurge on a couple of things I never thought I would be able to buy. One of those things is a speed boat. I’ve always loved fishing and sailing out onto the water, but I’ve always borrowed other people’s boats or rented mine from reputable companies. It feels really nice to finally have my own.

Using the money I recently received, I also employed one of the best marine fabrication companies Melbourne has, after long research sessions to ensure they were the best in the business. They’ve received a lot of amazing reviews so I know I’m going to get my money’s worth. Essentially, they’re going to make my boat even better than it already is. I’m going to be the envy of everybody else out on the sea. I can’t wait for them to look out over at me and think, “Wow, I wish I was that guy, he’s so cool.” It’s going to be amazing.

They’re going to take the lead in the boat catch installation, which is something I’ve heard a lot about and I’m looking forward to attaching to my boat. It’s meant to make it a lot easier to launch your boat, which is great because I’ve never owned a boat before so I’m not actually sure how to launch one as somebody else has always done it for me.

I like that I can afford to spend money on fun little things like that. I’m also considering getting a boat wrap for the hull, but I haven’t settled on a design yet so I don’t want to lock anything in too soon. In the meantime, I’m just happy to sail out onto the ocean and enjoy the peace and relaxation that comes with being alone on the water.

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Blog About Unicorns

Hello everybody, and welcome back to my blog.

Today, I’m going to tell you all about one of my crazy dreams, since you seemed to enjoy the previous one so much. I dreamed it several nights ago, but I still remember every single detail of the dream because it was so incredible. I was in this daydream-like landscape, all lush green grass and vibrant blue sky. I looked to the edges of my vision and saw a shiny silver unicorn leaping across the hills. Despite its pace, it looked incredibly graceful.

I do believe that the unicorn probably appeared in my dreams because of that removable unicorn wallpaper I have had on my bedroom walls for the past decade. I guess the picture of the unicorn simply made its way into my subconscious mind. I’ve loved unicorns since I was small, but I’ve only really started having dreams about them over the past couple of weeks. I’m considering going on one of those dream websites to research exactly what having unicorns appear in dreams means.

Apparently, the objects that appear and the events that occur within our dreams are meant to be our subconscious mind trying to process certain things from our everyday realities. It’s actually quite interesting to read about, even if I don’t understand most of what people are saying. There’s a lot of philosophy involved.

I’m currently considering buying a prepasted butterfly wallpaper designed in Australia in the hopes of having a dream about butterflies. I became a little bit intrigued by them when I went to the zoo last year, and I think they’d be a fun addition to my dreams. What they would do within my dreams, I couldn’t tell you. Probably just flap around looking pretty and maybe bestowing my dream self with some magical powers. If I ever end up having a dream about butterflies, I’ll write a blog post right away and let you all know.

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My First Walk

My first walk in a week was awesome. Getting my endorphins pumping, feeling the fresh air flow over my body and warming my skin with the sun was a fantastic feeling. I know it has only been a week since I went on my last walk, but it’s crazy how much of an impact it has on my mental health. I didn’t realise at the time how lethargic I was feeling until I started doing exercise. I almost instantly felt like I was reinvigorated. I felt ready to face the day. I felt like my life was restarting again. Is that dramatic? Maybe. Is it true? Yes.

The only issue is that I’ve definitely still got the foot problems I had a week ago. I thought that by having a forced week-off exercise then my feet would feel a lot better during my first walk, but unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. Whilst I felt great, my feet certainly didn’t. I think I’m going to have to go to my local podiatrist near Cheltenham and get someone to check out my feet.

I love walking and I don’t want to be in pain every time I do it, so my best bet is to get my feet looked at as soon as possible. My podiatrist is really nearby, in fact, it’s walking distance so whenever I get my appointment I’ll probably just walk there. Does that defeat the purpose seeing as I have foot pains? I’m not sure. 

I wonder if the podiatrist will give me custom orthotics or something like that. I don’t really know anything about podiatry so I don’t know what sort of foot treatments they provide people experiencing foot pain. But that’s why I’m going to the expert. If I knew these things then I wouldn’t need help in the first place.

All in all, I am very happy to be out and about again. Walking is the best thing ever.

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Seed Warrior

Rylee moved through the battlefield like a reaper, sowing discord and chaos with every step. The Conclave members were clearly marked by a large symbol of a robot sewn onto their clothing, making her job a simple one. Using the seeds she’d taken from the warehouse, she used them to distract her enemies, like throwing pocket sand into their eyes but with seeds instead.

While the Conclave members were distracted by her seed attacks, Rylee sprung forward with her own vicious blows, or created openings for Resistance members to fight back. The hybrid tea rose seeds seemed to be particularly effective, spreading further and wider than the others. Rylee never would have suspected that plant seeds would be so effective as a weapon, but here she was, decimating the Conclave forces with something that most would assume is only a minor annoyance. 

When this was all over, Rylee was going to buy seeds online more often. She’d store a heap of them in her house, just in case she ever needed a pinch to get herself out of a tight situation.

The Resistance members fought well. In fact, it seemed as if they had been bolstered by Rylee’s arrival. Perhaps they’d be able to drive back their foes after all. She supposed it made sense. They’d probably thought this would be the end, that nobody would come to help them. The Conclave forces were going to overwhelm them and this would all be for nothing.

But then Rylee came along, fighting like a demon. Reinforcements of one, but one was all they needed to be inspired. Fighting with seeds turned out to be genius. Even when the Conclave members managed to get their arms up in time to block the seeds from their eyes, they still managed to find the gaps in their clothes, becoming an annoyance as the battle continued. 

Perhaps they were going to get out of this. Perhaps they would win this day.

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Bathroom Battle

The battle at the Resistance base continues to wage on, with live updates coming from yours truly, Mr Chowski. We have several security cameras set up across the base, which allows Dr Ratroti and me to get a good understanding of what is going on. If I were to sum this battle up with the odds, I’d have the Resistance at $2.00 and the Conclave at $1.57. So, the odds aren’t looking great for us, but a comeback is not completely out of the question here.

After the Conclave ambushed us, we managed to get things back on our terms a little bit with some clever moves by some of the Resistance’s finest. I like to think that they were inspired by the wonderful bathroom designers based in Melbourne who helped create this secret bunker, because their work was truly remarkable. I still can’t get over how good that bathroom is. Not to mention that this secret bunker is top quality as well! If I were up there, fighting to save the lives of everyone I care about, I’d definitely be inspired to do my best by that bathroom and its incredible tiles. After all, when it comes to bathroom tiles, ideas that are worth implementing can be hard to come by.

We’ve had a few members of the Resistance retreat down to the bunker, and our medics are doing their best to get them back on their feet. Our numbers are dwindling fast, though. Those odds I mentioned earlier? We’re down to $2.50 to win this thing now, with that number getting worse by the second.

Oh, no! We’re just had a massive blow, and we’re out to $6.00 as one of the Resistance’s best fighters has gone down unexpectedly! This is a devastating result. It’s not looking good for us at all. Unless we get a miracle, we might be in serious trouble here. Can anyone help get the Resistance back on top?

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Energy Gone Haywire

Maphira was no expert on solar energy, battery storage or anything like that, but she was pretty sure she never would have made the mistake Vai had. That girl had royally screwed things up, and now she was going to pay for it. Maphira almost felt sorry for her. Surely all it would have taken was reading one solar energy case study to know that powering Bender with a single solar system was a bad idea.

As the Mechanists fled the workshop, Maphira hid behind a stack of tyres and pressed down on her earpiece. A voice alerted her that broadcasting mode had been activated – Maphira figured this was some sort of radio hacking device. With it on the right setting, she spoke, sending a message to anybody listening to Mr Chowski’s secret radio station.

“To all members of the Resistance, listen carefully. This is Maphira, a prominent member of our organisation. I have spent the last several weeks captive to the Conclave of Mechanists, gathering information. They know the location of our secret base. Everybody there should immediately head to the bathroom, which hides the entrance to a hidden bunker that only opens when all the taps are turned on and set to the highest temperature.

“Do not, I repeat, do not go through the secret tunnel in the kitchen. This is a fake exit and a trap. I had the bunker installed in secret; no other members of the Resistance know about it. The Conclave is coming. You must all hide.”

Hoping that people would believe her, Maphira turned broadcasting mode off. Maybe it had been a mistake not to tell people about the secret bunker, but she hadn’t wanted it to get out. She’d first come up with the idea when looking up solar energy information on the Resistance’s fake recruiting site, and it had been too good not to implement.

The members of the Conclave had scattered now, having forgotten all about her. Maphira looked from behind the tyres, watching as Bender unsheathed a long blade from his arm, burst with electricity that washed over the area, then shot into the air. 

He smashed through the glass ceiling, leaving the auto shop in complete, terrifying silence.

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Sewer Speedway

Their pace quickened, speeding through the sewers at double time. Maphira couldn’t work out why they’d suddenly sped up, but she went along with it, resisting the urge to say something annoying and witty.

The tunnel was well lit, with small lights placed on the stone ceiling every ten metres or so. They turned down several corners, then crossed a small bridge over the river of muck and grime. Along the way, Maphira noticed many blocked drains. Melbourne had a serious blocked drain problem, but it seemed that the Conclave wanted it exactly that way.

“Are we there yet?” Maphira asked in her most childish voice.

“No, not yet,” replied Vai.

She waited only a minute before trying again. “Are we there yet?”

“No. We’ll get there when we get there.”

“Are we there yet?”

Vai groaned and turned to Maphira. “Will you please be quiet? You’re starting to give me a headache. You don’t understand how important this is to me. If this isn’t a successful test, I’ll be toast. The Great Mechanist will feed me to his robot dogs. My life is on the line here.”

“Gee, I can’t imagine what that must be like.” Maphira glared at the woman she’d once considered a close friend. “Here you are dragging me through these disgusting sewers to be a test subject for something I assume is probably going to take my life, and you’re asking for sympathy. A bit rich. And honestly, get someone down here to conduct some drain camera inspections. Near Melbourne, there are plenty of plumbers who could do it, and they’d probably be discreet. This place is totally gross.”

Shaking her head, Vai said, “What you don’t understand, Mai, is that sometimes you have to go through hard things for the greater reward. Is it gross down here? Yeah. Does that matter? No. Similarly, I didn’t want to betray you all those years ago, but I did to create something better than our friendship. If only you could open your eyes and see the good of Robotopia, then maybe you wouldn’t have worked against us.”

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Resting My Feet

I’m about to go on my first walk in over a week! I haven’t been able to leave the house because of that unfortunate situation that has swept the world, but I’m finally cleared to leave and it means I’ll be able to take my dog for a walk. How fantastic is that? 

I was really sad when I was first told that I had to stay home for a week without leaving. I have this step goal that means walking 100km per month every month, and as soon as I was told that I wouldn’t be allowed to leave the house, I knew there was going to be an issue. How can I walk 100km per month when a quarter of the month has been taken away from me? You can only imagine my disappointment. However, this year I’m trying not to be the type of person that dwells on things I can’t control. So what did I do? I pulled off my socks and committed myself to spending the entire week doing my foot care treatments. Cheltenham footpaths are hard on the feet and seeing as I wasn’t able to walk on them for a week, I decided to take the opportunity to actually properly look after my feet for a change. I usually neglect my feet because I never give myself time to relax them. I have to walk a minimum of 3km per day to reach my 100km per month goal. I’m going to have to double that for the next two weeks now that I’m free to be able to hit my kilometre goal. Oh well. 

At least this time off from working has given my plantar fasciitis a rest. My feet are never going to get this much time to relax ever again so I hope they enjoyed it. Anyway, it’s time to leave for my first walk! Here’s hoping it goes well.

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Looking For Support

I still haven’t finished my school project. I’m so exhausted. It is stressing me out a lot that I haven’t done the assignment yet. I don’t have much longer before I have to submit it and if I don’t get it done my parents are going to be really angry. They just don’t understand how hard it is to be young these days. I’m actually exhausted. I’m heartbroken. I’m numb. I can’t be bothered with anything and I just want to lie down for the next twenty-four hours straight. Unfortunately, I can’t do that but I really wish I could.

It’s getting to the point that it’s so hard for me to write this essay that I’m starting to second guess myself. If I’m struggling to write something about how I want to install tapered under tray tool boxes for a living, does that mean that I don’t actually want to do that? Now I’m simultaneously numb about my present and stressed about my future. This school project sucks. I don’t want to do it anymore.

It’s hard for me to face my future. I wish that my school would just prepare us for multiple futures rather than the future that we choose in this assignment. It’s too much pressure. What if I decide that I don’t actually want to work with ute trays? Local to Melbourne there are plenty of options for careers because I live in such a buzzing city. I don’t see why I need to choose my career path today. I think that deep down I do want to build accessories for utes when I’m older, but it’s just so easy to second guess myself at the moment.

I wish I could go to my parents for support. They would just tell me to suck it up and write the essay. They would give me some spiel about how their lives were so much harder and how they had to work twice as hard to get to the position they’re in now.