7/30 packs, you can now sort of tell what it is.

So far today I’ve done a little bit of gardening, the first three (of 30) bags of my Lego Enterprise, and made myself two gorgeous ham, mustard, and Gruyère sandwiches. Fuck I love Boxing Day.

Well that’s my January sorted.

Right. Time to ram a couple of lemons up a chicken.

Got the management Christmas work email, which amongst all the platitudes at least contained acknowledgement that the AI VR "trial" had been "bumpy" and there would be discussion next year. I don't expect anything to happen, because Sunk Costs, but at least they noticed.

Seen a few posts about how quiet shops are this Christmas but we went to the Italian shop at the Tannery this morning and it was madness. While we were being served there was a whispered urgent discussion about how they were out of pannetone until the truck arrived.

Min: I want my dinner and I want it right fucking now. Me: Aw, are you a massive cranky-pants? Are you all cranky in the pants? Yes you are. Min: "And that's when I killed her, Your Honour."

Oh, I fucking think not, Quality Assurance

I was raised Presbyterian, and while the religious aspects didn't stick, soaking in the Protestant Work Ethic Culture... So for the last week, I have been fighting the absolutely trained in by my mother urge to deep-clean the entire house in the lead-up to Christmas.

Yelling "Declare!" at the television again.

The weirdest thing is not, actually, the merry-go-round horses. It's the 80s hair portraits. @madpropsnz.bsky.social

Oo, thunder

JFC my cat just sat on my marmalade toast.

So. WINZ has just now coughed up the money they owe me for the 24/25 financial year. I used to be appalled when they'd get around to doing this in October. Now it's a week before Christmas. Based entirely on information they've had since April.

Right. Time for me to buckle down, get out the recipe books, and make the meal plan and shopping list for Christmas dinner. Really just one problem, which is that I cannot be arsed.

No, but, WTF? "In a video announcement Thursday, Trump declared that, to ring in the United States’ 250th birthday, the nation will host the first-ever “Patriot Games,” an “unprecedented four-day athletic event” featuring high school athletes, one boy and one girl, from each state and territory."

AI/VR update: Now turning drugs into people - Terry Peritide, apparently.

Bootlicking isn't harmless. The regime doesn't demand it purely because they're sickos. Bootlicking is a public signal that keeps the cycle of authoritarian fear going. Every bribe, every lick is intended to signal: "You are alone. You are powerless. You cannot stop us."

Rally at NZ Parliament today with young trans people from Wellington and many supporters including whanau and union members. We were there to deliver a Petition seeking the Repeal of the Puberty Blocker Ban. MPs from NZ Greens and NZ Labor there in person. TPM send message of support. #NZpol

I fucking love how ridiculous this thing is.

Open new AI VR file at work. It starts, and I am in no way fudging this; "A little concerning I'm going to have to spell this Porna Jiggy".

BREAKING: The High Court of New Zealand has granted PATHA’s application for interim relief, declaring that the Crown should not take any steps to enforce the incoming ban on new prescriptions of puberty blockers to transgender children and young people. More to come:

Cut back the rose bush around the front porch because a surprising number of our local delivery drivers are Sikh and I was embarrassed about the number of turbans getting hooked in it.

Loving that it is raining, because my garden desperately needs it. OTOH, I woke up somehow convinced that today was Thursday and there would be cricket.

Went to the Gardens. Four tiny ducklings came running up to us. Like, I could easily have picked them up. As it was, I mostly concentrated on trying to stop one of them eating a dead bee. Then we saw a kereru trying to eat off the very tiny twig it was perching on. It was not going well.

Sometimes I don't want to sell a book I've bought for the shop 🤫 So, just clarifying to the person who was confused by a scrap of paper I'd left on the counter: the price written on it was not in "CDN", but "CDH". As in, the imaginary price for which you could pry the book from my Cold Dead Hands.

Today, VR's tries at "Waitakere" are "Whytachi" and "WyTechery". Srsly, it just assembles groups of letters.

Hey, so you know how I taught my cat the NZSL for "food" to call him for dinner? I just made his tiny toy unicorn sign it to him and he's so mad at me he waited about an extra 30 seconds to eat.

Very sad that I felt I had no choice but to resign from The Infinite Monkey Cage - a victory for the transphobes and other bigots - I did it because so much of the media has chosen to believe the kind and empathetic people are a fiction - they are real and so often unrepresented.

Predictable Government half-assery resulting in half-assed outcomes. I'm shocked I tell you, shocked. Their ideologically-driven impulsive restructuring left a vital organisation of more than 100,000 workers with 79 IT support staff.

The collective sound of the entire Basin Reserve crowd watching the loving slow-motion replay of a batter getting hit in the nuts.

Two weeks before Christmas and The Jigstore are all, "Hey Emma, look, there's a new jigsaw in the Alchemist series" because they own my fucking soul.

"So, how's Hell, bitch? Sit the fuck down, we're going to have a chat about what you did to Mum."

This year’s new Christmas decoration.

I mean, I'm probably just being overly fussy but JFC maybe don't chew gum while dictating patient notes.

Something else to consider in the "NZ shuts down for two months" discourse and who is driving it. Coming back to work after a long break (two weeks or more) is the most common time for an employee to quit their job.

Had a pretty shitty day yesterday, but today there is a test at the basin with the pōhutukawa out. 🏏🇳🇿

Today in things work expects me to take seriously, a patient with a seriously Victorian Dandy name has a FOOSH injury, which has damaged his anatomical snuffbox.

Yes, the US does not have our tradition of a really long Christmas break. Why could that possibly be? Is it because, perchance, their Christmas is in winter? And their summer school holidays are in August? If we're all back to work on Jan 3, who is looking after the kids for the next month?

Placed an order with Briscoes over a week ago. It has not been dispatched yet. Try to find someone to talk to about this. The first thing on offer is an AI bot.

“From what I’ve tasted of desire I hold with those who favour fire”

The KING of unfortunate sentence construction: "He went on to claim he told then-police minister Chris Hipkins about Jevon McSkimming having an affair in the back on a car on a trip in the South Island in 2022." www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/3609...

I saw someone recently relating a detailed argument that transphobia is actually misogyny, and I didn't engage with it because it made me too angry, but FFS, stop helping TERFs reverse victim and offender.

This is one of my favorite Taskmaster things ever and a great example of what raises it from a good show to a great show. There are so many clever and just very impressive little touches that are so go easy to unnoticed. From set design to music choices it all just works to elevate the whole show.

Support this open letter written by trans and takatāpui rangatahi: "To be transgender or takatāpui is a taonga. To deny our young people access to life-saving medication on the basis of an imported culture war is cruel and abhorrent." our.actionstation.org.nz/petitions/re...

My mum was right, I am shit at arranging flowers. But I’m not displeased with this.

I guess it’s indicative of the change in test cricket that it feels like a really long time since I was last sitting in my armchair yelling, “Why are we still batting?!”

My 16th Century mouse prototype finally arrived at the Kunstsammlungen der Veste Coburg museum in Germany today to start its two year exhibition. It will be shown alongside a one of a kind suit of armour from the period that was built for a dwarf. #jeffdeboer #mousearmour

A Narcissist's Prayer That didn't happen. And if it did, it wasn't that bad. And if it was, that's not a big deal. And if it is, that's not my fault. And if it was, I didn't mean it. And if I did... You deserved it.

When Hagley Oval was being proposed, one of the stupid arguments against it was that it would be too noisy for the hospital. That noise you can barely hear the commentators over? Is a helicopter landing on the helipad on the roof of the hospital.