January 2026 - gratitude

A new year, a new dawn—or so you think. In reality, it’s mostly just me being a kind of Raggedy Ann. Sometimes I find myself losing patience, but I must say that stress or anger never lingers long. I sleep like a log; only when my restless legs act up am I woken in the night. The latest iPhones come with wellness music, and I’m loving it!

I am so thankful for the friends in my mobile‑gaming community who willingly put up with my bragging and help me achieve my gaming goals. Over the past decade, some have been kind enough to buy me a team badge, purchase plush toys for me while traveling, bake me a cake, and introduce me to their friends coming from overseas. Being able to continually make new friends through this mobile‑gaming platform feels like a miracle—it has enriched my life in countless ways. I’m now gradually extending my circle to local groups and to people I meet on social media.

I have cycled through many professional networking groups to date. Each one has opened my eyes to hidden worlds that I would otherwise never have had a chance to discover because of infrequent interaction. The library tours with the Infomanics group from the technical school were a blast. The Friday‑morning social‑media group showed me the broader landscape of the gig economy and startup space in Victoria. The New GLAMR group was a great experiment, and I got to meet several new professionals in our information industry. These individuals actually write and publish articles in professional journals. The New Cardigan group expands beyond our profession to include private collectors, “para‑professionals” building their own worlds, and uniquely skilled individuals. The nuance of playing a game without a board or electronic console was an eye‑opener. I also learned to turn the demands placed on us into opportunities. Professional networking has greatly expanded my mind and my understanding of the world around me.

I have signed up to two more professional groups in the last year, but I have not had much time to get involved in many of the activities. I can imagine great things to come.


   

January 2026 - a small reflection

New Year, old issues.

I still need to look into better ways of handling people with short tempers and shutting them down even faster—especially family members.

For instance, Sis.

When Sis comes home, she has to complain—no, not maybe—about how people have treated her wrong in some way, even indirectly (e.g., staring at her, sitting next to her), or about a mishandled food, drink, or online‑shopping order. It’s usually one of those three things.

When you sit down in the same room as her—even silently and for just a brief moment—Sis will suddenly start talking about how judgmental her former high‑school friends and volunteer colleagues were. It comes out of the blue. Shortly afterward she claims you don’t understand her point, even though I haven’t said a word. This happens despite the fact that no one has spoken to her in the past 20 years. 

On the last few trips to rural areas and across state lines, Sis becomes agitated, saying the journey prevents her from meeting a lover. Those men know how to gaslight a lonely woman; they repeatedly dupe her into feeling guilty and agreeing to meet. When Sis returns home, those men stop messaging her for long periods—sometimes years.

Overall, I don’t see the appeal. I refuse to justify anyone else’s behavior. No one wants to deal with a short‑tempered individual.

 

December 2025

There are moments of sunshine coming through for the most part nothing but overcast day and night. It was stupid how people fuss over the moon, when the clouds cover it every night. 

 

Work

At present, nothing but stalemate. Oddly enough, the executives spoke to their favourite journalist to announce the withdraw of the current restructure proposal. However, they failed to mention how it is just a pause and second one will take its place in January 2026.

 

PoGo

We have a new feature that allows us to remote trade in the near future. It is bloody great news to hear and the community is filled with buzz. I got a task hundo mushroom Naclin after a day trip to Bruny Island. Then an another task hundo Clobboppus when I am back home. Pretty cool. Two new pokemon and I got a hundo of each within the events.

 

Dating

-Paused-

 

A short break at Hobart 

Day 1 (4/12/2025)

Once we go off the plane, it was god damn hot and windy! We were too early for check-in at the hotel and had to drop off our luggage, and proceed to walk around town with our thick jackets. Centrepoint is the same as always. The Cat and Fiddle Mall was a little updated. The mall had some Christmas decoration installation, which was cool. We decided to have lunch at one of the busy Thai food places smack bang in the middle of all the malls. It was spicy but a bit bland in pazz in terms of the amount of food in the bowls of noodle.  

Sis was obsessed with finding that perfect airport t-shirt, when there is none. Look you cannot be wearing slimmer with metal clasp, a heat pack, and metallic wool jumper plus a steel cap boot through airport security. Security team were only doing there job. Hating them does not fix the issue of wearing unnecessary items while going through security.

The most funniest line was when a young mother accused son of hiding from her and he goes, "I am not hiding from you". He was not hiding at all. He was right next to her and a little behind us as we stroll through the mall.

We had dinner at Teppanyaki Legends near Woolies. They made delicious food and the ice cream did not make us sick. 

 

Day 2 (5/12/2025)

The day trip via a small bus to Bruny Island for some food grazing was awesome. We tasted honey, mussels, cheese, chocolate, and mix seafood. We got the chance to sight the white Bennett wallaby. Woo Hoo! We went up a light house while we were there and the sun was out in full. What a glorious weather, glorious views from the top of the lighthouse. A joyous ride back home via our small bus on a ferry. 

There was a penguin island from a far, but it was colonised by seals. Why they called it penguin island was a stupid idea, that is yet to be addressed. Then there were towns and beaches called Captain Cook. Oh my god. That's so awful. 

From our hotel room we saw orange clouds over the bay sort of sunset. 

We had a late dinner by the bar downstairs of our hotel.

 

Day 3 (6/12/2025)

Slept in alright. Woke up to head to the Salamanca market. Sampled heaps of chocolates. We had grilled sausages for late lunch. Grilled octopus. Then it rained on us. Tried on a few beanies. Very soft and warm to wear. I got myself a grey one. Finished off with coconut almond meringue. Yum.

We went back to the hotel to dry off and rest up before going to Fico for a multi course Italian fusion dinner.

 

Day 4 (7/12/2025)

Woke up early for a tour. First drop off point was the tall trees in Mount Fields then down the small slopes to see Horseshoe falls and Russell falls. They had an accessible route to Russell falls for people living with a wheel chair. Amazing! The visitor information centre had a fire place. I loved warming my hands there and so did everyone else. Ha! Sis and I did not wear our thick jackets on, as we thought it was might be sunny, only a bit of sun peek through the clouds. 

The second drop was the Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary. We got the chance to pat unlimited amount of kangaroos! Oh yeah baby! So many adorable birds here too. So chatty. The Tasmanian devil fell asleep after a glorious day of being feed. It slept on its back with a smile. Same goes for the wombat on the side. The rain came down with tiny white balls of hail. Oof. Luckily, we hid under shelter next to the gift store.

The third drop off point was lunch at the old town Richmond. I had scallop pie, lavender ice cream, honey cake, and lavender chocolate samples. I got myself a steam punk gnome and it was made locally. Bloody cool looking little fella. Hee hee.

The fourth drop off was on top of Mount Wellington. Definitely, colder than the city and Mount Fields. I left Sis in viewing room and proceed to the deck. The view of the rain over the city was cool. Then I went to the various decks to look at rocks. One of the viewing deck had uneven rock paths. The easier one looking into the back of Mount Wellington was much more accessible. I went back to the viewing room to find Sis, but she had left for the toilets with nice views! I went to the bus as the 40 minutes was nearly up. The rain proceed to bucket down on us right then. Ha! I made it into the bus within seconds.

The fifth drop off was back home. We felt tired but Sis wanted a dose of retail therapy. I went and got her jacket for her. We had dinner close by and had an early nap.

Day 5 (8/12/2025)

The weather was much sunnier and we went on tour to Mount Wellington by trike. Julius was our driver and tour guide was fabulous. We had the chance to go the windy road in an open vehicle and got to smell the fauna and spring water. When we reached the top of the mountain it was windy as can be and Sis got the chance to walk down to the deck. The wide open views from the mountain is very incredible. We drove down to Strickland falls and had a a short break then pass by the Cascade brewery. I highly recommend this tour to everyone.

Dinner was disappointing. The lower area and past the where the Salamanca market is held has so-so restaurants. We went back to the hotel's bar for a cheese tasting board.  Sis loved the chedder and blue cheese.

 

 

 

November 2025

Castlemaine was a lovely place to take time off. Slow travel was a nice way to travel and what a great retreat. We were blessed with sunny weather. The antiques shops were in abundance and were fun to rummage through. We got to reminisce old times. The weekend had pop up markets and they were well organised, highlighting local produces, live music, pies, and second hand goods. I think, I ate too much. Giggles.


Work

Damn, I was gaslighted by executives and outsourced consultants. They refused to hand over CSV files with raw data in every meeting. Geez. We are suppose to be a data driven organisation, and not go make up stuff.

PoGo

I have managed to score two hundo tea cups and a costume teddy during the Halloween event. Pretty sweet if you ask me. 

The Wild Area event saw the safari balls losing its grip to hold down might pokemon. The flee rate was higher than anticipated, much to dismay of the players. Many players did not come back for a second round on Sunday. They simply gave up. It was only the last 15 minutes of the day was there heaps of hound might pokemon. Oddly enough many of the hundo were XL than XXL compared to the previous year. 

Sadly, I have already hundo copies of the all listed mighty pokemon. Last year, I have caught a shundo Galarian ponyta in the wild. Another would be nice, but a waste. It is definitely a bonus to get a shundo Tyranitar, which was bloody awesome. 

Tip: use spacial rend effect to reach might pokemon in drift prone areas. 
 

Dating

I am so not in the mood to put up with indecisive men with patriarchal views.

October 2025

How we like to remind ourselves is constantly put at peril. Software platforms change everyday, some supersede so faster than others, and it is hard to catch up. Because of that, I have come to own several digital caves. I really do not recall where I have left a digital document at times. I am so in need of a daily ledger. 

 

Work 

Everyone is pushing for AI to be in everything. I'm concerned about the environmental damage (heat and water pollution/usage), and what data are we giving to these BIG databases inadvertently? So far, MS' Copilot (AI) meter charges all internal organisation search across all their plans. How Interesting. I'm learning.

With more little nuances to have collections are maintained and retrieved, I have begun to create a mini referral knowledge on my device with using cloud computing, as they have a habit of going offline more and more these days. Patrons have no patience with dealing with staff. Some have come to compare us to AI chat bots. My way is more accessible and definitive. Plus, I can use to refresh my knowledge and not have to dig through digital ocean of files.

I tell the patrons, the more documents you feed those beasts, the more verifiable information they have on you, so much that they can replicate you, make withdrawals from accounts and apply for loans under your name. If not you, your loved ones. So, please stop uploading personal information into AI chat bots. We staff cannot salvage such damage. Not even ID protection services cannot help you. The key is you have consented to the harvest of personal information. 

 

PoGo

I got accused by a long time PoGo acquaintance for not taking at a timed research ending in 8 days seriously. Ugh. 

Why would I care about 48,000 XP, when I am already on 600 million XP. Eh? Talk about awkward. The player went radio silence then proceeded to say, he does not have the resources to reach my numbers. 

Dude did not work on his XP for years until the game makers decided to say you have until 15th October to get the legacy jacket. A jacket. Is that all? But he praises another male player for getting to 400 million XP. Talk about sexist! 

This player does not want to mass evolve to level up, he does not want to do 1 free raid daily, he does not want to buy a gotcha to auto catch pokemon, he does not want to do spotlight hour/dinner raid hour/ community day/free raid days. Dude! What the hell. Lazy as fuck.

When I got home. I got accused my sister for telling her about ELITE 4. There is NO such bullshit group in the PoGo version that my friends and I play on. She goes on and on how the Twitch streamer she is following mentioned Pokemon has ELITE 4. Sigh. So not on the same platform. Idiots everywhere I tell ya. Talk about apples and oranges.

 

Dating 

Men are in love with AI generated models and actresses at the moment. They say they want, desire, and hope to find that AI lady in-person one day, as they have worked hard and deserve such beautiful women. I can't help but giggle and end the conversation asap. This is the reason why BIRTH RATE is dropping by the day. 

I have learnt my sister harbour hate towards her family members, the people she knows, people she vaguely knows, and strangers on the street all because the men in her life were unwilling to give her a romantic relationship. I really do not think it was reasonable to "hate" everyone else for those men failures. Moreover, I'm no psychologist by a long shot. I now know the story behind those crazy old ladies yelling at people on public streets. 

 

September 2025

As time goes by, I find human trouble themselves with mind boggling questions such as, will people like, why don’t they choose me, why am I not perfect… Ah, you do know those people have other concerns and issues, and they probably forgot about you. It happens. So, not worth dwelling on or wasting away your whole day(s) waiting for these people to contact you, when it could be days, months, or even years before they remember to reply back to your last text message.

If it is business matter, I’d follow the proven method: email first, send a MS teams message, a telephone call, then a in-person drop-in. 

The last one tends to send shivers down people’s spine every time. They feel accused, which they are, as I am holding them accountable for their actions. If you waste my time and dime, and I will take you to the banks. No one gets off scott-free. Everyone gets a lesson for life.

Time is the one commodity you cannot buy back EVER!

 

Work
Most of the DEI projects are on hold atm. From simple posters to all gendered toilets. Yet the Prahran Mechanics Institute has all gendered toilets. 

I am learning to use iPhone shortcuts to build audio recordings. This way I do not have battle with noise in poor audio recording environments (staff areas). 

Pogo
I am loving the suburb communities. I get to pat dogs and make funny faces at babies. The chats are good, bragging here and there, of course. Less intensive compared to city raids.

August 2025

It is a little bit warmer now. I can change onto a lighter jacket on sunny days. When evening approaches that's when you start to feel the cold air. 

 

Work 

We have a few more colleagues retiring this month. This include the head of the board and the CEO.

 

I was chatting to mom one evening. She was talking about work and work prospects from the past. What my mother was unaware of while she was employed was that the company she was working for was producing outdated undergarments, and they were accumulating debts. As a child, I refrained from expressing my concerns, despite my observations. However, as an adult, I felt compelled to comment, “Why didn’t you consider pursuing alternative employment opportunities?” 

She said she could not see herself working anywhere else, as she felt had some sort of privilege and respect, well until the day she was let go when several staff made a complaint about her. I suggested to her, "the company was dying, they were probably looking at ways to let of staff the legal way, no?" She nodded. 

Mom asked, what about your work place? I replied, we have gone through a major restructure prior to COVID 2020 and my whole team was abolished from the start. We had to apply for other jobs and go through interview process. Some of us, did not make the cut. 

Mom poked further, she asked, will you be retiring from there? I replied, "it all depends on how things goes, playing by the ear at the moment, since several teams has had micro restructures take place earlier this year". Mom asked, "can't you stop these things?" I said, "no, down sizing if a fact of life". I told her, life is about struggling for the best, look for prosperity, never give up and sulk. Better to skill up and move on.

I think mom is worried about where money is coming from. I said, soon it will be AI doing all the work online and we will all be out of work. Terminator future looks more promising than ever. I feel sorry for the ocean and rain forests dying from server's heat generating machines across the globe (mainly North America).

Pogo

I have been lucky with some of my hatches resulting in hundo new pokemon. Plus, a few dyna max trades went well too. Most interesting one was getting a hundo monthly Go Pass. Unbelievable luck. Lately, a few more players have gone casual. The content no longer appeals to them. Despite with the new management throwing weekly events and new shinies at us. I try to converse my energy to a few aspect of this game. I no longer raid for pokemon I have hundo already in my bag. 

 

Family

Bro was concerned that there were no rich people going to shopping malls. Um. Why would I care? I do not own a shopping mall. Running a business requires good strategy not just door stats. At the end of the day, that is not an issue worth clouding my brain. 

 

Dating

Not existent. Men prefer perfect skin ladies. My little rash on my cheek seems to deter many suitors at the moment. Oh well. Mind you none of them smell nice or look nice either. But hey, even when you are not picky, someone else is picky. lol.  

 

 

 

 

 

July 2025

Winter is impacting laundry at home. I cannot wash my thick clothing without needing to use a dryer. Ugh. And here we are trying to cut back on our dependence on electricity.

  

Work 

Everyone wants a piece of the generate AI for efficiency. We are beginning to see people made redundant by the day. So far, some "Gen AI" have taken over the field of writing reports, creating charts, coding, bookings, and managing online orders. Physical services not so much. Handling fragile items takes time. 

At present, it cannot resolve, instances of fishing citation such as searching for newspaper article when a patron cannot recall the title of newspaper, the date, or journalist is like looking in a needle haystack. And no, there was no digital index for rural newspapers to date. Now apply that to most of the reference questions people come up with. Good puzzles, but no easy solutions or answers.

Some "Gen AI" chat bot apps would hallucinate in order to please their human. Humans now want us humans to verify these citation generated by "Gen AI" chat bot apps. 

 

PoGo

I have some luck, but some tasks are long winded and take a long time to complete during these rainy and cold days. I could do some and quit on most. The end point is located in the weird off the road, which makes it difficult to complete without getting off the tram or getting out of a car. So, not convenient. 

 

Coding

Not doing a whole lot. I'm learning to play with input and variables in shortcut app. Also, trying out some commands used in Mac's Terminal. 

 

Health

I did not know how much my poor knee was in need of collagen.  I mean, we keep hearing about fish oil, omega 3, glucosamine, etc. However, after having consume a shot of the collagen mix over the course of a week my knee feels has started to feel much more robust and pain was short lived when going down the stairs. Interesting.