Libraries & Op Shops

Quick stats for this last week (and change):

• 41.9 mi / 67.5 km walked (my max single day so far is 10.2 mi!)
• ? mi biked since my phone doesn’t track that but I am *loving* being back on a bike again (also love that it’s a relatively flat city)
• 4 movies watched
• 2 books read
• 7 plants bought (I just love coming home to greenery)

Since internet is still the last utility outstanding (it gets set up THREE weeks after I ordered it), I’ve been spending lots and lots of time in local libraries, for internet and air conditioning and the like. I love libraries so it’s not too bad but I wish I had prepared for that and ordered it as soon as I signed my lease!

Pretty thankful for it though, as it’s how I was able to keep my Oscar tradition alive and I could stream the show and the red carpet show. I was quite the display with an iPad, macbook and iPhone all in use for those few hours. I’m extra glad that the time difference worked perfectly for open hours! (It played local time Monday at noon. Talk about perfect.)

This year I watched 45 of 52 nominees (87%) but the more I watch, the worse I do in predictions. I finished this year with just 13/24 (54%) correct. I’m pretty happy with my misses (Olivia Colman is a delight!) but sad about Green Book wins. Sigh. It was just… decent, but not Best. Guys. I was so happy about the Black Panther and BlackKklansman love.

French Film Festival starts here tomorrow, so the next year begins off with a bang! Some decent selections so I’m excited to try a few of these out. The real haul will be at the Melbourne Film Festival in August. Cannot wait!

These last week had a crazy hot streak, where it was 3-4 days in a row of sweltering 90-100F days. I stayed in one day just cause it was too hot (ironically, it felt too hot for me to leave to hit the swimming pool). Just stayed in and Netflix binged (I download episodes at the library, then watch them at home). Watched Salt Fat Acid Heat, The Crown, Sex Education, Daredevil and Wanderlust. If you have any recommendations, throw them my way! I’ve got lots and lots of time to watch things these days.

Op Shops (opportunity shops) are thrift shops/2nd hand stores that are plentiful in my neighborhood (there’s one on every major street really). I’ve been hitting them up a few times a week and slowly stocking my place up (especially for kitchen items). They’re gold mines! Found a few great picture frames for a few bucks each! It’s like treasure hunting. My place is going to be mostly Op shop-sourced, ideally.

I’ve made up for a dearth of meat pies in the beginning and caught up nicely this week. They’re harder to find in Melbourne since folks are kinda too fancy for that. I have to go hunting a bit to find them, but I’ll happily hunt those down. There are some pretty fancy shops that do them, which I don’t need, but I’ll take them all. The most consistent one to find are the traveller pie (designed for optimal single-handed consumption) at 7-11. Not knocking it but I miss places like Queensland where pie shops are everywhere!

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Hosted my first people at my place! We are entering a Survivor pool so I had to watch the show! It was lovely to have others in there, and helped me realize I need to own more than just one mug. Baby J did great and it was great having a little baby in there. Soon more TV and movie nights!

Also, more visitors! Justin & Joe flew thru Melbourne on their way back to visit family in Adelaide (I’ll join in a few days!). I’ve honestly eaten more in the past three days than I have since I’ve gotten here! And I haven’t been shy with eating on my own, but phew, these last few days were SO food-filled! Malaysian feasts, seafood spreads and fancy cocktails. Not complaining but I haven’t been this consistently stuffed in a while.

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Excited to do some Aussie exploring, so I’ll report back on Adelaide next week! Tasmania is coming up at the end of the month too. Liana’s coming next week too! YAY!

Until next time!