Both of these days were do nothing days although not really as I needed a break to do my 2 page Life Admin To Do List. The sun has been out both days but I have not ventured out. There is no Masterchef to watch either.
Everything has been happening so fast. I just had to make a To Do List up and so far I have completed about 70 % of my To Do List. At the moment I am trying to catch up with my blog as well as I am 3 days behind.
I can't go into details of what I have been completing and ticking off on my To Do List but they are quite major things. Some things I will share, others will have to wait in case they fall through.
I may have mention this already but I posted off my second letter to a senior citizen I have been matched up with as part of my remote volunteer work and emailed my volunteer manager to advised that I have done so. I hope my new "pen pal" receives my letters.
Other things dealt with today - notification received of change of contact in relation to my remote volunteering by email.
I took my rubbish out on Wednesday but still haven't done my laundry.
I made a nice breakfast for myself on Wednesday of a thick Spanish style omlette with 2 eggs, cream, left over corn beef , cheese, corriander, onion, capsicum, cherry tomatoes, shallot, pepper, chilli flakes on 2 pieces of wholemeal bread - toasted them up. So yummy!
Sorry bad photo looks like vomit but look closer and its actually a piece of toast covered with corriander shallot tomato corn beef capsicum cheese on a red patterned plate.
Today ( Thursday) I am making a vegetable soup with left over vegetables in my slow cooker. It was tasting a bit flat but after adding some fennel seeds, it tasted so much better.
I still have to start on my 2019/2020 tax return as I just confirmed my appointment I booked with my tax agent several months ago for 13th July 2020 - confirmed and advised him of how different my return will be this financial year with a list of changes but I forgot one very important thing the change from non tax free threshold to tax free threshold meaning there will be no fat refund this financial year and hopefully I have paid enough tax to cover what I should have paid for the entire financial year. Other changes include LSL payout, JobSeeker payments received, private health insurance waived for 3 months, unemployment for 3 months etc etc...
Caught up with watching YouTube and checking my YouTube channel. Watching the Food channel only whilst doing everything else. Watching YouTube for about 20 - 30 minutes a day gives me some relief from everything going on not just in the world but my current situation being unemployed especially for so long and trying to constantly find work , thinking about being on welfare support for so long and what happens when it reverts back to the minimal $565 or so per fortnight after the Corona virus supplement ends as well as what happens if you get caught up in another Centrelink robodebt type situation and have to fight it as well as financial stress such as constantly thinking whether I end up with a tax liability after I complete this year's tax return. I also watch the food channel constantly as I find I can concentrate on most things better with it on in the background. I constantly remind myself that I am lucky to have what I have and that there are always people worse off then me. Yes you do get depressed from being unemployed for so long but you have to keep going and constantly find ways of relief to prevent youself from spiralling in to deeper depression so watching a daily YouTube video or 2 is one of my daily reliefs.
Other things I had to do was email Telstra that I am still receiving SMS to advise me that I have used up my 15 Gb of data for the month and charging me $10 per each extra 1 GB over this when I should have 30 Gb per month data now. I still don't know how I can be chewing through so much data as I am currently using the free WiFi in my apartment block. I'm not watching Netflix movies!
I also followed up on my private health insurance as my 3 months waiver due to financial hardship expired on 29th June and I have not had a response from them as to whether I can extend that for another 3 months as a total of 6 months waiver on membership was advertised due to financial hardship on Facebook. If they won't offer this to me being a loyal customer I will have to retract my compliment I posted on Facebook about my private health insurance company and move my membership to another private health insurance company. In the mean time I paid $60 just to cover me until the end of the first week of the new financial year. I did get an SMS from my private health insurance company just a day or so ago saying my cover is now due on 8th July 2020 - just as well I made a payment for temporary cover! Ok another thing to tick off my To Do List- request for evidence of financial hardship sent via email to private health insurance memberships ( I forwarded a letter from my previous employer advising the termination of my employment) as I don't have a letter from Centrelink to advise memberships of me receiving JobSeeker payments ( everything is done online now). Response received an extra 3 months waiver has now been granted expiring 16th October 2020.
I then rang one of my super funds - to get to speak to someone in regards to not one specific question but several I had - you had to select so many options before you even get through to a human I think I must have selected 10 options on my phone's keypad before finally reaching a human to ask my questions to and get real answers. All I needed was my super details to forward to an employer and bpay details in the event I decide to make personal contributions into my super fund. I also asked about Income Protection Insurance and whether I could transfer from my current Income Protection Insurer to my super fund. Finally I asked about the increase fees for Life and Total Disability Insurances which are automatically deducted from super contributions. I have not requested these insurances to be removed from my super fund as I don't actually have any with my other super fund and discontinued Total Disability Insurance with private health insurance company many decades ago replacing it with my current income protection insurance. I lost quite a few super funds in the past as the funds in these super funds were eaten up by these insurances which were automatically deducted and I was unaware that they were a default of these super funds. I actually had duplications of these insurances as each super fund had Life Insurance and Total Disability Insurances attached to them as default insurances unless you request for each of them to be removed. Now I have consolidated all my super funds into just 2 super funds each with a different type of investment but both allowing you to add your own contributions into. One super fund is like a retirement savings account where you can't access the funds in it until retirement age ( usually however due to the current COVID situation you can apply for an early access of funds from your super fund due to financial hardship) with no insurances and minimal fees attached , the other is an investment super fund with insurances attached to it which also has administration fees. Therefore I only have 1 set of insurances now with no duplications of them anymore. Super sorted for now.
Return of signed document in regards to my grandfather's estate. which I missed. Hopefully missing documents now complete.
I still have to complete the apparently 5 hour online training session for a position I applied for. Hopefully I will do this tomorrow and complete it so I have my weekend free. Have sent amended super fund details and missing emergency contact information to Payroll Department of Myer by email today
I just paid my weekly rent due this week today so I don't forget tomorrow with everything going on.
Must take rubbish out , do laundry, grocery shopping , return faulty mattress to Target, return bottles to return and earn and recycle batteries at Aldi.
I think I have done enough Life Admin tonight. Time to go to bed.
Oh I forgot to mention, I received yet another response to my Made Redundant Looking for a Job advertisement on Gumtree - I am unsure if this was another scam or genuine job offer so I probed a little more into it. When I responded to someone named " Andy " asking for more information about the job ie tell me a little more about the job. I received a very short 1 sentence answer something to do with needing someone to visit art galleries art exhibitions etc for clients who request the purchase of art pieces. When asked to tell him a little more about myself I responded not with any personal details but a more general background of myself such as how I won an art competition at university once decades ago and love art except life drawing and how I attend heaps of art related exhibitions and that I have a YouTube channel. His response after reading my response was wow then he asked what my YouTube channel was under and I cut him off at that giving an excuse that I was currently trying to work on uploading a video on my YouTube channel at the moment - which I sort of was but was working on my blog not my YouTube channel so not really lying just diverting. I am unsure if I am ready to give "Andy" any further details about myself - sounded like he just wanted to chat. Ummmmm.....How do I know he's not a another scam artist or predator???? He was taking up a lot of my life admin time so I had to end the emails via Gumtree to him.
Friday 3rd July 2020
Because I went to sleep at around midnight last night, I slept in a little this morning and first thing I did was laundry and take my rubbish out followed by breakfast of a chocken and cucumber sandwich, cup of tea and some blueberries.
I also started on my tax return and tried to do my training course online however did not get past changing my password as the My Learning tab was blank. I only have 5 days to complete it and it takes 5 hours of my time to complete. I tried twice to start it but both times the tab was blank. I gave up and started my tax return instead as I have a deadline completing that before my appointment with my tax agent. I am beginning to have second thoughts about accepting a casual job offer ( and it is only a job offer at this stage - you can't actually start work until you successfully complete the 5 hours of training online and pass the assessments with an 80% pass). I did want to work but now I wonder if there is something more suitable for me out there as this is only a casual job and the pay is less then my previous job. I should not be picky as there are more people looking for work then work available currently and this will remain the case for a long time into the future. Deciding whether to continue with my little back and forth emails via Gumtree to Andy.
I finally caught up on my blog. The photos took the longest to upload and my blog kept crashing again. I have not uploaded my YouTube video of the Walk Through Tour of the Space gallery yet. Maybe I should keep this as a flash back video to be uploaded in the future when the Powerhouse Museum actually closes completely and relocates to Parramatta.
Watched the first episode of the Living Room. Not much else on. May continue with my tax return tonight before going to bed.
Just a quick update on the analytics of my blog - it looks like I am averaging around 10vreaders a day but I could be wrong as the analytics are always behind. Not a bad start to the new financial year.
Saturday 4th July 2020
HAPPY 4TH JULY TO ALL MY AMERICAN READERS OUT THERE!
I didn't wish anyone a Happy Canada Day previously as I don't seem to have many if any at all. Soon it will be Bastille Day for any of my French readers out there - I am a liitle disappointed this year as there will be no Bastille Day celebrations in Sydney and no Christmas (in July) Markets in The Rocks either that co inside with these Bastille Day celebrations. :(. The French Film Festival is on but it is still an online event I think which is not as fun as actually going to a cinema and watching a French movie. No I am wrong - just went online to check and they are working on the ticketing and conditions of this years annual French Film Festival still which looks like it is going to run from 14th July - 4th August 2020.
I still have a bit to do on my tax return but I have progressed with it. There are still bits of information I am waiting on - last night I tried to go online and log in to obtain some dividend information and the system was offline therefore will have to try again today. Still have not tried to go back in and attempt my online training.
I really need to go out today - it has cleared up outside and is a beautiful sunny day. I was so itchy yesterday and overnight - woke up and it was raining and looked like it had rained in the very early morning as well. My very first but brief stop was to Priceline to buy some more antihistamines - I could not decide which brand to purchase but ended up purchasing a 60 pack of Claratyne because it was the best value and one of the largest packets available. I usually take Zertec and also a generic Priceline brand which also works well but unfortunately both were much more expensive for a 60 pack and it is also good to change antihistamines now and then as you build up a resistance to them if you take the same one over a period of time making them ineffective. This 60 pack should last me a few months.
I finally organised myself to venture out today - I actually had to because I had to return my faulty air matress to Target for a refund. I also had to do a return and earn for my 3 bottles for recycling. I then headed to JB HiFi because I could not be bothered to go all the way to the closest Officeworks by bus outside of Chatswood to buy a USB hub or spliter and a proper keyboard for my stupid Microsoft Surface Pro as it's keyboard no longer works. I couldn't decide whether to get the smallest genuine Micosoft keyboard with s side numeric keypad or just get the smallest genetic keyboard with a sidd numeric keypad. I decided in the end to purchase the last Logitech generic keyboard with a side numeric keypad and mouse. I didn't need the mouse as I already have one but all the other keyboards were far more expensive and larger and not all had a side numeric keypad. The price difference between the smallest Microsoft keyboard with a side numeric keypad and the Logitech closest equivalent was $79 verses $39 - so i went for the cheapest one as I am unsure how long I will continue to put up with my Surface Pro I have dubbed almost right from the beginning the worst tablet laptop I have ever purchased - I have had so many problems with it. I got sick or returning it to the Microsoft store for technicians to look at it. Very quick purchase of keyboard and USB 3 hub and splitter.
Onto Coles supermarket for my final grocery shop. Whilst grocery shopping I had some rather weird encounters. At Coles Westfield Chatswood I bumped into on of my first cousins who I haven't seen for years with her eldest daughter who is now 12. At first it was a " you look familiar. Do I actually know you?" look we both had then we recognised each other - it did not help that I had my mask on and she could only see my eyes. We had a chat to catch up whilst her daughter was getting impatient because she did not know who I was and my cousin had to explain to her that I was sort of her aunt. I asked her about if her mum had volunteered for the art gallery as I had forwarded my expression of interest to volunteer there and how the rest of her family were. So it was good to catch up with her as she thought I had moved out of the Northern suburbs - well I sort of have, half of me still is in the Eastern suburbs but I haven't gone back for a while yet. On my To Do List. For all my readers who think I reside near Chatswood - only 50% of me does.
My second encounter at Coles was a little weird although not direct. There was an older man with long grey hair that looked like the sort that lived an "alternative" lifestyle which could have been a hippy, bong smoking, and I hate to say it possibly KKK beliefs who was constantly pacing up and down the aisles of Coles in a rather agitated way whilst constantly mumbling things to himself outloud and this continued for quite a while. You could not understand exactly what he was mumbling as he passed you. When he passed me I ignored his mumblings until I heard a young guy yell out towards him as he paced and mumbled past him "What did you just say?!" I then asked this young guy " Was he being racist?" and the young guy responds to me with " I think he was and I wanted to punch him!" Oh dear that would not have been a good sight and I'm glad it did not eventuate. "Some people are just so rude" I said out loud as other people in the aisle also witnessed the older man's mumblings as he paced passed them.
Onto my next encounter at Coles. On my shopping list was a missing item I could not obtain on my last 2 shopping trips. Can anyone guess what this item may be? Coles has reinstated their 1 packet per customer limit on it again and boy are Coles just as strict about it this time round. If you guessed deja vu it's toilet paper, you are correct due to a second wave of toliet paper hoarding which has been going on. So as you have probably read I don't buy or hoard the plastic wrapped toilet multi packs - never did never will as I hate the plastic wrap around them and they are too bulky to carry home with all my other groceries - I only buy 2 single rolls a week of Woolworths or Coles brand individually paper wrapped toilet paper rolls. Today was the first time I spotted some of these rolls on the shelves of Coles ( none at all at Woolworths) therefore without thinking about limits placed 2 single rolls into my trolley and 1 packet of tissues before continuing with the rest of my grocery shopping. After completing the rest of my grocery shopping I then head to the checkout ( just as well iIdidn't use the self service checkouts). When the check out operator scanned my groceries through everything scanned except for when she scanned my 2 rolls of toilet paper. "I 'm sorry but you are only allowed 1 packet of toilet paper and you have 2" My response was "What?! I have 2 rolls not 2 packets of toilet paper!" WHAT THE F***COLES!!!!!!Does this mean I can only buy 1 roll of toilet paper at a time? I don't need a 4 or more bulk packet of toilet paper, just 2 single rolls. The check out operator was even amused and could not understand this ruling. No wonder there is a toilet paper shortage and toilet paper hoarding! Coles is actually encouraging people to buy larger packets of toilet paper rather then just buying what they need because you can't get what you need. Makes no sense at all. To get around the 1 roll per person rule, the operator was smart and put the other roll of toilet paper I wanted through as a separate transaction on it's own. I wonder if Woolworths is just as strict with their toilet paper limits including on their single rolls! I guess I won't know as they never have any toilet paper on their shelves!
These are the 2 individual single paper wrapped rolls of toilet paper I was trying to purchase from Coles where there is a limit of only 1 roll per customer limit - since when is 1 roll of toilet paper the same as 1 packet of toilet paper limit per customer ?
I finally managed to leave the supermarket behind and head home but I still have my supermarket trolley with my groceries in it with me because it's quicker to empty my groceries on the checkout counter back into my empty supermaket trolley then pack my groceries from the checkout counter straight into my reusable shopping bag. I stop with my shopping trolley in a random spot in the shopping centre snd repack my groceries from it into my reusable shopping bag. Just as I had finish an old man with a walking stick and gloves on comes upto to me and says to me "Good timing. Do you still need your trolley or can I have it?" I respond by saying no and that he could have it. I remove the wet and dry trolley wipes I still had in the trolley before giving the trolkey to him. I noticed he was not wearing a mask but did have gloves on and a cross on a chain around his neck. He starts talking to me about injuries from carrying too heavy things and about his injured back - I partially tuned out but he was obviously religious as he asked if I had any injuries and prayer for them it I did. I said no and when he introduced himsrlf and then asked for my name I just gave him my surname. I'm sure he is a nice religious person but you still have to practise the "stranger danger" awareness you learn as a kid even as an adult.
Bus home and unload my groceries. Wasn't feeling like doing much so watched some food chanbel and went to bed really early after having a light dinner of apple cheese basil tomato on crackers for dinner. I was planning to continue with my tax return but decided to take a break.
Sunday 5th July 2020
The sun is out again and I slept in. Another do nothing day? It's the end of week 15 and I am still unemployed.
11 am and I'm still blogging and in bed. I made myself a very substantial breakfast this morning around 8 am - a bowl of rolled oats with a peach and mango yoghart, chopped up apple, cloves, cinnamon, LSA and a touch of dark molasses followed by a wholemeal chicken schnitzel sandwich with spinach leaves, cherry tomatos, cheese, mixed herbs, avacado and ground black pepper finished with a cup of black tea.
I love my food so much - healthy stuff not processed stuff.
One thing I haven't been mentioning in my blog is my problematic fridge. I have set it on a very low temp and kept an eye on the fridge thermometer I have kept in there since I moved into the apartment and for a few weeks now have been defrosting it which means placing a large tray in the fridge and letting the huge chuck of ice melt away gradually into it. I have to empty the tray every single day - sometimes twice. The freezer still has a few days to defrost completely and the huge ice chunk is still present but getting smaller very slowly. It may be another week until everything is totally defrosted. I can see very clearly now that the right hand side of the freezer definitely has a temperature problem - it has completely defrosted whereas the left hand side is still frozen and has a bit to go before it is completely defrosted. I am ok with the fridge at a lower temperature for now as the temperature on my thermometer in the fridge is still stable and remaining within the safe zone. I just have to keep an eye on the tray of water in the fridge aand empty it daily otherwise there will be a huge puddle of water in the apartment.
My blog crashed yet again so I am not going to retype what I just wrote just recorrect the typos.
I did not venture out today just ironed my clothes and maybe work on my tax return again.
No one has come forward still about the key I found in the washing machine in between the front loaders rubber seal and drum. My note is still on the kitchen wall.
Emails received today - application for casual position I applied for at Zara are now closed - I take that as an unsuccessful. Also an email in regards to my interest in volunteering at the MCA received notifying me that they are not recruiting for volunteers and don't keep names on file.
I watched Masterchef, did a bit more of my tax return then went to bed.
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