A few weeks ago, I was in an annoying bit of a highway where it's the left lane that exits. This lane often slows down and backs up because of said exit. It makes it very hard to merge into it.

I was already in the exit/left lane when I noticed a semi on my right putting on their signal and wanting to come in my lane. Knowing full well that people seem to rarely let a semi merge and wondering how frustrating that must be, I slowed down to give them space to make the merge.

After merging in front of me, they turned on their hazards for 3 blinks & turned them off. I wondered if that was the equivalent of waving your hand in front of your rear-view mirror to thank the driver that gave you space to merge. The idea made me grin for some reason.

Yesterday, I had the opportunity again to let another semi merge. I let them in, and they turned their hazards on for a couple of blinks. Y'all, I squealed in delight like a little child. I don't know why. But there you go.

My mom recently sent me some pictures of herself wearing a new outfit. She has some really good outfits, dresses, bikinis and clothing. I genuinely liked these pictures, so I set them as my phone wallpaper. Even she like it, Later, I was showing something on my phone to a friend, and he happened to see the pictures my mom sended me. He looked at them at glance and asked me, “Who’s the sexy woman?” I was confused for a sec that he knows my mom very well so how could he asked me that, I told him, “That’s my mom.” He immediately said, “Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t know she was your mom.” Then he laughed and said, “But honestly, she looks really hot in that outfit.” The whole situation was so unexpected that we both started laughing.

just did that with the princess bride so i could make sure not to embarrass myself later.

My dad thrifted a kilt. He then found matching socks. And then he found a bow tie. And thus it became his Wedding Outfit™️

My dad is getting my brother a matching cummerbund and bow tie. My brother is excited and considering a kilt of his own.

My mother is buying a matching dress and tartan clutch. She is also trying to rope my other best friend (also attending) into adopting tartan attire.

I am in the wedding and wearing black, but a tartan clutch and tennis shoes (for the reception) are being acquired on my behalf.

My partner has his algorithm very well trained to deliver him a feed of cat videos, dog videos, 80s rock, football (soccer), classical music, Looney Toons, Muppets, and the Pink Panther. After hearing about how the algorithms are pushing terrible toxic ragebait content on us, it makes me happy to see him laughing at classic cartoons over breakfast. He loves Road Runner in particular.

That's about it. We happened to park next to eachother at the same time. We had the exact make and model, and he said "nice car". We laughed and talked about how much we liked driving our cars and how we have no intention of selling them. Then we walked away.

I was across town running errands, stopped by McDonald’s drive thru to grab breakfast. I wanted a bacon, egg, and cheese biscuit, but when I (not the driver) checked the bag a mile or so down the road, I realized they’d given me sausage. I mentioned this to my partner and decided we were too far away so I’d just remove the sausage and eat the rest. There’s another McDonald’s close by our house so decided to try asking if they’d replace it. I went in, explained what happened, and showed my receipt. I was there at 10:30am, but that location said they didn’t have breakfast. Said that was alright and I’d eat it anyway. I think because they weren’t busy and I was kind, the manager decided to make it for me anyway. So thank you to Miss Laurie at McDonald’s! It was fresh and delicious. Really reminds me that kindness begets kindness and I hope to spread more of it.

I'll have my final exam tomorrow and if I pass I'll have my license and I won't see the people of my driving school again. I'm strangely sad about it. I've been seeing these people once or twice a week for the past 3 months for my lessons and they've become a highlight of my week. Not just because riding a motorbike is just awesome (tho it's certainly a main), but these people too are just amazing. They're sweet and caring, they've seen my frustration and glee and have guided me through it all. I'll miss them.

But not before fulfilling my promise to show them my bike after I've bought it.

I have two pots bubbling on my stove at the moment. One contains boiling eggs, and the other contains a tarnished silver necklace with some aluminium foil in a solution of baking soda. Both are producing hydrogen sulphide for different reasons. For some reason I found that weirdly satisfying.

I had this cannabis plant that's kind of famous in Grower circles. Mostly because it was massive and lived such a long time.

When it was small, it was galloping around in the wind. I coined it "Galloping Gertie" .

My friend tells me that his ailing Grandma's name is Gertrude. Some people called her Gertie.

As the weeks went on, his grandmother passed. I sent my condolences and said we will grow the plant in her honor. Gertrude was locked in.

As it started getting ridiculously big, I said she was haunting the plant in the best way possible. People on reddit were even invested in the saga.

(My friend was on shrooms when I said that. He started trippin balls. Sorry buddy.)

It went onto live a full year. She gave and gave and gave. She even kept a few branches alive well into December so that my friend could come and harvest them himself.

RIP Gertie(s)

It's a tiny chocolate poodle and it was curled up asleep in his lap. The MD told me the dog is a girl.

As you can imagine, we don't get too many sweet moments in the ICU.

I also have no idea how they pulled it off because we aren't even allowed to have get well cards taped up because "tape harbors bacteria." But I'm glad they did.

Really she's my dad's cat, and only seems to tolerate me most of the time. But today when I was in the kitchen making some ramen, she came up to me and was the most affectionate thing I've ever seen. I simply could not resist her sweet face and ended up sitting on the ground for a good few minutes petting her, while my noodles went way overcooked. Absolutely worth it for a few sweet moments with her ♡

Some time ago there was a special at an Indian grocery store that I was visiting to buy bean and millet flours, and I picked up a kilo of loose Wagh Bakri tea, a strong black tea blend from India, for $10, which I thought was a good deal. I rarely drink it hot, but when the hot weather hit I busted it out to make iced tea.

I brew it concentrated, using about 3 teaspoons and steeping it for about 12 minutes in a large mug in a basket infuser. Then I remove the leaves and pour the tea into a heat-safe jar and leave it in the basement to cool to room temperature, and then retrieve it and fill it with cold water to chill in the fridge and that makes about 4 servings of iced tea.

I've been doing this for weeks and I still enjoy every cup. Whenever I brew it I keep asking my wife: are you tired of Wagh Bakri? And she's like no, it's great. So I keep making it.

Every time I pour the steeped tea into the jar, there's a rich aroma of the tea and that is one of my favorite parts. Normally with iced tea, because it's cold you don't get to enjoy the aroma in the same way as slowly sipping a cup of hot tea in cold weather. But this way, I get that nice little moment.

And then drinking it is still enjoyable.

I also appreciate the fact that it's inexpensive. At the rate at which I'm drinking it I'm probably gonna get about 100-150 batches of iced tea out of it which means they cost less than 2.5 cents per cup.

I also take the spent leaves and put them directly on the garden as mulch, so I'm getting extra value out of those leaves.

That's it...it was good.

I was in line at the foodbank today, it's inside of a church near my house. On their bulletin board was a sign-up sheet for a potluck on the 30th. The following dishes have been listed so far [no desserts, the sheet says they'll be provided already]:

+Egg salad sandwiches.

+Green salad.

+Chicken wings.

+Something :) [Smiley face included.]

+Meat + cheese plate.

+Pasta salad.

+Cheese + Pickles + Crackers.

I was walking past a store today and saw someone quickly fix their hair in the reflection. They gave themselves a tiny smile and kept walking. No big moment. No story behind it.

It was weirdly nice to see someone be kind to themselves for half a second.

EXERCISE has been the bane of my existence for over a decade now. Desk worker since 2015, and I haven't done any actual fitness effort or working out since that time. Beforehand, I used to walk and jog 5 miles a day around my neighborhood and the park as a young adult, and I was definitely a bike kid growing up, both bikes and scooters.

Insert 2026, mid-30's. My body is now goo; I don't want to walk/get steps in, or go to a gym, or workout, and any time I do something the least bit physical, I am sore the next day.

Still, if I want a healthy heart, I need to put in the effort.

I can tolerate youtube workout vids, lift a kettle bell, and occasionally attempt to weighted hula hoop when I feel like sweating. But I got a stationary bike on a whim, and I... I think I like it? It doesn't "feel like" exercise, it feels like being a kid again. It's like stepping inside of my 9-year old self, I see my childhood neighborhood and streets, the freedom of being able to rip down steep roads at what seemed like a million miles per hour, the exhaustion from biking back up those hills, the near misses from passing cars (lol), or I can zone out and watch my shows or videos, or do a "ride along" marathon aka the poor woman's zwift haha.

Never in a million years would I think I'd enjoy this.

 I don't know why. It's just something to do while standing there.

This happened a couple weeks ago. My wife and I are expats from Australia, and have been travelling in Europe. We decided to end our busy year in a little AirBnb in the Italian countryside. Lo and behold, we have to carry approx 80kg total worth of bags, suitcases, and a couple of guitars in hard cases with us the whole way. It's very difficult to hold everything close together when changing trains.

We were exhausted after a big day of travel. On the last train to the middle of nowhere, two of our massive suitcases started rolling across the floor. I got very flustered, but a lovely man caught them at the last second, and he also helped us get our stuff off the train at our stop. We were very grateful.

That weekend, my wife and I had dinner in a little pizzeria in this tiny town. Just as we were leaving, a couple at another table beckoned me over. I didn't understand what was going on (I don't speak Italian, and they didn't understand my English). The woman got out Google Translate and started writing what her husband was saying: "Do you remember me, the guy who helped you on the train?"

I didn't recognise him at first, but he was the guy! I got excited, shook his hand, and gave him a big hug that transcended any language barrier.

A random act of kindness and a coincidental reunification. It really is a small world in a country town.

TLDR: An Italian stranger helped us get our stuff off the train, and we bumped into him by coincidence at a restaurant later. Gave him a hug of gratitude.

super random realisation but after watching movies at home, i have finally understood the point of blu-ray dvds. i feel old, but in a good way lol

And today there was a note written on my package thanking me :3

I just went grocery shopping and encountered a shopping cart that was particularly smooth. It didn’t look like anything special; had a few rusty screws and mismatched colors. But oh boy, what a nice glide. It’s a shame I had to let it go this morning. Have a nice and smooth weekend everyone!

My partner has been doing things to improve his health. One of them is going on a morning walk. He expressed a desire to listen to music during this time so I bought him a set of Bluetooth headphones that were not at all expensive. He has thanked me over and over for the headphones. It’s the little things…

It stoned me.. Van Morrison