Luke Hand Diary

What a day! 6 AM train from Warrnambool. Some nice views of dawn as we were leaving town. Mist in the paddocks and that. Was feeling a bit agoraphobic on the train and thought about coming straight home, but screw that! Got to the apartment and checked-in. Woman was on the phone to the manager about a bad review they got about the check-in process, and kept me waiting for like 5 mins while they discussed this. Bit weird. Was nice once I was checked in. A little space like that would be cool to live in. Man, East Melbourne is so nice. The spectre of Sophie and my past life looms large though. Met Caroline in the park for an L&P and plum picnic, and then walked to yo-chi for fro-yo. Very good! Nice to hang out with Caroline. Probably the first civilian outside of a pretty small bubble that I’ve spoken to socially in a year a more? Was cool. Then, walked to Abotsford convent. Met Eleanor and took a stroll. Bumped into Jason and he let us into some cool spaces. One had these beautiful stain glass windows. So shiok. Lovely to chat with Eleanor a while. She’s similarly unsure about Get Back. Had to rush off from that meet up to get back to yo-chi to meet Luyuan. I was flustered from walking all day and being late and looking like crap, so I was a bit less cool than I’d hope to have been. So great to meet an internet acquaintance again. Hadn’t done that in a while. They were super-cool. I told them again that I wish they’d do a podcast because I love their speaking voice. We had fro-yo, then walked to and around the cemetery. My phone and watch lost battery at this point so is got no credit in the fitness app for this walking. Hope I wasn’t too stalker-ish towards Luyuan - I had a lot of questions about things they’d posted about over the last couple of years. Haha. After parting from Luyuan, I walked another several kilometres back to the apartment. Got a 400 Gradi pizza from the Tribeca IGA because I thought I’d be too tired to go out for dinner on Victoria Street or to Hollywood Hill. Got home and realised that the apartment didn’t have an oven! I ate a bunch of chips and chocolate charged my phone and watch. Really sucked not having battery when I wanted to be out and about! I kind of forgot that one could sign-in manually at places, so I felt basically locked out of everywhere. Ha. Did some urban-swiping on the dating apps. Very different to the scene in Warrnambool. Interesting! Very nice day. Very grateful that such nice people took the time to meet up with me and hang out. Mood: 7.5. Energy: 7.

😇😰🙂😆😴🥰

Tuesday, 28th December 2021.

Booked Melbourne travel and accom for tomorrow. Pedicure, walk with the girls (including baby [niece]). Posted a podcast. Hit trees like sonny bono, and then laid around for the rest of the day (don’t think that caper is for me). Good pizza for dinner. M: 3.5. E: 2.5.

Moods: fine, silly, cautious.

Got a new jawn from Good Guys. Maccas breaky. Did some dishes. Did some other chores and housecleaning. Day flew by. Watched a movie. Tended to my dating apps a bit. Did my nails. Not an eventful day at all really. Body temp: 37.4. Blood pressure: 134/80. Heart rate: 89. Blood glucose: 5.3. M: 4. E: 4. 😐😠😑

Ugh. 🤦🏻‍♂️ Slept in ‘til past 11. Felt like a bear with a sore head. I think Christmas might not be a good time of year for me, emotionally. Didn’t eat until afternoon when I popped around to [cousin’s]. Plate of leftovers hit the spot. Drove a bit. Huge headache all day. Oh man. Better day tomorrow hopefully. M: 2.7. E: 3. 😴😠😪😐

Hmmm. Up early. Cooking for Xmas lunch. My items turned out alright, I reckon. Fairly big lunch. Drank way too many booze-free drinks. Also partook of a joint. Not sure that I felt any effect tho. Glad that gran made it. She had been unsure about being up to it. No perceptible dramas between anyone, as far as I could tell. Long day. I was given the Paul McCartney Lyrics book. Looks awesome. Hmmm. M: 3.5. E: 4. 😐

Got coffees and takeaway foods. Bought my niece four Bonds babysuits. Played with the cows a lot. Gave them a head of lettuce each for Xmas. Man, they’re nice. Talked with the neighbour about how nice it has been to have the cows out there. Cooked to prep for tomorrow. Lots of cloves, nutmeg, and cinnamon. I played around with settings on my phone and realised that I had switched my audio to mono at some point. Switched that back. Was cool to listen to stuff in stereo again! The clouds were great all day today. Lots of layers and different shades of different shaped and textured clouds. Looked like an Iliegh Hellier [[@ilieghhellier](https://instagram.com/ileighhellier) on Instagram] sky at some points. Lovely. I’ve found myself thinking about matters of the heart pretty often the last week or two. I feel like I’m on the precipice of thinking about something differently or something - but I think I need a nudge. I’ve got a movie queued up to watch that’s supposed to be quite a tear jerker. That might be cathartic and get me blubbering and in the headspace to work out this new angle for thinking about my love life (or love in general). We’ll see. Big day tomorrow. M: 4. E: 4.

Quiet day. Great fish burger for lunch. Did dishes. Played with the baby. Bit of a crew over for dinner. Headache. Rode the motorcycle a bit. Fed the cows. Should have been more mindful and present through the day. Bit grumpy. M: 4. E: 4. 😐🙂😑

Up early. Play with [niece]. Long walk to Gallo bakery. Been wanting to get there for lunch for ages and it did not disappoint. Yum. Rode the Vespa. Just lazed around. Put a bike together for a kid’s Xmas gift. Couple wines and dinner with mum and [sister]. M: 4. E: 4. 😐🙂😇

Work. Left alone mostly. Quiet day. Last real day of work for the year. I had a few more holds of Madeline [niece]. She’s got a cute smell! Tired. Still friggen windy. So annoying. Really unpleasant to be outside with that wind. Cows were mooing a lot today. Break begins in earnest tomorrow then I suppose. M: 4. E: 3. 😐

Work. Just puttering along. I should try to get better at my job next year. [sister], partner, and baby arrived from QLD. Cute baby. Slight baby smell. Will hopefully get more of a hold in the coming days. I had a covid scare through a fairly close contact. Bit of a worry. Probably not completely out of the woods yet either. Possibly spire throat. Hmm! Good dinner and hang with the visitors. M: 4. E: 4. 😐🙂😍