Aussie Readers discussion

@Dale yeah it is a bit....but ohh wells...they don't like to make it easy for u..,I was going to switch health company's but the lady at hcf advised against it at this point bc I would have absolutely no cover....who knows...I'm thinking I'm just going to have to fork out the thousands to get it done...bc of the black disc and all...dramas dramas lol...thanks Dale much appreciated:)

@leonie thanks :)

Ps and welcome back :D

Queen of Randomness (AKA Kristen) wrote: "Ps and welcome back :D"

Thanks :)

Welcome home Leonie :) Glad you had a wonderful holiday! No skiing accidents to mar the fun?

Hi Leonie, lots of people here in HK have been shooting off to Japan for holidays too, I'm a bit envious. What did you get up to for 2 weeks?

Ace wrote: "Hi Leonie, lots of people here in HK have been shooting off to Japan for holidays too, I'm a bit envious. What did you get up to for 2 weeks?"

Hi Brenda and Ace!

We had a great time, with no accidents beyond a slight twist to the reconstructed knee on day four. A little swelling, and a few sore muscles only :)

Japan is lovely! We spent three nights in Tokyo, three in Kyoto, two in Hiroshima and seven at Hakuba (skiing).

I could have spent heaps longer in Kyoto. It was fascinating - so many shrines and temples, and we were staying in the Gion district in a traditional ryokan, (or inn). It's the old capital of Japan, and is a fascinating fusion of modern and traditional.

Hiroshima was very moving. We spent most of one day in the Peace Park and the Peace Park museum. I'm still coming to grips with some of that.

Tokyo is fast paced, modern and full of trains. We also rode several bullet trains which are very comfortable and extremely fast.

Hakuba was just beautiful - cold, snowy, and spectacular. And our hotel had an onsen, which was just wonderful.

Kristen- do you have Mid Plus or Mid Hospital cover? If the latter, what date did you join the cover? Did you recently (within last 12 months) transfer from another health fund or upgrade your cover?

Welcome home Leonie, good to see you safely home.

☼♄Jülie wrote: "Welcome home Leonie, good to see you safely home."

Thanks, Julie :)

Leonie wrote: "Ace wrote: "Hi Leonie, lots of people here in HK have been shooting off to Japan for holidays too, I'm a bit envious. What did you get up to for 2 weeks?"

Hi Brenda and Ace!

We had a great time, ..."

Everything you did sounds wonderful Leonie! What an amazing experience for you :)

@Alik I was under mums so when I turned 21 I went to my own...but they advised me multiple times that I would be covered bc it would work like a continuity of cover...but now there telling me that I have to wait up until March...and I have mid hospital...bc they told me not to bother with top hospital as everything I needed would b covered under mid...mums dealing with it for me bc I'm just too stressed out ATM...I only learnt today of the surgery so bit overwhelmed.

Leonie wrote: "Hi Everyone!

I've just got back from two weeks in Japan - what a beautiful country! Looks like everyone's been pretty busy while I've been away. I'm just catching up on all my Goodreads notificati..."

Welcome back Leonie. Glad you enjoyed your trip.

Welcome back Leonie. Sounds like an excellent holiday:)

It was an absolutely excellent holiday. Sometimes you're ready to come home from a holiday - this time we just wanted it to keep on going. I have some beautiful photos. I'll attempt to put one or two up shortly.

Leonie wrote: "It was an absolutely excellent holiday. Sometimes you're ready to come home from a holiday - this time we just wanted it to keep on going. I have some beautiful photos. I'll attempt to put one or t..."

Can't wait to see them

Is anyone else looking forward to the Me before you movie https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eh993...

Michael wrote: "Is this based on the Jojo Moyes book Melissa? Looks good, will have to keep an eye out for it. :)"

It is indeed Michael :)

Michael wrote: "I did not even know it was coming out Melissa. Hopefully it will be released at cinemas when i am on holidays. I wish all movies would be universal releases like when the new Star Wars one came out."

That would be a great idea, Michael. Have you seen the star wars yet.

Also, how's your weather these days? are you still melting over there?

Michael wrote: "I sure did Melissa and really enjoyed it. Was a busy January for me with watching movies at the cinema's. Along with Star Wars i also seen Suffragette, Carol, Spectre, Room and Spotlight. Want to s..."

I really want to see Suffragette and Room . However, I shall wait until they hit DVD as being in a dark theater sets of anxiety.

Ew 35 degrees

Welcome back Leonie! Sounds like you had a great trip :)
Was the skiing good?

The skiing was wonderful, Carolyn! And we had snow in Tokyo, Hiroshima, and even a touch in Kyoto before we went to Hiroshima, where there was something like 30cm one day :)

Leonie - Welcome back :) Glad to read you had an awesome trip! Japan is one country I'd love to see at some point.

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Oh so tired..Kinder has been full on and the class was staggered out into two groups. I've met both boys I'll be working with...I can see this year is going to provide maaaany stories for me.

I also saw the kid i used to work with and he doesn't usually say hi without prompting...However, he saw me first n had this massive grin on his face then said "Hi Laura!" and held up his hand n we high fived...Was a truly magical moment..Haha! We were walking in opposite directions too..So, that's why it was wven more amazing.

That's wonderful Laura:) A definite high moment...so glad he's doing well!

Melissa, a cinema theatre gives me some weird sort of claustrophobia and makes me anxious. I wasn't like this when my DH and I used to go, so it's a going there alone thing that does it for me, I think. So you are not alone there! I wait for the dvd to come out too!

Laura My eldest sister spent five weeks in Japan last year with her husband. When they came back, she just raved about the place. In fact, she wouldn't shut up about it, lol:)

Hi Kristen, it sounds like your Mum's cover didn't include spinal fusion surgery. Therefore when you've joined your own cover (where it is covered) this is an upgrade in cover and waiting periods will apply. If you have an existing medical condition that wait will be 12 months, therefore why you'll be covered after March. Health insurance can't adjust premiums based on risk factors like life or car insurance ( eg, smoker, age, gender) so the government allows health funds to impose waiting periods for new members or upgrades. If they didn't, everyone would join pay a couple of months premiums and then claim on $50,000 operations which would cause premiums to skyrocket even more than they already are. I know it doesn't help you but hopefully you'll understand the "why" now. No use shopping around as the rule applies to all health funds. Good luck and I hope you get better soon...

Why didn't I do this before??? I just added Overdrive to my iPad and went to my local library to find out just how many fantastic ebooks I can borrow for free! Wow. And I have been wasting money buying them:(

Good for you Phrynne! Do they have a big range?

I recently did this too Phrynne - Overdrive doesn't work well with out library, even though they say it does even the librarian couldn't get it to work right - so I use Borrow Box. It is great and I don't even have to get wet going to the library at lunch time!!!

Not all the books are electronic - but there are lots!!!

And there are audio books to

Phrynne wrote: "Why didn't I do this before??? I just added Overdrive to my iPad and went to my local library to find out just how many fantastic ebooks I can borrow for free! Wow. And I have been wasting money bu..."

I have this on my phone to borrow e-audio books. Its great. Although my library still has a bigger selection of audiobooks on CDs they are getting there :)

There is also OneClickDigital app which my library prefers and says that most libraries use it, allowing you to nominate a library to order from online, and Audiobooks which has loads of free audio books including most of the classics.

Ooohhhh..This is all interesting...I've never heard of this before...I may need to look into it. However, I think I'll need to join it cause I've never been a member....

B the BookAddict wrote: "Melissa, a cinema theatre gives me some weird sort of claustrophobia and makes me anxious. I wasn't like this when my DH and I used to go, so it's a going there alone thing that does it for me, I t..."

I am glad i am not alone.

Besides, with a DVD you can snuggle in your jammies and be comfortable.

Melissa wrote: "B the BookAddict wrote: "Melissa, a cinema theatre gives me some weird sort of claustrophobia and makes me anxious. I wasn't like this when my DH and I used to go, so it's a going there alone thing..."

Just go in a onesie or however they are spelled...I'm sure people do..then you can just snuggled into that..lol

Admittedly I've never been to the flicks alone...Feels like an odd concept to me...It's like a must be done with friends or family....But I hate how much they charge so I just don't go.

Sally906 wrote: "I recently did this too Phrynne - Overdrive doesn't work well with out library, even though they say it does even the librarian couldn't get it to work right - so I use Borrow Box. It is great and ..."

My library uses both Borrow Box and OverDrive but I could not get Borrow Box to download. OverDrive seems to be working well though. There are loads of titles available:)

☼♄Jülie wrote: "There is also OneClickDigital app which my library prefers and says that most libraries use it, allowing you to nominate a library to order from online, and Audiobooks which has loads of free audio..."

I will keep that one in mind if I need to go to other libraries although OverDrive does have availability at lots .

I think social anxieties affect my being at the cinema alone. It's that age old thing of feeling left out because everyone else is there with someone, and you're by yourself. Kinda like 'nobody likes me' syndrome. I feel very exposed and vulnerable if I'm there alone.

Also, I come out of the cinema with a bad case of 'shrieking tinnitus' that can last for weeks afterwards; not good:(

B the BookAddict wrote: "I think social anxieties affect my being at the cinema alone. It's that age old thing of feeling left out because everyone else is there with someone, and you're by yourself. Kinda like 'nobody lik..."

Not worth it in my opinion if you suffer tinnitus after. That would stop me from goimg.

Yeah, totally not worth it if it brings out the tinnitus :/

I have 3 days in a row off (weekend plus public holiday - Mon)...After a full working week i almost don't know what to do with myself..lol

Except I'm back in school myself training so i might start the journal even though i haven't met my teacher yet!

Lol! Could be seen that way xD Officially I only work 3 days a week but I'm always on the books for relief work which I enjoy because it keeps my hand in the upper childhood area (getting to know the older kids,etc).

Oh how annoying not knowing what is going on with work Michael! :/ Seems like there is alot of unrest there? But yes try as best as possible to put that in the back of your mind :) Enjoy that meet up as well :D

well, this fitbit thing is interesting: I didn't need it to tell me I didn't sleep that well last night (figured that out all by myself!), but it is interesting to know just how many steps I take at work. Quite a lot, as it happens.

And I always take the stairs when I can. But it's easy to cheat by flicking one's wrist, and it seems to calculate going up hills as staircases. I suppose the same effort is involved.....

Also interesting to see what my heart rate gets up to during exercise.

Michael, there is a small display which tells you, with successive presses or taps, time, steps walked, heart rate, km walked (or run, I guess, but I don't), floors climbed, calories and alarms. Those are real time. But it holds all that info so when you sync with your smartphone, tablet or laptop, you get all sorts of graphs of your day's activities.

So a watch, pedometer and quite a bit more. Like even how long you sleep and how many times you are awake or restless. Yeah, don't ask me how it figures that out!

Michael wrote: "I think the technology it uses to work out what activities you perform is to do with the devices sensors. It is quite amazing stuff. I am amazed when phone knows when i am resting and walking or ru..."

I looked at my fitbit this morning and it was surprisingly very accurate. It even picked up when I was awake during the night.

A bit of a blustery evening in Vancouver today. I feel quite chilly. Perfect evening to cuddle in.

Michael wrote: "Quite a warm one here in Adelaide today for the start of my holidays. Have the AC on now and will most likely do the same tomorrow."

At least it is holidays and you can get into some reading :)
Is Adelaide one of the hotter cities in Australia usually?

Michael wrote: "Yes it is Melissa. My home state (South Australia) is the hottest and driest in the country and we here in Adelaide get our fair share of the heat each summer. I remember one summer I think this wa..."

Oh dear, that is brutal Michael. I am glad you didn't melt in 2009.

Michael wrote: "It was Melissa. I have no idea how anyone would be able to cope without AC in our Summer."

Lol, our temps in summer gets to 25 and very very rarely 30. We don't know how we would live without AC either.

Basically, I think Canadians should go into hibernation for the summer :p

Marianne wrote: "Michael, there is a small display which tells you, with successive presses or taps, time, steps walked, heart rate, km walked (or run, I guess, but I don't), floors climbed, calories and alarms. Th..."
Think I would rather not not know
how long or how little I sleep, Marianne
Ac couldn't do without it.

Dale, I didn't get it for that, that just came with it and the first time I looked at the sleep part, I was amazed at just how accurate it was. I thought, yes, that's when I got up to go to the loo, etc.

I got it to see how many steps I do and what my heart rate does. Technology! they did say we'd have computers on our wrists. Dick Tracey wasn't so far fetched at all.

Michael wrote: "That seems a bit creepy for me knowing that my phone knows that sought of information about me. Maybe I an old tin foil hatter but I keep thinking the sought of organisation that could be receiving..."

That's not so 'tin foil hatter', Michael. It is creepy to think that something on the internet is going to know each and every one of our physical movements. No fitbit for me.

All this fitness obsession seems just that to me, an obsession. All that sinew and those massive thick necks on guys is just not attractive. Are people getting ready for the apocalypse where they will need to run for their lives, or what?

Oh, Bette, the last thing I want is sinew and a massive thick neck! I just want to preserve my health , mind and body, so I continue reading well into very old age: I have books enough to last me way beyond that!

Exercise and food, I know what to do there, but I was interested to see what my heart rate variation was, after reading Cure: A Journey into the Science of Mind over Body, and I had no idea what I wanted for my birthday, so a fitbit nicely solved that.