Janine The Barefoot

Wacky Norwegian Woman
Huzzah!!! Here's to guys like me, in their 40s, who still wear shorts and backwards ballcaps!
I'm so glad you got that in the way it was intended. I don't want to come down on anybody or tell them how to dress or give directions on anything. But I've been a size 16 and am now about a 4 and at every size I've been I tried to take pride in how I looked and dress the body that I had, not the one I imagined!

:emoji_kiss::emoji_dancer::emoji_hugging: Well damn CS.... I can't find you a cool guy with a ball cap.... that just ain't right! Have a crown... :emoji_prince: you rule my world!
 

ant-mac

Member: Rank 9
And as I recall, you're in Australia where that would be nice and comfy!
It's all relative, Janine.

It still gets bitterly cold for most Aussies during winter - especially for those who live in the southern states. While we might be able to tolerate temperatures of 40C or more on a regular basis during summer, once it drops into the low teens - or less - during winter, that's pretty cold for us.
Up here in the Pacific Northwest, it gets cold, wet, rainy and snowy for much of the year and shorts would be just too cold for me!
There are parts of Australia that get cold, wet and snowy too.

Up north, they divide the year into two seasons - the wet and the dry. And of course Australia is known as the land of droughts and flooding rains...

Over east there are the Snowy Mountains, however they only live up to their name in winter. And I've already covered winter.

By the way does it ever get up around 46C or 47C where you live? :emoji_wink:
 

chainsaw_metal1

Member: Rank 8
I'm in my 40s and I wear shorts all year round
I used to, but as I've gotten older, I can't take winter anymore. It can get to -30F in winter with windchill. And in summer, shorts are a must when it can get up to 100F or higher, plus humidity. Unfortunately, I have to wear black dress trousers to work, so as soon as I'm home, I peel them off and throw shorts on.
ave a crown... :emoji_prince: you rule my world!
Yay! I'm finally like Jughead!
 

Janine The Barefoot

Wacky Norwegian Woman
It still gets bitterly cold for most Aussies during winter
OK... so you have no feeling in your legs or your fashion sense is more important that common sense (because I can't think of any other way to describe someone who lives in a climate that goes from so hot to so cold without changing pants).... I can get behind that. I went Uni with a guy who wore shorts year round too and we used to rib him to death... he joined in by the way, we didn't just insult him out of hand.
By the way does it ever get up around 46C or 47C where you live?
Truthfully, our summers rarely hit over 110F and even then never for much longer than a week to 10 days. But we struggle with it as, in general, it's not a climate we've much experience with and therefore little tolerance for. I used to spend a month or so from late June to late July with a friend who lived in Arizona each year. Because it was the dead of Summer the average temp. was about 108F on a daily basis with regular forays into the 120s "just for fun".... and then of course the monsoons would hit!

But honestly, my memories of life in the desert are still some of my most beautiful. I know that many people find it desolate and the heat unbearable but I always found it full of life, stunning in it's vistas and Arizona itself a magical state with a number of different biomes occupying it that made for a place that was always changing and always worth watching. So I learned to acclimate to the heat, look at cacti with the awe they deserve if you know their history and what it takes for them to survive and I learned to survive blast furnace heat that in some parts of the state, could suck the air out of your lungs when you got out of the car.

Although in the end, I would still prefer to retire to New Mexico (Albuquerque and/or Santa Fe) which has a climate a bit more moderate, stunning mountains, desert vistas and the beautiful old city of Santa Fe which is a tiny miracle of land with the remains of old settlements, a stunning old church with a staircase carved out of one solid piece of wood and made out of local clay.... and an artistic community to rival any I've seen. They even have week-end "swap meets" (which hardly does the grounds and products justice) where you can go to find virtually anything you can imagine. From hundred year old Navaho jewelry to Haute Couture knock-off purses, to all kinds of work by local artists to Kewpie Dolls.... it's magical, miraculous and in a way.... a kind of "Disneyland" all on it's own.

So while I don't have the experience of Australia, I'll defend your right to wear shorts to your death if need be (although I still think it just a bit "touched") and love the idea of it's countryside and climate as much as is possible for a person who has never been there.

:emoji_kiss::emoji_dancer: And dancing bunnies for the desert (where you can still find them in Vegas!) :emoji_dancers::emoji_dancers::emoji_dancers::emoji_dancers::emoji_dancers::emoji_dancers::emoji_dancers::emoji_dancers::emoji_dancers::emoji_dancers::emoji_dancers:
 

duzit

Member: Rank 6
Outside of the occasional DWM and some of the comics, I don't have any collectibles. Other than a TARDIS and Dalek salt & pepper shaker set I got from a friend after my mom died. Again, this is down to being poor and DW collectibles being so flipping expensive here. Plus, you can only find them at comic shops, or going online, so the availability of them is an issue. Still, I would love to have a collection of the figures and the box set with all of the sonic screwdrivers.

And since posting this, I came across something cool. Not as huge money maker, but something I'd love to have, since I only have the reprint in trade form. I might have to bid on this.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Doctor-Who-...269441?hash=item2f025f6641:g:HvUAAOSwN6JY-iLn
The item is marked as "SOLD", are you the lucky owner?
 

ant-mac

Member: Rank 9
OK... so you have no feeling in your legs or your fashion sense is more important that common sense (because I can't think of any other way to describe someone who lives in a climate that goes from so hot to so cold without changing pants).... I can get behind that. I went Uni with a guy who wore shorts year round too and we used to rib him to death... he joined in by the way, we didn't just insult him out of hand.
Actually, you pretty much picked the exact opposite to the reality of the situation, but never mind... :emoji_wink:

Around 2006 or 2007, something went seriously wrong and I began to suffer chronic pain in my left leg 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. After a while, a cocktail of very strong drugs - including OxyContin and Nurofen - brought me mild pain relief for brief periods of time. Eventually, the worst of the pain subsided after several months. However, before it did, my left leg became extremely hot and extremely sensitive to touch, so wearing long pants was simply out of the question. So having lived through one winter without long pants, it simply became a habit. Last year, exactly the same pain returned in exactly the same places for approximately two solid months without relief...

Also, when it comes to fashion, I've never really cared about that sort of thing. I never really had a clue about it and I never will. I have always worn what was comfortable or practicable, not what was fashionable. In any case, the fact that I am now in my late forties means that ship has definitely sailed now and will not be returning - at least not in this current incarnation.

I'm glad you enjoyed yourself in the USA, but you might want to wait until they've replaced their current POTUS before you return. Personally, I have always abhorred the desert - and most of the interior of Australia is desert. To me, it is dry, barren and ugly. Of course, as far as I'm concerned, much of Australian flora and fauna is either freakishly ugly or just freakish. I much prefer European flora and fauna - or what is left of it. I like forests, mountains, streams and lakes. I also don't mind rain-forests and savannahs. I like greenery - and Australia is known as the wide brown land - which I think is simply a polite way of saying that it's covered in shit.

Oh well, such is life... :emoji_relaxed:
 

ant-mac

Member: Rank 9
Outside of the occasional DWM and some of the comics, I don't have any collectibles. Other than a TARDIS and Dalek salt & pepper shaker set I got from a friend after my mom died. Again, this is down to being poor and DW collectibles being so flipping expensive here. Plus, you can only find them at comic shops, or going online, so the availability of them is an issue. Still, I would love to have a collection of the figures and the box set with all of the sonic screwdrivers.

And since posting this, I came across something cool. Not as huge money maker, but something I'd love to have, since I only have the reprint in trade form. I might have to bid on this.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Doctor-Who-...269441?hash=item2f025f6641:g:HvUAAOSwN6JY-iLn
I know what you mean about expensive. We have the same problems in Australia,

I once pain $65 for a single five inch DOCTOR WHO figure...

I've spent literally tens of thousands on my toys over the years.
 

Janine The Barefoot

Wacky Norwegian Woman
Around 2006 or 2007, something went seriously wrong and I began to suffer chronic pain in my left leg 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. After a while, a cocktail of very strong drugs - including OxyContin and Nurofen - brought me mild pain relief for brief periods of time. Eventually, the worst of the pain subsided after several months. However, before it did, my left leg became extremely hot and extremely sensitive to touch, so wearing long pants was simply out of the question. So having lived through one winter without long pants, it simply became a habit. Last year, exactly the same pain returned in exactly the same places for approximately two solid months without relief...

I do understand chronic pain (not yours specifically but my own for which I've been on meds for 20+ years now) and know that that, more than anything else in life, has the power to dictate not just how you live your life but why you live it the way you do. Because everything quite literally everything becomes about management and it's success and/or failure. Struggling through years of trying to get the right mix on ones particular "drug cocktail" is also an exercise in both patience and your personal pain threshold both of which can easily come off the rails while you feel like you've been waiting since the beginning of time for somebody, anybody... to get something that will finally work. So to be living with chronic pain in a landscape you don't particularly like, much less love.... well, I just can't imagine how you do it and I won't add any more than what I've said because I don't want you to think I'm being disrespectful of your situation in any way possible.... I'm just sorry and that's all.

:emoji_kiss:...... just the kiss because anything else feels like it would be inappropriate.
 

ant-mac

Member: Rank 9
I do understand chronic pain (not yours specifically but my own for which I've been on meds for 20+ years now) and know that that, more than anything else in life, has the power to dictate not just how you live your life but why you live it the way you do. Because everything quite literally everything becomes about management and it's success and/or failure. Struggling through years of trying to get the right mix on ones particular "drug cocktail" is also an exercise in both patience and your personal pain threshold both of which can easily come off the rails while you feel like you've been waiting since the beginning of time for somebody, anybody... to get something that will finally work. So to be living with chronic pain in a landscape you don't particularly like, much less love.... well, I just can't imagine how you do it and I won't add any more than what I've said because I don't want you to think I'm being disrespectful of your situation in any way possible.... I'm just sorry and that's all.

:emoji_kiss:...... just the kiss because anything else feels like it would be inappropriate.
Oh it's actually fairly easy...

I stay inside. :emoji_wink:
 

Gavin

Member: Rank 6
VIP
Up north, they divide the year into two seasons - the wet and the dry. And of course Australia is known as the land of droughts and flooding rains
I've long been an advocate for changing the timing of our seasons. Instead of having three months each season, a more accurate reflection of our weather would be Summer from November to March, Autumn for April to mid June, Winter from mid June to the end of July, Spring from August to October.
 

ant-mac

Member: Rank 9
I've long been an advocate for changing the timing of our seasons. Instead of having three months each season, a more accurate reflection of our weather would be Summer from November to March, Autumn for April to mid June, Winter from mid June to the end of July, Spring from August to October.
Or we could just skip Spring and Autumn.

The change from warm weather to cold weather - when it comes - always seems to happen within a period of about 48 hours.

One day I'm using a fan or the cooler and the next thing I know, I'm using a bloody heater.
 
Top