Building Up Tension

Welcome back to “Game Shifter,” where the stakes are higher, and the challenges are tougher! I’m Sam, your unwavering host, still here the whole time, ready to introduce the fourth round of this thrilling competition.

This round is all about building supplies. Brendan, Allan, and Isaac are about to put their architectural and engineering skills to the test. They must create a structure that is notonly stable but also aesthetically pleasing, using materials from a well-stocked hardware store in the Bayside area. This store is known for its wide variety of high-quality building supplies, setting the perfect foundation for this round’s challenge.

The task is challenging: construct a small-scale building that demonstrates both strength and style. They have 30 minutes to turn their blueprints into reality. The air is filled with the sounds of sawing, hammering, and the occasional exclamation of frustration or triumph.

Brendan is working on a miniature house, complete with a tiny porch and windows. Allan is constructing a model bridge, focusing on stability and elegance. Isaac is creating an artistic pavilion, blending form and function in his design.

As they work, it’s clear that the store for building supplies in Cheltenham has provided them with everything they need. The variety and quality of the materials are allowing our contestants to push the boundaries of what’s possible in this round.

The clock is winding down, and the pressure is mounting. Each contestant is giving it their all, knowing that this round could make a significant impact on their standing in the competition.

Time’s up! The structures are complete, and it’s time for the judges to evaluate. Brendan’s house is praised for its attention to detail, Allan’s bridge for its structural integrity, and Isaac’s pavilion for its artistic innovation. But only one can be the winner of this round, and that winner is Isaac, putting him in the lead ahead of our final round!

Stay tuned to see who will rise to the top in “Game Shifter” and what final challenge awaits our contestants. Remember, in this game, it’s not just about building structures – it’s about building dreams!

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Shattering Glass Expectations

Sarah had always been the kind of person to do the right thing, no matter the cost. So, when she discovered the negligence and disregard for safety at WindoSolutions Labs, she knew she couldn’t just stand by and watch. She decided to break free, vowing to expose the labs for their reckless practices.

Late one night, when most of the staff had already left, Sarah returned to the Labs. She knew the layout of the decorative glass labyrinth like the back of her hand. She had spent countless hours testing, working with, and, lately, living in fear of the labyrinth of tinted glass portals. But tonight, she planned to use it to her advantage.

She methodically worked her way through the maze of portals, careful to avoid the monitored areas. The office, a dark reflection of what commercial tinting businesses near Melbourne might have looked like, felt eerier than usual. The dimmed lights cast long, sinister shadows on the walls and floors, but she was undeterred.

As she moved further into the labyrinth, she encountered a section reserved for future window frosting for Melbourne businesses. It was designed as a privacy measure for conference rooms, but now, it served as a perfect cover for her escape. She slipped through a frosted glass portal and found herself near the heart of the labs – the main control room.

It was a risk to be so close to the nerve centre of the labs, but she needed to pass through here to reach her destination. She held her breath, hoping no late-night workers were present.

Luck was on her side. The control room was empty. She took the photographic evidence she needed and crossed the room quickly, soon out the other side. She was close now, just a few more portals and she would be outside.

After what felt like an eternity, she emerged into the cool night air. She looked back at the imposing building of WindoSolutions Labs, determination burning in her eyes. It was over for now, but her fight was just beginning. She vowed to expose the labs for their recklessness. She had escaped their dangerous game, and now it was time to ensure no one else would have to face the same perils.

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Compression Socks Stop

I stepped out of the changing room, a handful of shirts slung over one arm and an undeniably cool jacket draped over the other. My friend, Jake, looked up and nodded his approval.

         ‘Very nice,’ he said, slipping the phone back into his pocket. ‘All on sale?’

         ‘Of course,’ I snorted. ‘You think I’d be shopping here if it wasn’t a reasonable price?’

         He shrugged, already uninterested in everything I was about to say. ‘Hey,’ he said quickly, ‘do you mind if we duck into that shoe store across the road a bit?’

         ‘Didn’t you just blow your last paycheque on stupidly expensive shoes?’ I frowned, leading him towards the checkout.

         ‘Yeah,’ he admitted. ‘But it’s not shoes I’m after – my podiatrist recommended compression socks, to help with my feet aching.’

         I swiped my card in the machine and smiled my thanks at the lady who had scanned all of my shirts. She was still folding them into the bag, so I turned and gave Jake another frown.

         ‘Your podiatrist said you should get compression socks?’

         ‘Yep,’ he nodded. ‘Said it’s pretty common, all things considered.’

         ‘What things?’

         ‘You know,’ he rolled his eyes. ‘My age, my level of fitness, the amount of running around that I do.’

         ‘You work nine-to-five in an office selling insurance,’ I laughed. ‘And on the weekends you sit on the couch and play video games until your mum tells you to turn the TV off and go to bed.’

         ‘It’s one of the most common foot conditions in Melbourne,’ he said annoyedly, screwing his face up into a scowl. ‘Give me a break, would you?’

         Still chuckling, I turned around to thank the lady holding my bag again.

         ‘Have a great day,’ she said, in a well-practised manner.

         ‘You too,’ I said, also on auto-pilot.

         ‘It’s true, you know,’ she said quietly, as I lifted the bag away from her.

         ‘What’s that?’

         She snuck a glance left and right in the empty clothing store – then whipped her leg onto the counter and pulled up her jeans.

         ‘Are they…’ Jake asked meekly.

         ‘Compression socks,’ she nodded, seriously. ‘They’ll change your life.’

Posted in podiatry | Leave a comment

Fighting Family

Sometimes I really want to find another job. You wouldn’t expect to hear me say that, I know. How could the host of Australia’s uber-popular Family Fight not like his job? The thing is, you guys only see the good stuff. The very best of what we film. You get to see the epic, edge-of-your-seat moments when one family needs to get an answer right to avoid the caged tournament against the other family’s pet bear. It’s entertaining viewing, but what you don’t see is the thousands of episodes we film where absolutely nothing interesting happens.

Sorry, we just had a bad day on set, so I need to rant a little. Let me tell you a bit about an episode that is never going to be aired. We had the Smith family and the McGills against them. If I had a dollar for every Smith family we had on this show, I’d be a rich man. Anyway, everything started going wrong with the first round. We were going through the motions. We asked one hundred people this question, blah, blah, blah. The question was “Where might you find glass balustrades for Melbourne homes?”

Immediately Perry Smith slapped his buzzer and shouted his answer. “The moon!” Right then, I knew it was going to be a long night. The moon? You’d find a glass balustrade for use in Melbourne on the moon? This Perry guy was not too bright. Even if he meant Moon Land, the amusement park in Melbourne, that’s a terrible answer. What a dangerous place to put glass balustrades.

The next answer wasn’t much better. Teresa McGill had a shot next, and she said, “Wherever you get glass replacements. Melbourne homeowners should be excited!”

I actually wanted to hide when she uttered those words. Have you ever even watched Family Fight? That is never going to be an answer on the show. So yeah, that’s what I have to go through that you at home don’t get to see. The only consolation was that neither family guessed any answers right, so we had to go to Sudden Death, and thankfully there were no survivors. We only resort to Sudden Death in a desperate attempt to make the episode watchable, but let’s be honest, nothing could save this dumpster fire.

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Two Men, Waiting

‘Woah, is that new?’ Stu asked, sidling up to my ute, fingers hooked into his toolbelt.

‘Sure is,’ I said, adjusting my own belt. ‘Right off the lot!’

‘No way,’ Stu whistled, stepping back to admire the car. ‘How much did that cost ya?’

‘Too much, according to the missus,’ I joked, and he cracked up.

‘Struth,’ he chuckled, wiping a tear from his eye.

The building site was beginning to clear for the day, other tradies in high-vis filtering out and getting into their own respective utes.

‘So, uh,’ Stu said, a little too loudly, ‘what’s that, a standard ute tray?’

‘Uh, nah,’ I replied, flicking my eyes around nervously, ‘it’s actually from a place that does custom ute trays in the Melbourne CBD.’

‘Oh, uh… nice,’ he replied, stretching out an arm to lean awkwardly against the canopy, but pulling back once his skin touched the hot metal.

The ute next to us in the unofficial parking lot revved to life and peeled away, kicking up a cloud of dust that hung in the air. We started to cough, avoiding eye contact. Stu waved a hand in front of his face to clear the dirt, then noticed a light film of it had appeared on my ute canopy. He reached out to brush it off, and retracted his hand straight away.

‘Still hot?’ I asked.

‘What the hell is that, steel?’ he whispered, sucked his palm to cool it down.

‘Just an aluminium ute canopy,’ I said, nodding at the last few tradies wandering to their cars. ‘Completely standard custom feature.’

We stood in the silence for a couple more minutes, until we looked around and–

‘We’re alone?’

‘Thank god,’ Stu muttered, as I threw open my back door and pulled out two camping chairs.

Stu was already busy dragging out the tray table hidden in the ute bed and setting up two teacups next to his thermos. I brought out a plate of scones that my wife had made and set them next to the tea.

‘So,’ Stu said, as soon as we got settled. ‘Could you believe what Mike was wearing today?’

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VEEC Spokesperson

It’s been three years now since my boss made the transition from nuclear energy to solar energy. It was such a great decision. I remember vaguely mentioning at the time that he wouldn’t want to be one of those businesses that got left behind because it would look bad to our clients and consumers. I think that’s what got him over the edge. Even though he’s a stingy guy, he doesn’t want to be left behind. He’s too competitive.

It’s safe to say that the transition to a commercial 100kW solar system was the best decision my boss has made. He’s so happy with the decision that he even promoted me to a managerial position a couple of years ago. I was just trying to create a work environment that I could be proud to work in, and not only did I get that, but I also got a promotion. And the best outcome of this entire situation is that the company I work for is now doing its bit to help save the planet. How incredible. 

I would really like to start making a difference in other businesses too. Maybe I could start a freelance business as a Victorian VEEC spokesperson. I could go around to other businesses in Victoria and inform them about VEEC and how it is designed to help businesses who want to install large solar systems in their factories. I’m here to save the planet but by framing it the way I framed it to my boss.

People of power aren’t necessarily evil, but they care more about themselves compared to the planet or others. It’s the way it goes. You don’t get into a position of financial power by putting others first. However, with these government incentives, I think there is a really good chance that big businesses will take solar panels on board. 

Hopefully one day my dream becomes a reality.

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Solar System Park

I’ve been looking into buying my own solar system. No, not the kind that gives me solar energy for my house or business, silly! I’m in the market for an actual solar system in space! I see it as an investment, as solar systems are going pretty cheap at the moment. This is because we have no way to actually reach a solar system, so it’s basically worthless right now. But I figure that within the next decade or two, we’ll have the means to travel across the cosmos, and I can create my ultimate solar system: the Water Park System. That’s right, it will be a massive planetary solar system water park that people will travel to from light years away. Imagine a water slide but in zero gravity! That would be so awesome.

My dream all starts with finding a business offering commercial solar systems. I may have to search quite deep on the internet, but I’m sure I’ll find a seller eventually. Everyone is going crazy for cryptocurrencies these days, but solar systems are where the real money is. You’d be crazy to pass up this incredible opportunity. As long as I make sure that my solar PPAs are in order, I won’t have anything to worry about. Now, for those who aren’t experienced in the world of intergalactic solar, you might think I’m referring to solar power purchasing agreements, but in actual fact, I am talking about solar planetary planning authorisation. I have to get the proper authority to plan out such a big water park in a solar system, but I doubt it will be a problem. 

So, get hyped for the Water Park System, opening sometime in the next century. If I’m not around to open it, my descendants will be. I’ll make sure this gets off the ground and into space, even if I’m managing the system as a ghost!

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Custom Kitchen Robot

Today we are talking all about the kitchen design of the world’s most lovable robot, who Pixel Studios made an animated movie about: Wallet. Wallet is a very special trash-compacting robot that can see the future. That’s how they made the movie. They checked his data files and saw how the history of humanity is going to play out, only to discover a touching love story about two robots in space! We’ve managed to get Wallet as a contestant on That Renovation Rules, so let’s find out a bit about what the lovable guy is building for his kitchen renovation. I wonder why he’s even renovating a kitchen. Robots don’t eat food! Oh, and by the way, Wallet’s response is being translated by our Boop-to-Speech program!

As a robot, it is true that I do not eat food. Instead, I eat oil of any kind. Yummy, delicious oil. Give me all the oil and I will be one happy robot. The other thing that keeps me sustained is human happiness. I love to eat human happiness. One thing that makes humans very happy is custom kitchens, which is why I am designing a custom kitchen. This kitchen that is customised for all human needs will make humans very happy, which I will then eat. I will eat human happiness. Human happiness is the only thing better for Wallet than oil. I live off human happiness. This will be the best kitchen design throughout the Melbourne area, which will draw all the humans in and make them happy.

Well, that was quite the translation. Not to worry, folks. I’m sure that Wallet doesn’t actually consume human emotions like some sort of crazy robot. Certainly, it was just a metaphor about how his purpose is to make people happy. How would a rusty bucket of bolts even take emotions from somebody? It just sounds impossible. Anyway, I’m looking forward to seeing what this custom kitchen will end up looking like!

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Apology Flowers

I think my boyfriend may be onto me. He’s gone from acting sad and upset about a week ago to suspicious and on edge now. I thought my change in attitude would reassure him, but maybe I’ve let on too soon that I think our relationship is going to be fine. I never would have thought that would be a problem, if I’m being completely honest. 

I think maybe if I hadn’t read his blog without his permission then I wouldn’t be feeling so guilty. If I hadn’t read his blog then I would have just asked him honestly what is wrong and asked what I could do to help. But I can’t ask him because I’m scared of what he’ll say. What if he asks me point-blank whether or not I looked at his blog? I don’t know if I’d be able to lie straight to his face, but maybe his reaction wouldn’t be that bad because the blog post was really positive and saved our relationship. 

God, I hope the flowers I ordered for him arrive soon. I got him the best ground cover roses in Australia. Surely that’s enough for him to forget his suspicions and just be happy that our relationship isn’t on the rocks anymore. When I told him about how I was feeling, I told him because I wanted us to work on it, not just break up. So I hope that he doesn’t want to break up with me now, even though he has no proof of my indiscretions. I love him. I actually am worried about our relationship now. 

Oh, wow! I just got a knock on the door. I was filled with dread momentarily when I thought it was my boyfriend potentially coming over to break up with me. But it was actually the mailman. Apparently, my boyfriend bought me some salad vegetable seeds online as soon as we had our initial conversation. 

I’m going to call him and thank him profusely for the gift. Hopefully, that’s all I need to do to get myself back in the good books. 

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Stuck in sandals

This is going to sound so embarrassing but I have to tell the story to someone! Ordinarily, I could tell a friend or my family but my boyfriend will kill me. So instead, I will tell random folks on the internet. Basically, my boyfriend seems to be having a lot of silly ailments at the moment. Ridiculous injuries, tiredness, back aches, stomach aches, the works! His most recent ailment is ingrown toenails. Cheltenham has a specialist that is waiting to see him but at the moment there aren’t any available bookings and his ingrown toenail isn’t severe enough to warrant an emergency appointment. The sad part about it all is that he is in an awful amount of pain. The hilarious thing is that he can’t wear shoes as his foot is swollen and sore so now he has to walk around everywhere in open toe sandals. We had to go to a really fancy restaurant the other evening for my father’s birthday and I remember the host giving him a very thorough look from head to toe and questioning my boyfriend’s choice of shoes. The host looked so disgusted, it was hilarious. It was even more hilarious looking at my boyfriend dressed in a formal suit with sandals on.

I’m hoping there are podiatry appointments available near me so we can book him an appointment with a specialist sooner rather than later. Then he can stop embarrassing me by wearing sandals everywhere we go. He met my grandparents the other week for the first time and they thought he was some bum who refused to wear proper shoes in the middle of winter. That’s when I explained to them that he was only wearing those shoes because of his foot injury. They were a bit more understanding, slightly. But hey, Croatian grandparents can be stubborn!

Posted in podiatry | Leave a comment