12 DAYs of cHriStMaS...

hmm... what i did for christmas...

was working on THursday, christmas eve till quite late, trying to complete all the reports so I do not start the new year with a backlog of reports from 2009...
christmas day and boxing day... stayed at home with everyone, the weather was wet hence we decided to just sloth around at home... eat sleep play and watch tv... mich bought the xbox 360 and we played trivia and karaoke... the thing with trivia was that it was only movie trivia and not very exciting, prisy informed me that the other trivia game on playstation was more fun... and i did not know 3/4 of the songs in the karaoke game, and we decided to try hooking up her zune and it worked, but either we sing along with no lyrics or watch the actual videos but without the mics...

sunday... working at woolies, it was surprisingly quiet, i thought it would be busy seeing as how we were closed for 2 days... and went to watch avatar in the evening... it was really good... better than what i expected... i am glad that we got the tickets early cos it was packed that day... and watching in 3D was definitely worth it, but becos i had to wear it over my glasses, it was giving me a headache after a while, i had to keep alternating between not wearing the 3D glasses and wearing it... definitely would recommend everyone to watch it... i would rate it 9/10... it was that good...

monday was boxing day public holiday... it was pouring in the morning and did not really feel like going out, but have already confirmed meeting up with uni people for lunch in the city... ended up eating at ajisen... ate my unagi bento again... did not like the rice as it was mushy... it's really weird but everytime we meet up we were mainly talking abt work... cos i think all of us were that close anymore as compared to at uni, not that we were that close at uni, but we saw each other mostly everyday but now, everyone's working and only catch up with each other once in a while... and all of them brought their partners along, and it was really weird seeing yochi and anna with their partners... after lunch, we separated, and i went to hang at kinokuniya to wait for prisy... after that, prisy and i decided to go karaoke at kmix... initially wanted to have dinner out but did not really see anything good, and she did not really feel like walking back to sussex centre for spicy beef hence we ended up eating junk food...

have the whole of this week off... on forced annual leave... hence i am at home today slacking... tomorrow will be meeting up with nat for lunch at lindt's... and thurs, working at woolies... no plans yet for friday... working on both sat and sun... the next holiday is australia day but it falls on a tuesday, so it's going to be not much of a holiday really... damn... why can't it fall on a monday instead... and we are back to summer again... yuck...

圣诞快乐。。。

it is getting very hot now, 2 more weeks to christmas... no plans yet for the 2 days off... will be meeting up with uni people for lunch during the week off, and may be meeting nat for lunch at Lindt's...

work area... i have got 2 cases currently which are giving me headaches...please... someone take these files off me... people are so annoying sometimes...
had our christmas lunch yesterday at this italian restaurant... at double bay... and i was late because i had an assessment that morning... the food was not that great really... went for drinks after... i had 2 cocktails... one was called "woo woo" and the other was "raspberry caprioscia"... not bad actually... did not stay for too long though... cos i had to taxi-pool with another colleague... guess what i receive from my kris kringle... a book titled "100 food experiences you have to have before you die"... i was browsing through it and the food listed on the book were too exotic... they had things like "fruit bat stew" ... oh man not that i would be reading it anytime soon... will have to regift it sometime...

finished watching the dvds that were sent back... have to start looking for new entertainment to occupy myself...

KEEp SeLf OccUpiEd...

it has been really hot for the past 2 weeks... and the last weekend when we went up to the hunter valley, the temp rose to 40 degrees... we were all dying from the heat... it was so hot that i did not have the mood to do anything that weekend...

there were many people when we visited the hunter valley... went to quite a few wineries and bought 2 bottles of wine... and i think i drank lots as well... went to this really posh cafe for lunch, the view was beautiful but the food was only ok... and then we went to ribs and rumps for dinner... my fav is still the chicken parmigiana...

went to watch 2012 with prisy, and the 2 uncles... it was ok, the special effects were quite good but still feel that the day after tomorrow was better... i would probably rate it 6/10...

am now watching a repeat of the series "chinese ghost story"... work has been quite shitty these 2 weeks... keep getting into trouble with insurers for some reason... and some clients just give me the shits...

the company will be having the christmas lunch in 2 weeks' time and apparently they have a tradition of picking a "Kris Kringle" and you have to buy a present for them... and you are not allowed to say who till after... and lucky me, i got our general manager... now i am getting a headache from thinking of what to buy...

COuNtiNg doWn...

very disappointed that my grandma could not come visit in the end bcos of her condition... hopefully after she sees the specialist, it will be a false alarm and she will be able to come visit... hence it was my uncle who came to visit for the next 3 weeks... not that i had to do much entertaining... cos i am working every day, so i only really see him during mealtimes... but i am looking forward to next saturday when we have a trip planned to visit the hunter valley... please let the weather become cool again... it is now starting to get really hot...

now that it's november already... i think things would start to slow down at work... but as always i am still trying to catch up on all the reports...

i have been watching 'burning flame' these past week... totally unable to recall the first series and now that i am watching it again... it was more on the drama side rather than showing them putting out fires... some parts were really sad though...

HEllO DrEAdED sUmmER...

and now for the weather update... it had been quite chilly for the past few weeks but it is definitely becoming warmer now as we enter november...

month of oct... went for a company dinner in a lebanese restaurant... first time there and trying lebanese food... the food on whole was not too bad... i actually ate quite alot considering how fussy i am... the only thing was the place was very small and narrow... and all of us were squashed along a long bench just like back in primary and secondary school where there are long benches instead of usual tables and chairs... and then the next week, it was the team dinner... at a spanish place where they sell tapas... which now i know are small servings of food... it was alright... and the good thing was i did not have to fork out a cent as the company paid for both times... which was good...

yesterday was nat's last day at work... all of us are sad to see her leave... although i am sad too, i am happy for her cos she found a job already and really, you can't really stay for too long in this job... i will miss her... i will be by myself for the next 2 weeks in the pod, until another new team mate joins us... she did her 4th year placement with us so at least we all know her already... so now our team has 4 OTs and 1 EP...

nainai is coming in 2 weeks' time... it will be good to see her again... and also i was told that we are confirmed going to korea in feb... wooo... i hear it is going to be cold... definitely will be asking anna what to bring and things to look out for...

烦恼。。。

can't believe it's october already... the long weekend just passed... this year we did not do very much for the october long weekend... was working on sat and sun... watched race to witch mountain, ps i love you and the proposal... the proposal was hilarious... ryan reynolds was really funny in the movie... i really enjoyed the show... did not do very much on monday, was able to sleep in that day, played mahjong and we were planning to go out for dinner at ceci's when the power went out, and started pouring... which it has been for the whole of last week... and it was freezing... not that i am complaining, definitely prefer to be freezing than having flies buzzing everywhere... so in the end, we stayed home for dinner and thank god the power came back... continued to look for properties... i have just started to realise how difficult it is to buy a property, there is just too many things that need to be considered... i like the idea of living on our own, having to do everything for ourselves... but on the other hand, it is also nice to not be worrying abt washing, cleaning and cooking... 很烦。。。

found out that day that one of my team mates is leaving the company at the end of the month, who is also my mentor... i was shocked... and for some reason, i started crying in front of my manager, it was so embarrassing... it's not like we were close or anything, i think it's bcos i did not expect her to leave and she was the one who taught me everything i know in this job... it will be sad to see her go...

tiME is PAsSiNg So fAsT...

met up that day with the guys from uni, there was anna, yochi, jo, tina and karen... it has been awhile since we met up like this... it was good to be able to catch up with them and learn what they have been doing since graduation... most of us have already started working whereas some are still looking for jobs... the good thing was becos everyone were in quite different areas of practice, it was good to hear what they do and especially as I would like to go into hospitals, I had to find out more from anna and karen... the food was not that great though, we should have gone to Ceci's... well next time perhaps...

prisy and i were watching the series moonlight for the past few days and stayed up till really late last night to finish the series... the main character is really good looking... although the series received bad ratings and they cancelled the series after the first season, i think we quite enjoyed the show in general, although the female lead is really annoying...

and today is really cold for some reason, the wind is howling outside... really strange... but i am definitely not complaining, i'd rather be freezing than sweating... please delay summer as long as possible... looking forward to the long weekend next week... hopefully i can get a break...

无聊。。。

month of september... nothing very much happened... the weather is gradually getting hotter... prisy introduced another anime to me... scrapped princess... the first few parts were only ok... but it got quite good towards the end... prisy and mich went to chile for the past 2 weeks... and yesterday was also auntie's birthday, so we had cake and watched some of the pics that they took... this is going to be a very short post... my life currently is not very exciting...

In tHe BLinK of An EyE...

hmmm... i am getting lazier and lazier to blog nowadays...
aug... the highlight of this month was huimin's visit... was really looking forward to them visiting but becos of the swine flu, fran and jo decided not to come after all...
huimin came late on sunday night... stayed over at my place, and we went on a roadtrip on monday... went to stanwell lookout, seacliff bridge, kiama and bowral where we stayed for the night... although i have been there quite a few times, i still really enjoy going to these places... the only thing that i was really disappointed was we went all the way to the kiama blowholes and there were none... not even one... it was very disappointing... this was the first time this happened to me, there was always at least one blowhole...
stayed over at this really nice place called briars at bowral as i had to travel to this town called berrima which was close to bowral so i thought rather than coming all the way back, we might as well stay over and we can sleep alittle later... the accomodation is usually really expensive, but i think we got it at a sale price...

huimin came with me to berrima, where i had to go for work the next day... the client was running really late, and the town is really small, we finished sightseeing in about half an hour and had to sit around and wait... finally the client came and i had to go off for work, and i don't really want to talk about work here, so all i would say is it was an experience that i would rather not have... huimin and i were exhausted by the time we arrived home...

reality came back for me as it was time to go back to work... so huimin had to sightsee on her own on the last few days... sorry huimin... but we decided to share accomodation in the city for two nights... on wed night, we went for dinner and karaoke after work... on thurs night, went for dinner, then walked to lindt cafe... on the way there, we saw fireworks and decided to take the ferris wheel... both huimin and I have never been on one before... i am really a loser... the ferris wheel was swaying a little when it stopped in midair and i was getting really nauseous and having
headaches and huimin had to give me an airsick pill... went to lindt cafe after... had ice cream, and huimin suddenly came up with this "brilliant" idea of going to the opera house at circular quay... and it was already 8:30pm... i was really unwilling... my shoes were killing me...
but i finally was persuaded cos we agreed to catch the train instead of walk... and i wanted to go back to the room to change my shoes first... which meant that by the time we actually left for the opera house, it was like 9:30pm... by the time we got there, i was actually surprised that there were still quite alot of people there... took quite a few pics of the opera house and harbour bridge... by the time we got back, i was so tired and sleepy... and i really wanted to stay up to spend more time with huimin cos it was her last night here already... but in the end, i ended up sleeping first while she was in the shower... and the same thing happened the previous night too, fell asleep before she was out of the shower... huimin, i really enjoyed myself during your visit... we had lots of laughs, didn't we... at our silliness... i miss you already...

turned 24 just this week... went out for dinner with prisy and family and steve... to din tai feng and after dessert at passionflower... mich bought some cakes back from adriano zumbo too... but they were not really nice... and that day at work, usually work will have a cake for everyone on their bdae, but becos the lady who usually organises this was away, so we did not have cake that day and i did not want to be "aa" and announce that it was my birthday that day, and i was really swamped with work this week... and on the way home that day, got a call from Nat and Alana asking why i did not say it was my birthday and insisted that i choose a cake and celebrate the next day... so in the end, we ended up celebrating with a choc mud cake on friday...
prisy and i went to watch district 9 on wed too... it was really good actually... i was quite surprised at how the story turned out... i would definitely recommend it to everyone... it's not like your typical alien movies...

after this brief period of fun... it's now back to reality... sian man... anyway, thank you to all of you who gave their well wishes... i really miss all of you back home...

MasTErChEf...

guess what show i have been addicted to these days... you wouldn't believe it... i myself can't believe but it is true... Masterchef Australia... did not follow the series initially till about a month ago, so all along it was only auntie who was watching it... and i don't even know what happened and i just got addicted to the show... and now it's like the show that i am waiting for every day, and trying to get home by 7pm to watch the show... and the exciting and sad thing is the final is this sunday... i am quite happy with the final two... one of the finalists is a malaysian- chinese, and she has been cooking quite a few chinese dishes during the shows, and bcos the show is so popular now in Australia, i think it will definitely be an eye opener to the aussies here what chinese food look like and how to cook some of these chinese dishes... i am actually quite proud that an asian made it to the final two...

and bcos of one of the episodes yesterday, i actually did something spontaneous which is very rare for me... so on the episode yesterday, the challenge was to bake this really complicated looking but really delicious looking chocolate mousse cake... i really felt like eating it after watching the episode... and so i did some research and found out that the chef actually has a patisseur near work named after him Adriano Zumbo... so i thought hmmm... just note the address and maybe i can drop in one day to try some of the cakes...

so today, i had to be at bankstown and then on the way back to the office, i thought hmmm i really want to eat the cakes... so i decided to take a mini detour to the place... when i got there, everywhere was paid parking, and i did not have any coins with me, so i decided to just park and quickly ran to the shop, did not have even have a chance to slowly peruse the choices, just had a brief glance and picked two chocolatey looking cakes... and ran back to the car, and it was all done in 10 mins... on the way back, i got lost cos the GPS again was not giving the right directions, so all in all it was a mini adventure... and now that i finally got to eat the cakes... although they are not the ones on the show, it was not too bad, prob something that i would only eat once or twice, not something that i would want to eat every day... and apparently it was already quite famoous before the show, but now it's even more famous becos of MasterChef... when i got there today, it was crowded as well... i will definitely want to visit the cafe if i get a chance...

魔杰座。。。

received a really disappointing news that fran and jo are not coming to visit me anymore bcos of the swine flu... hopefully huimin will still be able to come...

1 july 2009... this day is definitely one of my good days... better than good... went to work and the first email i received was from immigration informing me that I am successful in my PR application... so i have now officially become an australian PR... months of stress finally over... i have to say that it's been really stressful leading up to this... bcos of the all paperwork and the waiting... and this day was also the end of my 6 month probation period... yay... so all in all it was a really bright and happy day...

went to watch transformers on the same day as well... i have to say the movie is really good... and it was even much longer than the first one... definitely will recommend it to everybody...

and then yesterday was the jay chou concert at acer arena... both prisy and i were really disappointed with the stage and the props used... we were speculating whether it was bcos of the organiser or becos hjay chou really did not put much effort into the concert... in terms of the design of the stage and the props... and even though we got the cheapest tickets... i still felt cheated... and when we were about to enter, we had to throw away all our bottles and snacks... and prisy's friend had to throw all the snacks that her sister bought... what a pity... and... there were SO MANY ASIAN people there, it was not funny, i was telling prisy that i have never seen so many asian people in one spot before... it was like 90% filled and the stadium could hold up to 21000 people... can you imagine how many asians were there just to see jay chou... we even saw families with small kids and grannies... at lidcombe station, the trains were packed going and coming... thank god we got a lift there and did not have to squeeze with the rest... and bcos we were sitting right at the back and facing the back of the stage, we could only see his back most of the time... if i had to rate the concert, i would say 5/10. the backstreet boys concert was much better...

winter's here...

i think i will be posting a blog once a month from now on, cos there is really nothing much to report on now that i am working... every day is the same routine pretty much, even on the weekends, cos i am still working at same old woolies...

what i have been up to this past month...
watching boys over flower, after much persuading from pong... actually i thought the show was not as bad as i expected... if i were to pick, i would say kim bum was the cutest amongst them... initially i was like the guy who was playing the character "lei" is so girly... and then after finishing watching the show... i started looking up ss501 cos i am so bored... and then moved on to watching we got married... and i am so hooked on the parts where kim hyun joong and hwang bo were in... he cracks me up...

so... that's pretty much what i have been up to this past month... and we had that long weekend in the first week of june... went on a roadtrip with auntie and uncle's friends... to grand pacific drive, berry, kangaroo valley and fitzroy falls... it was freezing at fitzroy falls, but really pretty...

oh and siti came to visit... too bad i had to work and she was only here during the week... so we met up for dinner, and it just had to be the coldest night ever... it was freezing... we initially planned to visit lindt cafe, but ended up having dinner at pancakes... the food was ok... seriously only the pancakes were good, but siti did not want the chocolatey pancakes, so we had the normal ones with bananas and pecans... not very nice... and then after dinner, we hanged around darling harbour to take pics, but her camera was damaged and we had to use my phone camera which did not have flash, so pics were not very nice... it was long and freezing walk back to the car, and siti bought kebab cos she was still hungry... it was too bad that she could not stay longer cos we have not seen each other since the last time i went back... looking back now... i felt like i am growing apart from everyone back home... cos we did not have anything in common to talk about recently, and dun really know what to talk abt sometimes... cos everyone is doing something different and leading their own lives... and i have not seen people in ages as well... even now... with uni friends... everyone is busy with their own lives, and there were attempts to try and meet up but always fell through and we have not seen each other since graduation... and sometimes it's really hard of some people are willing to make the effort to catch up but others are not... anyway...

went to watch terminator yesterday... as anticipated, the movie was not bad, according to others who have seen it... kind of sad as well for the character playing the half human and half robot... but in the end, he remained human... will not spoil the ending for people who have not seen it... if i haven't already... next movie we are going to is transformers... and looking forward to the jay chou concert in july... and of course, huimin, jo and fran's visit... really looking forward to seeing them again...

好久不见。。。

well hello, haven't been blogging for awhile... almost a month since the last blog... have been quite tired with work and nothing really much to blog about too...work is still going ok, still alot of areas to improve on, just had my mid probation review last week, and the final probation review is in july... one of our team members had decided to resign, so now our team is down to 5...

nonwork stuff... attended one of my colleague's engagement party last saturday, in surry hills... prisy accomapnied me but we did not stay for long, cos really did not know any of the people there except people from work... and it was a really small place and noisy... and was involved in a minor car accident last saturday too on my way to work... luckily it was nothing too serious, except that i am car-less for a while week, which is quite inconvenient now that i realised how dependent i am on the car... so i am really looking forward to getting auris back on wednesday...

was really excited that i got to skype that day with huimin, have not seen her for so long... she has grown her hair since the last time i saw her... it was good to see and talk to her... so i am encouraging everybody to get a webcam so that we can skype...

I just received an email saying that i have a case manager now for my PR thing... i have got to get another two more documents before my PR can be approved, but as usual everything moves so slowly over here, so hopefully cross my fingers, it will be approved asap... cos until then, i will not be able to leave the country...

went to watch star trek yesterday with the family... it was not bad actually although i am not a star trek fan but the effects were cool and the plot was pretty good as well... the only thing was bcos we went on a friday, it was so crowded and we had to sit close to the screen...

oh and i finally finished watching the little nonya... the show is really sad... especially the character yuzhu... and i agree with everybody that the ending was not that good... but it was a relief to get it out of my system... hmmm... what show next...

Easter BReaK...

two weeks of my mini break just went so quickly... it was really nice to be able to spend time with my family and my grandma... went on a few roadtrips... everything was going so smoothly up till the last day of our road trip... due to my lack of further planning, I arranged for our last night to be in a winery but what I did not know was that the winery was located quite deep in the forest, hence there was no proper road going in and out of the winery, just a very long dirt road... so what happened the last morning of our roadtrip was we checked out, and it was pouring by the time we were driving out, and my dad mentioned that the car was making alot of noise, and so he got down to check, and we realised that the tyre at the passenger side was punctured... and there was smoke coming out of the tyre and the whole rubber area in contact with the road was gone... i have to admit that i was really scared shitless, cos we were literally in the middle of nowhere and thank god my dad was there, if i had been alone by myself, i simply don't know what would happen... so after changing the tyre, we decided not to proceed with the roadtrip and drive straight back home... it was one scary day... lesson learnt: always check the routes before going on a roadtrip...

and the stupid GPS aka "Richard" did not help either the day before taking us on this road where there was about 15km of dirt road and we had to drive at 5km/h, and the whole time i was praying that nothing will happen to the tyres... it was definitely not a good day...

anyway, the mini holiday i had went so quickly, and my family has gone back... and now it's back to work... oh yes, graduation... nothing really significant, except we took lots of pictures, and everyone in the family was there, so i did not get much opportunity to take pics with anna and the rest... it was probably difficult for all of us to meet as well as our families were all there and the initial plan of going out for dinner did not happen, which i knew it would not when we were talking about it before... anyway, it was still good to see Mel and to know that she really enjoys working in singapore...

as for pics... i dunno if i will upload them, will try and upload some when i have time... as for the next few months, i have been invited to an engagement party for a colleague at work in may, and then i think siti is coming to visit for a few days in june... so hopefully i will be able to meet up with her, and hopefully fran, huimin and jo can come visit as well...

ONe of ThOsE dAYs...

today was one of the shitty days at work... nearly 3 months since i started work at this company, and today they decided to give me very constructive feedback since i started... i could accept all the feedback except one... and i was very surprised and i would say shocked that they told me that, cos i completely had no idea that i was doing that and it was very unconscious on my part, and i did not even realise i was doing that until they told me... and now, it's like time to awaken and step out of my comfort zone and start acting like a professional... it's just too bad that this had to happen before the weekend that i was looking forward to... oh well... i shall try not to think too much and just focus on doing my job well and incorporating their feedback...

anyway, exciting thing that my family is coming to visit for two weeks... and we are going on a few roadtrips... so that should be exciting... i love roadtrips... just not reading the map and navigating though... haha... we are going down to wollongong and kiama for a day trip on sunday, so that should be fun, and apparently it's going to be good weather, so hopefully i can post some pics soon...

非常失望。。。

I got my first "normal" referral this week, and the worker works in the hangar which makes boeing planes... being my first normal referral and bcos it is a very foreign and complex workplace, my manager and mentor were very concerned and made sure that I did all the right things and followed the procedures... made sure that I did all the preparations necessary before i went out to conduct the workplace assessment...

the assessment was conducted on friday... the rtw coordinator who was supposed to bring us into the premise was 40 mins late, so in the end, the whole assessment was delayed and we had to go back in the afternoon to complete the assessment... i was completely exhausted by the time we finished... the whole workplace was really intense and foreign to me... i was really out of my depth and now that i know i am going to be on this account... i don't know what I am going to do... cos I am not allowed to take pictures so it was really difficult to visualise the equipment and the postures... I don't even know what the stuff there are called... even though everyone back in the office was telling me to not worry cos i am not expected to know and that it is a very complex workplace, but i can't help getting stressed... by the time i got home, i was so very tired, but we had planned to have a movie night that night...

went to castle towers to watch the watchmen... i was very very disappointed, i had such high hopes for the show and i was so excited to watch it all week, and in the end, i was so disappointed... the movie was really long, it ended around 12 midnight... i was falling asleep about halfway through the movie already... i thought it was an action movie from the trailers... but it ended up to be very gory and bloody... and what really concerned me was there were small kids watching the movie and i was like oh man, i don't even dare to watch the gory scenes, i can't believe the parents actually brought them to this movie... very disappointed with this movie... by the time we got home, it was around 1am and i was so zombified... had a quick shower and went straight to bed...

one more week before my family is here... can't wait to go on the roadtrips... hopefully everything will go according to plan...

2 more WeeKS...

it has been going on 3 weeks now without any new referrals for me... I am sooo bored and sick of staying in the office all day... so now all i am doing is help out the other consultants with writing some reports and reading reports... i am seriously bored... who knows when I will be getting a new referral... currently i have one miserable file... people are complaining that they have too much work and no time, and here I am... thinking oh man, i have no work and too much time... it's ridiculous... and traffic to and from work is killing me... days when it's really good traffic, i will take about an hour, and days when traffic is sooo bad, like today, it took me 2.5 hours to get home, it was not funny...

i have been busy lately doing research for the road trips and the accomodation... accomodation is really taking me a long time, cos the last weekend is the easter weekend hence alot of the places have min night stays and are more expensive cos it's the long weekend... so basically that's what i have been busy with for the past 2 weeks... other than that, nothing really much to report on...
and the thought for the day, in fact for the whole of this month and the next... SAVE MONEY!!!

ENd of StRess...

finally... i have finally managed to submit the application for the visa... it's been quite a stressful few months... kept worrying that i will not be able to get the paperwork in time... i can now heave a huge sigh of relief... now all i have to do is attach all the supporting documents, and wait for the good news that i am granted the visa... which hopefully will not take long... i definitely have been losing sleep over this whole visa thing that it's not funny...

on the work side, it's been really quiet and boring these 2 weeks, cos there were no new referrals coming in, and i am just helping out with the other consultants and doing my own thing... which is really making me sleepy, especially in the afternoon... hopefully referrals will start coming in soon cos i definitely prefer to be busy than having nothing to do... and my manager's going on leave for a whole month to get married... so i dunno what is going to happen in the meantime...

today marks the end of my freedom... and being at home alone... cos uncle and auntie are back... i quite miss and enjoy the peace and quiet, although i got quite paranoid a few times over the last week when i heard some noises... to the point of taking a knife upstairs to check it out...

MaJor addiCTiOn...

have not felt like blogging for awhile... mostly bcos there is really not much to blog about... work is still as usual... have been struggling abit to finish all the reports and having to get used to the idea of not being able to finish something and having to do another thing which I am really struggling with as I am someone who likes to finish something first before going onto another thing... but i was told that in this role, I have to be able to prioritise my work which can sometimes require me to do something halfway and having to finish something else... also beginning from next week, we will be having a year 3 student on placement at work, although i am not the supervisor obviously, but it will be interesting as i am still adjusting from being an OT student to an OT... it should be interesting to see how and what it looks like from the other side... i would like to try being a supervisor in future if an opportunity comes up...

i have been alone for a week now... and the house is very quiet, especially at night, but I am quite enjoying this brief period of silence, being able to do what i want and when I want... tried to cook the linguine today for lunch... i was so looking forward to eating the linguine but it did not turn out well... being lazy, i decided to cook the whole packet and all the carrots on the fridge and forgot to add salt, so the end product was a carrot-smelling linguine with no taste at all... it was so unappetizing... in fact, thinking about having to finish the whole packet makes me lose my appetite... similar thing happened the last time i tried to cook fried rice... at least that time i had people to help finish the food, now i dunno what i am going to do...

i have been so addicted to this korean drama that pong recommended... called the last scandal... so sad that the female lead in the show apparently committed suicide last year... the show is really hilarious... i am so addicted that you would not believe the lengths i went to to watch the show and buy the dvd... let's just leave it at that for now... but I would really recommend this show if you are into romantic comedy...

下了好几天。。。

seriously, although i must have said it a million times, but the weather here is really unpredictable, i was complaining about the terrible heat last last week, and it has been raining practically non-stop since last week, and today was the first time after so many days that i actually saw the sun... the good thing was that the weather has really cooled down alot, but apparently after the rainy period, it's going to be hot again... why can't it just stay cool but not rainy...

work is quite tiring mentally... got this really complex client at the moment... my mandarin-speaking one actually... thought the file would be a good one bcos i am able to communicate in the same language and she would feel more comfortable speaking to me but at the moment, she is being very non-compliant... i have three files at the moment, one is going to close soon... still waiting for a new referral to come in... i am quite enjoying occ rehab to my surprise.... although some aspects of the job are quite challenging and sometimes, stressful, but i like the challenge and being able to go out and see different workplaces and talk to different people... very unexpected... but now is still in the early stages, so i guess we will have to see what happens down the track...

visa is a pain in the ass... it is taking forever, i have already sent the applications to the assessing body and afp, but apparently there is still no evidence of them receiving the application, so i am quite worried, don't really want to go through the same thing before... while working that day at woolies i had this sudden thought abt the bridging visa, becos the student visa is expiring at the end of march, so if i apply now, i will be granted a bridging visa in the meantime, however, the bridging visa will not come into effect until the student visa has expired and i have to abide by the conditions placed on the student visa, which was only allowed to work for 20h when semester starts... and so i started to panic that day, cos that meant that i will not be able to work fulltime... but thank god it has been settled and all i have to do now is to fax them a letter saying that i have completed uni... crossing my fingers hoping that they received my application and not get lost somewhere again... i even paid extra for registered post this time to make sure that it goes exactly where it was supposed to go...

other than these, nothing very much has happened... i have been working 7 days a week since jan... and have been feeling abit tired now... everyone who found out that i was working 7 days a week all expressed amazement and asked why i have not quit woolies yet... i was like the money's good... which is true, and at the moment, it is still manageable... so we will see what happens...

热到要死。。。

update on the workplace assessment i did with kate... it was more an ergonomic assessment and an initial... the feedback was i should have asked for more details regarding the duties and also explain the reasoning behind the advice i gave to modify her workstation... which i have been trying to search for it on the internet with no luck yet... but i was speaking with one of my colleagues and she mentioned about me being able to attend one of the ergonomic training if there is one in future... that will definitely be good if i could attend so that i will be able to explain the worker why i do this and that... and also, since that incident at uni... nat and amber have been telling everyone about it and i am sooo embarrased now... cos i know that things are not as they seem... and they kept calling me a "little celebrity" and i would be like nope, it's not like that, but going into details would be too much hassle... so hopefully they will get tired of saying it after awhile... and we were supposed to have students from uni, s'poreans i might add, that day but for some reason, they did not appear, i got excited for nothing... my manager is going away for the next two days, which meant that she would not be able to check the reports for me to send them off... which also means that i am going to be so bored like i was on friday...
being a person who likes to get things done within the timeframe, i am not liking this system of having to get everything checked by my manager before i can send them off... cos she has her own stuff to do and she takes forever to get ard to checking the reports, and so i am late sending the reports in to the respective parties... which i don't like...

visa-related... abit of a progress these few days... cos i emailed the dept of immigration to ask about the conditions of the bridging visa and so now i have pretty much confirmed going on the skilled migration visa... and i sent off the assessing body stuff yesterday so hopefully i will hear back from them next week and also send off the afp stuff next week... and it's kind of like back to square one cos this visa was the one i was going under until uncle suggested i mention to the company that they can sponser etc... and then this whole delay bcos they have to find out more details about the visa... and also the good thing abt the skilled migration visa is that i can do it online so that will much faster, all i have to do is scan all the docs into the computer...

non-work related... last week was mich's birthday, so she requested cook this pasta thing called cannelloni... i was like what?? never even heard of this before... so auntie cooked ricotta and spinach cannelloni... it turned out to be ok, but because you can really taste the ricotta and the spinach whereas when she makes lasagne, the spinach is pretty much masked by the tomato base, you can't really taste it... it's quite mushy... and then we had chocolate cake after... oh very rich choc cake... have been eating alot of bad stuff lately... and the next day at work... one of the colleagues brought in these box of muffins... oh man, could not resist and ate a huge choc chip muffin... after eating the muffin, i was like i am going to puke... so full after that i did not eat lunch either...

and it is so hot here, people are dying in melbourne... cos of the heat, alot of the forests are on fire and people who are living in those areas surrounded by forests have their houses being burnt and people are dying... it went up to 46 degrees in melbourne and here it's like 40 degrees... i really hate summer...

LiFeleSS...

nothing really much happened since last week.. except today, went out with nat on another workplace assessment and it was so coincidental that it was at cumberland and the client was someone i was actually familiar with... so when we got there, i was actually hoping that i don't bump into familiar faces but of course, when we got there, i saw jane first, then maree and some of the staff there were surprised to see me too, and they recognised me... i was actually quite embarrassed... but the assessment was pretty intense and quite lengthy... too bad i did not get a chance to say goodbye to some of the staff when we left... dunno if i should be glad or embarrased that they recognised me... when we got back to the office, nat started telling amber i was like a celebrity at uni... it was sooo embarrasing... but considering how i hounded the fieldwork staff before, they probable remembered me bcos of that... and i did not know if i should ask jane about the thesis and publication... although currently i really am not in the mood to do anything related to the research...

and also, i received another referral yesterday, and i will be going out to do a workplace assessment with kate tomorrow... and i guess this one will be more formal compared to the one we did last week cos kate will be there and whereas i was speaking in mandarin that day and they can't understand what i was saying so i probably got away with some stuff...

the visa thing is still in progress, everything is still happening very slow, cos i am still waiting for confirmation regarding which visa to use and also waiting for the company to produce a position description...

so that's what been happening last week and till now, nothing really exciting, oh one of our relative came for a visit that day, have not seen that uncle for awhile, so it was good to catch up with them... actually kind of dreading work at woolies this week, cos both days are long shifts... prefer them to be short shifts now... especially on sundays...

会讲华文是有帮助的。。。

nothing much happening this third week at work... but i have been going out on workplace Axs with Nat alot this week... seen quite a variety of workplaces, and also two ADL reviews... Found out that day that my manager and i had a miscommunication regarding the visa... the visa that the company is willing to sponsor me on is not the one that i was looking at, and what was worse was that the visa was a temporary one, which meant that I won't be a permanent resident if i go on that visa... so that was something that kind of stressed me out that day... and then today, found out that the AFP did not receive my application, and so i had to resend my application again, and pay again, and there is nothing i could do to trace back the application and the money...

on the slightly more positive note... i received my first referral today... and the injured worker was a Mandarin speaking lady... so what happened was i had to call the worker and she did not understand me at all... so i had no choice but to speak Mandarin with her over the phone... and after the phone call... people in the office started making fun of me... but in a good way, like you know in future all the chinese speaking referrals will be given to me and i could have been saying nonsense to the worker and nobody would know... so in a way... it was quite lucky i got to use my second language in my first case... but Nat's client was abit more difficult in terms of the worker did not understand her obligations and was unwilling to participate in the workplace assessment... so i had to like apologise a million times and finally, convinced her to attend the workplace assessment next week... but bcos my mandarin was quite crappy and i did not know how to explain some technical stuff to her in chinese, nat organised for an interpreter to come that day as well... so next week should be interesting... although i really did not expect to get my first referral that fast... i was really caught unprepared...

another more positive note, nat and i went to CBA this morning for an ergonomic assessment and on the way back, we got lindt iced chocolate takeaway... oh it was so good... sometimes, i wished i was working in that area, so i could go drink it every day... haha...

so at the moment, it's the end of another week of my new job... still trying to grasp alot of info and concepts... but i kind of like the challenge of the job... but can't really fully concentrate bcos of the visa issue... so really crossing my fingers that my visa will go smoothly...

oh and Happy Chinese New Year!!! can't believe it's the year of the ox and i am turning 24... damn don't even feel like i am 24...

比乌龟还慢。。。

second week of working... nothing much happening... was mostly reading up on my anatomy stuff... only went out with one of the consultants on the team for a worksite review that day to the commonwealth bank in the city... and after seeing the client, we had a mini detour to the lindt cafe there, and i had my really yummy iced milk chocolate... it was sooo delicious, and it was also really hot that day so the iced chocolate was definitely a highlight of my second week... and today one of the consultants on the team finally came back from her long holiday and she was also going to be my 'buddy'... so everybody in the office was really excited to see her and hear all the stories and bcos she also got engaged during this time, so the whole day, i could hear her repeating her stories to different people... and today one of the colleagues on my team got me to help her out with the filing of the documents, and i think the manager did not seem too happy with that... but i think starting from next week, probably i will get to go out more often, already at the moment, i have been booked in for an ergonomic assessment, and ADL assessment and a workplace assessment...

and i am still waiting for the results to be uploaded onto the uni system... seriously they are soo inefficient... really delaying my PR application process... and it's already mid jan and my student visa expiring soon... why are people so slow??!! and bcos things seemed to be moving so slowly, i decided to email and call the uni coordinators to find out what was happening... in the end, i got an email basically telling me not to keep emailing everyone and asking them about it and that they are currently working on it... well there's really nothing i can do now that they have basically asked me to stop harrassing them... sometimes, uni seriously gives me the shits...

1st WeEk aT wORk...

I survived the first week at work!! yes... the one thing which i like abt my new job is the really nice and friendly and helpful people in the company and the team... bcos the company is pretty small... there is abt 18 of us, so everyone pretty much can see and hear everyone... and the consultants on my team are really helpful, and my manager is very experienced in this area as well and the good thing is she is also an OT... on the other hand, the thing i did not like this first week was the days when i just sat and read the whole day... it was so boring, my eyes really hurt just from staring at the screen all day and sitting down for long periods of time... and dunno if it is bcos i am stressed out abt the visa or work, but i can't sleep at night, like i go to bed so early ard 10am and i wake up at 3am, and after that, i could not go back to sleep and i feel so crappy the whole day, and i get a headache at the end of the day... and my feet hurt too from the really uncomfortable shoes i wear... just not used to wearing shoes with heels and even without heels, my feet hurt too...

however, had some really good experiences this week... went out with the consultants to observed how they conducted workplace assessments, and i got to visit places like a construction site and i got to wear steel cap boots, which btw i have to get one sometime in the future too... i also got to experience what it was like up in the ferry master's cabin... cos the injured worker was a ferry master, so we had to go up into the ferry master's cabin to observe him carrying out his duties... but i got really seasick that day, and i really wanted to throw up... i was like telling myself to look straight ahead and wishing for my supervisor to hurry up with the assessment so that we can leave... but when we were abt to leave, we were told that the ferry was abt to leave for a destination, and the employed rep asked if we would be able to tag along for a return trip... i was like... you're shitting me... i cannot believe my luck... so in the end, i was really feeling so sick by the time we got back onto solid ground... thank god i did not throw up or do something embarrassing... and in the afternoon, i followed another consultant on my team to cabramatta to assess a worker who works at a bank... so yeah, had quite a few interesting experiences, and hopefully in the coming weeks and months, i would be able to go out and do stuff... although now i have to revise my anatomy and COP knowledge...

oh and another thing which i thought was pretty significant to me... that day when i went out with one of the consultants on my team... he introduced me as his colleague, and it was actually quite shocking to hear myself being introduced as a colleague rather than a student like i was used to during placements... but i still feel like a student... transitioning from being a student to an OT definitely requires some getting used to...

NeXT chAptER... aN OT (unofficial)...

yep, i am now an unofficial Occupational Therapist, cos i am undergoing training and will be under probation for 6 mths before i can be considered an official rehabilitation consultant, that's my new job title... yesterday was the first day of work for me... let's just say that the work environment and the culture are very different from usual hospital clinical settings... it's basically how you want to spend your time, but you have to make sure that you work 8 hours a day, but other than that, you can pretty much do whatever, so what happened was during lunchtime, not everybody will take their lunch together, some might choose to have it at their desk or have it earlier or later... and one of the nice things i thought was me getting my own workstation, which meant own desk, own computer, own phone and own company mobile phone... and becos we are an occ rehab company, workstation ergonomics is very important, so my manager got another colleague in my team to assess my workstation, which meant that today i got a new document holder, which is the kind that sits over the keyboard and you can type and look at the documents without having to twist your head... and the phone is a handsfree set, with the headphones and all... like a call centre... and apparently i will also be getting a new footrest tomorrow... i thought it was all very cool... haha... i was so tempted to take a photo of my workstation to commemorate... but everything was not as glamourous as it seems... even though i have not been doing any actual OT stuff yet, and i have just been assigned to doing reading stuff... watching my team members and from all the bits and pieces that i am learning along the way, it is really challenging, and you can get sued more easily than if you worked in the hospital setting if you did something bad...

but on a good note, everybody in the office are really friendly and nice... there's abt 18 of us in the office, and my team has 6 members, including me... so there's 4 OTs, 1 PT and 1 exercise physiologist... and being a kiasu singaporean, i went to buy my own organiser and notebook before i started, and now bcos all our stationary are pretty much provided, so we get our own stationary, own organiser, etc... and stupid me threw the receipt away so i can't return the organiser... what am i going to do with 2 organisers?? anyway, it's pretty boring now, and hopefully it will get more exciting when i can go out and do stuff... although i am not really complaining abt being stuck in the office cos it's so hot outside...

WOw... 2009...

we went on another road trip on new year's day... this time we decided to head south to the grand pacific drive and then further on to kiama... started early on our journey and left the house ard 730am... our first stop was the bald hill lookout which looks down onto the grand pacific drive... it was not as windy as the previous time when i was there with the berala gang... the weather forecast on that day was 34 degrees so it was going to be a hot day... but it was still not too hot till like mid afternoon...

anyway, our next stop was the grand pacific bridge, we initially wanted to walk the whole length of the bridge but decided against it cos it was getting quite hot... next we drove on to the buddhist temple in wollongong... it was so crowded... crowded with asians of course... so we did not stay long, but i was remembering when we also visited the temple a year ago... well nothing much has changed since though...

next we drove on to kiama... which was abt 45 min away from wollongong... and when we arrived in kiama, the first stop was the famous blowholes... it was abit disappointing bcos there was only apparently one huge one, and we did not get to see really huge sprays... i think the best way is to find out in future when would be the best time to visit in order to catch the huge sprays like we saw on the brochures... after that, we had a picnic lunch, and the weather was really nice, it was not too hot and the wind was blowing cos we were quite close to the waters... we brought along sandwiches and seriously, i am so breaded out now after both roadtrips...

our next stop was the carrington falls... apparently it is a 50m waterfall which falls into the kangaroo valley river... it took us forever to get there, cos initially uncle suggested going to minamurra falls instead cos it was closer but we lost our way and must have missed it along the way, so we decided to continue driving on to carrington falls instead... and i think we made a good decision bcos we could not only get to see the falls, there was also a small pathway leading up to the beginning of the falls, so you can actually get into the stream... it was so pretty and all of us went down... there were quite a few people there too playing in the water cos it was getting really hot... and the water was really nice and clear as well... the only thing i disliked was the stupid flies buzzing everywhere... we were all so excited when we realised that we could actually go into the stream... after that, we drove back down and the view was really amazing along the way... it was like acres of greenery and occasionally there were cows as well grazing... and we happened to pass by this farm where we noticed the cows were all lining up the hill, and they looked like they were trained or something bcos there were all just standing there waiting and not one cow moved out of line... we were so intrigued that we stopped to take photos... our last stop for the day was to kendalls beach... and we spent quite awhile at the beach... it was soo hot that day... initially i thought i would just dip myself in the water, but not actually swim, but prisy was like pushing for me to go out into the waves with her, and it was quite scary at first, bcos some waves were really huge and when they crashed on you, it really felt like you were being dunked and i was so scared... and i could not feel the sand below me anymore... so i did not want to continue but prisy and mich kept insisting that i go out with them... and after awhile, we managed to find a point where we could just try to outjump the smaller waves and i was getting pretty good at it, but when the huge waves came, either you close your eyes and nose or you dive under the waves, or else you get dunked by the waves... and also i hated how the saltwater stings your eyes... but after awhile, i was actually having fun, if i don't think abt what might actually be under the water and what i might be stepping or swimming in...

we stayed at the beach till pretty late, we started driving back to sydney ard 730pm, and got home around 10pm... all of us were exhausted... but i am very proud of myself that day cos i did not sleep at all the entire journey... usually bcos i get carsick really easily... i sleep on roadtrips most of the time, unless i am driving... but i was awake the entire time... but at the end of the day, i was soo tired... the rest wanted to watch kungfu panda but i gave up after the first 15 min of the movie and went to bed...

i can't believe i am going to be working this monday... it still feels unreal... i am officially joining the working class now... and i am turning 24 this year... damn... starting to feel old...