It'S So GOOd to SEe yoU WinTER...

so it now has been 2 weeks since I returned to work, wisdom teeth wise... still have 2 holes on both right and left side of my mouth... and food keeps getting stuck in them, which is annoying, cos I have to clean my teeth out after every meal... cyst wise... yup, it is still ongoing, still having to take antibiotics and apply cream and change dressings every day... anyway, during the 2 weeks I was off work, I was pretty much on an In Death marathon and now we are hooked on Masterchef...

work wise... sort of busy at times, some changes, so we have been told that Sam the new grad will be covering the 3 days for probably the next 6 months, not the option I would have preferred... changes also in the acute and aged care teams... the new grad rotation happened, and Grace resigned... so now the situation is that acute team has pretty much a full team and aged care is short on staff... still no word on our TACP rotation yet... 

Damn, we did not get the national day parade tickets, so I have decided not to go back in August and wait until maybe Feb next year instead... Well, the thing I am looking forward to now is starting on my studies, and my 30th birthday celebrations... It will be EPIC!!

一波未平， 一波再起。。。

oh man, one problem after another... so finally had my 4 wisdom teeth removed on MOnday, and it is very sore, the worse thing is the fact that I still am not able to chew food, and I am constantly surrounded by food that I am craving to eat... so for the past 5 days, it has been soups, porridge, milkshakes, and ice cream and milo for meals... and as if this is not enough, I developed this infection on my sebaceous cyst thing which has been there for the last 2 years without any issues, dunno if it is becos of the bites I had, or the fluvax which I got last week, anyway, it became really red and swollen, and so painful all of a sudden, and now on top of the pain in my mouth, I now have constant pain in my right tummy area, the GP had to give me a local anaesthetic yesterday and made a cut through it to release the crap in it, and I have to spend more money on antibiotics, cream and dressings... Jesus... I simply cannot catch a break... so now I am on regular painkillers, anitibiotics, mouthwashes on top of not being able to eat proper foods... this is a joke... 

anyway, I am hoping that the pain starts improving otherwise there is no way I can go back to work like this on tues...

BAck to UsuaL RouTinE...

so anyway, been back at work for 2 weeks now, work was so very busy for the last 1.5 weeks actually, I was told that they had 10 pts consistently whilst I was away, and the acute team had to cover quite alot as well... found out that Owen and Lauren have resigned... and that Nat's permanent 2 days position have been approved, but that there will be no replacement once Lauren leaves... and now that we have a new registrar, she is so clueless, and everything is all over the place, which goes to say none of us in the team are happy atm... we have 2 new staff members in the dept, both Asians... and I am sharing a student with Jo in June... and I have also enrolled in 2 units in the masters program... also, got asked to attend interview for the STEP program which I applied for like ages ago... sounds like it's only funding for the next financial year only though... attending the Backstreet Boys concert with Yin and other PTs tomorrow night, so that should be interesting... 

oh and did I also mention that besides my wisdom tooth issues, I was bitten by God knows what when I was in Brussels, and I was so worried that it was chicken pox that I went to the GP the day we arrived home... so anyway, she prescribed me with anti-histamine and gave me cream to apply, but although it is not as itchy as before, it is still itchy at times... and people are telling me it does not look like bedbugs, so who knows... 

anyway, took sick leave today cos I had to go see the eye specialist which cost me a fortune, and then the oral surgeon who recommended that I remove all 4 wisdom teeth, and just found out that I am only covered very minimally on BUPA, which meant that I am having to fork out thousands of dollars for this surgery under general anaesthetics again... just declare me bankrupt already! need to start cutting down on unnecessary expenses... and also, I was told that I would not be receiving funding for the bariatric course so no, I am not going then, seeing as how I have to pay for so many things... so nothing really much to look forward except this surgery coming up which I will take a week off for, and then student placement, and oh, we have put in our ballots for NDP tix, so I am still hoping to go back even for 2 weeks to attend the NDP celebration...

HeLLO EuROpe and LondON...

4 April 2015- Goodbye Sydney and Hello brief stopover in Singapore to see nainai and uncle jeffrey, and of course, pick up mum and papa. Also had my long awaited fishball noodles... and then it was time to board the very long 13 hour flight to Rome :(

5 April 2015- Hello raining Rome! the immigration officers did not even bother to look at us before stamping our passports haha... it was pouring with rain when we walked out of the terminal and boarded an express bus to the city where our booked accomodation was located... good thing was the accomodation was only across the road from the bus stop, bad thing was we had no umbrellas and heaps of luggages... and we could not check in until later, so we had to deposit our luggages and roam the train terminal to pass time... the accomodation which we had was let's say, not the best and not somewhere I would stay again... despite the pouring rain, we decided to catch a train to visit the Colosseum, and when we got there, despite the rain, it was also quite crowded and there were queues... unbelievable... so we decided to just take some pictures and explored the surroundings before going back to the accomodation place and having our first italian dinner... which of course included pasta and pizza... we pretty much had margherita pizzas most of the time we ate... cos none of the other selections appealed... 

6 April 2015- decided to go check out the Colosseum again, and of course, the queues were even longer cos the weather changed for the better... pongie and I decided to skip the queues and pay more to get into the Colossuem, it was probably one of my favourites tourist attraction out of all the places we went to... I thought the money was well spent... it was just mind-blowing how these Romans in the past thought of ways to build the structure and use it for so many purposes in the past... and after that, the tour also included the Roman Forum, but pongie and I were quite tired already and hungry after the actual tour that we skipped the free and easy walk through the actual forum... which was pretty disappointing cos it was again another piece of history which was hard to fathom how those people did it... 

7 April 2015- today's itinerary is the Vatican City and also this fantasy themed neighbourhood which I found when I was doing some research... Again, there were queues everywhere at the Vatican City, and we decided not to pay more to skip the queues, so we pretty much just hung out and snapped pics outside, which is very pretty I have to say... we had alot of difficulties finding our way to this neighbourhood though, and people in Italy in general I find are not very friendly... we were lucky to have found a lady who spoke English and she directed us to the bus stop which we needed to get off... I was disappointed when we got there though, cos there were not many things to see as opposed to what I saw on the article...

8 April 2015- caught the train from Rome to Florence today, and I was really glad that our accomodation is much better than the one in Rome... and Florence is really pretty, it has got both history and great views... we checked out the town centre, and located this marketplace where they cook the woodfired pizzas on the spot... it was really yummy! but of course, there were queues again to get into the churches, so we did not go into any... 

9 April 2015- decided to catch a local bus to this hilltop area where the views across the city were amazing... and then we had quite a hard time locating this place called Palazzo Pitti, and when we actually found it, it turned out to be nothing that fantastic anyway... but I bought a leather handbag, and papa bought a leather belt in Florence, cos apparently, Florence is the origin of leather goods... so they were meant to be authentic leather... 

10 April 2015- caught a train from Florence to Mestre/Venice... Mestre is a really small and quiet town and becos we wanted to save money of course, papa decided that we should stay in this asian run motel... and again it is not somewhere I would stay again, but the good things were that it was cheap, they were very accomodating to our needs, and friendly... and so we caught the local bus to and from Venice... when we arrived in Venice, I was not exactly impressed, there was a smell, and again, the crowds... but the buildings in the city were quite amazing especially in San Marco Piazza... the shitty thing was I was sooo looking forward to sitting a gondola, but found out that it cost 80 euros each, we decided not to... and papa said that it was no longer authentic anymore... we got lost on our way out, and it was getting dark, and papa kept walking and refusing to ask people...

11 April 2015- day trip to verona via train... and of course, got off at the wrong station, cos we found out later that there were two different stations which began with the name Verona... so we ended up randomly taking a bus and not having enough coins to pay the driver, hence having to alight, and walking the entire way to the city centre, which thankfully, was not that far, maybe a 20mins walk... but once we got there, the place we had lunch was quite nice, the food was pretty good, and we had margherita pizza again of course, what else... visited Juliet's castle and balcony, and just hung around the town...

12 April 2015- another day in Venice, but only to have lunch and dessert at Magnum! that was probably one the main highlights of Venice actually... we also got to eat chinese food at Mestre... reasonable, one restaurant was better than the other though... the fried noodles was really nice, so much so that we ordered 2!

13 April 2015- left Venice and caught an Easyjet flight to London Luton airport... it was very small plane, and we had to queue for such a long time at the counter to be checked in... urgghh... not impressed... and then had to queue again at London Luton immigration counter... and then my first real annoyance on the trip when the stupid and inefficient and non customer friendly airport transfer service stuffed up and I got soo annoyed with the driver... and he dared to ask for more money... yeah keep right on dreaming buddy :( anyway, by the time we actually got to Kings Cross station and found an accomodation place, which btw, it again not somewhere I would choose to stay again... it was night time, so we had burger king for dinner and toured the Kings Cross and St Pancras stations...

14 April 2015- London city tour, visited Buckingham Palace of course, it was a long walk down to the actual palace, Trafalgar square, and decided to go check out our Airbnb accomodation place... and did I also mention that this was my second annoyance of the trip... it was so frustrating to register for Airbnb, urgghh... and we got lost again finding the place... we walked sooo much... and parts of Paddington were full of Middle Eastern people, yeah not a very nice place... when we finally located the place, it was actually on a quiet street and quite pretty townhouses... 

15 April 2015- caught the Eurostar from London St PAncras International to Brussels Midi... disappointed by the quality of the train... and it was not cheap at all... the third disappointment was when we stepped out of the train station, and all you see are black people hanging around the hotel strip along the station... my first thought was great, this was so not what I thought of when I think of Brussels and Belgium... anyway, found an accomodation place which had the biggest room we had for the 4 of us so far... but run by Middle Eastern people... anyway, did I also mention that I simply can never sleep with both pongie and papa in the same room, becos I pretty much get awoken by their loud snores practically every night, and I highly suspect that was why my wisdom tooth flared up later during the trip, even the dentist mentioned it could be a result of food intake and stress levels... anyway, decided to walk to the main city centre, which was again very uncomfortable cos the whole stretch of road was filled with black people and them running shops... and it was a long walk, like 30mins... once we actually got the main city centre though, it was like in a completely different world, like I am back in a European country again, that's how crazy it was... 

16 April 2015- decided to do a hop on and off bus trip... which I thought was money well spent again, cos we did get to see other parts of Brussels, like the Atomium, the parliamentarium, the palaces, churches...

17 April 2015- we actually wanted to see if we could return to London a day earlier but once we found out how much more we had to pay to change the dates, papa suggested going to visit another city rather than staying in Brussels, so we were asking around to find out where else we could go visit as a day trip... and I was lucky to have met this young lady whom suggested we visit Brugge... this was probably one of the best decisions we made, cos Brugge was so pretty, less crowded, and it actually had the European feel to it still... and we got to try a horse ride around the town centre... and we had a really nice lunch in a very nice place too... but my first waffle experience was a disappointment... I was actually seriously considering staying there for one night... but was outvoted... anyway, I would definitely visit there again if the opportunity arises... and I learnt that they speak Flemish in Brugge, which I have never heard of before... 

18 April 2015- another day spent in Brussels... today was basically spending lots of money on chocolates as gifts and for our own consumption... we spent quite ALOT of money on chocolates actually... and visiting the really ridiculous highly hyped up Manneken Pis... which I really did not see what the fuss was about...and we caught the Eurostar back to London in the afternoon... and this day was when my whole wisdom tooth drama is about to unfold... it was gradually building up already a few days before, but that night was horrendous, could not sleep becos of the pain and the snorings... it was a nightmare, and I woke up in the middle night, looked up google to find an emergency dentist... unfortunately it was not 24/7 as advertised on their website... but they got back to me the next day and I booked a dental appt on MOnday...

19 April 2015- OMG, we almost died moving our luggages from Kings Cross, catching a train to Paddington and then hauling our luggages up and down the steps in the train station at Paddington... met up papa's nephew at Chinatown for lunch, OMG, the food was so good, especially the sweet and sour fish... expensive but good... so much better than the asian food here in Sydney... we also visited the M&Ms store there... after lunch, we caught a train to visit the Arcelormittal Orbit, which was a really different structure, but did not pay to go in though... and after that, we thought we would visit the famous London Bridge finally, and found out then that London Bridge is actually a suburb and the famous bridge that we all call 'London Bridge' is actually 'Tower Bridge'. So misleading... so in the end, we did not get to see it that day cos we were all quite tired from all the walking... 

20 April 2015- YAY Harry Potter studios tour! It was expensive, but money well spent I think despite the crowds... took ALOT of pictures and bought some souvenirs, bought a Time Turner keychain for myself, pongie bought a Marauder's MAp mug and we bought Christine a Hermione Granger keychain... unfortunately I then had to go see the dentist cos the pain was stopping me from opening my mouth to eat, chew and the left side of my throat is inflamed... got to the dental clinic... and the dentist pretty much said I need to have the tooth removed ASAP. She gave me a local anaesthetic, and then cleaned the stuff out, and chipped away some of the tooth cos it was causing an ulcer... and she prescribed me with antibiotics to tide me over until I can see a surgeon... and guess how much I paid for the consultation, freaking 200 pounds... and the antibiotics cost 18 pounds... I am so broke... thankfully NRMA travel insurance assured me that these would be covered...

21 April 2015- we also decided to join this Stonehenge/Windsor Castle/Bath day tour... it was very long day and journey though... Windsor Castle tour was quite rushed though, and it also happened to be the Queen's birthday that day too... it was crowded with both tourists and kids though... Stonehenge was alright, it was quite clever how they thought of making money of this historical monument... they built the visitor's centre approx 5 mins away and blocked off the stones from public, so everyone pretty much have to pay for the shuttle buses to ferry you to and from the stones... Bath was pretty, a small town, we visited the Roman Baths of course, also drank the spring water, which tasted really gross btw... 

22 April 2015- decided to go visit Wembley stadium, but did not pay to join the stadium tour, also visited the nearby outlet shopping centre, where we found a lindt shop which was having an easter sale, so of course we bought more chocolates... after that, took a train to Tower Bridge, finally, and hung around the place... I think we went back to Chinatown again for lunch actually, but lunch that day was not as good... 

23 April 2015- decided to go visit Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, and then hung around the Natural History Museum that day... it was huge... and admissions to all museums were free, so of course, there were huge crowds as well... had lunch again at Chinatown, and actually found a cinnamon roll shop near M&Ms store... 

24 April 2015- oh and did I mention that even though our Airbnb accomodation is really expensive and there was a lot of stress registering for it initially, the place was actually really nice and comfortable... anyway, last day of our trip and in London, we kind of ran out of places to visit, so pongie and I decided to go visit the Science Museum... and then meet up with mum and papa for lunch in a local pub... thinking that it may be cheaper... definitely not, and the fish and chips were not great as well... so anway, it was time to catch the Heathrow Express to Heathrow Airport... and it was self check in system... and btw, the Heathrow Express train was probably the best out of all the other trains we sat on other than the one we got coming back from Verona... so anyway, I was definitely not impressed by this particular terminal... the toilets do not flush, there was limited food choices, and shopping options... and the flight was very delayed as well... and there was turbulence for like 30mins continuously... not impressed... I did watch 4 movies in total during all those flying... first one was crap, the white haired witch movie with Fan Bingbing... 2nd was Con artistes korean movie with Kim WooBin, that was good... 3rd was a chinese movie called brotherhood of swords, with Zhang Zheng, and that was good as well, and finally, an action one by Donnie Yen...

25 April 2015- another brief stopover in Singapore, had iced lemon tea, chicken rice, fishball noodles, and chai tau kway shared between pongie and I... met up with nainai, uncle jeffrey and auntie evelyn... pongie and I then boarded the flight back to Sydney... and there was some turbulence as well despite the plane being an A380...

26 April 2015- back in Sydney... glad that the weather was good that day as well, despite the storm that happened in the last few days... we were so lucky to have missed that, and had really great weather during our trip actually... Despite having to skip Paris, we were also quite lucky to have visited other really beautiful places... so I am hoping that this is a sign that we might have another chance to visit Europe again! Home Sweet Home, despite liking being on holidays and not having to work, I still missed my bed and bolster... and of course, back to work on Monday :(

谢谢您， 李光耀先生。。。

23 March 2015... Mr Lee Kuan Yew passed away, and Singapore is in a week of mourning... I acknowledge that he has done alot to help build a strong foundation for the country and ensure that Singaporeans have a good education, housing, clean water and live in a 'safe' environment... a pity that he was not able to last until the 50th birthday this year in August... 

Other than that, I did enrol in the Master of Clinical Rehabilitation but was given the Neurological option instead, thought this might be a sign, so I decided to stick with it... took a while to plan my timetable, and yet to formally enrol cos I am still hesitant if I can really do this... and I found out that there is no funding scheme which I could access, which means that I would have to pay for everything myself... pretty much the same situation as when I did the undergrad studies... did not get the job at Hunters Hill, but after attending the interview, I decided that the job is not for me... so looks like I am going to be stuck at Nepean for a while longer... although, Karen mentioned that there may be hope for TACP rotation to be included in our program, but still in negotiation process, so it will be interesting to see what happens... also, Frances finally returned to the team... and I think Frances, Nat and myself are frustrated as to what is actually happening to the service... nobody seems to know for sure if the service is still able to run after the next financial year... 

other than that, nothing much happening, still counting down to our Europe holidays, I just hope that our trip will be a smooth one, what with all the terrorist attacks, plane crashes etc...

SeMi LiFE ChaNGiNg DeCiSiONS...

and so my family came and went... spent 2 weeks over chinese new year with them, and it was really good that Michelle could join us as well... drove to banksia for our usual lebanese zatta bread detour, then to temple, and then decided to have a picnic at bald hill lookout rather than driving further to Kiama... and then after that we went to try chef's gallery at macquarie, it was packed, had to wait a really long time, but I actually liked the food, despite it being quite expensive... also went to check out this lunar festival thing happening at The Star... the food was quite expensive though, and then after that, went to check out the terracotta warriors light up, it was really crowded and my camera can't really take good pictures at night anyway... and on chinese new year day, went over to auntie's for lo hei and dinner... other than that, nothing very exciting happened... got to eat curry puffs, pandan cake, and famous amos cookies... oh and spent quite alot of time researching on our Europe trip, and realised how expensive the trip is going to be...  so we are definitely NOT going for my football match :(

since they left, been going back to my online books again of course, and applied for a 4 days/week rehab job at Hunters Hill private, so we'll see what happens... applied for 2 courses this month, and maybe another one in may... and... finally decided to do a masters degree in clinical rehabilitation this year... the only thing is having the money to pay for the course... trying to apply for funding through work and maybe through this government HECS program... anyway, still awaiting for confirmation about whether I am eligible... and if I am, then the course will commence in July... I hope I am ready for this... hmmm, I am sure I will regret it sometime, when I have to do uni stuff and work as well... I just hope that I made the right decision...

other than that, really looking forward to our trip in April, that's all I am looking forward to at this stage... not even planning what's happening after April...

AH NioNg...

so went for the farewell dinner at this jap restaurant at chinatown, pretty nice, but I was alittle taken aback when I realised it was a sitting on the floor style, and I was wearing a dress, thank goodness, the dress is loose and long, otherwise... mostly PTs attended, and of course, they were the louder bunch, Deb, Lisa, Bonita and myself were the non-PTs there, did not really like the food, thought we will be ordering for ourselves, turned out it was more tapas style, and there was this chicken popcorn looking dish that was highly puke-inducing, even now just thinking about it, turns me off any sort of chicken dish... appears Yin is quite the popular person in the PT department, people kept egging her on to try difference alcohol drinks and teasing her... did not stay for very long, and was watching the asian cup finals on the tv in there as well... anyway, my leaving was a little of a blur actually, and actually got a hug from you know who, but seeing as how much you know who drank that night, probably was drunk by then... 

asian cup finals, Australia vs Korea... WOW, this match was definitely not boring even till the last minute, cos everyone would have thought Australia have won the game, up until the last minute, a very late goal was scored by KOrea, bringing the match into extra time, and in the end, Australia played well and won... would have preferred Korea to win, but hey, I thought they played well too, and sometimes it's just luck, and being at the right place and at the right time... 

so, the family will be visiting next week, and michelle is also coming back for a visit, still thinking if I should go watch the Chelsea vs Man Utd match happening in London in April when we are there, still trying to get over the fact that the cheapest ticket is like AUD$500... need to also start planning our itinerary for the trip...

PR can stand for public relations, or... PErmAneNT ResiDENcy!

work-wise, the day is finally here for both Rachel and Kevin to leave... went out as a team for thai lunch today, don't like the food, except for this honey chilli fried chicken, and decided to go for their farewell dinner on saturday at chinatown this sat... a few others from OT are also going... hopefully I don't feel extra, and not planning to stay too long anyway... Rheem will be starting next week for the next 6 months, dunno who our new 3 day PT will be at this stage, and our AHA is finally starting in the second week of Feb, so hopefully this time, there will be no last minute changes like last time... and Frances hopefully will be coming back to us... and then hopefully when we actually have a full team, we will feel less threatened by having N2G getting rehab beds... 

otherwise, the great big news of the day is PONGIE FINALLY GOT HER PR!!!! one big load off our shoulders actually, and no more stressing about having to go back to singapore... of course, our 'internal issues' are still ongoing, maybe this time it will be the final straw... now pongie just have to focus on getting a job, and getting her healthcare, driving licence stuff sorted... 

Looks like 2015 is not starting off to a great start actually... despite having already confirmed going to Europe in April! oh well, no use stressing about these things, just do what I can...

十周年。。。 时间渐渐地流失。。。

OMG... today began as any other day to get by, until after dinner today, when pongie asked me, what day did I arrive in Sydney, I said 20th Jan 2005, and then it hit me, OMG, its been exactly 10 years since I have been in Australia today... wow, I have been writing the damn date today multiple times at work, and it did not even occur to me the significance of the date... I still can't get over how of all the days pongie could ask the question, she happened to ask today, is that scary or what??!! no big celebration or anything today, maybe just eat ice cream, and then maybe buy something nice when we go over to auntie's on the weekend...

anyway, have applied for leave in april, so at this stage we are 80% confirmed going to destination Europe! Yes, planning to visit Rome, Venice, Florence, Belgium, Switzerland, Paris and Dubai... too bad I could only take 3 weeks of leave, cos I am definitely planning to go back home in August this year for national day as well as for my 30th...

ok, work-wise update, Rhia's contract got extended for a year, Dasha is definitely leaving in March, dunno if Ivy is coming back, found out that Nicole is on a 2 year maternity leave, Andrew resigned, Rachel and Kevin have resigned as well... new staff members, Rebecca senior in aged care, Michelle student educator and senior in acute... and the office is getting a makeover at the end of the month, so it should be interesting to see what happens then... still no new job openings at this stage, so still stuck at Nepean for the foreseeable future at least... MRT seems to be moving in a boring direction, dunno if it's just the time of the year, or becos we are short of staff, but I have a feeling it's not a good direction that I want to be going... and Nat also agreed... so we'll see what happens... 

other than that, still reading my online books, I count my lucky stars that I found this free website, but the downside is that they do not have latest books and sometimes, I can't find books which I really want to find... but hey, I am definitely not complaining...

MAkiNg FacES...

ok I just want to write a quick blog to say that I am STILL on a reading marathon and this one book that I have just finished reading is so meaningful and inspiring and touching, that I actually cried twice when reading the book... I don't think that has ever happened to me whilst reading a book. Dunno that it's a book that I will re-read but it's definitely a book that I will remember for a long time... and it's called Making Faces by Amy Harmon...

YEar of THe GoAT...

24th dec- xmas eve, it was just lois and I in rehab that day, had our CC and then went to red cherry for am tea, and then was busy sorting out all the gate leaves, and then had pizza for lunch, was the last one to leave work that day at 1500 actually... cos I had to go see the 2 new MRT referrals as well... went to hornsby for dinner and did some grocery shopping...

25th dec- merry xmas, spent most of the day at auntie's house, baking cheesesticks, brownie and cookies, did not turn out very nice though, had the moscato, and then settled down to watch our weekly dose of running man and a rerun of the mummy... 

26th dec- boxing day yes!!! finally time to leave for melbourne... got to the airport really early actually, the flight there was mostly ok, thank goodness it was only a 90mins flight... and not many people of the plane... when we finally arrived at melbourne, it was actually quite cool and windy, and we were like uh oh, did not even think to bring a jacket... caught the skybus to southern cross station, and then a free hotel transfer bus to the rydges... we were excited when we found out that we had a room on the top floor on 22nd... the room itself was alright, nothing very special, and of course, I was the suay one who got into the shower, and realised that it was not working properly, so pongie rang reception who were like ok how about we reassign you another room on the 21st floor, and so I had to do a really quick rinse and get out of the shower, repack our stuff and then switch rooms... this time we had a bath instead, but at least the hose was working... so I had another second proper shower... before all this shower drama though, we actually decided to go check out chinatown seeing as how it's just on the street opposite the hotel on little bourke street... it was crowded, of course with asians mostly, did not walk the whole street though, checked out some of the eateries, and decided on this chinese restaurant, and ordered xiao long bao, white bait, and fried rice, the food was actually not bad except for the xiao long bao... the good thing we found out was that the sky was still bright even at like 2100, and that the eateries were still open, how good was that!

27th dec- went to check out the rooftop swimming pool, it was a small one though, and we both did bring our swimming costumes but decided not to swim... so we made our way to breakfast, on the way, we got excited cos we came upon lindt cafe, and they were having a 50% discount off all the xmas goodies, and haigh's as well, so we bought some chocs for ourselves as well as for people... came upon the royal arcade and found one of the cafes on my list, cafe duomo... the food was ok, but really expensive, actually the most expensive out of all our meals there... after that, made our way to federation square and flinders street station, by then it was starting to get really crowded... alot of tourists... went to check out the information centre, bought our bus tour tickets, got some brochures and maps... and waited for the hour free tour of the federation square... we probably stayed for like 10mins and decided to leave and start our bus tour, cos it was so hot standing there, and I saw the bus waiting on the opposite street and decided it's now or never... so we sprinted across and boarded the bus... sat through one circuit, we decided to stop at the place where the eureka skydeck was, had difficulties finding the place actually, but when we finally got there, it was actually quite an isolated location, and it was an office building, and we saw the price and pongie did not want to do it so in the end we just walked around and took pictures, and got back onto the bus... decided to stop by the hotel to drop off the chocs we bought in the am, cos we were worried about them melting in the heat... by the time we were ready to get back out, decided there was no more time to get back onto the bus, so decided to check out the little lanes like little collins street and flinders lane... and found the arcade where they sold the macarons which running man went to, as well as the soup place that running man went to as well... decided to have afternoon tea at chokolait, a cafe which was also on my list... it was tucked into a basement and compared to the other cafes, it was actually quite quiet so we bought a piece of cafe and ice choc drink and had the macarons... and then we were walking back to federation square to check out the sights, and saw many tourists on horses, wanted to try that until we found out the cost, expensive! then made our way to one of the more famous street art lanes, called hosier lane, there were actually alot of people there like us taking pics as well... and then we found this killiney kopitiam cafe near our hotel on bourke street, and decided to stop there for dinner, ordered my kaya toast, chai tau kway, which was really yummy, roti prata which was not and the satay, which were not good... 

28th dec- first stop was queen victoria market, it was about a 30mins walk from the hotel, when we got there, not as crowded yet, the place which was I excited most was probably the cooked food deli section, tried this cheese stick thing, which was not that good actually... so the walk around was pretty quick, after that decided to walk to melbourne central shopping centre to catch the free tram city circle tour, when we boarded, it was actually relatively free, and there were seats, the route was pretty much what the bus tour did, but the bus tour had more stops outside of the city... anyway, we did one circuit and by the time we came out of docklands, the tram was PACKED LIKE SARDINES... becos of these parents with kids and prams... there were even staff directing people traffic at federation square stops... it was worse than MRT in singapore during peak hour I think... finally got off the tram back at melbourne central, and had lunch at the food court at schnitz... the burger and chips were actually pretty good... after that we pretty much walked around the city a bit more, had a hard time finding this cafe called 1000 pound, we almost passed it by, and then decided to go cool off for dessert at the lindt cafe of course... disappointingly they did not have the dome available that day... so we just had the waffle and ice choc drink... after that, we decided to return to the hotel for a rest, before going back out for dinner... thought that the cafes at little collins or flinders lane would still be open however, when we got there, most of the cafes were closed or closing, hence we decided to go back to schnitz for dinner, there was actually another one on elizabeth street... 

29th dec- last day in melbourne, seriously time flies when you are enjoying... checked out of the hotel and left our stuff at the hotel and made our way through little bourke street towards the japanese massage place... came upon this asian bakery store, and bought some stuff, it was actually quite expensive... anyway, arrived at the massage place and I really liked the decor, it was small, but double storey, was asked to change out of our clothing, and given this top and tie string pants to wear, and then first treatment was a footrub and wash, whilst drinking green tea and given one mochi each to eat... after that, it was an hour massage with clothes on, and then finally, an hour facial... I thought it was really good, and worth the price we paid... pongie did not like it though... unfortunately the good weather that we had the last few days was gone and in came pouring rain and strong winds... the wind was so strong that the rain was pretty much going diagonally and horizontally... and the wind was too strong for pongie's tiny umbrella, hence we pretty much walked under shelters as much as possible without using it... and ended up at killiney again for lunch... and then of course, received a sms informing that our flight schedule has been changed, rang virgin blue up and was told that our flight has been cancelled becos of mechanical error... so we started to panic a little, and was told that it was either the 1700 or 1930 flight... and becos we were unsure of we would make it to the airport by 1700, we decided to go with the 1930 instead... caught the free hotel transfer bus back to southern cross station, and there was actually alot of people there waiting for the skybus as well... waited for awhile, and we were on our way back to the domestic airport... thank goodness we got there on time, and we were able to catch the 1700 flight back to sydney... but at this point, my main worry was the weather outside... and of course, the takeoff and landing, especially the landing was turbulent, I was actually really scared, my heart was pounding and I was almost tearing up, thank goodness it happened when we were almost landing... anyway, got home safe and sound, and we were so lucky that we managed to catch the earlier flight, otherwise we would be beyond exhausted when we got home... 

went back to work the next 2 days, nothing very exciting, I just felt like my body was physically there the whole time but my mind was elsewhere... but at least we got to leave at 1600 on new years eve... and stayed up to watch the fireworks... same every year...

1st Jan- Happy New Year, year of the goat... hopefully this year would be a much better year, no terrorist attacks, no plane or ferry tragedies, sport tragedies... went to auntie's house to hang out... watched running man and noah the movie, it was so crap actually... felt like we wasted time and my life, it was ridiculous...

2nd Jan- brought Hyungie in to have the brakes checked and was pretty much told that the squeaking is unavoidable due to dust buildup in the brake pads... urgghhh... maybe it is time to change vehicles... went to parramatta westfield for breakfast at platform 8 cafe... the food there is quite good but had to take my cinammon scroll home cos I was so full after the meal... did some grocery shopping and then came home... went out for dinner with Yin and Elisha at eastwood at Jonga Jip, had barbeque, it was getting crowded when we left, and then went for dessert at Oliver Brown... I was so full after... it was so hot and humid yesterday as well...

can't believe this holiday period is coming to an end... will be having a 1st year student in Jan and then working twice for MAU this month, and then in Feb, family will be visiting... still dunno whether we are still going the Europe thing in April... after all the airplane tragedies and my fear of flying... hmmm, maybe I should just stay put and wait till Aug to go back home instead... Can't believe I am turning 30 this year!!!!

圣诞节快乐。。。

5 more sleeps to xmas day and 6 more sleeps to melbourne... the days are dragging... work has been alright last week, 'painful' pts are now gone, and I have been roped in to help out in the inpt rehab ward next week... rehab xmas dinner at panarotti's was good actually, the pizzas and pastas were not bad, but no dessert though... got to sit near to sharon wong, jo, yan and her husband Dr Lee, who is one of the cardiologists who is also from singapore, and he turned out to be really nice and friendly... they must be really wealthy... it will be interesting to see if he would say hello if we do see each other at work... dept xmas lunch was also not bad, alot of desserts, and I got a recipe book and a stationary set from my secret santa... Laura and Kara also came to visit... so Andrew's definitely going in Jan 2015, and we have another new student educator starting in early Jan 2015 as well... still no word as to what is happening with Nat's position though...

other than that, the amazing race final was yesterday, and running man still ongoing, and I am still reading my online books, nothing new or exciting unfortunately...

the siege ended tuesday last week, and 2 people died as a result, really sad... wonder how the cafe is ever going to continue their business and whether the staff will even be able to go back to work, or even whether people will dare to visit that cafe after this happened... 

ToO CLoSE to HOme...

Unbelievable... sydney is actually in the midst of a terror attack, and of course, they decided to hold hostages at the lindt cafe at martin place... the terror attack has finally arrived in Australia, after hearing all about these attacks in the US, in Syria, and in London, and it's now finally got close to home... when I first heard about it this am on the wards, my initial thought was no way, just someone spreading rumours that's all, but of course, it is all real, and it's still happening now... so scary... anyone could be there really... hopefully everything will be resolved peacefully... 

went to the OT dept xmas dinner at bondi pizza last Friday, the food was not bad, the dessert was the best and the highlight of the meal actually... I actually was not as bored as I thought I would be... had a good time chatting with Liz, Karen, Jamila, El, Alex and Sarah, Elisha and Dasha... 

hopefully the rehab dept xmas dinner will be enjoyable too... 

work-wise, current batch of patients are a pain in the ass actually... 

papa, mum and nainai have confirmed visiting between 8-23 Feb 2015...

MuGGy...

sooo... dunno why, but december for me seems to be a month of misfortunes... 2nd dec... must have hit the off button as opposed to the snooze button and ended up oversleeping and the only reason why I did wake up was becos I needed to pee urgently, so I turned over, looked for my phone and when I saw the time, the first thing I thought was this must be wrong, is it daylight savings?? but then after my brain finally woke up, my eyes popped wide open, and was like HOLY SHIT, it's 0721, and I just woke up!!! needless to say, woke up pongie, dashed around to get ready and was out of the door in 10mins... got to work at 0915 :( had to make up the hours on 2 days this week... 

AND... on wed, on the way to work, my tummy suddenly had the feeling of diarrhoea, and the first thing I thought was no freaking way, deja vu, this cannot be happening to me again, and around exactly the same sort of time of the year and maybe even day... luckily I was nearing dural, so decided to swing into hungry jacks, and of course, there has to be slowpokes on the road on that day, I was getting so desperate to release that when I was finally in the toilet, I was literally shaking... and I ended up having to go twice... and becos I did not want to be late again, in the first time since 4years at Nepean, I took the toll way on M7 and got to work on time... 

like seriously, I dunno what is it with december, for other people, its looking forward to xmas and presents, but for me all I can ever think of now for 2 consecutive years will be it's a SHITTY time of the year haha :(

anyway, work-wise, nothing very exciting, except we currently have a very troublesome pt and family, and I have no idea what we are going to do with her... otherwise, volunteered to supervise some 1st year students, and also volunteered to help out at rehab over the xmas new year break... and it was Liz's last day today, and from the bits and pieces I overheard, Andrew and Owen may also be resigning soon...

XMAs CounTdOwn StArTs...

hmmm, recap of the past weekend and the roadtrip to bowral, can't believe it's been more than a year since we were there... felt like it was quite recent actually... anyway, drove to ribs and rumps campbelltown for lunch, it was not as good as the north ryde one though... then we proceeded to our accomodation at briars, unfortunately for us, it was stinking hot on sunday like 43 degrees, so despite the aircon being at the lowest already, we had to ring reception for a fan as well... and becos of the hot weather, there were flies buzzing everywhere, and there were dead flies as well on the floor in the room, it was not pleasant...the feel was definitely not the same as when Huimin and I went approx 5 years ago... and becos it was sooo hot, we could not even go explore the garden and the lake... anyway, went to Gibraltar day spa for our massage... finally got to try the vichy shower thing, it was pretty much them rubbing stuff on you first, and then using water to rinse off whilst you are lying flat on the table, so needless to say, there was a mess of water and towels everywhere... definitely not what I expected... but the place was really nice, definitely the next thing to look forward to... breakfast the next day was in one word, BAD! the bacon was hard, the eggs was funny, and there is only so much hashbrowns you can eat at one go... disappointing... 

when we came back from the trip yesterday, I decided to do some research into the melbourne trip, and decided to book a 4 days 3 night trip, and massage at a Japanese spa place... and the more I looked into the places we could go... the more I am like... what the hell did Anna and I do when we were there years ago??!! the only thing I remembered was going to the Queen Victoria market actually... hopefully this time it will be ALOT better... just thinking of our accommodation when Anna and I went made me want to puke...

so, yay looking forward to the Melbourne trip, counting down starts to Xmas :)

STinKinG HOt...

haven't blogged for awhile, nothing very exciting atm... did not get the hornsby job, and I have officially turned down the westmead private job offer today... so of course, its looking like I will be stuck at Nepean for awhile... work has been a little boring recently... nothing really to look forward to at work nowadays actually...

what I am really looking forward to is the upcoming roadtrip and massage, it better be good... and then to xmas when we will have a long break, maybe another roadtrip and massage... we'll see... thinking of going to melbourne initially, but its too expensive... 

weather-wise, it's been stinking hot these few days, disgusting... no new dramas recently as well, so I have been reading my online books for the past few weeks, so glad that I found this really good website where they have most of the books that I wanted...

FLies ArE BacK... YuCK...

papa and co come and went... on the whole, they were pleasant enough, and the fact that I was working on most days and they usually come home late meant that I do not have interact with them that much, but it was definitely awkward sleeping with someone you don't know... went for dinner on the day they arrived at Ribs and Rumps, and then went for a day trip to Hunter Valley... good weather, had some wine, cheese, and had Takeru for dinner... otherwise, nothing very exciting... the only thing that annoyed me was that there were stuff everywhere and the whole house looked really messy... anyway, after they left, papa and I went to Auburn Home Makers centre thinking to buy the TV unit, but ended up buying 2 rugs for the bedroom... 

work-wise... Nat finally started on 2 days and Yin does the other 3 days... it was actually good in the fact that bcos Nat is very experienced, she kind of guides both Yin and I as to what we should be doing with pts... and Rachel will be rotating into MRT from next week... not that I don't want her to come back, but I would prefer that Yin stays in MRT... and my student is finishing up this week, the good thing about student supervision is that yes, you get to explain things aloud and forces you to think abt things and your clinical reasoning, but on the other hand, it's quite limiting in the amt of freedom I have in doing things and can be quite stifling at times... cos things take twice the time to do... and... of course, had a MET call with a patient in the toilet, which was not as bad as our rehab reg happened to be in the room at the time, so it was not that nerve-wrecking, and then of course, decided to take the same pt to the kitchen today, and of course, the same thing happened, and had to hit the MET call button, everyone came rushing over into the tiny kitchen, and I felt quite useless standing there in the corner, not able to get out at the time... this time was more nerve-wrecking cos it was only the patient and the husband there at the time... and there were ALOT of people eventually... now in addition to making me even more wary of getting this patient up, I am probably going to be wary of using the kitchen again... oh and abit of gossip, which truly I am still in shock over... Yin actually likes my student, and she is genuinely upset that he is attached already... and I am there trying my best to console her, whilst I am like... he is way too young, and he is not that great, well to me anyway, but hey, I am judging him from a supervisory perspective... I still am not quite over you know who, time is ticking, and when Jan comes, it is truly time to say goodbye...

job-seeking wise... TACP... did not get the position, the feedback was honest and brutal in fact, I was embarrassed during the feedback cos I actually said that I thought I did better this time... Westmead Private... did not think I did well during the interview, and I was not too impressed with the interview panel... and for some reason, I actually was offered the position, BUT at a lower pay and no salary packaging benefits and I will lose all my leave... so I am most likely going to turn this one down, which hopefully will not come back and bite me on the ass... which brings me to the fact that I am putting all my eggs in one basket, namely Hornsby rehab... and if I don't get the job there, then that's it, I am for sure stuck at Nepean for much much longer... not that I don't like MRT, out of all the other positions on offer, I would still prefer MRT...

闪电打雷。。。

after pongie left on thurs, ate and slept on my own on thurs, and then spent the night over at prisy's, watched resident evil and wanted to watch another movie but the computer was playing up, so ended up watching this new korean drama called nine plus boys, was not bad so decided to download the show and watch...

spent sat with yin, house-hunting, and then went to parramatta westfield for lunch and shopped alittle... spent sun at home, nothing very exciting, read my books, and yin came over at night... went to work together on monday, had to actually hurry home to shower, cook and clean up cos our water was turned off for some repairs that night, so that was interesting... came home and cooked rice, veg and minced pork, watched transformers 2... played cluedo... went to work together on tues, and decided to have dinner at the szechuan place at eastwood... decided that the food there was only good fresh, definitely not nice to eat the next day... yin introduced me to eharmony and we spent most of the night browsing through eharmony and rsvp websites... it was good to get to know yin better, and gossip about work in general...

managed to secure an interview at Westmead TACP tomorrow, so took the half day off, hopefully I will get the job, getting tired of looking for jobs, applying for jobs and the feeling of not being able to focus 100% at work due to this... work-wise, our TA formally withdrew her application, and Frances will be extending her secondment to who knows when... Kara came to visit that day, had chicken schnitzel together, and she also brought along her baby, it was good to see her actually... 

weather-wise, it had been pretty hot up until the last 2 days, we had a sudden thunderstorm last night, and the temp has dropped considerably, and there was snow up at Blue MOuntains...

I CAn Feel THe drEAded SummEr iS NEAr...

nothing very much happening in the month of september really... did not get the royal rehab job, but now there's a few job openings coming up, so I have applied for the one at Westmead private, Westmead TACP and now there's also a rehab job at Hornsby Hospital which is probably my first preference followed by TACP. Cross my fingers and toes...

no new shows recently, have been reading my online books, went to watch this movie called Guardians of the Galaxy, and it was so boring, despite the good reviews... our external hard drive finally died on us recently, pongie was lucky to have backed up all her stuff as well as the korean shows, but all my other asian shows have now forever disappeared :(

work wise... it's been really busy recently, now that I also have a student for 7 weeks, and our caseload has really shot up, and there is even a waiting list for MRT at this stage... found out that Kevin will be resigning early next year, and Nat will be coming back to MRT for 2 days of her maternity leave and then the rotating PT will cover the other 3 days... so it will be interesting to see what happens... Sarah resigned as well.. and our new AHA is starting next week, so things are definitely changing around... 

went to prisy's birthday celebration that day... went for dinner at randwick at an indonesian restaurant... not nice, and then went for dessert, it was like, indonesian style mang zang kueh... again not nice... and then went to play this room escape game, it was really frustrating for like the first 30mins, and then once we finally got what we were supposed to do, it was quite interesting...so nothing much happening, pongie is confirmed going back home for 3 weeks, and papa's coming to hang out with me for 2 weeks, and then auntie and co are heading to NY for 4 weeks... 

and we have been some stupid neighbour smoking some really smelly cigarette and it's polluting the corridor, and into our unit, and the smell has gone onto the bed, pillow etc, and our clothing... SO ANNOYING, tried to ask the management if they could help in some way but they blamed the smell back to our drains... WHAT NONSENSE!!! so now we had to open the room window, on the fan, move the clothing hangar to the other room, and I am sleeping with pongie in the other room now... AGAIN, SO ANNOYING!

StiLL RaiNY and CloUdy...

finally the 2 weeks of reckoning, physical and mental stress has come and gone...

25th- arrival of the parents, did not do much for the rest of the day, they went to visit uncle and auntie whilst pongie and I stayed at home...

26th- Happy Birthday! got some birthday songs and wishes that day, not as satisfying as last year's though, I baked the flourless choc cake, and it was huge success actually, Kara also came for afternoon tea that day and she gave me a set of tools to use at work :) had pizza for dinner that night...

27th- torture, cos I had to fast all day, only drank apple juice for the whole day and a half of the next day... stayed till quite late that day to finish up the handovers, but Karen was really nice about it actually... 

28th- day of surgery, the enema what can I say?? I think I did it wrongly, nothing happened... waited for quite awhile for the surgery to commence, once I am in there, a cannular was inserted, and the nurse started inserting god knows what on my head, on my chest, I had to put on TED stockings... and completely naked underneath... then when I am finally wheeled into the operating theatres, there were like approx 6 people hovering over me, and a mask was placed over my mouth and I was unconscious shortly after... when I regained consciousness, it was in recovery, and feeling nauseated, thirsty, and very uncomfortable down there... painful and sore where the catheter was inserted, the constant feeling of wanting to pee, was wheeled to the maternity ward at approx 1600, mum came shortly after, and that's when everyone found out about my BP and insulin problems, and needless to say, the nagging started... was feeling so nauseated that when food came, I took one look and said no... it was some weird looking piece of beef, mashed potatoes, and veg... there was only one other person beside me in the room, and thank goodness they put me in the maternity ward, where it's newer and nicer... but had difficulties sleeping becos of the discomfort from the catheter, the wounds, and the cannular... 

29th- felt much better the next day when the catheter was removed, and I could actually sit up properly to have some breakfast... but had to wait for a quite awhile for the gynae to come see me... anyway, basically was told that I also had the polycystic ovarian syndrome, endometriosis and fibroids on the uterus, on top of my BP and insulin problems, and was also informed that the cyst had grown to 15cm when they removed it... the fun never ends... and the gynae also said that the best time to get pregnant is the next 3 months, otherwise it might become difficult in future... I was like yeah sure... I will just go out and find myself a prostitute or a random guy... :( finally was discharged home, actually did a brief detour to do grocery shopping and have lunch... after that, auntie uncle and prisy came to visit in the evening... 

30th- went for lunch at crinitis, and then went to eastwood for dinner with auntie and uncle and prisy... and then we hung out at their house for abit... 

31st- hunter valley roadtrip! the weather finally cleared up and it became quite warm actually... stopped by irongate winery with recommendations from rennie, peterson's where papa gave us a "lecture" out in the open, thanks papa... he could not have chosen a better place... proceeded to constable estate winery, and finally to the accomodation at H boutique hotel... ok, the 2 bedroom place was so nice and looked like it was new, everything smelt like new... it was soooo nice... and comfortable... everyone settled down, I went for a nap (what else?) and the rest watched a movie, and I suddenly heard pongie screaming there was a mouse running around outside... I was like no freaking way... anyway, could not find the damn mouse in the end, so I rang the reception lady and we moved to another 2 bedroom place, which was so disappointing, becos this place reeked of cigarette smoke and did not appear as clean as the one we were originally in... but what to do... so anyway, settled down again for the second time, and went out for dinner at the blaxland inn... the food was not great actually, the ambience was good in a rustic kind of way... 

1st- checked out of the place, and drove back to sydney, and of course, there was an accident on the way back on the pacific highway, and we were stuck there for approx 45mins, people were eventually coming out of their cars and chatting to the neighbouring cars, including papa... finally arrived home, unpacked, rested and then it was out for dinner at ribs and rumps with auntie and co... 

2nd- went to hang out at auntie's so mummy could make the pineapple tarts with auntie... had dinner there too...

3rd- 5th- did nothing of significance, did some baking, another flourless choc cake, cookies which turned out disgusting, threw them out actually, and mum made the 冰皮月饼。。。and had a "teary" session with mum, becos she was constantly nagging me about eating sweet stuff and not eating healthily, and I was like, then don't bother bringing so much baking stuff over, so I got upset and started packing up all the baking stuff... anyway... I was feeling quite down that day actually... 

6th- can't believe the 2 weeks just flew by... time for mum and papa to return home... went out for lunch with auntie and co at bondi pizza at top ryde... the pizzas were not bad, but I really liked the ambience most... dropped them off at the airport, pongie and I made a quick detour home first before going to auntie's for our weekly running man session... stayed till quite late that day actually cos we followed up with a jet li movie... 

sunday, did not do much, did some cooking for the week, and some washing... re-reading my in death and other books... hesitant to start the korean version of fated to love you... the worst thing atm is our hard drive is suddenly playing up, so we started backing up our stuff, however, my videos folder appears to be gone from the hard drive AHHHHH!!! which means no more movies, no more dramas which I downloaded including the taiwanese, HK and singapore dramas! and the videos which I took during the concerts we went to previously... :(

today, went for a job interview at royal rehab... the whole place is quite tucked in, no trains to get there, but the whole facility is still quite new looking... the position is actually in the new private hospital, which really is not a hospital but more like a ward... anyway, undecided if I really want this job, the good thing is that it is much closer to home, and something different... the not good sides are... it's going with the traffic flow in the mornings, and starting times vary between 0700 and 0930, and mainly are neuro caseload rather than general rehab... and after the interview, I felt like I could have done better, oh well... we'll see... anyway, the wound in my navel is now quite red and itchy, still sore but soreness is definitely improving... the other 3 sites appear to be recovering quite well... I am hoping that the itchiness is only temporary... watch this space!

so... pongie is finishing work in first week of oct, and I suggested that she go back to singapore to sort out her medical stuff, and coincidentally, auntie and co are going to NY to visit michelle around the same time as well, which meant that I will be all alone, so papa has decided to come join me for 2 weeks until pongie comes back...