WOrLd CuP FeVEr...

World Cup 2022, held in Qatar this time around, has been full of shocks and surprises... the underdogs are definitely Morroco and hopefully the final game will be Argentina vs Morocco... 

Had another round of surgery to hopefully remove the cyst once and for all yesterday... still in pain, hopefully this is the end of the cyst saga... 

Mum and papa are arriving tomorrow and will be staying here for the next 2.5 weeks... Met Michelle and her 2 daughters the other day... Not much happening otherwise... 

魂飞破散。。。

I have done countless number of home visits in the last few years and today has got to be the most traumatising one...

The client lives at Upper Colo, and for some reason, the GPS brought me down this gully with dirt road all the way down and when I got to the bottom, it was a literal dead end cos the bridge was gone... and there was no freaking reception... I was really panicking... after contacting my client whom informed me I have gone the wrong way, I have to then do this 100 point turn on a down hill slope and right behind me is the river, and I am driving a Caddy... I have never felt so scared... I was by myself, with no reception, no soul around... I had all these scenarios in my head... when I finally arrived at the client's house, I was like 90mins late... and the worst thing is... I have a bad feeling I may have to go back there again :(

The positive thing that happened today was pongie and I went to penrith to eat at this pasta place, and we went to Coles at Nepean Village to do grocery shopping, I was standing there waiting for pongie in my uniform, and this elderly man came up to me and said thank you for the work you do, I was touched... after working as an OT for so long, this was very meaningful... 

EQ...

 Did not blog for a while... quite a few things have happened since I last blogged... staycations ongoing...

July 2022- not much happened, just staycations...

Aug/Sept 2022- went back to Singapore, suai, the cyst at my tummy got infected in the first week I was there, ended up going to hospital, had surgery, was pretty traumatised during my stay overnight at TTSH... especially with the toilet situation, and since the surgery, not able to shower for a month, had to go for frequent wound dressings... and pretty much could not do much cos I was not able to sweat... what a waste... although did get to go do some facials, staycation at Park Royal Pickering... and had to extend my stay, but then there was a whole lot of kafuffle with SIA... only met up with Silvana and Huimin... was able to go visit Nainai a few times, which was good... 

Oct 2022- again, not much happened... just work and delayed my second contract at Lemongrove CHC until Nov 2022... the cyst looked like it was healing and then this small circle appeared... so again back to the GP, ultrasound... seriously, it's one thing after another... 

Online dating... not much happening either... 

So the plan for Dec/Jan when papa and mum visit is just staycations in Sydney... then April 2023, we are going to North Island in NZ and then roadtrip to Mudgee take 2... so we'll see... 

BAck To fuLL TiME...

Back to working fulltime from this week onwards, accepted a casual contract at Lemongrove CHC... being supervised by my former student was awkward... and there were still some familiar faces around the centre... feels like no time had passed... too many policies and processes to follow... I need to see how much I am being paid, if it's low, then there's no point, might as well look elsewhere for work... 

Staycations recap... Four Seasons... it was fine, breakfast buffet was actually not too bad... Shangri La... it is now on my blacklist... service and breakfast were crap... even the canapes were pretty average... Crown Towers... what a kafuffle... made a complaint, everything from the wifi, to the tv to the poor housekeeping... the spa services were great though... the Porter House Hotel cancelled on me cos the hotel is still not completed... and there are still no offers for the Ace Hotel... 

Hobart trip... we were pretty lucky with the weather, only rained briefly on arrival but the last day when we had to fly back to Sydney was bad... raining and strong winds, oh man, the turbulence was bad... pretty disappointed with MACQ01 though... the Tasman was really good... except for the breakfast, that was average... 

Upcoming staycations... Crowne Plaza Burwood... Park Royal, going to give it another go... cos they have club lounge... Marriott Circular Quay... again, becos they have a club lounge... 

Did quite alot of research on staycation in Singapore... there are so many nice hotels in Singapore, but so expensive if you want club lounge... 

WHo's ouR NexT PriME MiNisTER?

Post COVID...

Work has been better for me now that I am no longer doing inpatients and can now focus on community work, which is my actual job... Have been voluntold to do falls huddles education, Oxford Cognitive Screen, manual handling training and now PRPP... I need a payrise... I just want to cruise along, do my home visits and be left alone really... 

Outside of work, somehow I have overestimated my ability to juggle stuff, and timing sucks, of course, nothing happens for the RECITE trial for all these months, and just when I was asked to do some marking for CSU, the RECITE trial finally commencing and of course I decided to also volunteer to join a working party for the Stroke Guidelines... why I do this to myself, I have no idea... and of course, everything is happening just before and after our trip to Hobart... can't wait... after having had to postpone the trip twice... 

Staycations... after Mum left... we stayed in Aiden a new hotel near Sofitel and the Darling... it was ok... once off stay for us... Swissotel... another once off stay... and came back to Sheraton Grand... pretty good, especially after finally able to go to the club lounge... it was packed for canapes... 

Pongie finally found a new job closer to home... hopefully it will be a better job and place to work... 

Upcoming... Four Seasons... Hobart, yay! Shangri La... Crown Towers... another new hotel called Porter House Hotel (maybe, the opening keeps getting delayed)... and waiting for another new hotel Ace hotel... booked to go back to Singapore during my birthday on my own, and decided to splurge on business class seats on SIA... really helps lying down when there is turbulence... 

ISoLatiON daY 4...

Who knew that a simple unconscious thing such as swallowing your saliva could cause me so much pain every single time... I don't think I have been so sick before or that I can remember... Thanks COVID...

COVID +ve...

After 2 years, COVID has finally hit 27 Christy Drive and becos mum is here, she was also affected... Bye Bye Mudgee, hello isolation over the Easter long weekend...

Nothing much to do except catch up on my reading and watching Netflix...

Staycations recap... Kimpton Margot... it was only ok, nothing to rave about... Fullerton... we wanted to try the heritage rooms now that they have reopened them... it was only ok... Intercontinental... it was actually not too bad, since they renovated the rooms, too bad the renovations were still ongoing... planning to visit again once the renovations are complete... Holiday Inn Potts Point... this was more a last minute one as it was the 90th birthday of the Harbour Bridge so we wanted somewhere with a view of the bridge... Hyatt Regency... this was becos I came across their facebook page advertising a Gin and Tea high tea so we wanted to try that... it was actually not bad... the room was only so so... West Hotel... the room was pretty small, again, not much to say, only so so... we only went there becos we booked the darling spa, that was good... the only thing was the treatment options were limited...

More rain and flooding in Feb/March... it was pretty bad...

Mum arrived and we brought her to the Epicurean buffet lunch... there was alot of food options but the actual food quality was not that great... 

And of course, Pongie tested positive to COVID on Tuesday, then me and mum on Thursday, hence there goes our Mudgee trip again... and in isolation over the Easter long weekend...

奶奶

Not much happening... work wise, continue to work on the wards mainly... had to see patients with COVID for the last 2 weeks, luckily nothing happened... yesterday had abit of a scare whilst driving to work, luckily, I was blessed by Buddha... the casual research job and the casual position at Nepean has been delayed... so currently have Tues and Fri off...

Staycations... Decided to try Sheraton Grand, now that it's no longer a quarantine hotel... it was actually not bad, the canapes were good... much better than Hilton anyway... Four Seasons, they renovated the rooms, but we didn't really like the canapes... Decided to go back to Pier One again as they had the package deal, again was not impressed, don't think we'll be going back again...

Poor Nainai... got sent to a nursing home and was back in the hospital after like a week... and becos we can't contact them and no visitors allowed, have to rely on uncle for any updates...

Upcoming staycations/holidays... Kimpton Margot (new), Intercontinental Sydney, Mudgee in April (hopefully we get to go), Tasmania in May (again, please let us be able to go this time), Crown Towers in June...

OmiCRoN...

Finally able to return home to Singapore on 28th Nov and returned to Sydney on 1st Jan 2022...

Highlights... only managed to visit nainai a few times in hospital until she developed an infection and we were not allowed to visit anymore, so just relying on updates from Uncle... poor nainai...

Caught up with Huimin and co, Piyo, Silvana and Elain... 

Ate our way around, and now there is an explosion of cafe culture in Singapore, and I blame Silvana who got me into seeking out interesting cafes and  that was pretty much what we did mostly...

Weather wise, still hot and sweaty... yuck...

Staycation at Fullerton Hotel Singapore... everything was pretty good, can't complain really... our room was alittle small but the club lounge was pretty good and it was good to find out about the history of the place as well...

Work wise... was successful in getting the casual research assistant job, so will be interesting to see what I have to do... still no word yet on the casual pool for Nepean, watch this space... I have a feeling I will still be stuck on the wards when I return to work next week, no home visits still, stupid virus... 

TEars...

This week was filled with angst and anxiety and stress, all becos of a piece of paper ie the international vaccination certificate and the stupid Medicare posting my certificate to the wrong person, with all my personal details... 

And nainai had a fall and is currently in hospital, had a scare a few days ago when she was in a critical condition, which increased the stress and angst becos without the international vaccination certificate, I had no way of returning to Singapore straight away... Luckily, she appears to be recovering well at this stage but really, who knows what is going to happen... so we decided to bring forwards our flights, but now work is wanting me to wait for abit longer due to staff shortage... and finally the piece of paper which I desperately need arrived via email, after so so many hours spent waiting on the phone, emails to everybody under the sun which I could think of... now that I have the certificate, I am still going to pursue the breach of privacy by Medicare... 

TiME To enJoY...

Update on staycations... 

Intercontinental Double Bay- not bad, but the afternoon tea and canapes were not that great, probably a once off stay as it is pretty far away...

Shangri La- as always, pretty good, especially we had the suite for a room deal, and the suite was beautiful... food wise, they told us there was afternoon tea but when we went up there, we were told no afternoon tea, just canapes, and so we had to go searching for our own food, ended up eating some waffle fries at this nearby pub and then went to the Fortune of War pub to eat chicken parmigiana, which was not great... and canapes that day was not great either... Breakfast was actually not bad, better than before... 

Crown Towers- finally! after so long of wanting to stay there, we finally did, and it was pretty good, expensive but good, the room and views were great, went to eat brazilian BBQ at BahBQ, it was ok, eating it once in a while is fine, but we were so full after and then at breakfast, there were so many different options and it was buffet style, Yay! it felt like we have not properly digested dinner, and then it's breakfast again...

Work... as usual, had a crappy student placement experience other than that, it's fine, still not enjoying inpatient work but what to do... I volunteered to be trained to do FIT testing and now work has asked me to do it on my non work days, so see what happens... also had my booster shot yesterday... 

Uni marking... Ali was not happy with the way I provided comments and questioning students during Viva and probably also not happy with the way I did the marking so she pulled me off marking today, I was like whatever, if you are going to give mixed messages, and pass everybody, no wonder I had to fail your 4th year student!

And at this stage, we are definitely booked to go back to Singapore in Dec, I just need freaking Medicare to issue the international vaccination certificate to me...

自由天。。。

 Freedom Day 11 Oct 2021, Yes!!! 

After 4 months of lockdown, we are finally free!!

The first weekend of lockdown consisted of beauty services and a staycation at Intercontinental Double Bay...

WeeK 15 OF LockDoWn...

We have been in lockdown since 26 June, I have lost count now of how many weeks in lockdown we have been already, it is neverending, and finally Freedom Day is on 11 Oct!

Currently on leave again, becos if we weren't in lockdown, I would technically still be in Tasmania now, so this is the freaking 3rd time it has been cancelled...

Work has been ok, not enjoying working on the wards again, and in full PPE gear pretty much all day, has had 2 COVID scares and had to go go get tested, luckily, testing is not as uncomfortable as the first time... Uni has also been ok, other than the frantic marking and deadlines I have to meet, did some marking for Ageing and Stats, now there is another round of marking for Stats and Viva on 2 days for Ageing... and then that's it for the year... 

Looks like we are not likely to be able to travel overseas again this year due to COVID... so back to what we did last year, hotel hopping... seeing as how we have had to cancel so many staycations since June... I think everyone is itching to just be able to go out, eat and be somewhat back to normal... 

Don't even need to mention online dating, zilch... 

And now everywhere we go, the first thing we get asked or we have to ask is... HAVE YOU BEEN FULLY VACCINATED?

Week 10 OF LoCkdOWn...

Had a week off work due to excess leave, pretty tame birthday celebration due to lockdown restrictions, basically just had some online delivery of food ie ramen and macarons... 

Got hooked onto this Singaporean drama called the Last Madame, and also on some Korean drama... haven't done this for awhile but I stayed up until 0630 to finish watching this korean drama called The Crowned Clown... 

So got back to work after a week's leave and was told I am going to have a small inpatient caseload due to my upcoming student placements... great, after not working in inpatient for so long, it's back to hand writing notes, toilet and shower Ax, all in full PPE gear... 

Now I am doubtful over our Tasmania trip, and this is our 3rd time cancelling this trip... 

待在家。。。

8 weeks of lockdown and still counting... more staycations being cancelled... now Tasmania is again a doubt... 

This is week 5 since I started at Fairfield and started teaching... so far so good, mostly just doing phone calls at work but I have my own desk, computer and phone, and becos I am currently the only one in the office, even better... teaching is ok, just feeling my way around the subject on EBP... at least with the Ageing module, I know what I am talking about... 

Since lockdown, we can't really drive anywhere to eat and buy stuff, so online shopping for facial stuff and food mainly, and desperate times call for desperate measures... for example, online shopping for lepat... 

The first thing I am going to do out of lockdown is go on staycations, haha multiple to make up for all the ones I cancelled... and eat lots of yummy food which I missed out on during lockdown... Other than that, nothing much, just watching shows on either Netflix or Disney +

SiAn...

We have been in lockdown since 26th June and now we are still in lockdown with even stricter restrictions until 28th Aug, and then who knows what will happen, there goes my birthday celebration, and 6 staycations cancelled so far...

Started my new job at Fairfield Hospital, just doing telehealth, and was told yesterday I may have to cover inpatients at Liverpool... Crap... good thing at Fairfield is that I got staff parking on day 1... and it's so much quicker getting to and from work now becos no traffic and alittle closer to home... unheard of... getting home within like 30mins... 

Uni teaching started... definitely alot of studying and preparation involved, more than what I'm paid for... but I don't mind... 

Well, nothing is happening on the dating front, everyone's in lockdown... finished watching most of the Marvel movies/series now... not much else to do nowadays... 

StAy AT HoME...

And we are still in lockdown, 5 weeks and counting... last day of work at Liverpool Hospital yesterday, could not have any sort of celebration becos of restrictions... all our staycations had to be cancelled... blocked Mr Ang and Gary becos what's the point... so basically, in the words of our premier, stay at home... ended up subscribing to Disney + as well, cos really what else is there to do... Italy won the Euro Cup...

so starting 19/7/2021, 3 days working at Fairfield Hospital which is now considered the superhot spot... and 1 day/week uni teaching 2 modules until Oct 2021... depending on what happens closer to Oct, I will start looking for casual work to tide me between uni semesters... hopefully I do a good job and they still want to hire me on an ongoing basis... and freaking Enable NSW is so rude, like seriously... not responding to my request for feedback and Millie got the job... 

LockDOWn 2.0...

 A few things have happened since the last post...

My start date at Fairfield has been confirmed, 19th July... Got an offer from WSU to teach an EBP module for 3rd year, but after looking at the teaching materials, I decided it was not for me... still awaiting a response from Enable NSW... soooo slow... depending on whether Enable wants me or not, I will be probably staying on at Liverpool for 2 days per week for now... 

Lockdown 2.0... Sydney was plunged into a full lockdown for 2 weeks until 9th July... which meant that our staycation at Sofitel was cancelled and who knows what will happen to the upcoming ones at Shangri La, The Darling, Hilton/Sofitel, Shangri La again, Four Seasons, Crown Towers, The Langham, Hobart trip which I just bought the flights for, and Hilton... Feels so long ago now to report on the long weekend... it was not bad, the staycation at Fullerton, drive to Newcastle, holiday traffic was pretty bad, and Hunter Valley was the same... 

Met up with Mr Ang just before lockdown... at the early stages, I thought why waste my time, cos nothing is going to happen anyway, but then I thought well he's only here for a few days, why not... well now he's stuck here in Sydney for who knows how long... but we 're in lockdown anyway... also chatting with Gary on and off, despite initially blocking him... well, I have to get my entertainment from somewhere...

So due to the lockdown, I decided to subscribe to Optus Sports cos that's the only place to watch the Euro football cup... 

WELCOmE wiNter...

I actually freaking got the senior job at Fairfield Hospital... just waiting for checks atm, but aiming to start sometime in mid July... and I also had the job interview at Enable NSW that day, I thought it went well, I was very honest with them about my current situation, cross my fingers and toes I will get the part time position, even though it's only temporary... 

Staycations... we got freaking upgraded to the penthouse suite in the Darling, even though it's a smoking room, it wasn't too bad, it was soooo good... I wanted to stay longer... went to the Sydney Zoo on Monday, it was actually not bad, pretty busy with mostly kids even though it's a weekday... upcoming staycations... Fullerton, some new hotel in Newcastle (saw the article of the hotel opening on the news and decided to try it out), Hunter Valley, Sofitel, Shangri La, Hilton, Shangri La again! cos they have a package for suite for a room price, just no parking... Four Seasons, Crown Towers, Hobart, Hilton... haha that's it for now... still haven't bought tickets for Hobart and still no idea what's going to happen in Dec... 

Other than that, nothing much happening on the online dating front...

太天真。。。

Didn't get the temporary TACP position, just had my interview for the senior position at Fairfield Hospital and that was crap too... after all that preparation... and I have not heard back from Enable NSW... oh well...

I told Deddy Ang nothing's going to happen so closed that door as well... just had a recent spate of assholes via online dating really... Recently decided to sign up for Coffee meets Bagel, again, another app which starts out good and then wants you to pay if you want to have matches... nothing happening on the online dating front...

Nothing much happening, looking forward to the upcoming staycations, The Darling, hopefully going to the Sydney Zoo for pongie's birthday if the weather is good, Fullerton, Hunter Valley, Sofitel, Shangri La, Four Seasons again, Crown towers, Hobart (airfares are freaking expensive), and the Hilton... 

We got these dining and entertainment vouchers from the NSW Govt, and we spent 2/4 vouchers already at the Fiddler cos they are doubling the vouchers, which was pretty value or money and the food is pretty good... and one entertainment voucher on the drive in movie...