胡思乱想。。。

mentally and physically exhausting this week, cannot really sleep properly cos my brain just keeps thinking about useless things at work... and after approx 2 years of being in acute care, not used to all the heavy transfers again... today was especially tiring, dunno what to do with some of the pts on the team atm... it would be interesting when Kara returns from leave next week... hopefully things go well...

started watching the winter wind blows show, hoping that it would help distract me away from thinking about work-related stuff, not really working atm though...

MR T...

Found out that MRT can also be read as Mr T, besides standing for Mass rapid transit (MRT) haha...

it has been approx 3 weeks since I returned to MRT... still getting inappropriate pts at times, and I think it really depends on the medical team and how good they are... currently the ones we have are not that good, which really does not help... caseload fluctuates in a day as usual, like today, started out with 4 pts and by the end of the day, we have 9... and the new PT started today, he is alright, working more together on the doubles bcos Kara is away until Monday... my only complaint is that he sometimes mumbles to himself and speaks really softly and I have no idea what he is saying to me half the time, so I pretty much do my usual thing and nod and smile... handwriting is atrocious... 

drama wise, it has been quite boring, running man still ongoing, but not much else really... the new IN Death book is quite boring as well... 

pongie's birthday is this week, so the plan is we are going for buffet at Seven Hills RSL, initially thought of going to bowling but may have to postponed at this stage...

CHAnGe of SCEneRy...

finally transferred to MRT on Tuesday... everything feels quite foreign, back to my old desk, full of crap on the table when I moved in... had to clean the table, and move stuff... was worried about the senior PT on the team, but she actually turned out to be quite friendly and nice... which was really good... and everyone have been very welcoming... will miss my spacious desk at cancercare and the fact that there is a window, your own computer, phone but hey, finally am rid of the days when I have to think about what I say all the time... patients-wise, have a few since I started who were not really appropriate for MRT... got a really nice surprise today from S4D... Margaret paged me and asked me to go over to the ward today, and when I got there, she gave me a bouquet of flowers and a box of chocolates... I was really touched... this was probably my first bouquet of flowers ever in my life... then came the problem of where am I going to keep the flowers??!! so it is now still sitting in a container, on the floor... alamak... at least some people appreciated and recognised the effort I have put into my work... so apparently the current PT arrangement will last for another 2 weeks and a new grad will commence, and it's actually someone who had worked at Nepean before, and whom I know from before... which would be nice... hopefully that works out well... thankfully the supervision issue has been sorted becos there was a day there on Tuesday when I really would have gotten stuck with Her as my supervisor... really have to thank Deanna and Jamila for their help for getting me out of a potentially shitty situation...

other than that, nothing very much happening at the moment, no new shows, ongoing running man every week, found out that there was a new season of amazing race, so watching that atm...

小人再也不要见。。。

work-related update... had another meeting with our manager again that day and it was finally decided that Kate and I would swap starting Tuesday, which means I will return to MRT and Kate will go back to Cancercare... thank goodness, I was actually advocating for this to happen asap cos I could tell our manager was wanting to drag it out, don't think I could stand another day working with her... since I returned from leave, it was same old story again, and I could tell she really wanted Kate to go back as well, she was already supervising Kate even whilst she was in MRT... MRT can be frustrating as well, and I have not done rehab for quite a while now, so I am going to have to start recalling all the stuff again, and shower Ax again, but all I can think of now is to get out of cancercare asap... so the decision was made Wednesday, and I informed her that day, and knowing that I was off on Friday and Monday was my last day at cancercare, I wanted to thank everyone else, but she has yet to mention my leaving to anybody, so I just went up to the wards and informed them myself, and on thursday pm, she had yet to inform people, so when I sent out the email for morning tea on monday to everyone, she was like why did you send out the email to everyone, I thought the morning tea was only for upstairs... I was like, seriously not everything revolves around you, everyone else has been really helpful since I started at cancercare, so of course, I have to thank everyone, not only who you think I should inform... anyway, I did it whether she liked it or not... so after MOnday I will be free of her... thank god... no matter how tough MRT can be, it will never compare to the 8 months of hell working with her :( 

I am actually quite upset that Westmead did not get back to me... oh well...

贵宾拜访。。。

just would like to make a comment that since late last year, I have had some weird body stuff happen to me... like, my ear being blocked for 2 weeks with wax, which is probably my fault, for using expired earwax removal, then my foot grew warts, which really hurt for a few months, cost me a fortune going to podiatrist for treatment and the medications which I had to use... and then just on my NZ trip, I have no idea what happened, but I had a huge pimple growing in my pubic region, with really disgusting pus... just thinking about it made me want to throw up... I even had to resort to putting toilet paper in my panty becos the pus and blood were oozing nonstop... puke... and it was really painful to sit and walk... even when lying down it was painful... and then there are 2 lumps which has been there for quite awhile in my lower abdo region and on my pubic region, painless, and working in cancercare has got me worried to the point where I decided I had better make sure it's not anything sinister, so went to the GP, got a referral to do an ultrasound, did one on the abdo region, which turned out to be a hair follicle, not able to do the other one cos of the painful pimple growing there, which thankfully has now subsided... alamak...

anyway, 26 April 2013... arrival of VIPs... papa, ah ma, auntie and uncle... went to the airport to pick them up, and was informed that I will be in the car with 3 of them, whom I have not spoken to for God knows how long, and ah ma who speaks minimal English and chinese... it was pretty awkward... went to Eastwood for lunch, bad idea, it was as usual packed with asians even though it was a friday... after that, pongie went off with uncle and I drove them back home, unpacked, rested for awhile, showed them around our house, and made our way to auntie's place for dinner... the auntie decided to buy heaps of stuff wanting to cook at home and pongie and I immediately discouraged the idea... no frying of any sort allowed in our home... thank you.

27 April 2013: day trip to Bilpin, apple picking, not much to pick from though, and the nut farms have closed for the season already... the guests were very excited though... after that, went to Mt Tomah botanic garden cos there was a festival happening, but it was so packed that we were not allowed into the main gardens area... drove back down to nepean area, stopped by panthers for a drink... and did a drive by at work... had dinner at our korean hotpot place again at eastwood, and pongie had to catch a train there after her IELTS... night time was fairly interesting, cos there were 6 of us using one bathroom, ah ma and auntie slept in our room, and uncle and papa slept in the spare room, pongie and I slept in the hall on the floor... 

28 April 2013: had breakfast in our usual cafe at hornsby first then day trip to the city, opera house, and the rocks... and went to lindt... poor pongie had to catch the train into the city, but by the time she arrived, we were leaving, so she was quite upset understandably... and it was pretty hot that day too...went for dinner at takeru that night... on the way home... pongie happened to turn around, and saw auntie vomiting into a bag behind, it was soooo wrong... and she did not even alert anyone, even asked me to keep driving, so I pulled over at the petrol station, got down and made sure she did not have any projectile vomit into hyungie, and grabbed a whole lot of tissues... when we arrived back home in the carpark, she got out and before I even knew what she intended, she was already heading towards our neighbour boxes and vomiting in there, it was so wrong... even when I tried to explain to her that the boxes belonged to someone, she kept insisting that it was rubbish... I was thoroughly put off and disgusted by her 'china' behaviour... and until now I could still smell vomit in the garage... and I am so worried that our neighbour will come after me... :(

29 April 2013: last day of leave, had my job interview at parramatta, which went well I thought but have yet to hear back since then... papa and uncle went to bunnings at thornleigh and papa insisted that it was only a short distance back home from there, haha... he realised his mistake after... ah ma and auntie stayed at home that day... and they cooked something really smelly that night... came into the house and it stank... 

back to work... same old, usual stress working with her... luckily no further episodes of vomiting from auntie... papa and uncle helped with some home maintenance stuff, installed stuff, which I did not agree with, like the shelf for the printer, although it's still sitting here... cleaning the house... uncle always strikes me as a quiet person, but he's actually really funny and nice... ah ma is healthy and can eat despite her age... the only person I have an issue with was auntie... hated her 'china' behaviour, ie coughing and spitting into recycling bins... anyway, they came for a week and left the following week... papa stayed for another week, so we went back to our own rooms to sleep and papa slept in the spare room... was working on the sunday, watched Ironman 3 with prisy, auntie and uncle, really liked the movie, 8/10 for me... was so surprised to see auntie irene at macquarie when I turned around and there she was... so she met papa and started kaypohing as per usual... papa bought a juice extractor, and a steamer to iron my new scrubs, so annoying, never had to iron my uniform before, now the scrubs are so crumply after being washed... one week with papa came and went... papa went home today... so now the plan is papa and mum will be visiting in sept for pongie's graduation... nainai is not coming cos brian's getting married then... and prisy's off for 5 weeks to Europe...

NZ trip 2013

15 April 2013: started to make our way to the airport, detoured to westfield food court to have lunch first, then caught the train to the airport, I have to say even though I really like my blue handcarry luggage, it can be quite heavy especially if you have to carry it to walk long distances and up and down stairs... took us approx 90 mins to arrive at the airport, got there really early, and not many things to see at the airport anyway, so we pretty much were sitting and stoning at the waiting area for approx 4 hours... finally came the time to board approx 2000, the flight there was pretty alright, was quite tired, so slept for most of the journey, and luckily it was only a short 3 hours flight... finally landed in Christchurch, it was already midnight when we arrived, so could not really see much, but there were quite alot of people though despite the late hour... it was pretty hot in sydney that day, but it was much cooler when we arrived at Christchurch...

rang the free shuttle service to pick us up from the airport, we were waiting at the wrong spot, hence missed the shuttle, but found out that the accommodation which we were staying at, called Sudima Hotel was only like a 5 mins walk from the airport... by the time we checked in, both of us were exhausted, and lost our way around the place trying to look for our room, so when we finally actually arrived at our room, we have pretty much gone past the exhaustion phase... by the time we finally showered and unpack what we required, it was like 0200 in the morning, and we were being picked up the next morning at 0700, so not much sleep that night...

16 April 2013: picked up at the hotel by the shuttle whom brought us to the Christchurch train station, to catch the TranzAlpine train to Greymouth... approx 4 hours journey, scenery was pretty although apparently NZ has just had a major drought just before we arrived, so the riverbeds were dry, and we were informed that the scenery was more pretty in winter becos there would be snow capped mountain peaks...when we arrived at Greymouth, it was raining, so we had to walk across the road to the nearest food place which was Subway and grab a quick lunch cos our tour bus will be departing pretty soon, the annoying thing was we were right on time when we arrived at the tourbus, and that was becos we pretty much inhaled our subway sandwiches, the bus driver was like you guys are late, you almost missed the bus... in a rude way as well... anyway, the bus was quite packed when we departed, another 4 hours journey on the bus this time...

when we arrived at Franz Josef town, it was becoming dark, checked into our Bella Vista Motel... the motel room was not too bad, equipped with a small kitchenette, there is even a microwave and a towel heater, and a heated bathroom light... dropped off our stuff and went to await our shuttle to take us to the glacier...

when the shuttle came, we were the only ones on the shuttle, and was informed that becos it was becoming dark, we may not be able to do the walk to get a closer look of the glacier, which was apparently approx 1-2 hours walk, we were like no problem, we will take the shortest walk, which was approx 30mins one way... thought it would be quite easy until we were actually doing it and realised that it was pretty much an uphill climb... no wonder it was only 30mins! anyway, by the time we got up to the lookout, both of us were panting and struggling to catch our breath... took some pictures and came back down not long after... the shuttle lady was also telling us that the whole town depended on the visitors coming to see the glacier, which is gradually disappearing due to global warming, so say in the next 20 years, once there is no glacier, the people living in the town will not be able to survive... after returning back down, decided to look for a place to have dinner, and decided upon this little cottage cafe called Alice May, the food was actually quite nice and there was a complementary glass of wine as well... in fact the dinner that day was probably the best meal we had throughout our trip in NZ...

17 April 2013: picked up in the am by tourbus at approx 0730 headed to Queenstown, very long drive... few stops along the way, lunch on the way...approx 9 hours on the road... weather that day was beautiful... arrived into Queenstown finally, quaint little town and the good thing was everything was located in the town, and all are within walkable distances, alot of adventure sports shops... dropped off at our accommodation Bella Vista motel where we will be spending the next 3 nights at... this motel was not as good as the one at Franz Josef though... anyway, dropped off our stuff and went exploring the town... finally decided on this cafe called Chico's cos they had a dinner special... not very nice in the end... 

18 April 2013: free day at Queenstown... decided to go on this city tour on an old style London bus in the am... visited the lake, saw someone bungy jump, which was pretty cool even though it was not quite that high, visited Gibbston Valley winery and bought goat's cheese, visited Arrowtown, which was pretty cool as well, and there were this group of Chinese tourists on the bus as well, and for some reason, saw us and started speaking to us in Chinese, and of course, without thinking, responded back in Chinese, and had to translate some stuff for them along the way... after the bus tour, we walked around the town area again, found this cookie store, which sold freshly baked cookies, and it was yummy... ate like 3 cookies and then felt sick after... bought an Icebreaker thermal for myself... hot pink colour one... it does keep you warm especially when it was really cold at night in Queenstown... after that, went to catch the free cable car ride up a mountain, beautiful scenery, it was actually quite crowded once we arrived up there, people were queuing for the buffet dinner, paragliding and luge riding... wanted to wait for the sunset but later realised that the sun was behind the mountain, so made our way back down via cablecar, and when we arrived back on the ground, saw some people paragliding and landing close to our motel... decided to have Korean food that night as it was really cold, and we felt like eating rice... which for me is definitely strange, I never feel like eating rice usually... anyway, was quite disappointed with the food, was not as good, and we ended up having 2nd round of dinner at Mcdonalds, cos we saw the double fillet o fish burger... yummy! one thing I learnt was that NZ used to have millions of sheep, more sheep than humans, even now, but people are now moving more to dairy farming instead of high country sheep farming, due to the change in demand... and with high country sheep farming, the farmers used to have to climb up high in the mountains to locate the sheep, with the help of dogs, but now they use helicoptors...

19 April 2013: milford sound day trip, picked up early in the am at 0700, the bus was full, urgghh, this was the first time during the trip that the bus was fully packed... alot of Japanese tourists... made a few stopovers along the way, beautiful weather and scenery... approx 6 hours bus journey to milford sound... there were alot of tour buses heading the same direction, which meant alot of people everywhere we went... stopped over at this mirror lake which was really clear and it really does reflect the mountains and the skies, a stream with fresh mountain water, had a drink as well... finally arrived into milford sound ferry terminal... so many tourists... there was lunch included in the tour, but it turned out to be a cold meal and it was disgusting, did not eat any of it... the ferry ride was approx an hour return, which was probably for the best, as I was starting to feel seasick, the best part of the ferry ride was us being up close and personal with the waterfall, it was really amazing... the bus ride back to Queenstown was not as exciting, by the time we arrived back into town, it was quite late, and so we ended up eating cup noodles which we brought from home... 

20 April 2013: time to leave Queenstown and heading back towards Christchurch, picked up early in the am by the bus, and we were headed towards Mount Cook, approx 5 hours journey... not a good day at all, it was cloudy for most part of the am, and when we arrived at Mount Cook resort, it started to rain, so it was not very interesting at all... the only interesting thing we  saw was Lake Pukaki, which was a really nice blue-green colour lake, and you could actually see the colour reflected on the clouds... stopped by at the famous church of the good shephard for a photo stop... it was still raining then... and it was another 5 hours from Mount Cook into Christchurch... we were tired and hungry and cold by that time, at least the rain did stop... the motel was actually quite nice, the sad thing was we arrived late at night, and had to leave really early the next day, hence not able to really see the surroundings of the motel, cos it was medieval style... and the room was quite nice as well... anyway, dropped off our stuff and went in seach for food, walked like 20mins down the street and could not see any foodplaces, so in the end, turned back around and ate at this hotel next door to our motel, the food was not nice at all...

21 April 2013: picked up early in the am and taken back to Christchurch railway station but this time we are catching the Coastal Pacific train instead... 5 hours train ride to Picton... pouring with rain for most part of the journey, not much of a scenery even though we were so close to the pacific ocean and we did see some seals... arrived in Picton and it was still raining, walked to the ferry terminal and it was a 3 hours ferry ride across the Cook Strait to Wellington... the ferry ride started off ok, even though it was pretty crowded, then it started becoming very rocky once we hit open waters, and that was when I started feeling sick, so had to go outside onto the deck for some fresh air, even though it was raining, but there were inconsiderate people around who kept smoking... this part of the trip was not fun at all... finally arrived into Wellington, got picked up by the shuttle to Ibis hotel, the room was not bad, we were surprised that we got to stay in a hotel even though we chose the motel option for the tour... unpacked our stuff and decided to walk around the place and look for food, the city was boring and dead, pretty much, most of the shops were closed or closing, so in the end, found Burger King (that's right, not Hungry Jacks), and it was bad... the food was just wrong... 

22 April 2013: picked up by the shuttle and arrived at the bus terminal to wait for our bus heading to Rotorua... there were alot of Maoris and some really strange people on the bus... 8 hours bus ride... few stops along the way... I have to say, the scenery in the North Island is not very pretty at all... finally arrived into Rotorua, and our accommodation for the next 2 nights, at Novotel... the room was pretty good though... unloaded our stuff and decided to walk around, it was still drizzling... had pizza for dinner, not very nice though... finally had internet and computers to upload our pics and check our emails... the hotel was nice as well...

23 April 2013: picked up by the shuttle, and first destination was Te Puia... a thermal springs, mudpool and kiwi tourist attraction... this was probably the best attraction out of all the ones we went to in Rotorua... got to see the hotsprings up close and personal despite the smell... the second best attraction was the Agrodome, where we watched the sheep show, really enjoyed the show, it was funny and got to take pics with the sheeps up close... the next place we went to called Rainbow Springs was pretty boring, got to see some native trees, and the kiwi, but not allowed to take any pics as they are nocturnal creatures and sensitive to light... after our am tour, returned back the hotel, and we went in search for food... did some grocery shopping at the woolies equivalent but called countdown... bought manuka honey, was told that it has healing properties and that we were allowed to bring into sydney, so we bought 4 bottles... ended up eating cup noodles for lunch as we did not want to miss out on the hangi (maori traditional way of cooking their food) meal during the night tour. Picked up by the shuttle and it was full, to the Maori village of Mitai... was treated to a hangi meal where the food was cooked for hours in the ground, a Maori warrior sailing through the river, cannot see anything cos it was dark and the place was packed with people... a Maori performance, this was nice, the food was not very nice, and they did not inform us that there was only one serving each person... and after that, a walk through the forest with only torchlight in hand to see the glow-worms... 

24 April 2013: picked up the next am by the tourbus headed for Waitomo Caves to see the glow worms... approx 3 hours bus ride... the bus driver was especially chatty and there were only 3 of us in the whole bus... did not have any chance to sleep at all... and we were informed that we may not be able to bring the honey back with us through customs... which got us panicking the whole trip... so in the end, I came up with the idea to post the honey back to singapore just so they do not get confiscated at customs... so anyway, arrived at the caves, the weather was holding up pretty well... the tour through the caves was quite nice, and the boat ride was nice, got to see alot of glow worms, but not able to take any pics though... once we left the cave, it started to pour with rain all the way through our bus journey to Auckland, approx 3 hours... once we arrived in Auckland, it was still raining, so we had to carry our luggages through the rain in search for a post office...  and it cost me a bomb to send the honey back home... after that, we lost our way looking for the Auckland city hotel, and poor pongie had to carry both my and her luggage uphill... by the time we finally arrived at the hotel, we were both exhausted and sweating... it was really shitty as well to go from Novotel to our hotel in Auckland, cos it was quite crappy... so anyway, the rain eased and we decided to walk around the city and look for food again... went to the Auckland tower, and found this korean buffet place for $20 each, which was pretty good, but the food was not great... and by the time we finished, it started to pour with rain again... it was disgusting having to walk back to the hotel in my sandals, it was wet and yucky...

25 April 2013: had to wake up at 0300 in the am to be picked up to the airport for our flight back to Sydney... when we arrived at the airport, nothing was open so it was pretty much sit and wait... the flight back to Sydney was horrendous, the landing was so turbulent, the whole plane was shaking like crazy, and all sorts of images popped into my head, like the one in day after tomorrow, and my hands were so shakey after... this has to be one of the worst flights I have ever sat in... never use LAN airlines! arrived back into sydney, the weather was beautiful, caught the train back, and part of me was glad to be home but the other half of me wished I was still on hols... started unpacking, washing clothes, and cleaning, in preparation for VIPS arrival the next day... oh and my new uniforms arrived, and the pants and jacket are ugly... pants are clown style and jacket was biker style... so decided to exchange them for another style...

4 mOrE DAys...

sat down with Laura pscyh yesterday, and of course, talked about the events last week again, and seriously, I don't know what upsets me about that particular patient and situation... or maybe it's just the accumulation of having to work and tolerate her these past months... was feeling hurt that I was not invited to Kara's wedding actually, and it sounded like she invited kate and her of all people...obviously we are not as close as I thought we were... took another 'sickie' today, things are getting alittle too much at work actually, and I am now overdue for some time away... sooo looking forward to our trip, this is one of the rare times when I wish the weekend would go quickly... on the job seeking front, pretty bad, not many jobs out atm, which means I am probably going to be stuck for longer at Nepean... ohh... time to order new uniforms, and this time, it's all self measure, and ordering online, good and bad I guess, the colour is not the best, it's like the crescent skirt colour, but we get to wear scrubs which looked pretty comfortable... stay tuned...

started re-reading my in death series for maybe the millionth time, finished watching School 2013, it was actually pretty good, sad at times, but also with some funny scenes in between...pretty much finished packing for the trip, and realised that on the trip there, we cannot carry shampoo and stuff cos we only have carryon luggage, but we only realised that after we bought all the stuff... hey but at least it was better late than never...and get all the stuff confiscated at the airport... 

4 more days left...

I NEed to GEt OUt...

this week has been shitty, especially since wednesday...

wednesday morning, I attended the pall care CC instead of Dawn, and becos it went for 1.5hours, she was like what took you so long?? you should have left etc etc... and then started talking about one of the new referrals, and her not knowing the pt and the full story, said I want you to do a formal cognitive Ax, even though I said I did not think it was necessary... but she insisted that I do one regardless... initially I wanted to ignore her and do what I thought was appropriate, but it just so happened that something else came up and I thought maybe I should do a formal cognitive Ax as well, not becos she TOLD me to do it, but becos an issue regarding the pt's capacity to make decisions came up... 

and then on thurs, another dreaded lymph clinic day, but becos it was Kate, not as stressful, but in the pm, when I was doing MRT, the student and I spent quite alot of time with one of the patients and I think the both of us were becoming frustrated with the documentation of the session by the end of the day... 

then today, Dawn was like how many active pts do you have on your list? and I said 2-3, and she was like, you are not managing with your current caseload, and 2-3 pts are not alot, a normal caseload should be 10-11, you need to be prioritising your pts blah blah blah... anyway, spent quite a long time sorting out the d/c of the above pt today, and then seeing 2 other pts who also took quite awhile, and in the end, did not even have time for morning tea or lunch... and just before going home, she was like, was I ok?? what happened with the pt earlier, and why it took so long etc etc... and I pretty much told her that I did not appreciate her making me feel like I am not doing any work, becos I felt like I helped someone today, even though the outcome was not ideal and even though it took such a long time... and that I simply cannot understand her reasoning behind asking me to do the cognitive assessment which I did not think was necessary... I could have gone further, and said what I really want to say since I started in cancercare... which is... 

you are a person who says one thing and does the other, who refuses to work with someone becos you are not able to get along with them, and expects people around to also not work with them, someone whom I lost all respect for since the day you threw a tantrum and stomped out of a meeting becos nobody read the document that you circulated, and the day when you actually had to take "stress leave" becos you had a disagreement with another staff member... you make it really difficult to work with you, becos I feel like I have to watch everything I say and do... and to work with the other staff members, when they are one of the essential members of the team... and you disliked it everytime you found out that I spoke to the staff member about pts... even though you would be ok and even encouraged me to speak to the other care coordinators about pts... you always said I need to work on my verbal communication, and I need to tell you everything, but you are the one who asked me to see the pts on the ward becos you are busy with other stuff, and I did and then you decide that you have some time, and so you go see the pts without telling me...

dunno how long more I can tolerate this situation... I NEED TO GET OUT! kate is more than welcome to have my position anytime!

倒数两个星期。。。

damn, coming onto 3 weeks now, and not a single word from my job application... pretty much gave up on the job already, wish they would actually at least send out an email informing people that they did not get the position, rather than leave people like me hanging...

easter long weekend... started off on friday am with a nightmare... multiple long trails of ants in the kitchen, all the way up to the ceiling, and in the bathroom and room... it was disgusting... spent the whole morning cleaning, and spraying, and drenched the whole kitchen in vinegar... so far, the ants are staying away, bought 'extra' protection when we go away in 2 weeks' time... 

after the whole morning spent cleaning, went to auntie's place, and hung out with prisy... watched running man, played this new monopoly card game with xtine and marga... it was actually quite fun, required thinking, strategy... 

sat... went for a walk, and found a nice park close by, which I was very excited about, not warming up before climbing the stairs was a mistake, as our legs were killing us especially going down steps... went to watch Oz the movie, it was ok, the graphics were good, other than that, storyline not as good as wicked the musical we went to... went out into the city, the usual, but it was actually quite crowded... ate lindt, korean food, not sure why, but they no longer sell the spicy chicken on a hotplate I ordered the last time... and the dishes no longed come with rice, unless it specifically says with rice... karaoke, and we had to pay $15 each cos it was a public holiday... 

sun... working during the day, kept telling myself to think abt the money, but it was actually not too bad that day... went for dinner at eastwood korean place with xtine and marga... marga recommended jonga jip, it was packed at the store, and we were then told to go to the other branch nearby, walked in and it was sooo smokey... the vents were obviously not working at all, luckily, we got to sit upstairs... anyway, the food was still not as good as the usual korean hotpot place we go to...

monday... got up early, excited that this was our first easter egg hunt in 2 years, even got to the shops really early, and ended up with only a handful of eggs... so disappointing! strategy next year would be to start our hunt even earlier! did our grocery shop, cleaning for the week, washing for the week, cooked both meals, pongie decided to try grilling some chicken wings, I think I may have took the chicken out a little too early, cos it was still a little bloody inside... :( 

and it's back to work today... nothing very exciting... counting down to the nz trip!

EASter Egg HUNt is On THis YEar...

flyscreens front... got two quotes over the weekend, still hesitant if we should do it, just cos I am thinking abt the mess and the cleanup we have to do after... 

work wise... informed Dawn I have started applying for jobs, but seriously jobs are not many and it's looking even more like I am going back to rehab in Oct... which hopefully is not the case...

I am still sucking at lymphoedema, wish I could not do it, don't think it's my cup of tea after all... spoke to ren about the differences in measuring issue, and he was really good about it, and appeared to want to help, but there's not much to be done, as I simply want to keep status quo, and not rock the boat too much, cos it has taken me a long time to get to where I am now at cancercare...and actually grateful to ren that he swapped easter sunday shift with me, which means that I get paid double time and a half... yay...

otherwise, nainai and auntie went back to singapore on sat, not too upset this time, cos I am hopeful that if everything goes alright, she will be returning in summer again... wish I could go back, but can't think of a good time for pongie and I... 

sat was such a mentally and physically tiring day, have not been so exhausted for a long time... woke up at 0500 to send nainai off at the airport, came home, had breakfast and started getting ready for the church wedding... was late cos parking was absolutely horrendous, and had to walk a long distance in heels, which needless to say, made the start of the day already worse... and it was quote hot and stifling in the church, and alot of singing, and praying, really felt like nodding off throughout... Karen looked nice in the wedding gown, liked the bottom part of the gown, the top part not really... theme was white and purple, and pretty much mostly asians/HK... after church, there was some finger food on the lawns, came back home soon after... the day was sooo hot... had a quick nap which really helped otherwise don't think I can cope with the dinner in the evening... soon, it was time to head into the city for the dinner, and this time we were actually early, sat around, and dinner did not start until approx 1900... and all the guests were pretty much from her church, and family, I think... dinner was dragged out cos there were talking and playing games after every meal... personally, I did not enjoy dinner at all, but it had to be very expensive, there were lobster and abalone... dinner ended at approx 2200, and we still were the first few ones to leave then, by the time we arrived home, both of us were exhausted mentally and physically, and the bottom of my right foot was starting to get a blister... sooo glad that the next day was a sunday, and we went to do our weekly grocery shop and cleaning...

yesterday, there was a big family gathering at our place back home, got to meet new members of the family via skype, brian's and pearlyn's partners, seriously, everyone seems to be meeting their prospective partners in church, curious to know what actually goes on during church...

3 more days until easter long weekend, and 3 more weeks until NZ... wish time would pass quickly now...

MArch iNG ALonG...

went to the Smith and Nephew measuring course yesterday, and it was helpful, felt more confident with measuring, and also met some of the coursemates there as well, as well as Andrea from Mt Wilga, it was actually good to see them again, cos we all had the same 'trauma' of going through the course... and reminiscing... 

thursday, the last day before you know who leaves, went to the farewell lunch and there was so much food there, I was like, I can't believe I was fretting about baking and buying a nice cake and everything, cos it would just go to waste in the end... the last day actually turned out to be quite uneventful, after all that... but what's new... 

still have not mentioned the fact that I am looking for jobs to dawn, but will have to next week, and Kate told us that day, that there is no funding for MRT in June, which means if I am still at Nepean in Oct, I won't be going back to MRT, and nobody knows what is going to happen then, what will happen to Kara, Frances, Kate, and they are not replacing the PT position... it's abit worrying... and Karen has left for a 6 months leave... 

started to actively organise for flyscreens to be installed again, but not many companies are interested it seems... but we'll see what we get quoted...

因祸得福。。。

just thought I would post again...

on the warts front, yes!!!! after nearly 4 months of battle with the stupid virus infection, and severe pain in my foot, I can say that both warts seemed to be healing, so I am just being very careful now to make sure that this never happens again, even if it means never using a public swimming pool, or an indoor one like downstairs again... 

yesterday was a drama at work really... think it was becos I ate all of the brownies, when I came home from work on sunday, and had 3 epsiodes of diarrhoea overnight, then took some Norit, and it seemed to have improved so I went to work as usual on monday... got to work, just having my usual small talk with dawn and glyndon about our weekends, and opened my big mouth about me having diarrhoea, and the next thing I know, I was being sent home, cos apparently you need to have 24 hour symptom free before you can go to work... so in the end, I drove all the way to work and an hour later, drove all the way home again... annoying... anyway, decided to spend some time with nainai, so we went to eastwood and macquarie for lunch, and today decided to have another sick day off today... :)

and job application wise, submitted my application for the TACP position yesterday... just hoping that work will be supportive, and I am successful for the position...

finally paid for our NZ trip on the weekend, counting down the days before we go on our trip!

DamN puBLic PooLs...

seemed to have neglected to blog my warts issue... started out as a blister I think on my left foot, and for some reason, it worsened and eventually became a wart!!! it became so painful that it hurts with every step I took, and this was approx 3 months ago... so in the end, went to the GP, who could not really help me, and no choice but to go see a podiatry, and becos I am not covered under my private health insurance, I have to pay it straight out of my pocket... that's when they informed me that the first one was a wart but they were unsure whether the second one was a wart or something else, cos there was a hole in the second one... the podiatrist told me that the most likely place which I could have gotten the wart was from the swimming pool, which made me realise that it was probably due to me refusing to wear slippers into the swimming pool area, and walking around barefoot... so 3 months later, 3 visits to the podiatrist later, cryotherapy later, and daily soaking, application of medication later, the second one has healed, but the first one is still black... but at least since my treatment has completed, the pain has resolved... so the bottom line for me from this lesson learnt is... never ever use the swimming pool again!!!

and my cluedo game finally arrived, yay!

so, work wise, had a meeting with kate and deb that day, and they were talking about dropping out of the rotation program and each of them considering staying in an area they preferred, kate chose cancercare, no surprise there, and deb seemed to lean towards aged care/rehab... and I voiced my hesitation about feeling bad if I were to leave now, but they pretty much said don't worry about it, nobody will care or be upset... and just that same night, looked on the jobs website, and saw an ad for a TACP position at westmead... so I am in the process of applying for it, and now the issue is letting people at work know and getting my referees, which is always awkward for some reason... really hope that people at work would be supportive, and I will get the position, fingers and toes crossed...

再也不要见。。。

today realised and found out that I am indeed surrounded by a few gays and lesbians at work... and a shocking discovery about you know who... crap, urggghhh... wasted all this time worrying about nothing in the end... and obsessing...and the countdown starts... time to put all these behind me and move on...

first day back at work after the course, and of course, the first question to me was how was the course?? no choice but to talk about the mental and physical stress, and become embarrassed in the process... oh well... at least there were few people who went through the same thing and could sympathise... now the next challenge is to actually see some real clients in the clinic starting april...

7 Days of LymPHoeDeMA BOoTCAmp...

finally survived lymphoedema bootcamp! it has been a very tough week, and alot of sweat and late nights, and even though I passed, cos they have to pass us, dunno if I actually am competent in both theory and practical, and even the tutor said she was worried that I may not pass... I have to say the things that really helped were having really patient tutors, and I have been very lucky in that my partners every session have been very helpful and I have learnt alot from them... I still would not say that I am confident seeing patients on my own immediately... and one of the shitty things was that my period had to come on sunday, which meant that I have to inform the tutors and my partners, which was pretty embarrassing even though all of us were females... 

anyway, despite having a really tough week (ie full on days, homework and practice at night, late nights studying, having to strip off pretty much every day, alot of sweat involved during bandaging), I am glad that I did the course, cos I did learn new things from it, and increased my skills and knowledge and got me thinking about possibly working in burns if the opportunity arises in future... although noted that there are only 2 hospitals in nsw that have burns unit, concord and royal north shore... 

and I am soo glad that I have the day off tomorrow, cos I don't think I have the energy to return to work immediately... and made a new friend from the course as well...

FReAkiNG oUT HEre...

Lymphoedema course has finally come round, after months of anticipation and dread...

day 1- was walking to the rsl and was waiting at the traffic lights when I turned round and saw someone I knew from uni... it was really weird, could not recall his name, apparently he is working casual at Mt Wilga private hospital now... first day and I already had to strip off my pants and lie down... and my partner happened to be a girl who works with a colleague who I used to work with and who is dawn's good friend... small world, anyway, she was my partner and I was surprised when it was measuring limb time, and everyone started stripping off their pants just like that... it appeared to be that I am the only one who is embarrassed about this whole situation... the course is full-on... felt like they are cramming alot of stuff into the day and even break times are reduced...

day 2- even better, the day when it was time to strip off down to your panty, and even then, you have to massage near the genital area... my partner today happened to be a PT and an older lady, which probably helped I think... I was trying my hardest NOT to freak out and not to laugh during the massage due to it being ticklish at some parts... another full on day, have a headache by the time they went through the massage techniques... and we still have homework to do at night... signed up for the free measuring course which I am really glad to go to bcos they pretty much rushed through the whole measuring section today... and I am also attending a short workshop on use of low level laser but on a sunday... at least work is also paying for it... gosh I keep thinking what the hell have I gotten myself into???!!!! maybe I do need to go see a psych after this :(

CLouDy & rAiNinG...

恭喜发财！！！！

missed out on another year of chinese new year and hongbaos... the good thing is nainai is here this year, and that we got to skype with the relatives as well on the weekend and had a sumptious dinner on sat...

work wise...maybe my prayers are starting to come true, bcos her attitude seems to be improving towards me, and she is also starting to defend me, but I just can't seem to drop my guard though, especially when I think about the past few months... anyway, when I was looking through the predictions for this year, apparently, this is only an ok year for me, and the main thing is to stay positive... one more week until the dreaded lymphoedema course, I just hope that things will turn out ok... 

nothing very much going on atm, still looking forward to april when we finally go on a holiday, feels like such a long time since my last holiday, which was last april... still considering whether I should go back home this year...

无底洞。。。

australia day long weekend... nainai came up for the weekend, and it was pretty much raining the whole weekend... started working on sundays now, once a month, it's actually not too bad, the ward is quiet, and I can pretty much go about doing my work without people in the way, or files not found... and once/month is just nice, although I found out that I get taxed a lot more...

sat... went grocery shopping at eastwood and at hornsby... nothing very exciting...

sun... working

mon... went out for breakfast, and nainai and I went to watch the Hobbit, it was pretty boring, almost fell asleep a few times during the movie, when we came out of the theatre, it was packed with kids, and everywhere was full of people, cos it was pouring rain outside... and it pretty much rained throughout the night as well... rewatched it started with a kiss 1 and 2... and managed to finish the 3 kingdoms, it was boring... yep that was how bored I was, no new nice shows atm, except running man once a week...

tues... went out for lunch, dropped pongie off at uni, then took nainai to epping library, and it started to rain again... then went to castle towers to eat baskin and robbins...

work has been alright, still dreading every day I have to work with her... and the shitty thing is, bcos of this course, I cannot quit now, and there are no jobs available, and there are alot of people around me also looking for jobs atm, my situation is gettting more depressing each day... at this rate, come Oct, I might find myself rotating back into MRT...  urgghh... 

and... amelia, karen, jo uni, mellishia, and siti are all getting married, and yochi's giving birth anytime soon... whilst here I am, getting old every day, and stuck in that place with that person... and you know who is leaving in March... all these time spent on Thursdays did nothing at all...

NEw BeGinniNgs HopEFully...

29 Dec 2012- spent the day in the city, usual routine, Lindt, karaoke, found a few new korean and jap places that look quite nice, but we were too full and my tummy was not feeling well due to the spoilt milk I drank in the morning...

30 Dec 2012- spent the day cleaning, watch some old shows, then went to auntie's place for dinner, and nainai came up to stay for the next few days...

31 Dec 2012- new year's eve, took nainai for lunch at ribs and rumps at olympic park, the place was actually quite big, and there was not many people, probably bcos it was the hols and lunch... and then went grocery shopping after... stayed up to watch the fireworks, but it was pretty much the same every year, boring...

1 Jan 2013- stayed at home the whole day until time to go to dinner's at auntie's place for pizza... was watching all the korean drama awards actually... not that I understood what was said, cos nobody subs the shows... 

2 Jan 2012- back to work :( today was asked by El was I missing Dawn, wanted to lie but it was not easy, in the end just hesitated and said no comment... will have to see if this is going to come back and bite me... really dreading next week, when she returns...

looking forward to the days when she is not there, and most importantly my NZ trip and the day when I can get out of this hellhole... and have made my new year resolutions, although the ones from last year were not achieved, sometimes I wonder why I even bother...

MErry XmAS...

recap of Xmas break...

21 Dec 2012- last day of work before a 5 day break, good thing was it was not very busy, and I got to leave work early, the downside was having to face her becos she decided to come into work, though God knows why cos she did not do any productive thing at all other than dictating what I should be doing to get rid of all the patients on my list...

22 Dec 2012- roadtrip, 1st stop was Saddleback Mountain lookout, luckily the weather cleared up when we arrived, cos it was drizzling on the way there, then we went to Berry, had lunch there, and the sun came out, and along came the flies, which meant that the lunch was not very pleasant, and the town was pretty crowded, which also meant that the toilets were disgusting... then we went onto Kangaroo Valley, which was really boring, cos most of the shops were closed... so it was pretty much in and out... then we decided to stop by Fitzroy falls... which was really disappointing, cos there was not much water, which Uncle did warn me before... then we decided to make our way back and decided to have dinner at Chatswood at Takeru... for some unknown reason and probably not thinking properly, I decided to order this ramen that has 2 chilli symbols, and it turned out to be really spicy, and it did not help that it was hot outside and inside the restaurant cos their air conditioning was broken, so in the end, I was eating and sweating at the same time, nice! my mouth was numb after... 

23 Dec 2012- went to cut my hair at Eastwood, and to my surprise, it was really quiet on the korean side, and wanted to check out the new korean restaurant, and it turned out to be BBQ, but it was closed anyway... 

24 Dec 2012- went to send Hyungie in for service, then took a train to Chatswood hoping that this time we could finally get pongie's licence done, but due to their pain in the ass rules, her name on the bank statement needs to match the name on her passport which it didn't and so RTA refused to issue her licence, I was really pissed, and it did not help that it was boiling hot that day, and crowded... so we went to the bank to change the order of her name and went to eat at Oliver Brown to cool myself down... came back to pick the car up and went to do some grocery shopping in the evening, did not have stuff on special though... 

Xmas day... cloudy and raining pretty much all day, which we were prepared for, so it was movie marathon day at auntie's... started with running man, then brave, resident evil, and bourne legacy... 

Boxing day... did not do very much studying the whole weekend, so did some in the morning, then it was time to make our way to the gathering at Magu's place, as usual, have to make small talk, eat and use the excuse of nainai to leave early, and ended up playing mahjong at auntie's place anyway...

27 Dec 2012- back to work, and everyone kept telling me how quiet it usually is on the 2 days but it turned out to be fairly busy... thought I would get some time to study, but nope, though I did leave early on both days... then had to go for dinner at Steve Adkinson's place, was not planning to go initially, but uncle said he wanted us to go, so again have to make small talk, eat food I don't like, except for the starters and dessert...