季节的变化

I know I'm gonna seem so sua ku but such things were not part of my syllabus when I attended school. Maybe it's becoz I didn't take Geography for O levels. Or is this even covered by Geography? Seems like astronomy to me. I was curious to know why the seasons are polar opposites between the northern & southern hemispheres. All the years of my life, the only winter I know is from Dec to Jan. I never knew or heard of winter in June & summer in Dec until a friend migrated to Sydney. So I did a search on Yahoo (that's the only search engine I use).

Turns out that our so called north pole is not pointing exactly north in relation to the sun. Earth is tilted by 23.5°. North pole is actually pointing somewhat north east & south pole is actually pointing somewhat south west. This tilt causes north pole in summer to receive 24 hours of sunlight while south pole (which is in winter) to receive none at all. The same happens in reverse. Earth is closer to the sun during summer in the southern hemisphere, causing summer to be harsher compared to summer in the northern hemisphere. Searching for this topic on youtube produces interesting & more comprehensive videos.

What I do know is that it's gonna be a very harsh day today. Sadly, the Bureau of Meteorology is hardly wrong. (Of course they have to be accurate.) So if it says it's a maximum of 39°c today, it will definitely hit 39°c. I've already turned the evaporative air conditioning on minimum coz it works best when it's still somewhat cool. When it gets really hot, it doesn't work even if I turn it to maximum power.

I'm just gonna stay at home & be a hermit. Unfortunately, the library doesn't reopen till the 5th & I've finished reading all the books I've borrowed as of Sunday. Maybe I shall watch more educational videos on youtube.

1st Birthday In Perth

Yesterday marked the 1st birthday spent in Perth. Weather was hot, hot, hot. But we still made a trip to Margaret River Chocolate Factory in Swan Valley. We're not big on wines, especially me, who hardly enjoy any form of alcohol. Hence, the multitude of vineyards & wineries are lost on me. We set off pretty late, at 2 pm. Otherwise we could have visited a few more places like the honey or cheese factory. Besides, truffles don't keep very well in the heat.

Unfortunately, while it was another day of life for me, it was the loss of many in the ill fated Air Asia flight. When I saw the report shared by friends on FB, I could hardly believe my eyes. I thought, "Is this for real? Another 1?" (There're lots of junk on FB & many of these so called deaths are fake.) But alas, it is real & we all know that once a plane has lost contact with the air traffic control, it usually bodes doom.

I thought to my impending travel trips to Sg & back in March. 4 flights in the space of 2 weeks. Will we be able to land safely at our destination every single time? If I die, who will look after Ton Ton? I don't know when my time will be up. But I do believe that everyday that we're alive means there's still a purpose to be fulfilled.

人生无常。不要忘了感恩。要多多珍惜。

We got home from our field trip, I made dinner & had a Panettone that was on sale at half price (coz Christmas was over) as a birthday "cake". Not forgetting to water the lawn which is starting to die again for reasons unknown to me. It can't be due to the lack of water since I'm so diligent with the watering. Of course, Ton Ton had to endure my daily pranks on him as well. So, there ends 28th December, my 31st birthday.

1st Christmas In Perth

This was how we spent our 1st Christmas in Perth. At a dog beach just north of Floreat Beach. You know how much I hated the heat so it took a lot just to get out of the house. I wonder if I've gotten so used to the cooler seasons that I felt 32 degrees, the average temperature in Sg, was unbearable. It is definitely less humid here but when the sun hits the skin, it feels like my skin is going to sizzle & blacken any second now. I chose to leave after 4 pm, knowing that we would arrive at 5ish when the temperatures have dropped somewhat, much to the dismay of hubs. Ton Ton being Ton Ton, was terrified of the water & refused to play like all the other dogs. In fact, he kept a 10 m distance from the shore. If I had appropriate attire & a towel, I would have gone into the water, carrying Ton Ton with me.

A very big difference is how big a festive Christmas is in Australia. I liken it to our CNY where majority of the shops are closed. A lot of people also spent a lot of money fixing up their house with lightings, giant sized Santa Claus & some even put reindeers on their roof. I'm not a Christian so Christmas has always been another public holiday to me. (So is Vesak Day by the way.) Then, there is the Boxing Day & with it, the Boxing Day sale. I don't really have anything I want to buy though.

I did make a pasta bake. Between me & hubs, we polished off two-thirds of it. Guess what happened to the remaining one-third? I went outside to water the lawn as usual. While outside, I heard a thud coming from the house. It sounded like something metal had fallen to the floor. We had this warming rack for the barbie that we didn't fix up since we didn't think we would use it. So I thought that had fallen over. It wouldn't be the 1st time anyway. I wasn't too concerned as hubs was in the living room. A few minutes later, I heard it again. The thought that came to me was, "Oh no! Don't tell me it's the pasta bake!"

I rushed in, hubs was still sitting in front of the computer, oblivious to the fact that Ton Ton had managed to drag the pasta bake in its baking tin to the floor right behind where he was sitting & had eaten chunks out of it. Needless to say, it was unfit for human consumption after that. Ton Ton spent the next few hours lying down right beside the Butsudan, obviously knowing what he had done was wrong. So that concludes my mundane life over the holiday period.

P.S.: I finally finished reading Under The Dome last Sunday. Took me 4 weeks which is a very long time for me. I have finished reading another 3 books by Mary Higgins Clark since then. That's 3 books over 5 days. So yeah, I better stick to my favourite authors.

Jump Start Fitness

39°c today. I felt myself melting away the way a knob of butter melts when you dump it in a hot pan. It's pure luck that I went for my 45 minutes brisk walk at 6.30 am. Any later & I would have been scorched since I didn't know it would be a very hot day.

I received my birthday present from hubs yesterday even if it was 10 days early: a red Fitbit Flex. He wanted to get me an ipad mini but I refused. I have no use for it since it has basically the same functions as my S3 despite it being 2 years old. As it is, we're spending so much time on IT gadgets & I don't need another 1 to waste my precious time on. When the weekly catalogue came in the mail on Wednesday, I knew it was time. I've been eyeing the Fitbit Flex for a while now. It is now on offer for $99 at Dick Smith, down from the original $128. The missing surprise element gave way to something more important: getting something I actually want. It's more practical than asking for a surprise then realised it fell so short of your expectations.

I put it to good use immediately to monitor my sleep pattern last night. It has not left my wrist since then. I find it really good that after inputting my stats like weight, height, age, sex & how much weight i want to lose, it generates information on how much water I have to drink a day & how many calories I should be consuming. It's also a pedometer so I know how far I am from the 10k steps goal each day.

Immediately after arriving home from my walk, I took Ah Ton for a 15 minutes walk as my goal was to get in 1 hour of exercise since walking is nowhere as strenuous as jogging. As much as I needed it, I don't enjoy jogging. I've tried to pick it up so many times over the span of my life but had always given up. Walking is easy. I plan to explore the neighbourhood on foot since my workplace is closed till the 7th Jan.

I saw a house on sale that attracted me for some reasons I can't explain. I couldn't see the inside, I couldn't tell what size it was. Yet I felt strangely attracted to it. When I got home, I searched on realestate.com & there it was. Beautiful 4x2 with quality finishings & a pool. I don't fancy a pool coz I know upkeeping it is a nightmare. But then, neither can I afford the $560k that the owners are asking for it.

I also came across a street where the moment I turned in, I felt instantly uneasy. I can't explain it. The houses on both sides of the street look innocent enough but it just felt so eery. As soon as I turned into the next street, the feeling dissipated.

I downloaded the app for my Fitbit on both my laptop & my S3. Here's my report thus far today. With this toy to give me feedback on my progress, I'm looking forward to hitting my targets everyday.

The Art Of Saving

Occasionally, I'll come across articles either featured or shared by friends on FB on the art of saving. I've read so many that I conclude they offer the same advice. That's exactly my saving habits save for the investment part which is for wealth growth. If we're just talking about purely saving up, there's just 1 rule: spend less or earn more. Some things you just can't save on. Like a 5 minutes job spraying the wasps' nest costing me $60. It's inevitable that when your earnings go up, you increase your quality of life & hence spend more. So earning more isn't necessarily the solution to saving more.

I remember when I 1st joined nursing, my basic pay was $1.5k. Add in the shift allowance, minus the CPF deductions, I bring home between $1.3k to $1.5k. We often have to stay back to finish up the work (not paid) & get 1 day off a week. I hated the days where I had an afternoon shift followed by morning shift. While the afternoon shift ends at 9 pm, I don't exactly leave at that time. So by the time I got home, it would be just before midnight & I have to be at work by 7 am the next day. Perhaps it was the long & irregular hours & the precious 1 day off per week that earning $1.5k a month was sufficient. Of course, I was still living with my parents & the only bills I paid were mobile & internet bills. Some weeks we go for 12 days before a day off. Off on a Monday on week 1 then Sunday on week 2. I hated working in the ward. So I applied, appealed & re-appealed to be transferred to the operating theatre.

Working in theatre means I get $250 theatre allowance. I still got shift allowance as I had to do morning, afternoon & on call. Then, I hated being on call coz I had to work from 11 am to 10 am the next day. More often than not, I had to work throughout the night. That's 23 hours of work. While raking in overtime rates from 11 pm to 7 am, I'm not good with zero sleep. It's a terrible system anyway coz surely we're not safe when we're sleep deprived & we're dealing with human lives here. With the extra income, I probably was bringing home between $1.8k to $1.9k a month. I wondered how did I ever survive on a $1.3k salary.

Fast forward to recent years. I became a Senior Staff Nurse & my basic pay in my last job was $3.3k. Theatre allowance was still $250 despite it being 10 years later. My net pay was slightly below $3k. But I couldn't save at all. Of course, by now, I had to support not just myself but my parents too. By the time I'm done paying bills & living expenses, I can barely save $200 a month. Throw in the debts my parents raked up, that costly divorce & the $20k I didn't manage to recover, I had like $20k in savings despite working for 10 years.

With that money I had, I came to Perth. If you've read my old posts, you will know that very rapidly, the money dwindled down to just barely $6k in the span of 6 weeks. I did envy those younger couples who had it going for them. But I know my path, though a rough 1, is meant to polish me. Becoz I have been there, I have been rock bottom down, I appreciate what I have even more. As the saying goes, compare your present self to your past self, not with someone else.

I work lesser hours than I did in SG, between 20 to 30 hours lesser a week. But I'm netting almost twice my salary in SG. While I have to send $1k back to SG every month, I still manage to save at least $1760 a month. It's so precise coz $1k comes from me & hubs transfers $430 to me every fortnight when he gets his pay for rent (our weekly rent is $430 you see). Whatever money he transfers to me goes into the savings account. I keep tabs on my bank balance & the day before my salary is due to be paid, I take note of the amount left. Once the money is in the next day, I'll transfer $1k plus the balance from the previous day. Building my savings 1 pay day at a time.

I read that someone told Nix as mentioned in his recent post that Australia is at its worst in 39 years. I don't know about job security here. I won't know if either of us will suddenly lose our jobs. But we just have to take it 1 day at a time & never lose sight of our goals. Yes, it's easy for appreciation to fade into contentment, then discontentment when we start taking things for granted. Then we just have to constantly compare what we have now to what we had in the past. Most importantly, the peace that eludes me in SG pays me a visit every now & then. I'll work on it more. Am I wearing rose tinted glasses? Nah, just the glasses of plain old gratitude for things big & small.

"Exciting" Happenings

I've been working late these 2 weeks. But then, I can't really say it's late coz it's considered early compared to when I was still in Sg. Good thing is, when you're knocking off at 6.30 pm, the roads are clear & it's smooth traffic all the way home. Just that by the time I reach home at 7.30 pm, I have just enough time to have dinner, shower, feed Ah Ton & let him out (not necessarily in that order) before I have to rush into bed. So I haven't been reading Under The Dome at all except for 200 odd pages last weekend. That brings me halfway through the book. I'll need to do a renewal this Sat.

Last Friday night, we went to the newly opened Spud Shed in Innaloo. Took 45 mins to drive there (45 mins to drive to anywhere from Ellenbrook it seems). While there're some Supa IGA that opens 24 hours, Spud Shed boasts lower prices. I bought mangoes for 69 cents each, a big bunch of kale for 99 cents, Connoisseur ice cream for $2.99 per box (Coles selling the exact same thing for $7.99). Bananas were $2+ per kg compared to $5 in Coles (now gone down to $4+ per kg). So you get my drift. The Spud Shed in Wanneroo is closer but they're not open 24 hours. I was so excited the moment I stepped into the store. Like setting a kid free in a candy store.

Ton Ton had a bout of diarrhea on Tuesday. I'm not sure what happened. Must be something really strong coz dogs have super acidic stomach & they don't get food poisoning so easily. This must be his 2nd or 3rd time in the 9 years I've had him. He woke me up at 12.40 am yesterday & I knew he had to go. He never wakes me up in the middle of the night unless it was something important. I was in a hurry to let him out so I was freezing out there in just my camisole & shorts. I fixed it with my usual remedy: yoghurt on empty stomach & porridge for meal.

I left newspaper on the floor for him since we were both at work. He had 1 more episode of diarrhea on the newspaper I laid out for him but must have accidentally stepped on it. There were diarrhea paw prints from the kitchen newspaper to the front door newspaper. I think he was trying to wipe his dirty paw on the clean newspaper. Smart boy. No more diarrhea since yesterday afternoon but I'll keep an eye on him.

While going out to water my herb pots, I noticed a wasp flying around the patio. I followed its flight path & saw a nest the size of my palm on the patio's roof. Has it been there for a while? I haven't noticed it despite going out the back to water the lawn everyday. As it was already 7 pm, I have to call pest control tomorrow. It's gonna be another expense. Gosh!

Just about all the "exciting" happenings lately. I'm having a day off tomorrow. Just as well now that we have a wasps problem & I'll be home if they can make it tomorrow. I better not go out the back lest I be stung.

1st Day Of Summer

The 1st day of summer ushered in an unfortunate cockroach who spilled its guts on the pavers out in the patio after I slapped my slipper down on it. HARD. We're also starting to develop a problem that we didn't have during the cooler seasons. A maggoty bin. The lid's always shut so I wonder how the flies manage to get in to lay eggs. High risk trash are now being double bagged. Bin is sprayed with bleach every now & then. Hopefully we'll never have to endure the horror of a bin full of maggots again.

Been manually watering the lawn regularly after work. Reticulation days are Tuesdays & Saturdays. I've taken to setting it on everyday for the back lawn but I still hose the dead patches that the reticulation obviously missed & the grass's starting to grow back. Meanwhile, the rest of the back lawn is now green & lush with the constant supply of water & my fortnightly fertilization. Since I can't leave the front lawn's reticulation on everyday, I'm manually (really manually) watering it with a 9L watering can. It requires 4 refills to cover the whole lawn. Hopefully I can maintain it still with the arrival of summer & its high temperatures. It literally takes 1 day to die but months to green back.

I've given Ton a shave over the weekend in preparation for the weather & he looks completely like an alien. Small body, big head. Actually he doesn't. It's just his beard that makes his head look big. He's not bothered by his appearance & continues going about his day merrily. There's a lot for me to learn from him. :)

Regular Patron Of The Library

You know you're a bookworm when you're such a regular patron of the library that you exhausted all the books by your favourite author. I'm kinda particular about the books I read. I love detective thrillers that are fast paced. That's why I love James Patterson so much. I read every single available book of his from the library & I don't know what else to read.

I know there're many popular authors but I haven't found another author whose style of writing I enjoy. I love Dan Brown & I own every single book he's ever written. He isn't as prolific a writer as JP becoz of the extensive research that goes into each novel. I love Mary Higgins Clark as well. I shall keep my eyes peeled for her books next.

Under The Dome was already in its 2nd season here. It looked like it had an interesting storyline. But I won't read or watch something that didn't have a beginning available to me. Hence, I didn't watch it when it aired some time back. As I was scouring the library shelves last weekend, I came across the original Under The Dome by Stephen King that the TV series was based on. It's a mammoth of a book well over 800 pages. I wouldn't normally read such thick books coz it usually means that the story is draggy & I tend to get bored. I've lost count of the numerous authors whose books I gave up reading after a hundred pages or so. (Yeah, I'm hard to please when it comes to novels.)

It's been a week & I've only managed 200 over pages (that's just a quarter of the book). That's very slow for me. I can finish JP in a day (his books are usually 400 over pages thick). Just as I expected, the story moves slowly. The only driving me on is my desire to find out if the dome is a supernatural event or a man made 1 as suspected by the town people in the story. But SK is good in that he made me "hate" the nasty character in the story, just as a good actor makes you hate the villain he's playing.

When I was young, I hated reading. It bores me to death. Then I realised that it was the genre of the books that fail to interest me. I picked up R. L. Stein & Christopher Pike in Primary 6 & never looked back. I found my passion. Books that keep me guessing till the end who the killer is. I know I will never be able to appreciate classics or romance or fantasy. Some people will never enjoy reading. Like hubs. Me, I just love a good story.

Strawberries Galore

Mid last week, hubs told me that Nix asked him if we would like to pick strawberries at a strawberry farm on Sat. Of course I said yes. Even if it's for an hour, it's nice to have something to do, be with people I like. Not just the 2 of us staring at each other at home wondering where to go.

Along the way, we marveled at the beautiful sights. As it is considered a rural area, much of it was untouched, undeveloped. I told hubs, "There's a beautiful country side right at our backdoor & we didn't even know it!"

We arrived at the strawberry farm in Bullbrooks at 10.05 am, running 5 minutes late. The location wasn't in the GPS & there were 2 roads with the same name. We did a few U-turns before I saw the road sign. We were on the correct road but if we turn left, the road name remains the same. Usually, once you make a turn, the road name changes you see. So I told hubs, let's try turning left & see where it leads us. That turned out to be where we were supposed to be.

The moment I opened the car door, a sweet scent lingering in the air hit me. It was not the scent of strawberries, just something sweet that I couldn't put a finger on. Nix, Jen & another couple, L & M were already there. We took some pictures & headed in. They were selling an empty tray for $10 or 2 punnets for $5. We bought the tray to share among the us. It didn't take long to fill the tray (no heaping allowed).

At the end of our harvesting 1 hour plus later, I had sand in my shoes, dirt under my nails but I really enjoyed myself. Even after splitting the loot, we still ended up with a huge mixing bowl of strawberries. The strawberries were super sweet & not a single 1 was sour, unlike the store bought ones. They were so good that we ate it as it is, instead of making dessert with them. That concluded our Sat morning.

The Beginning Of Immortality

Just woke up from a dream if that's what I'm gonna call it. It hardly qualifies as a nightmare but yet it brought up a scary notion.

I was playing with a dog that looks frighteningly like Ton Ton. White, Miniature Schnauzer. He behaves exactly like Ton Ton too. The events that follow depict man made immortality. I don't think that is possible but who knows how technology will progress?

I removed a chip that looks like a micro SD card from the back of the dog's neck & the dog stopped animating immediately. I then insert the chip into a wooden skeleton frame of a dog (think 3D wooden jigsaw puzzles sold in push carts in Vivo). The frame continued where I left off with the white dog, behaving like Ton does.

I tried to steer my dream for the answers. Asked myself what's animating our living body. If it's the soul, have we found a way to store the soul in that chip when our earthly body fails then insert that chip into an artificial 1 so we can carry on our "life" if we can call it that? So is that Ton's soul in that chip & he "lives on" in whatever artificial body I put the chip in? The shocking answer is yes.

Immortality. Humans have finally found a way to live on forever. Ton Ton isn't the only 1 with the chip. I have 1 too.

Being A Singaporean Chinese Asian

I'm gonna start by being off track. I know urine. I've seen so many that are not mine. Concentrated is dark yellow. Orangey is not concentrated. Orangey means it's tainted by red. Usually signifying blood in the urine. So imagine my shock when I saw mine was orangey. The 1st thing I thought of was urinary tract infection. But I had no pain passing urine. Most common cause ruled out, I checked to see if I'm bleeding even though my menses had stopped for a week. Nope, not bleeding. Then I try to recall if it was something I ate. Got a hit. I had a salad with chunks of beetroot in it. Morale of the story? Don't scare thyself.

Back to topic now. For some reason, ang mohs tend to think all asians are the same. Probably the same way I think indians look the same (for some reason, I can't tell most indian men apart). I'm the unofficial Mandarin-English translator in my department. I can speak some Hokkien & Cantonese though I understand way better than I can speak. So we had a Vietnamese patient. I was asked if I speak Vietnamese. Err... sorry, I don't. Then we had an Indonesian patient & I was asked if I speak Bahasa. Yeah, we all have asian skin & black hair. But that's where the similarities end, really.

For the record, I can speak very limited Malay, mostly in words to do with having an eye surgery. Like what's your name? Which eye for surgery? Any allergies? Close eyes, open eyes, look left, look right, look at the light, lie down, wait a while, don't move, deep breaths. That's about it.

I can count numbers in Japanese. I can say thank you, sorry, excuse me, good morning, afternoon, evening, good night, are you ok & some other words. The only sentence I can say in Japanese probably is "I am Jo." Nothing that I can use in my job.

I think we must be a mystery to the ang mohs for them to have the impression that 1 is all. Sorry, Vietnamese, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean etc is as different as German is to Italian is to Spanish is to French.

Milestone: 5 Months In My Job

Has it only been 5 months? Feels like I've been in this job a long time. Today, the surgeon (who's from Singapore) asked me how I'm getting along. I told her the truth that I don't feel like I belong in Australia. She told me to give it more time. It wasn't a question I spend a lot of time pondering over but now I think I have my answer. 

Asians (Singaporeans) are generally more reserved. We hardly talk to others & we don't want to be talked to too. We don't really even know our neighbours. I'm even worse as I'm an introvert. If someone talks to me in NTUC, I usually have this query as to whether the person is sane. (Yeah, I'm bad.) Once I've ascertain their sanity, I answer their questions in as few words as I can & move away so I won't be forced into small talks with them. Being here, I feel this pressure to make small talks. Something I don't really like. I will most definitely listen but I feel that I'm expected to respond. Usually, I have none. I don't know what to say. I know in my heart now that this is the reason why I feel like I don't belong.

I've booked tickets to fly back to Sg in late March next year. I'm bringing my parents over to Perth for a week. Only downside is that my mom speaks & understands limited English, my dad none at all. They hardly travel & when they do fly, it's always with family members. So I seriously doubt they'll be able to navigate the airport. Even if they take a cab to the correct terminal, they won't know which counter to go to, how to clear customs, how to get to the correct gate. On arrival, they won't know how to fill in the white card nor how to clear customs. Due to the complexity of the issue, we've decided to fly back, bring them here, send them back & fly back again. Hubs refuses to let me fly on my own so it costs both of us an extra round trip. Even on Scoot, it set me back AUD$2500. That's excluding their tourist visa. 

Instead of spending 1 whole week in Sg, fly them to spend a week here then fly them back & try to book a flight on the same day to come back to Perth, I booked the tickets so that we'll spend 2 days in Sg, 1 week here, then 4 days in Sg before flying back. I'm actually quite excited. I'm thinking of the food I wanna eat in Sg & planning where to bring my parents when they're here. Like me, when on a holiday, they prefer scenery to shopping. So I'm cracking my brain at the moment. I've also got to take into consideration that I have Ton Ton with me so we can only do day trips. Besides, I'm sure they want to spend time with Ton Ton as well. 

With my return visiting trip in place, I have something I feel I need to do. Lose some weight. Urgh. I know, I said that millions of time & gave up millions of time. My only motivating factor is not having people tell me, "You put on weight in Australia!" Oh dear... Let's see how far I can get this time.

Ever The Accident Magnet

This is my solution. Can't prevent accidents but can be a source of evidence if I get into 1. Haven't been blogging coz it was time of the month & I was extra achy & extra tired. So I slept at 8 pm everyday. 

2 Fridays ago, I had another near miss. Imagine a T junction & again, I was going straight. A car had stopped on the dotted give way line on the side road to my right. This time, I was on the right lane. At the last possible minute, the driver decided he (I use he but I don't know if it's a man or woman) wanted to make a dash for it. I actually shouted "Whoa whoa whoa!" while stomping on the brakes & swerving to the left at the same time. I braced myself for impact. But maybe he saw the horror on my face or suddenly realised if he proceeded a crash would be imminent & he stopped. I successfully skirted around the head of his car.

I decided enough is enough. I've had enough of all these close calls. If I hit the car in front of me, surely it'll be ruled against me. Having video recordings will work in my favour in the event that the accident isn't my fault. When I told hubs, even he asked me, "Why is it that you always meet these kind of drivers?" He was all for the idea to get a video recorder. 

Good fortune galore. When we headed to Repco last weekend, this Drive Video Recorder cum rear view mirror was on offer. The original price was $129 & it was now selling for $69. There was 1 model down with only VGA quality recording going for $59. This records HD quality videos for $10 more. Not a difficult choice isn't it? 

A class 10 high speed micro SD card is required for this device & we headed to Midland yesterday for a look. We went to Office Works 1st. They were selling the 16GB for $19.90 & the 8GB for $7.90. The Good Guys was selling the exact same thing for $28.90 & $16.90 for the 8 GB. JB Hi Fi next door was around the same price. The price difference was so huge that we went back to Office Works to make sure we didn't get the price wrong the 1st time round. We bought the 8GB card from Office Works which we were told can hold up to 4 hours of recording in HD. 

Hubs had just given my car a much needed wash & "installed" the recorder for me. It doesn't actually require installation, just attach it to the current rear mirror, plug it in & adjust the settings. We've tested it & it works. So yay! All ready to go!

Sucker For Punishment

I've come to deduce that that's what I am. I was quite affected previously about my poly friends going on in our group chat on Whatsapp but didn't acknowledge me.

1 of them mentioned she ran into our lecturer from NYP today. I wanted to brush off the previous time as a 1 off incident, as me being too sensitive. So I thought I'll reply. Same thing happened. The 2 of them had an ongoing chat while ignoring what I've replied. I don't even know why I bother. I feel like such a fool.

Nothing lasts forever. Neither good things nor bad things (thankfully). Guess this is it. Thank you for the good times we had.

2 Years Wedding Anniversary

Maybe it's just me or maybe it's just the passage of age. I find that the older I get, the less obsessed I am about the passing of time. When I was younger, I kept meticulous tabs on "anniversaries". 1 week, 1 month, so on & so forth. I was even so throughout my 1st marriage. I used to be able to tell you the date we met, the date we officially started dating, the wedding date & year (with my ex). Of course, by now I no longer commit them to memory & neither do I want to.

What surprises me is my lack of memory with hubs (the current 1). Of course, I remember that 29th Nov was when we started dating. (I've always said it's the 28th but he insisted it's the 29th coz it was past midnight & I concur.) 5th Nov is our wedding anniversary aka solemnisation date, a 吉日 based on our 八字. 26th March the following year was our wedding banquet & we flew off to Melbourne for our self drive honeymoon on the 28th.

Just a few days ago, I was struggling to remember which anniversary it is. Is it the 1st or the 2nd? (Answer is 2nd.) How many years have we been a couple? I have no idea. I think it's 5. (I confirmed with hubs. It was 2009 so it's 5 years.) He wasn't insulted that I couldn't remember. Well, he always forgets his age & confuses me all the time. 彼此彼此吧。

How is it that something that used to be so important is now longer held in the highest esteem anymore? I don't think it's age. I see friends on FB wishing their partner happy monthisaries (yeah, they celebrate anniversary by the month) & they're of the same age. Only difference is that these people are in their 1st serious relationship (by serious I mean dating to marry). Perhaps it's the loss of romanticism & naivety in me.

The years are of no importance. If someone wants out, they can do it at anytime, regardless if you've been together for a year, 10 years or more. For me, it's the realisation  that marriage is more than the monthly or yearly celebrations of anniversaries. I'm sure some will disagree when I say that marriage is actually quite mundane. It's true. But there is a beauty in the mundane that can't be replaced.

In 1 of my 1st few posts in this blog, I asked myself what makes a marriage work. I'm sure we can all give model answers. It's living these model answers that makes it work. But there will be lapses. It's inevitable, hard as we try. It's alright. There're no guarantees but we'll just try our hardest.

Anyway, hubs made nasi lemak for our anniversary "feast". Just a normal day, just our usual routine. Just the way I like it.

Melbourne Cup

I didn't know why all the hype about Melbourne Cup. I initially thought it's a sports event which turns out to be an international horse racing event held in Melbourne every year. The opening race is always on the 1st Tuesday of November. 1 of my colleague told me that it has a nick that I can't seem to remember. I think it might be drop everything race or something to that effect. Everyone drops everything, people who are working stops work for that few minutes just to watch it. So along with my colleagues, we watched the opening race.

I never was interested in horse racing. I was neutral, neither disliking or liking it. But it was later when I heard the terrible news that changed my views about it in a southward direction. It's just a senseless, egoistic revenue for the rich to flaunt their wealth. 1 of the horses was a favourite, deemed to place highly in the race. He came in last. So it was going to be brought back to the stall for a vet to examine him. But he collapsed & dropped dead before he could be sent to the stall. All I could think of was how uncomfortable & sick he felt. Yet, he couldn't voice it out & was forced to race, finally paying with his life.

The next news was worse. 1 of the horses sustained a fracture in his leg after the race & was euthanize. EUTHANIZE. Shouldn't euthanasia be reserved for the terminally ill & be used as a last resort so as to shorten the suffering? The owners of the horses are very rich people I'm sure. It isn't cheap to raise a race horse, train it & hire a jockey to race it. So why did the owner make the call to euthanize the horse just becoz he had a broken leg? Surely the owner has enough money to treat the horse. Becoz even if his leg was treated, he'll never race again. This is what society has become. Anything or anyone that is of no use to you, just get rid of them.

Their lives are so cheap. Their lives meant nothing. It makes me so sad & so mad. But what can I do? I can't change the world & the way it runs. Humanity will run itself to ruin.

不知不觉已过了半年

On this day 6 months ago, we landed in Perth. While there's nothing much going on today, I felt this milestone deserves a post. For several weeks, I felt lost. I didn't even have the mood to do what it is I love most - baking. I read still, but only becoz I didn't have anything else to do to pass time.

I felt better from the social interaction at P & J's pot luck. But I still felt like something is missing. Today's the 1st Sunday of the month, hence, there's a commemorative meeting at Soka Centre. The bring home message today is to keep pushing ahead. We fluctuate between the 10 worlds & if we find ourselves in the lower paths, instead of falling into despair,  we should remain firm in faith, take 1 step at a time till we emerge victorious.

I regained the urge to bake once again & I've been baking non stop over the weekend. A tiny progress but 1 nonetheless. I'm making a roast pork belly (recipe by Jamie Oliver) & the smell wafting through the house is just heavenly. A mini feast for hitting our 6 months milestone.

Back To Basics

We spent a good deal of time & brain power to green up the lawn. Several weeks ago, there was a day where the temperatures hit 35 degrees. In the days that follow, big patches of the lawn turned yellow. At the pot luck, J was sharing with me the products she use on her garden. I bought the same product (Thrive) in power form as it is cheaper than the liquid ones she uses. But after several weeks, the lawn still refuses to green up.

Sometime last week, Thursday I think, P & J came over as they wanted to drop off 2 bicycles & a pot of oregano for us. At the same time, they wanted to have a look at our lawn. They said the lawn doesn't look too bad (though I know my landlord will beg to differ) & it's normal not to have a lawn that is entirely green. It's normal to have yellow or brown patches. Then J asked if the sprinklers are reaching all areas of the lawn. She advised us to just keep watering the lawn & it will green up. So on non-reticulation days, we'll just have to do it manually.

Thinking of cheating, I set the system to water the back lawn everyday. The back is all fenced up so I think we won't be caught & it'll save me lots of time. I'll just water the smaller lawn patch out on the front by hose. Remembering what J said about the sprinklers, I stood there, watching as the stations came on 1 by 1. True enough, the massive yellow patches were not watered. The water didn't reach those areas.

I guess I think too far & complicated that I overlooked the simplest rational for it. Perhaps also becoz the landlord kept blaming us for the weeds & therefore depriving the lawn of nutrients that I kept thinking the problem is due to lack of fertilisation. In the end, it wasn't something we did to the lawn. It wasn't even the weeds. The lawn wasn't thriving simply becoz it wasn't getting the water it needs. Perhaps that's the solution to life itself. I wonder if the many problems we're facing just requires a back to basics approach as well.

Serendipity

It's a pleasant surprise to find what it is you thought you've lost forever. Even more so if it is something of sentimental value. During the pot luck session held at P & J's place 2 Saturdays ago, their "antique" wooden duck was made available for the kids to play. It was I think either thrown or dropped & a portion of its leg broke off. The duck has been with them for I think decades & hence its antique status.

The broken piece was found & placed on the table together with the duck. Sometime later, J realised that the broken piece was missing. The last couple who stayed with us till the end helped looked everywhere for it. Under the sofa, in the garden, to no avail. The piece was deemed lost forever.

Fast forward 1.5 weeks. I had just finished my morning prayers & was tidying my bag before I leave for work. My bag is 1 of those without any compartments so everything gets messed up as I move around. It was then I spotted this small brown longish thing at the bottom of my bag & I thought, "What IS that?" (I was scared to death that it might be a caterpillar or something.) I took it out for a closer examination & the bulb in my head lit up. Immediately, I texted J that I found the missing portion of the duck's leg. I think 1 of the kids must have taken it from the table & dropped it in my bag for fun's sake.

Fortunately, J hasn't thrown the duck away. It wouldn't work properly with the broken leg. Hopefully, once the broken piece is reattached, the duck will waddle like it used to.

4 Months In My Job

Today marks my completion of 4 months in my job. I've just started my AU training yesterday. I'm not exactly sure if it can be considered training since I'll be at it solo the next time I'm doing AU. My head is swimming in the amount of information I received. I've not done AU in my previous employment as the AU nurses are all ENs. RNs are solely scrub nurses. It's a challenge I hope I can excel in. My upcoming CNM (my current 1 is retiring end of the month) informed the anaesthetist that I would be doing AU with her yesterday & he told her I'm good in everything I do so AU shouldn't be a problem for me. *stress*

Work aside, it's also 5.5 months since we arrived in Perth. I was catching up on Nix's blog & he mentioned something about which country is your home, in the form of when you return to Sg for a visit, do you say "It's good to be home." or "I'm going to Sg." I'm too green in Australia to comfortably say this is home. I don't feel I belong & I don't know if I ever will. Probably not. But I guess if I stay here long enough, even Sg will feel foreign to me 1 day.

I feel alone in Perth. My 2 poly friends whom I've kept in touch with are chatting about which handphone to upgrade to, which contestant they like best in 中国好声音 in our group chat but not responding to me when I "talked" to them. I wished 1 of them happy birthday in the group chat but didn't receive a response as well. Perhaps I should have done it in FB along with everyone & see if she'll reply as she did for everyone. I feel like such a failure. Do I really mean so little to people I consider friends? I know I'm an introvert & I can be socially awkward. But with them, we were past that. 

Dolly told me not to think too much since I've tried my best & it's up to them if they want to put me in their heart. I know people come & people go in our lives. But when I let you in, I must consider you important. So it hurts. I do admire guys sometimes. They make friends who stay so even when they've not seen or talked to each other for ages. Yet when they meet, they carry on like no time has passed between them. When something comes up, they can be counted on to show support or help. I see this in hubs. I see this in Nix. I wish I can find true friends like that.

Don't get me wrong. I'm thankful for my life. Just wish that I can be better.

My Tribute To Bobby The Fake Schnauzer

I don't know at this point of writting if Bobby is still hanging on or if he's passed on. So I'll use the present tense. I saw on Enrica & Lorbert's FB that he's struggling & very likely won't last the night. I didn't leave any comments for I know nothing anyone say will ease the pain. Me not commenting doesn't mean I don't care. On the contrary, I not only know the owners but I know Bobby as well. Instead, I'm writing a tribute to him here in my blog. E & L doesn't know about the existence of this blog so they'll never read this.

Bobby's a Maltese. He's very special indeed. He's twice the size & weight of a normal Maltese. E & L adopted him many years back. I remember attending his 5th birthday celebration. Back then, we were all newbies when it comes to dogs, gotten to know each other at a dog forum.

I used to board Bobby & Belle (a female schnauzer belonging to E & L as well) when they were away on holidays. There was once, I went to their place instead. That was back when I was still living in Yew Tee. I had lived in Bukit Panjang for 5 years after moving out from Yew Tee. So you can see how long it's been.

Bobby's the 1st dog I put diapers on for. He'll mark everywhere hence E & L gave me some baby diapers. I wasn't sure if I should cut a hole so I could stick his tail through or tuck his tail out the leg hole.

Bobby is known as the fake schnauzer becoz they gave him the schnauzer cut. The only marked difference is his tail which is long. Bobby & Ton Ton were at 1 time called the brothers. They're both white & both sporting schnauzer cuts.

Bobby's health hasn't been too good. He is diagnosed with heart murmur several years back. Recently, he was passing out blood & had an abdominal tap done due to ascites. He got better, started eating again. Then this. All within a week.

I said a prayer for dear Bobby. Just NMHRGK. I feel so sad that he's leaving this world. I'm so bad at expressing my feelings so I can only write it here. Bobby, I love you. May your heart & soul be filled with my prayers.

Day Excursion To Freo

This is an excursion I thought of just recently. I was looking at hub's FB (I do that all the time coz his friends always post interesting stuff & I play Criminal Case using his account) & saw a few of his friends visiting Perth for a holiday. It occurred to me that we've been here for a while now. But we haven't done any of the tourist things. In fact, his friends probably went to more places in 1 week than we had in 5 months. So that prompted me to do this day excursion.

We got off on a bad start. Shortly after parking the car, we passed by a group of 3 aboriginal women. 1 of them said, "Hello." My natural reaction was to turn to see who was talking. She followed with, "Aussie wannabe." Of course, I've been warned about them. Still, it stung. Immediately, my buddhist teaching came into my mind. People who respond with biting & bitter words lead a life that is filled with negativity. What is on the inside inevitably spills outside. We all have been dealt shit & will continue to be dealt shit in our lives. What makes a difference is that we turn the negativity into positive actions.

It reminded me of how negative I was with my landlord issue & how I struggled to overcome it. What we give away we receive back. I wish I can exude only positivity. But I guess that's what we're here for. To learn the ways of life & overcome our negative tendencies & lead a purpose filled life in gratitude.

Whether it's with other people or with hubs, I keep quiet becoz even though I'm angry inside. You may think I'm a hypocrite but all I really want is to keep the peace & avoid a confrontation. I know my feelings will not be reciprocated all the time. But sometimes I wonder if I'm the one of the very few who has this mindset. Hubs is my complete opposite. He will not hesitate to give it to you if he feels he's not in the wrong.

We started with Fremantle Market which sadly to say, had nothing much. It was the same with Malaga Market which we visited 3 months back. Perhaps it just feels different when you're visiting as a tourist rather than a resident. But at least we've seen it in person. We took a stroll in the vicinity & came upon the Esplanade. From my "research", the Fishing Harbour is just on the other side of the Esplanade.

Despite it being only 10.30 am, I suggested to hubs that we have Fish N Chips at Kaili's since it was on our itinenary anyway. I always believe that the quality of the food decline sharply when there's a huge demand, like during lunch or dinner hour. We chose to sit outside where it was cooler (yeah, it was warm indoors) & we had a view of the harbour. 2 ladies came after us & sat outside as well. For some reason, the seagulls kept attacking them & managed to flip a box of Fish N Chips onto the floor. They moved further in but the seagulls were relentless & made off with their scallops. They finally moved indoors. We were sitting just next to them but the seagulls didn't even made any attempts on us. I joked that it must be becoz hubs has a 杀气 & therefore they avoided us.

We made our way back to the car & drove to our next destination: Fremantle Prison. I had a voucher so we got huge discount off our tickets. We did the package that included the Doing Time & Great Escapes tours, originally $28 per pax. We paid $36 for 2. The prison was still in use up to 1991. The conditions prisoners had to put up with were appalling. We were told that some of the prisoners who finished serving their time frequently come back on the tour. That concludes our day in Freo.

Checking Visitation

Landlord gave short notice that they're coming over this afternoon. But it doesn't matter. As long as they come on a weekday, we won't be at home. How long has it been since their last visit? 3 weeks? Can't remember.

We've been working on it but I'm pretty sure they won't even see the efforts we put in. They'll probably just see that the garden is less than perfect. Well, we can't create a miracle in a few weeks.

Funny that they ask if we require them to mow the lawn. I've already told them before that we bought a lawn mower. Did it slip their mind or are they trying to call my bluff, hoping that by asking the same question in different ways will produce inconsistent answers? Sorry to disappoint but we really did buy 1 & we really did mow the lawn. What we didn't do is follow their instructions to apply Roundup Gel to each & every single winter grass & pull them up manually.

Oh well. Let's see what they say after this check. We'll continue to work on the lawn as & when.

Seemingly Meaningless

You know my drill now. Days on, I go to work. Days off, I work on the garden. I read the novels from the library, we watch the DVDs also from the library. This kind of existence feels so shallow & devoid of meaning. I know that's not what I'm here for. I just need to find the "thing" to bring meaning back into my life.

While I know I should get out of my comfort zone, interactions drain me like crazy. Having to come up with responses, trying my best not to scare people off with my awkwardness. Too draining. So I know for me to do my part for kosen rufu, it'll have to be something solitary & behind the scene. I'll need to discuss this further with my WD leader.

I'm working on a short story based on my nightmare. Hur hur. Well, those that I can remember that is. My nightmares don't come with an ending. I'm usually awaken by my alarm or some noise in the neighbourhood before the dream can run itself out. It requires me to use my imagination to fill in the blanks & I'm really rusty, having not written stories since Secondary School. I'll just practice till I get good at it, working on my story 1 paragraph at a time.

Poop On Both Sides Of The Fence

Leave it to good old Jon to put it that way. Except for me, it's both figuratively & literally. Jon's a good friend of mine whom I've known since Sec 2. 17 years is a long time to know somebody. While we don't catch up as frequently as I do with Dolly & S, he'll always have a place in my heart. Jon's in Norway, his visa valid till December. He's having problems getting a job as being able to speak Norwegian is of paramount to employers. It's either return to Sg or get hitched. Thing is, he's not sure what it is he wants.

We sort of get each other since we're in a similar situation - being in a foreign land. We've talked about how we appreciate our family more now that we're away from them. How we miss Sg food & having access to these food at anytime of the day. I don't feel like I belong still. Australia doesn't feel like home. Yet. He spoke of similar sentiments, that the initial culture shock, followed by the teething problems living together with his partner puts him off living in Norway. He told me that it'll be nice to have friends again. But he's stuck in his shell & he feels alone. Coupled with a relationship he isn't certain of, he's got it bad. Just like he knows he should get out more, I just don't have that inclination. I feel comfortable in my shell.

I entertain the idea of returning to Sg from time to time (& I don't mean return for a visit). But I know apart from my parents, there's really nothing for me to return to. I think it's the same for Jon. Only that in his mind, there's nothing holding him in Norway either. He's depressed but I don't know what I can say to make him feel better. I can only send prayers his way, that may he find the happiness he's searching for & may peace fills his heart. Before we ended our conversation, he told me this.

"I suppose there is no greener grass. Both sides of the fence has dog poop on it."

Yep, he's right. I guess we'll just have to stand where there is lesser poop then.

The Capricorn

I came across this article on horoscopes. Though I usually take such things with a pinch of salt, I have to say that every single part of it is accurate. The only thing is, I've been proven that bad 1st impressions are salvageable. When S joined my previous company, I really disliked her. I found her to be a nonsensical joker. Always, always cracking jokes. Too noisy & too much for me. She's 1 of my closest friends & 1 of the very few I still keep in touch with from my previous company. Every joy, every fear & every unhappy event in my life here, I share with her & Dolly. She's still full of nonsense but I now laugh along.

The original page is here. I'm a Capricorn & I'll try my best translating the text for my horoscope into English. (My translation skills aren't that fantastic.)

Capricorn

The Capricorn, though appears to be cold, is actually a very passionate, kind soul who finds it difficult to reject others, especially when it's someone who matters to them. When stung, Capricorn tends to run away rather than face the challenge. He/she doesn't take well to criticism & the way through them is the soft approach. They have a gigantic temper but often is directed at the act rather than the person. Capricorn is a very practical star & prefers a simple life to a lavish 1. In love, they don't need romantic maneuvers that sweep them off their feet. That's becoz they know regardless of vows or promises, anything can happen & they make sure that they're prepared for it. 

When they need help, they'll not push it if the other party they've requested help from seems to be in a dilemma. They feel that whatever it is that was entrusted to them is their responsibility in the 1st place. Therefore, they'll not make any attempts to persuade or coerce the other party & seek to get it done themselves. 

Their super sensitive nature is never on display. In fact, they hated themselves for it. They take it personally if they're told they didn't do something right, even if it's in a joking manner. Immediately, they'll worry that is it something they didn't do well or did wrongly & subsequently be sucked down into despair by their worries. This incites the displeasure of their partner. In reality, Capricorns don't want things to turn out this way. It's just a character flaw that they tend to think too much. 

When Capricorns come to dislike somebody, that feeling is absolute. They don't take offence or bear grudges easily unless the offender has gone overboard. So when their anger is stoked, this person will lose all his/her standing in the Capricorn's heart & he/she better be prepared for their wrath. 

Characteristics of Capricorn

They're super forgetful. They forget even the most important things. They're pessimists & perfectionists, a somewhat bad combination. Therefore, they appear mildly obsessive & compulsive. They're easily moved, very thoughtful & they're not calculative individuals. There're no shades of gray, just definite right or wrong in their dictionary. They seek to be recognized & they want trust to be placed on them. They're often without ulterior motives & hates it when people do. Their character tends to be a bit extreme & they're mildly hermitic. They're very big on 1st impressions & these impressions usually stick.

The Heart Speaks

Mowing the lawn took longer than expected. I had to go over the same strip several times to get all of the crab grass. Then I realized I had nothing to sweep up the cut grass strewn all across the lawn to 1 corner so that I can scoop them up. So I left them on the lawn like my landlord did. Lol. Amateur at work. It's just like when I 1st started cooking. I'll get halfway through the process before making the realization that I should have done something else 1st. Like put the rice to be cooked 1st before cooking the dishes. Or in some, soak the rice 1st before preparing the ingredients. With experience, comes mastery. While I've overcame these issues in cooking, I have a lot to trial & error when it comes to gardening.

After mowing the lawn, I worked on the garden bed. I stabbed my finger on the rose bush thorns while grabbing a handful of crab grass. I thought my fingers were clear but I guess not. I stopped after 2 hours & went into the house to rest up. Spent time reading with Ton Ton lying in my lap. It doesn't get better than this. You know you're on the right track when you've earned the love of a dog.

I know for sure that if 1 day I own a place, I'll never have lawns put in. While this incident is unfortunate, it isn't why I'm put off about lawns. Gardening has never been an interest of mine. I fear bugs, worms, creepy crawlies. You can't rationalize phobias. It's just like how some people are so fearful of blood they faint at the sight of it. Or how some people absolutely freaked out when they're about to be pricked, for blood taking or injection or intravenous cannulation. I can say the pain only lasts for seconds but to that person, nothing can placate them. I'm also the type who puts low maintenance at the top of my priority. So you will never find me with white walls, white furniture or fittings. A lawn is a super high maintenance thing. Well, perhaps so becoz I'm not allowed to use chemicals to control the weeds in this rental place. But still, the grubs, millipedes, centipedes, spiders, flies, bees & such puts me off. Flies are a nuisance but I freak out even when my skin comes in contact with spider webs. I can't even pick up the caterpillar that got into the house with tissue paper. It's non contact. The tissue serves as a barrier but yet when I tried & felt the shape of the caterpillar through the tissue, I just couldn't proceed. So yeah, irrational but yet insurmountable to me.

This whole thing taught me a lot about what is acceptable to me & not. So it's kinda like a blessing in disguise. I know my place will either have artificial lawns or just paved over. I'm leaning towards paving over so I can throw soapy water over & scrub it. Everyone has different definition of pleasure. I want to spend my time off on things I find pleasurable doing. Reading, trying out new recipes & maybe even go back to writing. Not spending hours upon hours doing something that can never be completed. Better to find out now than to commit to ownership of a place I know I cannot maintain.

Long Long Weekend

We don't have a list tomorrow & Monday's a PH which means extra long weekend. Hubs has to work tomorrow so I'm going to resume working on the weeds again.

I haven't done anything to the weeds coz hubs made me promise I won't work on it for a few days until I'm fully recovered. The break makes me nervous coz I don't like procrastinating something that I've been given a deadline on. But we had a huge row over this problem 2 weeks ago & I just felt nothing is worth damaging our relationship for. I understand where he comes from. He doesn't want me to work so much on the lawn coz I had that repetitive stress injury & severe back pain from pulling out the weeds manually previously. (The back pain was from an old sprain I sustained few years ago while at work & remaining in the same position for a period as short as 30 mins causes me pain.)

The grub killer has been in since last Sunday. But I can't really tell if it's working since I haven't been out on the lawn. I'll mow the crab grass down with our newly bought mower & work on the garden bed. Hubs has been clearing the garden bed a little at a time for the past 2 days. What we discovered is that the mulch that the landlord put in before we moved in is so thin that they're barely there. That's probably why there's so much weeds also coz I've been told the mulch not only serves as a deterrent for the sand to be blown all over the place, it also prevents weeds. So we got to top up the mulch. This is turning out to be really costly. I'm sure what we spent on the lawn is our 2 months worth of grocery money. But let's just get it done.

Been chanting about this problem. Through chanting, I can see why we reacted so strongly. Becoz the landlord didn't make requests. They made demands & (I won't say everybody but) most people don't appreciate demands. I did say that we'll try to pull out the crab grass once they're dead coz it'll be easier. Then he asked me what do we intend to do about the holes left behind. Without waiting for an answer, he wanted me to get the couch seeds to pour into the holes 1 by 1 to regrow the couch there. (I was told the couch will grow back anyway which is what happened to the front lawn that I manually did the weeding on.) I intend to get it anyway for areas that can't be saved. Anyway, I did manage to find enough peace to pray for them. I shall try my very best not to be too affected regardless of what they say when they come down. Coz I know this problem can be settled. We just need time for everything to work. Even if they continue to put pressure on us, some things just can't be rushed.

Caught A Bug

I realised I left out some more details but I was too sick yesterday to update my blog. I slept early on Sunday night & developed severe nausea at 12 mn, followed by bodyaches that kept me mostly awake. I contemplated skipping work coz the pain was so bad I couldn't even sit up. But I took synflex, the only painkiller I have at home & went to work anyway. While at work, I took 2 different types of anti emetics for my nausea when the 1st type didn't work. Then I took another 2 different types of painkillers. Even then, I still had aches everywhere. I think if I didn't take any, I probably won't even be able to maintain an upright position.

Anyway, we were instructed by the gardener to just mow the crab grass down right? You know what the landlord suggested? He wanted us to get Round Up in gel form & apply it on the blades of the grass 1 by 1. When it dies, we should pull them out 1 by 1. (Round Up gel is a type of weed killer that works when you apply it to the leaves of the weeds. Becoz it's applied only to the weeds, surrounding grass won't die.) I'm going to post a picture of the back lawn so you can see how unreasonable the request is. They insisted we get a gardener in to advise us on the crab grass. But after we've done that, they insisted that we follow their method instead of the gardener's. Then why get the gardener in the 1st place?

He kept saying it wouldn't have come to this if we had taken care of the weeds in the 1st place. We've moved in for 4 months only. I did the weeding but how was I to know I should get rid of the crab grass along with the weeds? We've never encountered weeds in our lives. We did the best we can, even hiring a gardener as per requested. Hubs is livid. He wanted me to ask when they're coming again coz he wanted to make sure he's at home to talk to them. But knowing him, he may lose his cool & things may turn ugly.

I know from my Buddhist studies that difficult circumstances polishes our lives. I'm trying my hardest not to let anger rule me & to just concentrate on the problem. But it's really hard. 1 thing for sure, we're out of here the moment our lease ends.

So there. How do you propose that I apply Round Up gel to every single 1 of these crab grass?

Gardener Says

Just received a call from my landlord. They wanted to know what I've done with regards to the weeds & have I engaged a gardener. They want to come down for another inspection next week.

Recap on what has been happening. The gardener came on Thursday morning when we were all away at work. He called hubs & told him that what we have is crab grass & it's a type of winter grass. It'll die off naturally when the temperature becomes higher. As long as we keep it short with regular mowing, it'll prevent it from seeding & from the problem recurring next winter. The issue with the lawn not thriving well is due to the presence of garden grubs that are eating the roots, therefore killing the lawn.

The priority is to get grub killer applied to the lawn, then spray the lawn with weed killer & fertilise it every 3 months to maintain it. The garden bed needs to be sprayed & a thick layer of mulch applied & resprayed with weed killers every 2 weeks.

This info I relate to my landlord. But I get the feeling that they're putting the pressure on to get it done by the time they come down again. I tried to hint that it's going to be raining for the next few days so we're very unlikely to get anything done. But seems like they're not accepting that as an "excuse" & wants us to mow the crab grass down asap. Then he jumped to the garden bed that's full of the crab grass as well.

Ok, I get you. We'll hand pull the crab grass from the garden bed as quickly as we can even if it means working in the rain. Coz the lawn has grub killer applied to it & needs a repeat application in 10 days. Then we have to wait 2 weeks before weed killer can be applied. Hubs is really in a foul mood after hearing all this. I tried my best & we've spent hundreds of dollars trying to fix up the lawn. I really don't know what else they want from us.

2nd Accident In Less Than 5 Months

Can you believe it? I hardly can. It's only been 4 months & 1 week since we arrived in Perth & I've already gotten into my 2nd accident. It really doesn't matter how safely you drive. If other road users aren't driving safely, accidents still happen.

I was on my way to work this morning when it happened just before 6.30 am. It was totally bright already so it wasn't a visibility problem. I was driving on the main road, keeping left, approaching a T junction. A black Mazda 3 just came out without stopping to wait for traffic aka me to clear. It was too late to brake (that's how near I was) so my reaction was to swerve to the right. But I couldn't avoid her & she hit me on the left rear side.

We drove a bit further down away from the T junction & exchanged particulars. She asked me whose fault was it. She said she didn't even see me. I said the car beside her didn't proceed coz they were coming out from a side street onto the main road & they have to give way. I noticed that she had a green P plate sticker on her windscreen. So perhaps that's why. She doesn't have insurance which I later heard from my CNM that insurance for P platers are very expensive & their excess very high. Hence, some people will choose not to have insurance.

We were just done when a guy in his ute drove past & yelled out to us, "Get off the road man!" Geez. Can't you see that we've just had an accident? We couldn't have stopped for more than 5 mins. I considered taking the day off but that will mean losing $300 of income so I continued driving to work with the left side of my bumper unhinged. It wasn't dragging the ground & it didn't come off even with the drive back home. Hubs reattached the bumper for me but I'm left with scratches on that part of the bumper & my left rear tire. I'm just thinking is it worth going through the hassle contacting my insurance company & bringing it down to their workshop.

I've decided to invest in a car camera so in the event I rear end someone, I have evidence. Coz on the drive home, I encountered several more incidents. The car in front of me was very far from the car in front of him but he kept braking hard for no apparent reason other than trying to cause me to hit him. Then there were 4 incidents where drivers turned out onto the road I was on even though it was very obvious they will not clear, causing me to brake hard. So having the camera will protect me when I'm not at fault in the event of an accident.

Too Much Too Fast

I knew something was not right when I couldn't even grip my toothbrush properly this morning. I don't need a doctor to tell me that I've got repetitive stress injury. I can't squeeze toiletries bottles for shampoo or shower gel. Thankfully I still can write & scrub.

I probably overdid the weeding with 12 hours over 4 days. Well, I'll be getting 2 days break coz I worked late today & will be again tomorrow. Can't be weeding when it's all dark out right? I looked out the backyard yesterday & was horrified to see that the weeds have grown several inches since my landlord mowed the lawn 6 days ago. I'm not joking. They were flushed against the ground after the mowing last Wednesday & they're at least 6 inches tall as of yesterday afternoon. I feel like crap coz I know this is not something I can get solved no matter how many more hours I put into pulling out the weeds manually.

I'm so so so damn tempted to just get Weed n Feed. A colleague gave me the number to a guy who does her lawn. So I'm currently on the queue to have my lawn assessed. I'm definitely not stopping him if he wants to spray weed killers on the lawn. As hubs say, who are we to tell the gardener how to do his job?

Weeding Is Good Exercise

Why do I say that? When I go jogging after a long hiatus, I get muscle aches in my thighs. Going down the stairs & squatting will be difficult. Weeding is a different thing all together. It's definitely not aerobic exercise so it can only be anaerobic aka resistance training. I spent 2 hours on Friday weeding the back lawn & was only successful clearing merely 1 by 1 metre of the lawn. Yup, the weeds are that saturated. The forecast of rain didn't disappoint for the weekend. I don't think it'll disappoint for the rest of next week as well. Still, I managed to put in 4.5 hours weeding the front lawn on Saturday. (It's way smaller than the back lawn so it feels more surmountable.) I continued even though it started drizzling, seeking shelter only when it started pouring. I considered skipping Soka meeting today to make the best use of the dry weather before it started raining again. But I shook myself out of that train of thought. Nothing should take precedence over faith. Not even the possibility of the landlord coming down on me for not working on the lawn. I'm glad I attended.

Today's topic was on 2nd SGI president Josei Todai's admonishment about the use of nuclear weapons. It wasn't becoz his homeland of Japan was bombed, leading to the end of WW2. But becoz he valued life tremendously. In fact, he & 1st SGI president Tsunesaburo Makiguchi protested against the emperor for wanting to invade other countries, leading to WW2. For that, they were thrown in jail, culminating in Mr Tsunesaburo's death in jail. Mr Josei was eventually released from jail but in a frail condition. Then we went on to discuss on the fundamental darkness that exists in everybody's life. The main teaching in Nichiren Buddhism is to work to challenge & overcome our evil tendencies. (So I always say Nichiren Buddhism is not a religion. We don't pray to a higher being to answer our prayers. We seek what is inside, mustering the will & strength to overcome our problems.) It releases me from whatever negative feelings I've been having over the recent events. I found peace once again.

Back to topic. I started off squatting but there's only so long I can squat. After I could no longer remain squatting, I knelt to do the weeding. When I could no longer kneel, I sat on the lawn. I don't ever sit on grass not becoz I think it's dirty but becoz I'm terribly fearful of creepy crawlies. The lawn is full of grubs, millipedes & centipedes. I will absolutely freak if they climb onto me. But I had to continue & sitting is the only option left. My knees are bruised & swollen from all that kneeling. It's so bad I can't even climb into bed. (That's how I've been getting in bed this way since young so I do it without conscious effort, only remembering when pain starts shooting from my knees.) My index fingers are both swollen & I can hardly bend them. Weeding really is hard work, especially when they've been allowed 4 months to establish their roots. I joked to hubs that by the time I'm done, I will be so experienced that I can advertise to do weeding on the weekends for people who need the extra hand for $20/hr. Lol.

I managed to put in another 3 hours of weeding for the front lawn when I got home from the meeting. All in all, 7.5 hours of weeding yet there're still plenty of weeds left. I can't even begin to think of the back lawn which is at least 4 times the size of the front lawn. This is not something I can complete within a week. It'll probably take be at least 2 months to get them all out by myself. I'm doing the 6.30 am shift tomorrow & probably won't be home till dark. But I'm off on Tuesday as there aren't any surgeries so I can put in the whole day if the weather stays dry. I made the decision to spread the Lawn Builder to the front lawn since most of the bigger weeds are out. I then watered the lawn with diluted Seasol to dissolve the granules. The subsequent rain helped me in that as well. The packaging states that I will start seeing results 2 days from application. So let's see if the lawn is indeed greener & healthier on Tuesday.

Jogging produces aching thighs. Weeding on the other hand, produces aching neck, shoulders, back, arms, thighs, calves & gluts. So I guess in that sense, weeding works more muscle groups than jogging.

Human Revolution

好心不一定会有好报。我们不用寻求好报。只求一份安心, 问心无愧。

Suddenly feeling a bit poetic. Lol. It's a reminder to myself to live by this rule. This is what I have to improve on. My human revolution.

Mystery Solved

I finished work early today & got home at 2 pm. I set off to work immediately on the lawn. What surprised me was that the weeds were not that bad. Unless you count the ones I call SG grass (coz they look exactly like the grass we have in SG). My landlord previously told me that it is grass & we can just leave it. So I thought to myself, "What the heck! I'll just pull out every damn thing that doesn't look like couch or whatever the breed of the lawn is." Even my landlord herself isn't sure what type of lawn she put in.

When hubs got home, I took a break to greet him at the door. Only then did I realised that it was already 4 pm. No wonder I felt giddy when I stood up. I had been kneeling & bending over the lawn for 2 hours!

I've asked colleagues & friends for advice on the state of the lawn. Everyone tells me to just apply the Feed n Weed. How will my landlord know? The next time they're here, all they'll see is lush green lawn without weeds. Getting a gardener in will cost us more per hour than what both our salaries combine. But I just feel that since they don't allow any weed killers on the lawn, then let's just not do it. We still need to solve the problem of the lawn not being very green. So I took a picture of the lawn, rip off a piece of the "grass" that my landlord said was grass & set off for Bunnings.

We got help from a staff & he confirmed that the so called "grass" is actually weed. No wonder the lawn isn't growing well. If I had known that was weed, I would have pulled them out like I did with the other weeds during my weekly weeding sessions. Mystery solved. But then the entire lawn is full of this "weed grass" so I'll be spending the entire weekend pulling them out. The staff recommended a fertiliser that contains wetting agent (becoz we have sand instead of soil) & told us to apply it after we're done with the weeding. So hopefully that'll work. Our damage's slightly cheaper than having a gardener for an hour. But that's becoz we bought a fertiliser spreader & a 9L watering can as well. I saw couch seeds for sale as well. If all else fails, I'll get that & regrow the lawn.

Knowing what the problem is lifted a weight off our shoulders. Hubs appears not to be so mad about the entire incident anymore. He told me "Oh well. Doesn't matter what you were told. That's in the past. Now we know better. Let's just get the thing done." I'm glad coz it's almost his birthday & I don't want this incident to dampen his spirits.

Weed Woes

Landlord came to mow the lawn today. They don't have to do it but they were kind enough to do it, else I'll be either doing it myself or hiring someone to get it done. Knowing that the lawn's overrun by weeds, I asked (via FB) if I can use Weed n Feed (as suggested by J). But they felt the weeding chemicals will kill the lawn & they would mow the lawn then let me know.

I feel that they were unhappy with the state of the lawn & told me that I will need to get the weeds under control & that the lawn is not thriving becoz of the weeds. I was told to hire a gardener to get the weeds problem fixed.

I'm gonna have to ask my colleague for recommendation as she gets someone to do it once in a while. I hope it's not going to cost me an arm & a leg. Back when I wasn't working, I'll spend time pulling them out 1 by 1 on a daily basis. But now I can only do it on the weekend & there's absolutely no way I can keep up with the growth. It takes me more than an hour to clear a tenth of the back lawn.

Oh well... if it has to be done, it has to be done. Just feeling kinda lousy not becoz of having to spend the money but becoz I feel that I've failed. It's alright. I'll never allow myself to be defeated. I'll bounce right back soon enough.

Milestone: 4 Months In Perth

4 months, a third of a year. I honestly didn't expect us to last this long. We're more or less settled in now. In the 4 months, we've experienced 3 seasons. Coming in autumn, all through winter & now spring. I miss meeting up with my girlfriends, I miss Puggy, I miss steamboat. Lol. Of course, I'm still daydreaming about having my parents over for a visit. 

I've kept myself busy tending to the herbs I'm growing. My initial success with basil, chives & coriander (rosemary's sprouting though very slowly) encouraged me to increase my variety of herbs to 8. I've just added mint, dill, thyme & sage to my collection over the weekend. I also bought a single piece of chilli for 64 cents just for the seeds to grow chilli. We didn't waste the chilli though, slicing it up & dumping it into our tom yum soup that night.

We bought a BBQ & it took the both of us 2 hours to fix up on Sunday. We'll put it to use soon enough. It's hub's birthday very soon. He doesn't want anything other than having a BBQ at home.

My daily dates with James Patterson has kept me away from writing or checking my emails, something I really must do soon. But once I got started on a book of his, I can't stop until I finish it. Then I'm off to the next & the cycle repeats itself.

Thumb Not Quite Green

I woke up early today, curse of the internal early riser clock. It was barely 7.30 am but I couldn't get back to sleep. I ended up getting a head start on the gardening I planned on doing today. Planting the seeds I bought yesterday was easy enough. Pruning rose bushes isn't too tough either. But there were spiders & webs. I ended up yelling & running away when I very nearly hurled a spider onto myself. The caterpillar I came across next made me abandon ship. Guess I don't quite have a green thumb at all.

A Little Bit Of Gardening

There the lone red rose stood. On either side of the red rose are white rose bushes. I've always known they were there as white roses have been blooming since the day we moved in. I was pleasantly surprised to see this lone red rose in bloom when I got back from work yesterday. As you can see, it's most definitely not a bush. (Don't mind the wilted newspaper. It came from my neighbour's house.) I think I might just start taking better care of the plants around the house. On the opposite side of the driveway, are 2 christmas trees. 1 was brown & my landlord told me that it has been that way for a while, most probably dead. The other 1 right beside it is still green & healthy. Recently, I noticed some green returning to the supposedly dead christmas tree. I didn't do anything to it which now made me feel that I should. 

The temperature has been in the 20s for the past week in the day time. So I decided that it's time to start sowing some seeds despite it not being quite spring yet. We bought a few packs of seeds, a pack of potting mix, Seasol & Powerfeed from Bunnings. I'll get to work tomorrow after our movie date. A colleague told me that rose bushes need pruning & I did a search online on how to prune rose bushes. So I'll do that tomorrow as well. 

Called home for almost half an hour today. I broached the topic of having them over for a short visit. September is just round the corner so I won't have enough money saved up. Even if I fly my parents over on a budget airline, the boarding for Wang & Puggy will cost more than the air tickets themselves. The next following months will be unbearably hot so it won't be a good time for them to visit. I suggested next March or April as it'll be cooler yet not enough to be considered cold. Still, it's still more than half a year later, so I can take my time to plan it out. 

The red rose & "dead" christmas tree reinforces the message that no matter how hopeless a situation may seem, things can still turn around. When the conditions are right, miracles will manifest. 

Another Breakthrough

This should be a post written out yesterday but I got home later than usual so I didn't get around to doing it. Yesterday, my CNM asked to have a word with me & my 1st thoughts were, "Oh no. I hope it's not something bad." Always the pessimist. Turned out that she felt that I'm doing well & she wanted to train me as an all rounder. So I'll be able to scrub, scout, do recovery, CSSD, AU & Lasik, basically every section in the day surgery unit. I'll love to be able to do that as it'll increase my value in the company as well as let me gain additional skills. Also, she's increasing my contract hours from 20 to 30 per week. Yay! She said that she knows a good worker when she looks at the resume & even before hiring me, she knew I'll be a good worker. This is the 1st compliment I received without a negative undertone. I can't say I'm good but I'll definitely continue to try my best.

While doing my morning gongyo yesterday, I was thinking of legitimate ways to have my parents come over. I've not done any read up on any of these visas but the ones I could think of were reunion of family visa & investment visa. Yeah, I always allow my mind to drift & sometimes even daydream about the "impossible". I was just daydreaming that if I win 5 million in the lotto, I can bring my parents over on the investment visa. (& I'm not someone who buys lottery.) Then on the way to work, the DJ on the radio announced that the powerball game had snowballed to 50 million dollars. I was thinking to myself, 有那么巧吗？So I told myself that I'll go give it a try after work, buy a ticket or something. Then my CNM announced that she's collecting $10 each for the powerball. Haha. What a coincidence. Anyway, always play responsibly & never more than what you can afford. I'll do more research for a semi-permanent visa for my parents when I'm more stable financially. Something that'll allow them to stay longer per entry rather than the tourist visa.

Temperature is coming up. Makes winter feel exceptionally short. I don't even require the comforter when I sleep at night anymore. I think I might be able to start growing my herbs & chilli even before spring officially begins. I'm thankful for the chance to be here, being able to grow as a person & develop spiritually. As usual, I send a quick thank you into the universe as I gaze upon the night sky.

Nothing Is By Chance

I just saw the most magnificent moon set in my life on my drive to work. Remember several months ago we had a case of the super moon where it appeared 16% larger than usual as its orbit brought it closer to earth? This was even larger & golden yellow in colour. Not to mention a full moon.
Every morning after my morning gongyo & before I leave home, I'll quickly glance through my FB on my mobile. This morning, I came across an article shared, on Shyakamuni's teaching. Now, I don't know if he really said these but in the article, it says that nothing in life is by chance. Not even the smallest, insignificant thing. Everyone who you come into contact with, every incident you encountered are there for a reason. There're no coincidences in life. When the time is right, certain things will manifest in your life (this I know for sure is taught in my Buddhist studies).

So, me having the chance to view the moon set is due to me being at the exact place, at the exact time. I start 8 am today. If I had started at 7.30 am, I would have missed the beautiful scene.

Being here, with lesser stress & unhappiness, I find myself more tolerant of people & events. I find that my pace had slowed, allowing me to appreciate the beauty of this world instead of rushing from 1 place to another. I feel I have developed spiritually. So I guess I was meant to be here.

Weaning Off GPS

Like, finally! It's not like I need it for some time now. But like a child who outgrew his/her security blanket but insists on keeping it, I found myself clipping the GPS to my windscreen before my journey to work & back home. I don't need it, I just like having it there. Finally, I told myself enough is enough & proceeded to wean myself off it.

I didn't go cold turkey. Instead, I muted the GPS yesterday on the drive back home so even if I didn't look at the screen, I wouldn't get verbal prompting. But in the event that I did get lost, I still can refer to it. Of course, I didn't need it. It was a hot day yesterday. (Well, hot to me at least.) As I was approaching the petrol kiosk near home for a top up, the mounting, together with the GPS fell off. I think it was the heat that caused the suction cup to fail.

This morning on the journey to work, I repeated the tactic. Nope, I still didn't need to refer to the navigation. I drove home without the GPS for the 1st time today & I'll do without for the drive to work tomorrow. So there! I finally weaned myself off the GPS for work trips.