*Tap tap tap tappity tap*
Takes out sandwich box in search of chewing gum. Take said chewing gum, unwrap, pop into mouth, and get back into work.
Colleague: *Sniff sniff* What’s that?
Me: Oh, that’s me.
C: Huh? Really? *Laughs*
M: Yea *laughs along* Its just chewing gum *shows sandwich box*
C: Huh? What?
M: Its the chewing gum. Bubble gum flavour?
C: Oh, I thought you meant you farted!
M: *Laughs hysterically* No, silly. Definitely not me. There is such thing as a toilet. And even if I did, I wouldn’t admit it!
That was definitely a good laugh 
It definitely has been a while since I’ve last written and it feels like ages! This is officially my first post in 2010 and its probably long overdue. I’ve been busy playing driver to my parents who were here on a visit and now my brother is living here with me.
I guess you could say that I have many posts to write. Work Christmas party, December holidays (Malaysia & Perth) and my NY Resolutions.
I’m not a believer in making New Year’s Resolutions but I guess in keeping in line with peer pressure, I shall have some resolutions but I refuse to call it NY Resolutions. 2009 was a year filled with all sorts of up and downs, lessons learned and things accomplished. I figured going and reflecting on the previous year would make a good platform to set some goals to achieve for the year 2010.
If you know me n real life, you know that I live by my diary and am ruled by my BlackBerry in terms of my scheduling. I have appointments written up in advance, I plan and make endless lists. I guess the lesson I learnt from 2009 is to let loose a bit more and not live in such a structured routine but to let my hair down and party a little. This month I turn 24, which is pretty much the last year I can say that I’m in my early 20s. Next year I’ll be in my mid 20s. Now that is just a sad, sad thing to say. But like the saying goes, time and tide waits for no man and I ain’t a man anyway. So I’m resolving to live life to the fullest and go out more this year. People to see, things to do.
Going on that note, I will be blogging more now. And with pictures in each post. I’ve let my blog go for a while and it feels strange not penning down my thoughts. I will be changing my layout to a sleeker design that I have yet to decide yet. One thing at a time. Next post will be the work Christmas party. However the photos might seem, there is a story behind it. I’ll leave that till the next post. But yes, I was seriously hammered, but I maintain that I didn’t pole dance. I merely posed with the pole an Jay happened to be there with the camera waiting to catch the action. Fine, here is the incriminating photo but you’ll just have to wait for the other photos
Yes, it was a bottle of Pure Blonde
Enough of that, moving right along. For now, the only other thing that I resolve to do is celebrate my birthday at the end of the month. If you have any ideas of what to do, please suggest something. Sorta tossing between going to the pub (not driving there) or having a picnic/sunset beach get together thing. Pick something to do. I guess most people are invited so if you know me and you’re in Perth, either call/e-mail/SMS/Twitter/MSN/FB me to get your invite
That’s all for now. Till next time!
If you have been following my Twitter, you’d know that I never exercise and I did gardening yesterday for about 4 hours and did my back in. I’m not a wuss, if you were wondering how simple pulling of weeds is able to do this to me. It took the 4 of us to dig up and rake the entire front lawn. And we’re still not finished.
After the extreme gardening, I cooked dinner. But standing at the stove proved too much for me after about 30 mins that I had to go lie down on the couch and stretch since my back was protesting. So I slapped on some Salon Pas pain relief patches and went to bed. At 6.30pm. Woke up at 7pm, just cause I wasn’t tired but was just in pain. Ended up watching a random show called Bridge to Terebithia which proved to be very touching and made me cry.
I woke up at 8am this morning, with the intention to go to church but couldn’t get out of bed cause I was in a lot of pain. Ended up rolling out of bed at 10am and stretching really painfully. I guess this goes to show that I do need to exercise I ended up packing some more stuff and gave up after a while cause the weather was too hot to do anything (sweltering 32 degrees today).
Also, if you have been following my Twitter (side bar to your right —>), you would know that I’m planning to live on AUD$300 a month next month. Of course this amount would exclude rent, phone bills, credit card bills etc but will include groceries, shopping, entertainment and misc expenses. All this is inspired by Huai Bin’s Project Miser. Plus the fact that I am moving house and expenses are going to go through the roof and I’ve been broke for the past 2 months as I was really really sick. I really need to reign in my expenses and see if I can live on that amount.
So that works out to $10 per day. I’ll try to post the progress here, but since I’ll be internetless for a while, I might just have to back date posts. I don’t have to pay for petrol or car maintenance, I think I can just pull it off. Though by my experience, I think I’ll need more than that. As a student, I managed to survive with $200 per month, but I don’t think I can go back to that anymore. Anyway, we’ll wait and see. I’ll be taking pictures of everything next weekend while we try and sqiush all my belongings I’ve accumulated over 7 years into a 1 bedroom unit. Wish me luck!
Yes, I am moving house. I guess its no secret but I haven’t been updating my blog in quite a while as I was busy procuring a place to rent as well as busy with work. Work has been slightly stressful but its working itself out.
On the work front I drove about 100km round trip to Rockingham today. I’ve hit 11 000km on my car already and I won’t be surprised if I hit 12 000km before the year is up. I need to get at least 15 000km by the end of the financial year which I don’t think would be a problem at this rate
I digress.
Anyways, I’m moving at the end of the month so I’m going to be downright busy from now till 31st when I move. Being the first time out of home, I think it’ll be quite a big change but I’m looking forward to it. My biggest worry is that I won’t have food to eat at home. Haha. I’ve got a birthday do to go to that night as well, so it’ll be a mighty interesting day.
I digress once again.
So, as I move out for the first time, striking it on my own I’m going to be burning a big hole in my wallet. Do you know how much it costs to move out?? I tell you even for the basics its gonna cost at least $1000 - $2000 depending how extravagant or how willing you are to live in a barely furnished place and eat baked beans out of a can on the floor. I’m really blessed to have relatives give me things that I need to move out, its going to save a lot but still costs quite a bit to establish yourself.
Since I haven’t made lists in a long long time, I thought what better way to celebrate my new apartment than to write myself a long list of things that I’m going to get for my apartment. Click the lil ‘x’ on the top right hand corner now if you don’t like reading about my mundane life. If you happen to want to get rid of any item on my list, please let me know so I can have it! I’ll be very very thankful
- Kettle
- Toaster
- Cooking utensils
- Plates, bowls & cutlery
- Tea towels & dish cloths
- Dish rack
- House cleaning chemicals. Actually I can buy these myself
- House cleaning utensils, which I can also buy myself
- Rubbish bins
- Pull out drawers for clothes from IKEA
- Shoe rack(s)/boxes/storage things
- Rug for bedroom (its going to be freezing cold
- Fan for summer cause its coming soon
- Kitchen & study tables
- Kitchen & patio chairs
- Sofa/lounge set (low priority since I can do without these for a while)
- TV
- Clothes airer & pegs
- Cup holder
- Can opener (the one thing I honestly forgot about)
I can’t think of anymore at the moment. Please leave a comment if you see that I’ve forgotten something Much appreciated! I won’t have internet for at least 2 weeks or there about, so will post pictures once I have things settled
In case you are wondering if it really has been Kristine Moment #2824, its not. That was just a random number I typed in. If I were superstitious, I’d be wondering what the hell my fingers were doing. But I am not.
Anyways, its been too long since I’ve last blogged. Just been so busy with everything and just recovered from starting work at 6.45am yesterday. I’m not exactly feeling my greatest seeing that I had a massive day yesterday but not to fret, I’m on the mend and getting back into my groove.
Just a couple of weeks ago I was at work on a Friday morning and I got myself the coveted car park underneath the building. I won’t lie to you, but the 6 lots at work are my favourite spots to park my car as I don’t have to walk a million miles in the rain or hail.
So I got to work nice and early and got a spot there, since it was Friday and half the staff weren’t there due to them having their days off. So I did my reverse park and up to the office i went.
About an hour or so after that, I went out to see a client of mine and then came back in again. See, I didn’t think I’d get a spot at my favourite car park but hey, there was a spot. So I happily went parked and went upstairs to get some more paperwork done.
Then at about 11am I had to leave again to bring my OT Student to meet a client of mine. I was in a rush as I had quite a few things on my mind and it was Friday, I was keen for the week to end so that my weekend could begin. I was rummaging in my bag for my sunnnies when I beeped my car open and looked ahead of me and saw a dent in the left front bumper.
Many thoughts ran through my head: “When did I do that? Was it was I was reversing the car cause I forward parked at my client’s work place? Maybe I scrapped it turning out? Oh no! Oh no! How now? Trish isn’t in, die, what am I going to say?”
Mostly it was a lot of “Oh no’s!” running through my head. Then I heard a beep, which meant my car was locking itself cause I didn’t get into it in time. All this while, I was staring at the car and panicking and worrying out loud, my OT Student must think I’m a bit of a ditz.
What I hadn’t realised was I didn’t notice lights blinking when my car beeped. Feeling rather stupid, I clicked my car open again and it was only then did I pay attention to where the sound was coming from.
I was looking at the car to my left, the spot where I had parked in the morning. When I came back from seeing my client, I had parked in another spot to my right. So I checked the number plate on the car that was dented and obviously it wasn’t mine. Not only that, I managed to complete miss the colour of the car. Mine is silver and the car with the dent was goldish silver (I’m sticking by this, there is such a thing as goldish silver).
So it was then I admitted my stupidity to my OT Student and we both had a laugh at the situation. Sometimes I wonder how in the world I’m still employed with my blondeness at times.
Previously I tested some products in relation to my allergies. I guess to understand the full extent of my allergies, I’d have to start right from the beginning.
See, I discovered in 2004 that I was allergic to rockmelon. I’d break out in hives by eating it. Then I realised I’d break out in hives by just touching the juice. So therefore I stayed away from rockmelon ever since. It’s not the most common allergy, but I guess you can be allergic to fruit.
So then sometime this year I found our that I was allergic to both red and white wine. I’m not bummed about the red, but I sure am bummed about being allergic to white wine. I do love my sweet whites.
I found this out when I drank white wine one night and went off to shower and started breaking out in rashes. I thought it was cause it was hot (this was in summer this year) and I was just sweaty. So I had wine again another night and again I showered and was itchy. Only then did my aunty put 2 and 2 together, that I might have an allergy to white wine. So we experimented again. I drank white wine and lo and behold I broke out in rashes.
Fine. I tried red wine and same result. Thing is, I’ve drank before and haven’t broken out in hives yet.
So one day we were at dinner at a Chinese restaurant and they typically serve fruit at the end of the meal. And the fruit would usually be rockmelon amongst other things. Thankfully since rockmelon was out of season, they swerved honey dew. So I, being confident, claimed that I’m not allergic to honey dew as I’ve eaten it before.
I came home and voila! I broke out in itches. I don’t know how or why either.
Fine, so another day I came home and had to go to cell group one night and I figured I’d shower first cause I won’t have time to shower after I come back. So off I went to shower and then I came out and happened to wear a low back shirt and I found that I had broken out in hives for no apparent reason. I have no idea why and I showed my aunty. I didn’t not have wine, rockmelon or honey dew any time recently. That was when we kinda figured it might be the shower gel I was using.
Lo and behold, I think it is. Up to this day I’m breaking out in rashes each time I shower. I’ve tried many products, Neutrogena, QV, Sorbelene, Palmolive, Johnson & Johnson’s to no avail. Sorbelene was the only one with any hope but it feels strange to be showering with body lotion.
This was when we figured it might be my shampoo &/or conditioner.
This is what I look like typically almost every night after a shower:
Forgive the Power Puff Girls shirt. I was in PJs
Quite frankly, I’ve given up trying to find products that work. Like my dad says, “Just eat (or in this case) use it till you’re desensitised”. I wonder how long that will take.
The desensitisation of wine is going to be a costly process 
Just yesterday Gen, Michelle and I were at Myers in the city when I overheard a mother arguing with her daughter. I was picking out some tights as I’ve only got one tatty pair which is about to be thrown out and Myer was having a sale.
So I was happily going about picking out the cheapest pairs of tights (since it was buy 2 pairs and get 20% off, buy 3 pairs and get 30% off) when this mother and daughter were arguing about leggings. See there are basically two types of leggings, opaque and non-opaque. Opaque ones are the nearly solid ones where it looks like pants but is thinner than pants. Basically don’t wear a T-shirt with that as you’d be exposing yourself to the entire world. Non-opaque ones are even thinner and are meant to be worn with over size T-shirts or dresses that do not expose your crotch area to the world. Oh, and for all you guys reading, leggings are stockings without feet. Think a pair of think pants.
So back to the story. So the daughter was trying to convince the mother that the pair of leggings at Myers aren’t the ones to be worn for dancing as it was see-through. But the mother was telling the daughter “well this is opaque ones and it is the one you need for dancing”. The poor daughter tried to explain that with leggings there are leggings that are meant to be used for dancing and others that are just for fashion. But the mother was so stubborn that she refused to listen to what the daughter was saying instead she said, “this is the right one. You just don’t want to get these cause you want to go to the special dance shop and the the ones for twice the price”.
I was so tempted to walk up to them and tell the mother that her daughter was actually right. I was actually wearing the leggings which I used for dancing and I was sorely tempted to show the mother what the daughter was talking about. The mother got so angry she retorted to the daughter, “well what did we come to town for if these aren’t the tights? That’s it. We’re leaving”. And so the mother stormed off with the poor daughter trying to get the mother to look at the proper tights. After they left, I looked to the section that they were browsing and checked out the leggings there. Lo and behold if you look at the picture properly, the opaque leggings indeed show the model wearing the leggings and you can see the colour of the skin through the leggings. I felt so sorry for the girl, cause all she wants is a pair of leggings that would not cause her to flash her undies to everyone. Hell I was so close to telling the pair to go to Supre cause that’s where I got my pair of leggings from.
I guess why I’m retelling this is cause I couldn’t help but think how stubborn that mother is and how I’m thankful my parents aren’t like that but instead they’ll hear me out. I’m missing my family, but only another 7 months till they land in Perth
Oh, I must tell you another story. We had a J-Life Leader’s meeting out at PJ’s house in Aubin Grove on Saturday. To cut a long story short, I was driving Joe home and I missed the turning on Hackett Drive to his place so I took Bruce Street home. Then I see flashing lights, a cop car right in front. I was scared for no logical reason (cops and authority scare me) and kinda panicked and went at 40 km/h. Haha. Yes, I’m an aunty when cops are around. When they don’t look, I drive a tad faster. But anyways, so I dropped Joe home and came back down Bruce Street to go home and the cops were still there. I thought to myself, never mind just drive with both hands on the wheel (which I didn’t do the first time passing them till Joe pointed it out :P).
So the next morning I was driving down Broadway to get to church and there was another cop car the corner of my street and Broadway. I didn’t give it much thought at all. I recounted the experience to the Gen, Michelle, Evan and John while driving back from the city yesterday. One of them jokingly said, “who knows, it might be a sign cause you’re a ‘zhua-ster” (zhua-ster = someone who likes to tekan minyak. Tekan minyak = accelerate like mad or literally translated means press oil :P)
So then this morning, I was recounting to my aunty about how I saw so many cop cars in the past 2 days. She made a remark, “they need to raise revenue due to the downturn, they’re losing money”. I didn’t think much about it, but wasn’t even sure why I had brought up that subject with her. I went to work and coming home this evening, I was driving on Mounts Bay and going at 60km/h on my cruise control. I ended up following some really slow cars and having been on the road the whole day (my car has clocked 5000km already in 4 months! Yay!) I was keen to go home and have a shower. I was about to cut into the fast lane, but somehow I didn’t cause I didn’t feel like cutting. Driving up the usual speed camera location, I was glad I didn’t. There in broad daylight was the speed camera. Amazing how so many signs pointed me to drive slowly today. I’m still amazed actually.
After driving for 50km today, I think I need to be in the office tomorrow and catch up with my paperwork. I’ve got a long week ahead but its pay week, so I’m marginally happier this week
Well, if you are my Facebook friend you would have been following my updates about my allergies. On Friday, for no apparent reason after my shower I broke out in horrible rashes all over my back and my neck. That was when the question whether I might be allergic to my shower gel came up. I refused to believe it and kept using it. Come Saturday I still had mild rashes after showering. See, I’ve been using the shower gel for a while and I think it might have aggravated my other allergies.
Thus, I came up with the theory that I might be allergic to my shower gel. So on Sunday night, I switched shower gels. I used to use Johnson & Johnson’s Oat Milk & Almond Oil. So on Sunday after my other allergy to champagne surfaced (more about that soon), I decided to try the Palmolive Shower Gel I bought a while ago. some green colour bottle.
Same result, I broke out in hives albeit a bit milder.
So on Monday I tried Natural Instinct Shower Gel. Which proved a bit better, less rashes but still itchy. I refused to take anti histamines last night after the shower, so I’d just ride it out.
So tonight I’m trying out Neutrogena’s Soap. Let’s just see what happens. Fingers crossed.
EDIT: Looks like I’m still allergic to the hypoallergenic stuff. The way I see it there are only 3 options.
Option 1: Don’t shower. I doubt I’d have any friends after this.
Option 2: Just keep using the shower gels I have and live with the stupid itching. Its expensive to keep testing stuff out.
Option 3: Use talcum powder. Result would probably be similar to option 1.
So its kinda obvious I’m going to be picking option 2. Unless some kind soul wants to donate hypoallergenic shower gels/soaps for me to try out before I buy
Just the other night, my aunty was talking about how so many people we know are getting engaged, married or having kids at such a young age (in their late teens and early 20s).
I then realised she knew quite a lot of people and their ex boy friends and ex girlfriends.
So I told her:
Looks like Perth is very small. When I start dating, I’m sure you’ll find out soon enough
To which she replied:
Oh of course. I know everything
I couldn’t help but laugh at that point. Which is very true. Perth is extremely small and news travels around fast. Especially amongst the Asian circle. So kids, beware. Parents actually do know a lot of things.
I was having a conversation with Sam yesterday on MSN. We ended up having quite a bit to talk about.
I was telling her about how I’m left out whether or not in or out of church. In the sense that I’m not exactly part of the ‘in’ crowd. I don’t usually get invited to parties or to lunches or dinners or gatherings. I guess you could probably say I’m used to that by now. I’ve learnt to become a bit more ‘thick skinned’ and ignore it. I’d rather stay home and look after the kids (not mine btw) than drink myself silly.
Then Sam told me, respect is the most important thing of all and that she respected me for being me. I tell you, I was flattered.
I had no idea anybody held any respect for me. You can call me one of the underdogs everywhere I go. I’m usually the silent and shy type where I stray away from socialising. Lone ranger is the term that comes to mind when describing myself.
Even though now that I’m working and have a bit more freedom, I actually don’t know what to do with it. I tend to stay at home even though I can go out. I put it down to the fact that I work crazy hours and that doesn’t leave me with much time to go out, much less time as ‘down time’. Even the times that I’m free, I still stay at home. I think I’m very much a home person.
Anyways, I guess the point of this post was the fact that I was thinking it over while I was in the shower today. What Sam said about respect is very true. I’d rather have people’s respect and be remembered as the girl who has a firm head on her shoulders instead of one that is immature and rash.
Speaking of rash, I broke out in possibly my worst case of hives since I found out about my allergies. And guess what I was doing this time?
I made sure I did not touch the rockmelon that was being cut up. I stood away while it was served.
Within 5 minutes I had a mild itch on my right elbow.
Within 10 minutes I had a mild itch on my left ankle.
My aunty thought it was a psychological thing cause I literally did not make any contact with the fruit.
I went to shower and came out and stared at the mirror.
My neck had red spots and my limbs were itching.
My toes and the soles of my feet were itching.
I pointed this out to my aunty and we both realised I must have come in contact with the dreadful fruit after all. Then I popped an anti histamine tablet. Within 45 minutes the itching stopped.
Though I still have slight red spots on my neck, leftover from that itching frenzy. My allergies are becoming quite bad as time goes along. I honestly hope this isn’t going to get any worse, cause I was already madly scratching like an ape at the stupid spots.
So if you come within 5m of me armed with rock melon, I promise you I’ll make you pay for making me itch like mad. Are we clear with that? 
