A Day In The Life Of Me

Last week, my office started a program called 'Lunch And Learn'. This is where you bring your own lunch, into the sessions, and you listen in to people from different areas of the business talk about their jobs and how exciting it is, and then after, it makes you feel like 'Crap, I've got the most boring job in the world'. We had the same program at my old work, but I never attended any. And so when they launched it last week at my current workplace, I did not attend any because (a) can't be fucked (haha), and (b) I already have lunch plans with my friends. Until...... my boss sent me an email with only one sentence saying "I need to talk to you about this". I thought to myself, Oh man... I had better attend at least one session to pretend I am interested.

I was wrong.

Instead of just attending the session, she wanted me to present on behalf of my team and talk about 'A Day in the Life of a ___ (my job)'. She might call it 'professional development' for me, but I call it 'classic example of hand-balling'. Management probably requested for her to do it, instead she decides it should be me to present. Great, just great. I had to prepare one slide myself about A Day in the Life of me! I had no idea. My day is really not that interesting at all. I googled it.. I asked my friends..

This is what Little-Miss-Whats-For-Lunch wrote back to me in an email:

My name is Mrs _ Ng. My husband's name is M_ but he has a dual identity...... some call him K_. I have a dog named E_. I wake up at 2am because "the stupid dog" wakes me up so he can sit in the garden in the middle of the night. When I finally go back to sleep, it isn't long before my alarm goes off and I have to get up. While I get ready, I pump up the latest song of the day/week/month (which my friend 'Little-Miss-Whats-For-Lunch' had no idea about until I tell her) on my BOSE speakers while my husband is snoring away. I leave my home in Oakleigh and head for Oakleigh station to begin my commute into work. Upon arrival at Parliament station, I immediately proceed to Engels where I must check in (because I want to keep my status as the mayor). No coffee for me because it makes me feel weird. Chai latte is my favourite beverage at this time of the morning. I quickly walk down 1 and 1/2 blocks to 101 Collins Street and be at my desk by around 8:30am, ready for my meeting which is soon after. During the meeting, I tell everyone on the scale of 1 to 10 how happy I am (I always say I'm good.....as if I'd ever say I'm a panda), if I achieved yesterday's goals and what my goals are for the day. By the time I get to my desk, I usually have an email waiting for me asking me what my lunch plans are for the day. After a few emails, lunch is set and I just have to do my regular work until lunchtime comes. At around 12pm, I lock my PC and head towards the next lunch menu which was decided at 9:30am. During the day I work hard and make conversations with my colleagues around me. We talk about lots of things such as their kid's school trips to Europe, cross-bred (or not cross-bred) dogs......sometimes I get the odd cup cake here and there for no apparent reason. I get asked if my husband got a text message from a colleague for his birthday and I feel like telling him "its been 3 months, get over it!". I HATE being called Juju at work...... When it's time to go home at 5pm, I sometimes go past Fitness First but I'm frustrated because I think I have gained weight but no idea where or how! Finally, I go home and wait for my husband to cook dinner. Afterwards, its time to watch the Kardashians which I recorded on my Foxtel IQ but sometimes the husband and the "stupid dog" annoy me because they can't give me 20 mins of peace once a week to watch my favourite TV show! Bed time.....sleeping in my nice Peter Alexander pajamas. And then its 2am and it starts all over again......

She describes A Day in the Life of me... most accurately. She is absolutely spot on! Haha I swear I nearly fell of my chair laughing when her email came through.

Anyway, I was able to come up with some real work on a slide for my preso, and I even got Little-Miss-Drink-A-Lot to help make it look pretty. Lifesaver!

Finally yesterday, I stood behind one of those formal brown stands where they lay the laptop and the microphone, next to a projector screen, in front of more than 50 people.... and I spoke about my team, what we do.. who we are made of.. yada yada yada. It was certainly most nerve wrecking and I did not even recognise my own voice. I spoke reallyreallyfast. OMG I have done this before!! Many times!! In my old job (in three different countries, in fact, even to the CEO from Canada)!! But I guess being in a new environment, in a new business, and being relatively new to the role.. I could not hide the nerves.

At the end of the presentation, I was so relieved. Many people came up to me telling me I did really well, which I sort of have my doubts, because it feels like they were trying to reassure me or something like that, especially after seeing me so nervous in front of my audience. My boss said she got terrific feedback, which I mutter under my breath 'Yeah right'. That might be the end of my presenting career perhaps? Just glad that its over!

Somebody That I Used To Know by Gotye

This video is very cool! I love this song, it is constantly on repeat on me iPod. Love the body art!

Hope you have a lovely weekend!

I Do Not Watch Much TV These Days

I do not watch much TV these days. One of the main reason is 'time'. I just DO NOT have the time to watch TV. It sounds silly but its true. I just don't. During the week days, Grumpy hogs the TV (he only watches TV shows which involve a lot of screaming, killing, golf and Rick Stein). On weekends, I am probably too busy running errands or doing boring things like laundry, cleaning the house, walking the dog, whatever, you name it. I guess another reason is because my two of my favourite TV shows, Modern Family and Glee are taking a season break here in Australia. We pay about $115 a month for a very expensive Foxtel package, and I hardly watch any of it.

There is one exception though. I am watching the current Season 6 of Keeping Up With The Kardashians on 'E!'. The new episodes are on 9.30pm every Tuesday, and I record these episodes so that I can watch it at my own convenience at a different time. So last night, after the dishes were done and my shirt ironed for work, I decided to watch this week's episode. It was funny, I love it, the girls are just hilarious. And while watching this, Grumpy is next to me, going on and on about something random, and then he plays with the dog, and the dog is annoyed because it is his bed time, so the dog starts barking and screaming... and this is all while I am watching Keeping Up With The Kardashians. OMG! I was so annoyed, I said to Grumpy, "I only use 30 minutes of the TV, in one week, to watch an episode of KUWTK and I can't even watch it in peace! In fact, it is only 20 minutes or so, because there are ads in between and I can fast forward the ads on Foxtel IQ! TWENTY MINUTES!! Can't I have TWENTY MINUTES of friggin' peace to watch KUWTK?!?!??!"

Both the husband and the dog go silent, and finally I can watch the remaining 5 minutes of the show uninterrupted.

Here is an interesting video.. it is Mr Tickle's 40th birthday (Mr Tickle was the first among the Mr Men characters created), and Adam Hargreaves (the son of creator Roger Hargreaves) shows us how to draw the oldest character of Mr Men.

Cherry Blossom

Yesterday was the 8th of August. And that marks the 13th years Grumpy and I have been together. Thirteen years! It also means that we have spent nearly half our lives together. We did not celebrate yesterday... no, only because we are trying to get used to a new and different anniversary now, which is our wedding anniversary. To be completely honest, if you asked Grumpy when did we get married, he would probably stop and have a good think about it before giving you an answer, what more, a correct answer. But with the 8th of August, it was easy.

As the warmer weather approaches, I have started noticing the leaves grow back on trees, and flowers in bloom. My current favourites are cherry blossom. I never really took real notice of cherry blossoms, until I went to Japan in Spring for their Sakura season. It was absolutely beautiful, and now that I know what cherry blossoms are, I noticed we even have it here in Australia! In fact, the houses on my street have cherry blossoms too. They may not be real cherry blossoms, but it could be plum blossoms or other blossoms. I kept raving about these blossoms on my street to Grumpy, and he kindly pointed out that even our little dwarf peach tree have blossoms appearing... in my own garden!

Here are three photos I took in Japan of the cherry blossom or plum blossom. Three different colours that are so pretty!

This is a weeping cherry blossom, as the branches fall down. Outside the Osaka castle.

Tada!

Thirteen years, my darling. I love you!

Veggie patch

It is a Sunday night, and I am sitting in the living room in my brother's place waiting for him to whip up a yummy dinner. We are here because it is the Masterchef finals tonight. The past week was not all that great for me. Work was shit. I did not feel productive at all. And with my social life, I felt the same. As if I did not achieve much...despite the fact that I was busy most of the weeknights. Here is why:

First, we watched Harry Potter on Tuesday night, and the speakers were broken in the cinema. We were so annoyed because it was the last Harry Potter (we have watched all the Harry Potter movies religiously) and we could hardly hear what they were saying. Haha Two and a half hours later, we got a refund from Hoyts. But still, it felt like a waste of time on a Tuesday night..!

Thursday night I joined my colleagues for our company trivia night. The trivia was fun, but the venue was shit. Dinner was provided and the place was near the red light district of the Melbourne CBD, hence the dim lights, shit food and shit drinks. My team came in last too, which did not seem to make things any better. I went home with a wooden spoon >.<

Friday night, I was already quite tired and sleepy from the late nights before, but I promised Little Miss-Whats-For-Lunch that I would watch Harry Potter with her in Crown casino. The show only started at 9pm.. and so.. I tried my best to stay awake, and watched the same movie again, twice in the same week. I got home at nearly 1am on Friday night, and I had to bake a cake and make vegetarian curry puffs for my Buddhist dana lunch on Saturday morning. I have no idea if it was a good thing or a bad thing, but Grumpy had also just got home from after work drinks, he was so pissed drunk, yet he was helping me make the filling for my curry puffs. We finished by around 2.30am.. and I was up again by 7.30am on Saturday morning, to bake the curry puffs. Grumpy woke up that same morning complaining of mild food poisoning (he woke up a few times through out the night to go to the toilet). He said to me "Maybe it was the curry puffs?" All I could say was "OMG it better not be the curry puffs! The last thing I really need right now is to be known as the person who poisoned Ajahn (the monk)" I took the risk, and still served the curry puffs for dana... haha Thank god my brother rang me after to say he was up all night too, throwing up. So that means they all had food poisoning from their dinner the night before, and it was not the curry puffs. The curry puffs were a hit, by the way.

After dana, I drove all the way to Westfield Doncaster, because I bought a La Senza voucher online and that was the nearest La Senza for me.. which was very far! But it was worth it, I bought heaps of lingerie! The first time I got La Senza was in London a few years ago. Then I picked Grumpy up from work, we grabbed a bite.. and then.. when we got home.. I fell asleep on the sofa from 6pm until 11.30pm. It was such a long and well deserved nap, Grumpy did not even dare wake me up for dinner. You would think I would have problems going back to sleep after that, but I was fine. I went back to sleep after, and woke up at around 9am this morning.

I feel much better after all that sleep. Hehe The last time we stayed home on a Saturday night was months ago, when we were under house arrest because of the detox. It was GOOD!

Anyways, here are pictures of my veggie patch now. I love my home grown veggies and with the warmer weather approaching, I am looking forward to spending more time here in the garden.

Some baby capsicums.

My favourite so far.. snow peas!

Some baby lemons growing.

Here is my cauliflower plant a week ago..

And this is what it looks like now.. one week later.

My broccoli tree.

And some baby eggplants coming up too.