Originally published at Jingwen. Please leave any comments there.

I was feeling a bit upset this morning, so upon getting home, I:

1. Washed all the dishes
2. Scrubbed down the kitchen
3. Wiped down and tidied the clutter on the dining table
4. Scrubbed the toilets
5. Scrubbed down the bathroom
6. Vacuumed the whole house
7. Wiped down all the glass and mirrors
8. Vacuumed and wiped down the interior of my car
9. Washed my car
10. Sorted out the laundry
11. Did the ironing
12. Paid some bills
13. Balanced my bank account

It says something about my character I think, that instead of finding comfort and solace in a chocolate bar and daytime television like others would, I throw myself into work and try to keep myself busy and occupied. Though to spend my only day off in X number of days (I think I was heading up to two weeks worth of work every day?) doing household chores seems almost like a waste of my time, especially as it didn’t help in making me feel any better.

The day can only improve though – I’m heading off to Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince tonight with a few friends. I have my wizard’s cloak and a wand at the ready (and lipstick to draw on my scar)!

Originally published at Jingwen. Please leave any comments there.

It’s official. I am not expecting a Dylanda spawn (Felisa, I love the name).

Pregnosis Clear told me so, and considering the circumstances and how financially and situationally unequipped I currently am to spawn with a clear conscience, I’m placing my trust in their 99%+ accuracy (in lab tests apparently…), especially when combined with my Implanon’s 99.9% effectiveness.

I did some Googling on the brand after I did the test actually, and found some online chemists where I can buy a pack of two tests for $6AUD cheaper than I bought it for in store. I’m tempted to buy a few and keep them handy in a drawer, so I can test myself each month. After all, it’s not as though I’m going to be warned about potential spawnage by the lack of a period when I’m already not getting them on my birth control!

It would certainly put my mind at rest, as I spent a restless night being paranoid over the possibility of being pregnant. I had been writing off my lack of menstruation as a hormonal birth control thing, and didn’t even consider pregnancy as a cause until I was writing last night’s entry and included the possibility of it as a “lol” factor. Once I thought of it however, that was all I could think of, and I lay awake all night fretting and being paranoid about being knocked up. If I had a backup supply of pregnancy tests, at least I could get rid of such worries immediately with a test.

Originally published at Jingwen. Please leave any comments there.

I’ve lost my period.

It’s due to the Implanon which has been happily residing in my left arm for the past three and a half months. For the first month and a half, I had pretty much non-stop spotting. It was never heavy bleeding necessitating a tampon change every hour. In fact, the bleeding was so light that I could generally get away without using a tampon and without using a sanitary pad – simply by going to the toilet every couple of hours to pee, I could clean the menstrual blood from myself sufficiently.

In the past few months though, the spotting has pretty much stopped altogether, and I’m yet to have a proper period. My vagina has been menstrual blood free, although I still seem to go through monthly cycles of emotional irrationality and skin breakouts. Despite these negatives however, I still consider myself lucky enough to have fallen into the small percentage of women who become menstruation-free upon getting the Implanon. I’m certainly not complaining – not bleeding from the vagina can only be a good thing!

Though now that I think about it, I should perhaps do a home pregnancy test to make sure that it’s actually an effective Implanon that’s causing my lack of menstruation, rather than unexpected Dylan spawn in my belly.

Originally published at Jingwen. Please leave any comments there.

OH MY GOD CUTENESS OVERLOAD.

When I was out on one of my semi-regular evening walks last night, I spied a white bunny rabbit hopping across someone’s un-fenced front yard. As cold-hearted as I might seem at times, I’m actually a sucker for cute and cuddly animals, and have a real soft spot for bunny rabbits.

I did my patented cooing-in-a-baby-voice (perfected after years working in maternity wear and baby gear retail) as I slowly crept towards the bunny. It tried to hop away, but I managed to grab hold of it. For a split second, I was tempted to take the bunny home for my very own before coming to my senses and realising that I’m not home nearly enough to take proper care of an animal. With a sense of regret, I knocked on their door and returned the bunny to them.

Unfortunately it was pitch black, so I couldn’t take a photo of the little cutie before I left, but that one little incident made my night. The fatigue, the chilly weather, the unnecessary physical toil after a long working day…one little cutie made it all worthwhile. What can I say, I’m a softie.

Originally published at Jingwen. Please leave any comments there.

Yesterday was the first day of my new job. By far the most painful part of the day was the 6.30am wakeup in order to get into the city by 9am. My current/old administration job in the city only necessitated a 7.30am wakeup for a 10am arrival – and you wouldn’t believe it, but that extra hour really makes all the difference, even when you go to bed at a reasonable time the night before.

Anyway, I can see the job being challenging already. The tasks themselves aren’t challenging (though I really need to learn how to use MYOB accounting software properly, rather than just by instinct), but starting next week, I’ll virtually be flying blind with no prior experience. The person who is currently in what will become my role finishes up at the end of this week, and I’ll only have had the two days (yesterday and tomorrow) to spend with her in learning the ropes around the office.

Now if it was a simple administrative office I could do it blindfolded – I’m an organised person, I’m computer savvy, and I’m down with paperwork. However, being a not-for-profit organisation, they follow certain practices and procedures in order to legally maintain their status – with none of these practices or procedures having been written down and detailed. As the current person has been in the role since the inception of the organisation, she’s simply always done things in a certain way, and worked on the assumption of “Oh, I know how to do it, it’s fine”.

That’s just not good enough now that she’s leaving and an entirely new person is coming in. All organisations should have contingency plans in place where someone can easily step into a role left empty by another. There should be procedural manuals, etc., drawn up and made readily available. That’s what I’ve been doing at my current/old job – writing a “how to” manual for each responsibility held by the role I’m vacating. Whoever I’m replaced with won’t have any problem settling into their role, because I’ve made it easy with a clear-cut procedure manual. It’s a pity that I won’t get that in my new role.

Anyway, it will be an incredibly autonomous role which will be great in that I can really put my own stamp on the place, but less than ideal in that I’ll have no support (literally none, I’ll be the only person in the office while the board of directors come in only once a month) while trying to get settled in a new role. It’ll take me a few weeks to muddle through, but I’m sure I’ll get there in the end.

Originally published at Jingwen. Please leave any comments there.

We recently received a brochure in the mail at home, informing us that the Dingley Arterial Project would continue in late 2010. It is essentially a roads improvement and upgrade project designed to ease traffic movement from the inner south-eastern suburbs of Melbourne out into the south Gippsland region, and vice versa.

The next stage of the project will take place pretty much in my backyard. The next part of the highway will be about a block behind my house – I could probably kick a football onto the freeway from my house once it’s completed. I can’t even begin to imagine the noise it will generate, not only in the creation process, but upon completion when a million cars will be zooming along the freeway each day. I see the benefits of the project of course when it comes to the alleviation of heavy traffic in my area (which we need desperately!), and the improved ease of travel to certain parts of outer Melbourne (it would make travelling to Dylan’s house a lot easier for me), but for local residents like ourselves, the noise will definitely make a huge change to our peaceful lifestyle.

With this in mind, it’s more imperative than ever that we find a new house and move before they start construction late next year to avoid the inevitable noise pollution. At the moment it looks like my family will be buying two separate homes as we want to buy in different areas – my parents want a two-bedroom unit for themselves and my brother in our former suburb, I want a one-bedroom apartment on my own near where we are now, but a bit closer into the city. So unless we come to some sort of compromise, we’ll be buying separately. As a result, I may possibly not have the financial support I had expected as my parents will be buying afresh as well…but considering the kind of places I’ve been looking at, I’d have a single apartment paid off by the time I’m thirty anyway, which has always been my main aim.

And besides, if I have my own place, I won’t have to worry about making Dylan masquerade as a friend when we have sneaky ninja sex. That would be a relief, largely because despite appearances, I do hate lying to my parents and wish that I didn’t have to go to such lengths to hide something so natural.

Originally published at Jingwen. Please leave any comments there.

Non-Fiction

1. William Irwin (editor) – House and Philosophy: Everybody Lies: Discussion of philosophy in pop culture terms is easily digested.
2. Amanda Foreman – The Duchess: Excruciating detail of Whig politics makes actual biography near-indigestible.
3. Kate Williams – Becoming Queen: Study of circumstances leading to Queen Victoria’s ascension very readable.

Fiction

1. Susannah Dunn – The Sixth Wife: Most colourless and forgotten of the six wives given life.
2. Nicola Kraus & Emma McLaughlin – Dedication: Definitely not as strong as previous offering, The Nanny Diaries.
3. Grace Metalious – Peyton Place: A true American modern classic, the first real blockbuster novel.
4. Elizabeth Newark – Jane Eyre’s Daughter: A forgettable, mere cursory attempt at a sequel to Bronte.
5. Barbara Novak – Down With Love: Unsuccessful novelisation of film that relies heavily on visual humour.
6. Katherine Pinotti – The Winds of Tara (The Saga Lives On): Extension of Mitchell’s Southern world draws upon canon details perfectly.
7. Jean Plaidy – The Revolt of the Eagles; The Heart of the Lion; The Prince of Darkness: Plantagenets clearly one of the most unfilial families in history.
8. Alexandra Potter – Me and Mr. Darcy: Encountering a chauvinistic Regency Mr. Darcy in the modern day.

Movies

1. X-men Origins: Wolverine (2009): Lucky I went for a sexy Jackman, not a plot.

Originally published at Jingwen. Please leave any comments there.

Mr. M and I do not eat heathily. It’s a lifestyle thing – we spend a lot of time just lounging around in the evening, and by the time we actually realise that we’re hungry, it’s usually around 9pm or later. It’s not a time that’s conducive to cooking up a healthy feast in the kitchen, nor to even slapping together a simple sandwich. Instead, we find ourselves driving out for take-away food: chips with gravy, KFC, Macca’s, kebabs, basically whatever’s fast, unhealthy, and still open at that time. We’ve found ourselves driving to Macca’s at midnight for their soft serve and apple pie much too many times.

We can’t keep doing this. Not only is it really bad for our overall health, but it’s really unhealthy for our wallets. If we’re going out for both lunch and dinner, we can easily spend $20AUD a day on take-out food each, which is ridiculous when that same amount could buy a few day’s worth of groceries. Neither of us are financially able to support this kind of habit – he has student debts to pay off, I have a house to save up for, etc.

So, we’ve decided to completely overhaul our eating habits. I have a friend who works as a grocerer – he works at the wholesale produce market and gets fruit and vegetables at cost price. We’ve approached him to supply us with $15AUD worth of fruit and veggies each week – that’s about a full fridge’s worth of produce when you’re buying at cost price. With the produce we’d then:

1. Make two litres worth of juices every two days as a healthy drink (rather than fizzy or sweet drinks) – from apple juices, carrot juices, celery juices, etc., all mixed up in a blended concoction
2. Have fruit as a snack
3. Prepare carrot/celery/etc as snack foods that we can have with different dips and cheese and stuff.
4. Cook all other vegetables – whether roasting, baking, steaming, stir-frying, whatever.

That way even if we eat out once or twice a week, we’re still having healthy food the rest of the time, which would make a huge difference to both our health and our wallets. I think he’s concerned about his protein intake so he’ll probably grill a steak every now and again – I on the other hand, have never really been a big fan of red meat so could happily give up eating meat when with him and only eat it when we dine out.

In any case, that’s the plan. No more unhealthy food (or at least, less of it!), and a dramatic increase of our intake of fresh produce. Added savings each week, which in turn will put us in a better financial situation that will allow us more options.

Originally published at Jingwen. Please leave any comments there.

Just about three weeks ago, I mentioned that I was looking for a new job as I didn’t feel challenged in one of my part-time positions. Well, I found one – less than three weeks after I started seriously applying for jobs in a field related to my Masters studies. I was interviewed yesterday, and they were sufficiently impressed to offer me the position today after having contacted my referees. They were, and I quote, “absolutely blown away by your experience, your communication skills, how personable you were, and the suggestions and comments you made for advancing the organisation and improving its exposure in the community”. What can I say, I interview well.

I’m feeling very employable right now, which makes a nice change to earlier this year when I was unemployed for two months despite applying for about ten jobs each day. Anyway, some details:

1. It’s an administrative role in a not-for-profit support organisation for social and disability work professionals. The role will include not only day-to-day administrative duties, but also event organisation (for seminars, etc.), membership coordination, marketing, with a strong emphasis too on revamping the organisation’s website and creating a stronger web presence.
2. It’s a fixed term part-time position at 0.6 EFT. In other words, it’s a three-days-a-week position, for a fixed term of two months.
3. The organisation is so small that for the time I’ll be there, I’ll essentially be running the whole place by myself. There’s bucketloads of autonomy in the role which I thrive on.

I’ll be handing in my two week’s notice for my other admin position next week – but in the next two weeks, I’ll be working seven day weeks. Two days at my current admin position (to fulfill two week’s notice), three days at the baby store, and I’ve negotiated with my new employers an agreement that for the first two weeks, I’ll work two days rather than the contracted three days. It’s going to be tiring, but I imagine exhilarating at the same time – I’m one of those crazy people who thrive on new work, new experiences, etc.

On a sour note, my parents are concerned that I’m giving up a permanent part-time position for a contracted temporary part-time position, but I think the benefits far outweigh the negatives. Yes, I may not have that particular job after the two months, but I’ll still have my weekend retail position at the baby store so I won’t exactly be broke. The fact that I’ll be working for a not-for-profit organisation in my chosen career field is much more important than working a permanent dead-end job that I’m bored in. It’s relevant experience that I can add to my resume when I look for another job in the same sector – placing me far above other candidates. It’s the first step along an actual “career path”, and it’s bound to lead to many more steps.

Originally published at Jingwen. Please leave any comments there.

In regards to yesterday’s entry, my thoughts on the situation are fairly clearcut: It’s not acceptable. Yes, relationships are about trust, but it’s also about taking the other party’s feelings and concerns into consideration – you can’t dismiss your partner’s genuine concerns with a simple “you should trust me to do the right thing”. You might trust your partner, but it doesn’t mean that you trust the people they’re around to do the right thing, especially if you’ve never met them before.

Anyway. Last night, Mr. M (I’m actually rather sick of referring to him as Mr. M, so let’s just call him by his actual name from now on: Dylan) and I took my brother out for a cheap and fast dinner at the local Vietnamese restaurant as my parents weren’t home. He commented that my brother was incredibly socially awkward – when I left them alone briefly, he’d tried to talk to him about gaming and stuff as that’s what my brother’s into, but only got monosyllabic answers in return. And he’s right – my brother is incredibly socially awkward, much worse than I was at that age.

My brother is intelligent for his age, and academically gifted, but he simply doesn’t know how to make small talk, or to keep a conversation going. He lacks social skills, would never approach anyone voluntarily to ask for anything, and at the first party he goes to, I can guarantee you that he’d be the wallflower whereas I was always the one at the centre of the dancefloor. Truthfully, I don’t even know how to help him overcome this problem. You can’t teach social skills – I’ve tried to encourage him to go out with his friends and to have friends over, but it’s simply not something he’s interested in.

Anyway, the above was somewhat of a tangent. The real point of the entry: after dinner, we went home to find my parents home. Dylan came in for a few minutes to say hello to my parents, as part of our larger plan to make the concept of him as my boyfriend acceptable to my parents. The theory is that when they get used to seeing him around as a “friend”, they’ll be more likely to take the news well when I tell them that we’re dating. That’s the theory anyway, whether or not it works is another matter.

He left about fifteen minutes later, with the idea that I would follow a half hour after that as I was going to spend the night at his place. His departure was hassle-free. Mine wasn’t.

• Me: Bye, I’m going out tonight!
• Dad: Where are you going out so late?
• Me: I’m staying over at a friend’s house tonight.
• Dad: ARE YOU STAYING OVER AT THAT BLOODY BOY’S HOUSE?
• Me: (scoffs) Pfft, don’t be ridiculous, I’m staying at Michelle’s.

I made a quick exit, but my brother informs me today that when I left, my father questioned him, asking if Dylan was my boyfriend. He was smart enough to say “Of course not, don’t be ridiculous”, but I think my father’s getting suspicious. Eep.