School-Girly Me (aka P is for Pain, Passing, Purchases, Peelable Polish, Parcels and Presents)

Before you get excited about the school girl in the title, it's not what you think. 

1) As a child I used to have tummy aches from anxiety around exam season. Recently I've been dealing with tummy aches again, like bloat, or indigestion or something. Not sure what it is but for now it's neither my appendix nor my gallbladder.  Which is good, at least. We're treating with Famotidine twice a day and keeping a food diary. It seems to be about 75% successful at keeping the pain away. We'll give it 2 weeks and see how that goes.

2) I'm also back to school. Or rather, I got back to my course and am now done with it. I've finished my final assessment and am now certified in "Lifestyle Medicine - Improving the future of health care". Let's see how much I can impact that future LOL. 

3) The girly thing I am referring to, is the fact that I've recently become obsessed with beauty Advent Calendars. They're not out yet where I live, altho I did manage to get hold of the W7 Beauty Box from Amazon. I've linked the one from Superdrug in the UK cos that's where I first saw it, and I would take a photo of it for you except it hasn't arrived yet. I've seen a few unboxing videos on Youtube from the UK stores already, so maybe you guys are just ahead of the rest of us over there.

4) What HAS arrived is last year's Sephora 24-day Advent Calendar which I bought at 50% off because, well, it's last year's! I haven't unboxed it yet tho, which surprises even me because I WAS looking forward to doing that before I left for music school this afternoon - it arrived as I was leaving the house! And that's all I was looking forward to coming home to, really.

5) Instead, what I found in my mailbox when I got home was even more tempting - a set of water-based, peelable nail polish. I wanted to see if it really was as quick-drying and convenient as the influencers say. So far, drying time is brilliant. It does smudge a bit (water based after all) if you go to do the dishes within 15 mins of putting it on, but then because #Chemistry, somehow the rough smudged bits just sorta smoothened themselves out as my nails dried. Dissolved into a lovely shiny layer! (They say don't let it get into water for 4 hours.... I supposed the best thing is to paint them then go to bed?)

Here's a video... the shine was totally a surprise to me. I wasn't expecting it to be glossy or shiny at all.

6) Now little girls love presents and I'm no different. Especially when they're pressies I like! 

BIKSS was in London recently (and we're planning a trip there next year!) and came back with some delightful treats for me - 

Mini Paddington Tote. Love it!

Self-explanatory box

The rose/orchid was a little bit sus. We gave that one away. The other two were fine. I'm also very surprised that the one with Jasmine didn't make me feel ill. I can't smell it at all, in fact. There are two oils I don't agree with - Jasmine and Wintergreen. They make me throw up. I shall pray I never need Deep Heat or Counterpain rub in my old(er) age.

Knowing my penchant for shortbread, BIKSS got me this box. I was so looking forward to it, till I put one in my mouth and bit down. It was hard, and tasted like orange. That is NOT shortbread. Still, a bikkie is a bikkie. But now I have tasked him with getting me some REAL shortbread fingers from Marks & Sparks.

Another Paddington treasure. He went on the fridge as soon as I got him.

That's all for today's letter P round up. Oh and P is also for Paddington innit??

I shall leave you with this pic that BIKSS sent me earlier. Seen on socials.

 

Covid, Cough, Coursework

Don't panic. Not me. My sister. She's got the Covid. It's her second time. There's an antiviral drug that can be administered within 5 days of showing symptoms, but it's only available at what we call polyclinics - sort of centralised government huge-ass clinic complexes. BUT according to the boss they're running low on stock (he has friends who are still in the public health system) and they're only giving it to the really old and frail. 

So since she's neither of the two, it's unlikely that she'll be a good candidate to receive the drug. I told her to stay home and save herself a trip to the megaclinic. 

She's not in too bad a shape. A bit of cough and feeling slightly lightheaded, as one does with the flu. 

I on the other hand have developed that annoying post-nasal-drip cough again. It was bugging me in December and with a week's Dymista it went away. Well. It's back. I blame the fried snacks. Now whenever I eat something I cough. BUT it doesn't start till about 5 mins into the meal. So I've been stuffing my face as quickly as possible to get thru all my food before it hits. Not too difficult since I'm a pretty fast eater in general. 

And EdX had a discount code for me in my inbox today so I decided to get back to my course. I have one last module to go before getting my cert in lifestyle medicine in chronic disease management - it's back to "school" for me. 

Just in time too cos BIKSS is away on a work trip next week. We'll miss his birthday so I think we're "celebrating" tomorrow. If celebrate is what you can call a visit to the physiotherapist (for him) and an audiometry test (for me) before we get to the business of getting some yummy grub! 

Here are today's chips - Raw diamond chips. Cos I really shouldn't be snacking on potato ones! 

I Was Stuck - and This Week's Food Pics

So a year ago when we needed a second caregiver for mum, the plan was to pick up some extra shifts since I wouldn't be needed at home to help out with her potty and baths and stuff. 

Somehow I think I got so used to always being home in the afternoons that I just got stuck in that routine. 

A week or so ago, a friend posted on a group chat that she had gotten a promotion. While I was really happy for her, I was also feeling a little bit sorry for myself. I don't regret the career choices I made, including turning down jobs that might have paid me more or given me better prospects at moving up the ladder. I'm happy I got to spend time with dad everyday before he passed away. And I'm trying to do the same with mum. 

But at the same time I've gotta start thinking about what happens when she's gone and I'm left to deal with rising costs of living and planning for my retirement. 

Some of my kids will be finishing with their grade 8s soon, and that means no more income from them. I think I had a little panic attack when I grabbed Betty for a sit down and chat and bemoaned my worries to her.

Which is when she reminded me that the original plan was to get a second carer for mum SO THAT I COULD GO GET ANOTHER JOB. REMEMBER???

Right. I think I was just frozen and stuck and didn't make any moves towards that goal.

So the weekend after I looked at some job ads on the web and found a music school really near my place looking for teachers. I rang them up and the centre manager asked if I could come in the next day for a chat. 

Well that was fast. Things don't usually go that quickly in my part of the world. 

I went in to speak to him the following day and got the job! 

And so now I have committed 14 hours (2 weekday evenings and a Saturday afternoon) to teaching with them, and I must say, he wasn't kidding when he said there were kids on a waitlist cos they didn't have enough teachers. I can't understand why tho, compared to my previous school, they pay a whole lot more commission, and they're very easy going - no stupid rules about dress code, no lanyards and ID tags, no hassle about taking days off as long as you find a day to make up the lesson. 

As it is we've planned a trip for the 3rd to the 7th of October - BIKSS and I are off to Chiang Mai in the north of Thailand! - and as we were coming up to the end of September I thought it would make more sense for me to start after I got back. 

No problem, we can start immediately, he says, then just see how we can make up the classes for the week you're away. I'll also be unable to come in on the xx of November (I've gotten us tickets for a play, I can't quite remember the exact date now LOL) - oh, that's fine, he says, we'll find another Friday to make that up. There are gazetted school holidays so you can just use one of those days. 

In my old school it would have been met with "Oh, I see, you have tickets... you've bought them, oh, any way to arrange it such that you can change or return or sell them off?" WTF. No. I hated that place because they were so sticky about time off. 

Mind you, I don't intentionally get tickets for days I'm working but this was arranged before I took the job right? So it's not like I did it on purpose. Old school didn't care. They were assholes. 

Anyway, so I started yesterday. And I have another lesson this Tuesday. And 3 more additional students next Saturday. He was right about that waitlist. 

So I'm happy. I've become unstuck and this is as good a way to get moving as any. More income doing what I love in a place where the people are nice, the management doesn't suck, and is close by to my home. 

AND I am totally looking forward to not worrying about spending money on the upcoming vacation! 

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Last week BIKSS had a bit of a stomach bug. It made itself known as we were finishing dinner. The Japanese place where we were eating had suddenly filled up with the smell of smoke from the meats being grilled in the open kitchen, and BIKSS couldn't stomach it. He was close to retching so we paid up and left pronto. 

Top - Chicken and Leek Yakitori

Middle - Salmon Carpaccio, Mentaiko grilled Tiger Prawn

Bottom - Pepper Chicken with Yuzu Sauce, Garden Salad and Miso Tofu

After a couple of days he felt better so we met for lunch and coffee to sort through or itinerary. We'll be flying via Bangkok so we needed to decide if we wanted to spend any nights there or go straight through to Chiang Mai, and also how soon we wanted to get back into Bangkok for our return flight. I wanted to go over some of the things we wanted to do in Chiang Mai so we would know how many nights to spend there. 

We were planning to go restaurant hopping for lunch. That was my plan anyway. But after a huge bowl of chicken soup (bottom pic) - literally, nothing in it but chicken and liquid - we were too full for anything else. 

Anyway, we got that settled at a Starbucks, and then headed off to get dinner. Which was a little more substantial. But it was MY turn to have not much of an appetite so we doggy bagged half of it.

Top - pork chop with tomato gravy - aka Hainanese style pork chop, Crab cakes - a favourite of ours.

And that is the news for this week. 

Exciting times ahead! 

This week I got me two packets of these from the supermarket cos they were marked down! Interesting flavour, but I don't think I'll be repurchasing!

The Counselling is On

The course I mean. It's midway thru the sessions now, and I'm enjoying myself rather a fair bit. 

I finished the last online course I was on, and there's one more course to do for that one before I finish all the modules in Lifestyle Medicine. I suspect that like this one I just finished, it's going to be quite content heavy. 

So I've decided not to dive straight into it, but to wait till the counselling lark is done. 

Who knows, they might invite me to do the next level. Ha! If there's one thing I'm not, it's calm and softspoken. Which all the counsellor's I've met there ARE. They have heaps and heaps of serenity oozing out from their pores. As a fellow participant put it - perhaps we're just too excitable and reactive? We need to practise being less hyper.

Part of me would LOVE to be that picture of peace and calm, but a larger part of me feels it won't be authentic if I have to try so hard! 

And so I shall be the way I am, I have been. I mean, it hasn't stopped friends and students and patients and godchildren coming to me for advice right?? 

Heck. Even BIKSS is amused that I can get him to talk. 

I might be jumping the gun, but since I'm a planner, I need a plan. What if they really DO offer me a seat in the advanced level class? I would love to learn more stuff. Gather more skills. But I think they offer places to people whom they think would make good counsellors and will be willing to join their team - they have a counselling service, free for anyone who needs it. 

I do know that at this point I DON'T want to volunteer for more things - I feel ultra busy as it is! 

Maybe I'll just wait till I come to that bridge before I decide if I want to cross it. 

Meanwhile - we had Indian food on Monday - we just picked a mall and wandered around till something caught our fancies. 

"It must good, there are Indians eating in there!" (BIKSS is always convinced if a native of whatever cuisine is eating in the restaurant then that's a good sign.)

So in we went. It was good. Spicy, flavourful, some bits a bit too salty for my taste, but very satisfying over all. 

Single serve spicy chicken soup

Half portion Tandoori chicken

Onion and pepper fried prawns

Battered and fried cauliflower -  my favourite of the night.

We have a decent number of Indian restaurants here, but they all seem to be very different to me. I think there's the whole North vs South Indian thing, vegetarian or not thing, and some restaurants seem to have adopted a more local flavour so that the menus have become a mish mash of everything that's just generally Indian but not ONLY Indian. 

I can't tell what's what. But I do know that sometimes one just needs some masala in the tum tum! 

Have a jackfruit chip~

(By the way I ate some chips earlier and then there was a click in my jaw, and it began to hurt. I think it might have been a ligament. So now I'm on a forced diet plan. I shall ask my boss about it tomorrow. It's not causing any discomfort except when I bite down.)

Cock WHAT Now? (and a happy new year!)

I will write soon and tell you about my lovely lidl day out! But I'm currently trying to finish up the chapter on diabetes and obesity and I came across this lovely bit of information. There's a thing called the Coxsackievirus. I kid not. And you pronounce it EXACTLY as you think you would.

Taken off the web from here - Coxsackievirus

What Are Coxsackievirus Infections?

Coxsackieviruses are part of the enterovirus family of viruses (which also includes polioviruses and hepatitis A virus) that can live in the human digestive tract.

The viruses can spread from person to person, usually on unwashed hands and surfaces contaminated by feces (poop), where they can live for several days.

In most cases, coxsackievirus infections cause mild flu-like symptoms and go away without treatment. But in some cases, they can lead to more serious infections.

What Are the Signs & Symptoms Coxsackievirus Infections?

Coxsackievirus (kok-sak-ee-VY-rus) can cause a wide variety of symptoms. About half of all kids with an infection have no symptoms. Others suddenly get a high fever, headache, and muscle aches, and some also develop a sore throat, belly discomfort, or nausea. A child with a coxsackievirus infection may simply feel hot but have no other symptoms. In most kids, the fever lasts about 3 days, then disappears.

Ok, I shall go back to completing my chapter. Meanwhile, Happy Cocksackie New Year to one and all!

Not Vanilla No More (+ Money, Minerals and Mental Health)

Our sex is. I'm not. It's also got to do with the fluctuating hormone levels I think. We've (me, that is) come to the conclusion that regular vanilla sex isn't gonna cut it no more - for me that is, Roger doesn't care too much. But the one thing I can still count on to get those juices flowing is a blowjob. 

The inner monologue in my head goes something like "Mmm, yes, that feels nice but I don't think it's working for the puss quite as well as I'd like. Oh he's doing something new now. OK, not bad. But it tickles more than it excites... Ok enough already. We haven't got all night. It's blowjob time!"

And I get between his legs and all of a sudden I feel that familiar jolt that starts in my belly and makes its way down between my legs. Now we're talking! 

Ahem.

I don't know if things would be better if we incorporated some spanking, pinching, slapping and all-round D/s fun, but since none of that is happening around these parts (a combination of factors would be responsible for this lack - not the least of which are geography and my mental state) I suppose we'll have to depend on that tried and tested, all time favourite to get me in the mood LOL. 

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and speaking of vanilla, a waffle. At a place nearby. We saw the shop some time ago. Just never got round to trying it out. Too crispy. To crunchy. Definitely not gonna spend anymore money there. Glad I didn't even spend money there the first time cos I used the free dollars from my cashback app!

Our most recent dinner was also discounted, as was the coffee we had after that. 

I registered for an account with a new digital bank. And I've been getting lots of coupons and rebates from it. So far it fits my spending style and I don't go out of my way to use the virtual debit card either. It just happens to work well with my purchase patterns. (Spend x number of dollars at ABC store for bonus interest on deposits, use the card at least x number of times for bonus rebates etc.) 

We tried an octopus carpaccio - first time for us! We were both pleasantly surprised by how much we liked it.

duck leg confit - very well done. Crispy, not too dry, falls off the bone. Perfect.

and a caeser for extra veggies and protein - we've had this a million times before. Still as good.

Add to that some sparkling yuzu juice and you've got a $57 dollar dinner (and that's AFTER they'd lopped off 10%).

And why did we get yuzu juice? Cos I needed something strong enough to mask the very mineral-y taste of this - 

I picked up a tiny bottle. I don't think I'll take it EVERYday but I reckon the occasional boost can't hurt. I plan to add it to our drinks when we meet for dinners. That way we'll both get a little extra a few times a week. 

Wanna know what brought this on?

Mental Health and Nutrition.

Yup. I'm back to doing my online courses! 

While I'm not paying for a verified cert, I *am* still learning a LOT from the free sections that are available to audit-only learners. I think the only difference is that I don't have to take part in the bits that would count towards the "engagement" score in the final tally. Well, that, and NO TESTS!

It has been a good week!

Here's a chip pic. Cos it's been a while.

It doesn't matter if it's VEGGIE chips. As long as it's well salted!

Surprise $$ Gifts, Fending for Myself, All the Godkids

SO many updates. 

BIKSS visited some relatives across the border over the Diwali weekend cos #obligations. His one ounce of Indian blood means there are people he's related to who celebrate the holiday. 

Since he's been back (5 days ago) we haven't had dinner or anything cos the man is ill. Coughing. No Covid but I suspect a flu nonetheless. It's been wet and cold and hot and humid - sometimes all in the same afternoon. It's ridiculous. That's what happens when you live on the equator and have to deal with year-end monsoon season. 

He's just been browsing the performance sites and suggested getting tix to Sound of Music which I expressed interest in some time ago. But with mum's situation I didn't dare think about booking anything. Now that I have some respite I think it's safe to plan farther than 24 hours in advance :)

I paid for the tix first using my c/card cos he wasn't sure what seats I prefer and decided to leave the booking up to me. Then transferred some cash over into my bank. There are a few ways one can do this, he chose to do it the traditional way via account number. Which doesn't give me any notifications. So I asked if he had signed up for the newer interbank-phone one, he said yes. But since he's always sent me cash this way, he just defaulted to it. 

Ah, I said, cos this way the bank doesn't send out notifications. You just gotta log into the app and check the balance / transaction. With the newer way you get an email and an SMS. 

And that's when he decided to tell me that he sent me money for my lappy repair. He's sweet that way. It would be better if I KNEW he was being sweet tho. LOL. Anyway, thanks have been sent. And kisses too. 

Meanwhile, it's maybe a blessing in disguise that he's not available this week cos the Godsons (good friend's kids) have been needing me, and my niece (who is also my Goddaughter) has been feeling unwell and called me freaking out a little bit on Thursday night. 

The boys are getting whatever help I can manage, it's a long-term-plan that one. Career guidance, education pathways, financial issues. Long story. But I'm working on getting a counsellor for Godson 2 who's having self-esteem and lack of motivation issues, and figuring out next steps and calling on friends who have other friends in the F&B world to see how best to help him on his quest to becoming a chef. (His dad isn't being very supportive cos the cheaper culinary school is pretty far away, and the mum doesn't want him to go to a private institute cos it's expensive, she says...  and they have THOUGHT about counselling but never went cos, again, they can't afford it. Meanwhile there are a ton of free counselling services available here, especially for children and teens!)

The older one, aka Godson 1 - will be on school break for 2 months and is keen to move into the right college where he can then go on to do psychology in uni, so I'm helping him find suitable and relevant internships that he can think about and explore before he decides on applications. (Also, we've both enrolled in a psych/counselling intro/basics course that begins in Jan next year... I wanted to do this last year, but #mumproblems so I couldn't. Since Godson 1 wanted to enrol, I took it as a sign I should do it too!)

The niece, aka only Goddaughter, has been having warmness in her calf, tingling in her fingers and random aches and pains in her muscles and joints. Of course she went and googled everything to death and beyond thinking it's some autoimmune thing, and then her mother (my sister) said something about MS and then she went and googled MS and then started freaking out. 

So I took her to my boss's clinic this morning to get her sorted. She'd been to two doctors previously but hasn't come away feeling any better cos the second one referred her to a neuro specialist but that's not till end of next month, and when one is feeling stressed, one doesn't want to wait. I suggested she see my boss cos I KNOW he's thorough. And since all the specialists couldn't do what HE did with sorting out mum's sleep situation, I figured let him try and work out her symptoms. 

He did say they seemed rather random and didn't point to anything obvious currently. But he did a whole work up of labs and, as I expected, has been logging into the lab portal every few hours cos he's eager to see what her results show. He's THAT kind of doctor. It's not just cos she's family to me - he does this with our other patients too, I know cos I can tell when he's logging into the portal - I'm on the same email accont for the 2FA verification thingamajig. And he'll sometimes text me and grumble that so and so's results are taking a long time to get uploaded on the portal. 

Anyway, he reassured her that it's not a nerve thing, nor a muscular degeneration thing. Her symptoms don't point to that. Also SUPER unlikely to be a MS thing cos again, symptoms not quite there. Sister suggested fibromyalgia but he doesn't think so cos the presentation doesn't satisfy the requirements for that diagnosis. Still, he's curious now, he gets like that when he has a puzzle in front of him. Just like mum was a puzzle for him. And I know he'll be happily researching a bunch of things to try and figure this out. Which is exactly what we need, instead of a doctor who's just gonna pick the most obvious probable thing and "try" some meds or treatment and see how it goes (like what they did for mum). 

She was in a much better state by the time we parted after lunch, and hopefully she'll be able to sleep better tonight than she has in the last month. 

The other Godson, the nephew, on the other hand, didn't ASK for me, but I did some Godma-ing on him anyway. He's got it in his head that he wants to pursue some MLM thing, so he quit his job, took some of his savings (which isn't a whole lot in the first place) and went to the US for some MLM conference. That's a 2000 dollar trip. His wife (yes, he's married) isn't local, and has been very transparent about sending cash home to her parents who are managing the building of a house for her on their property. The nephew isn't planning on buying a place here, choosing instead to use his money for his MLM thing, instead of securing a roof over his and his wife's head. They are both living under my sister's roof. Le Sigh!

The wife's plan is - in plain ENGLISH - if he fucks up and she finds herself broke and homeless, she'll go back to her home country. 

I don't blame her. As a non-citizen there are limits on what she can do independently of her husband here, including not being able to buy her own flat (eligibility for subsidised housing not met, salary requirements for loans are stupid high etc) so she decided to build her contingency plan in the country of her birth. 

I'm all for an exciting life, but um, dude, you have a wife who needs you to be present to her needs and aware of her limitations! 

Anyway, I've been busy the last couple of weeks with these young'uns which has made me extremely prone to afternoon naps. 

Oh, and finally, mum has the start of what looks like a cutaneous horn on her forearm and I'm trying to find someone who can come by and excise it only no one wants to do procedures at home and none of the nearby GPs do in-clinic procedures cos they're all shit scared of complications.

It's fucking annoying that everyone keeps telling me they can send her to the specialist in the hospital who can do the removal - I CAN'T TAKE MUM TO THE HOSPITAL (I say while rolling my eyeballs in my mind) COS SHE'LL END UP BECOMING DELIRIOUS AND THEN WON'T BE ABLE TO SLEEP OR EAT FOR THE NEXT 48 HOURS! 

I'm so tired of explaining her hypersensitivity to stimulation. Anyway I've asked an aesthetic clinic near mum's old place. It's the clinic I first went to at the very start of this blog when I did my skin tag removal, and over the years have gone back to for various things. But since I started working at my clinic 5 years ago I haven't needed to go back there. It's a good thing I've kept in touch with his nurse tho... she's promised to check with the doc and see if he's able to do this thing in-clinic in which case I might hazard a short bus ride there to get it done. It's a much better option than taking her to the hospital. 

I'm also asking other boss who does derm and aesthetics if he knows anyone who is willing to come by the house to do this. He'll check. There's a senior consultant he knows who might do it, as he's "reaching the age where he wants to retire and is trying to find meaning in life". LOL. Come help me with the mum problem, that's plenty opportunity to find meaning in life! 

And so I've been running around, making phone calls, arranging appointments, making enquiries, checking a bunch of websites. AND getting myself fed. 

I went to a souffle pancake place the sister wanted to eat at. The diabetic had the pancakes (yes, the sister) and I had the avocado and salmon salad with extra sides of scrambled eggs and fresh berries. But there are no carbs in souffles, she says. Of course not. Only eggs. Unless you're having PANCAKES made in the style of a souffle. In which case, read the menu - there is WHEAT FLOUR in there. She shrugs and orders it anyway. I give up. 

I also gave myself a truffle cheese treat - picked this up at 40% off and had some on a rye cracker for a snack on Friday night. Perfect! 

I liked it so much I decided to treat myself some more and ordered more cheeses. 

This whiskey one has BIKSS' name on it!

And today after clinic in the morning with the niece we all decided to have the portabello burger at Shake Shack. The sister was paying. So I didn't feel bad about the cost - SHE thinks it's perfectly fine to pay $40 for 3 mushroom burgers and 3 iced teas. I ate the mushroom+cheese patty (ok, it was very yummy) and veggies and chucked out the buns. The diabetic conviced herself it was healthy cos NO MEAT, all veg, and then ate all of it. Le Sigh. 

Right. And now it's time for bed. That's been this week's update! Catch you all soon! 

NOT A to Z - D is for Dementia

C is for Chewy - so I shall refer you to the QQ post. 

And moving on in my unofficial A-Z, is D for Dementia. I'm taking a bunch of videos from the dementia course I finished to a friend's place tonight cos his mum's just beginning her dementia journey. Not true. It was mild before, and now it's progressed to a somewhat more moderate level. I think if I had watched or understood some of the things in the videos BEFORE dad gave me an up-close-and-personal experience with it I might have handled some things better. 

As it is I'm constantly learning - even now with mum's situation, and even tho I have had more 'experience' than he, but still have more questions than answers despite the years of caring for dad and mum, I figure I'd give him all the help I can. He did ring me earlier today and mentioned his mother's situation, which for him is the same as saying "HELP ME PLEASE" in  typical male (aka, without really asking) fashion.

On the way home I saw a grown woman berating her mother for something, in Chinese, so I only understood the anger, but not the details of it, and my heart about broke. The older woman must have been 80. And I can't help but wonder if it's a case of not understanding that dementia isn't something a person can control, and no, they're not "doing it on purpose". Sigh. 

My wish for the future of my country (one of them anyway) is that there will be more positive messaging around dementia, more people will be willing to talk about it, and more support and respite avenues are made available to families of those who are affected by the disease. 

I shall leave you with this video by Christine Bryden. 

Valentines Schmalentines, Fun Puns and Updates from Around the House

BIKSS has come down with a fuzzy throat and he's feeling under the weather again. The fact that we're seeing 10k plus new cases daily isn't helping everyone's morale. So far he is still negative.

Hospital beds are getting snatched up by the thousands each day. We're headed for a crisis if you ask me, but everyone is so casual about the omicorn variant it's scary to think it could blow up even bigger than it has. 

Mum has officially gotten 'discharged' with a memo sent by the health ministry. My caregiver will have to wait till tomorrow before she is officially allowed to leave the house. 

They still have to both test negative before entering the hospital tomorrow afternoon if they are to attend mum's physio session. 

I'll have to call them and update them when I know the results of their a.r.t. I am also supposed to have a kid coming in for lesson tomorrow afternoon. I've told the mum I will update her as well. I don't want to expose anyone to this. Getting sick is one thing, passing it to 10, 50, 100 people is another. 

👄👄👄👄👄

Tomorrow is also Valentine's Day. Obviously no one here is going on a date. It'll be crowded, expensive and risky. 

Not to mention I don't think either of us should be meeting the other until everyone is Covid-free, we are a.r.t negative for at least 2 weeks, and neither of us is feeling sick-ish. 

That leaves us with, um, maybe a date in March. LOL. We'll celebrate it along with his birthday that was a week and a half ago. 

But aside from Valentine's Day there is also Galentine's Day. It's celebrated on the 13th of Feb so I guess this is me wishing all my blogging gal pals HAPPY GALENTINE'S DAY. 

"The best thing about Galentine’s Day is that it was created by a fictional character: Leslie Knope of Parks and Recreation. In 2010, the second season of Parks and Rec included an episode called “Galentine’s Day,” in which Leslie gathers a group of her closest gal pals for a brunch full of waffles and love."

I mean, gal pal love and waffles??? I'm in!

But what if you wanna hang with a guy pal, or if you're a guy and well, "galentine" isn't for you? Don't fret. There's always Palentine's Day. It is also celebrated on the 13th of Feb so I'm wishing my NON-gal blogger pals HAPPY PALENTINE'S DAY!

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I've been sitting on these for a bit, I guess I should share them or else they'll just get mouldy by the time I get round to it. 

(And if you, like me, enjoy music-related things, try Byrdle - it's like Wordle but with a choral theme.)

Heh. Heh heh. I really liked this one. 👆

I TOTALLY AGREE WITH BOTH OF THESE. Reading the news makes me irritable. The amount of stupid in the world is mind-blowing. I realise I should be used to it by now. But it still surprises me. 

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Mum has been hooked on magic-related TV shows. It's a good thing we found something she enjoys so as to kill the time she has to be stuck indoors. She has watched the reboot of Charmed (3 seasons) and is currently going thru Merlin (from 2008). I enjoyed it when I watched it a decade ago, so I'm glad she's also finding it entertaining. There are 5 seasons so she'll have plenty to distract her. 

Meanwhile I'm on season 2 of A Discovery of Witches. I like the premise, I don't like the main actress - I think she's over acting and doesn't seem to be doing justice to Matthew Goode who plays the character opposite her. (And she has the worst American accent. I get that she's Australian, but seriously.) I DO like Matthew Goode - yeah yeah, that tall lanky type. My friend thinks he'd make a good Bond. I think he'd make a good bonk. But only if he smells nice. The problem with LOOKING at eye candy is that I worry (unnecessarily so, but still I worry) that they'll end up not smelling good. 

Can I just say again how I love that BIKSS always smells good? Mmmmmm. Nothing beats that clean, crisp scent of laundry detergent and fabric softener LOL. Dettol is good too. And so is bleach. I think I have a sickness. 

But back to TV.  You can watch the trailer HERE or click on the video below-

And while looking for that trailer I decided that I shall give Scandal a go. Why not right? I mean, I should be doing my module videos on Understanding Dementia but TV is so much more exciting. 

Ok that's not entirely true. I am enjoying what I call my dementia videos. If basic brain anatomy is something you're interested in, maybe you will too. 

You can read more about it here. It's another MOOC in the same series as the one I did last year on Preventing Dementia. I told my caregiver about it and she has also signed up! It'll be good for her to have this under her belt, I think. Practical knowledge is always a plus, but more importantly she'll have an additional qualification for future employment opportunities. 

Oh, and speaking of caregiver, mum slept thru the night again last night. We are happy that her new medication schedule is working well. Most nights she gets up maybe once, sometimes twice, but some nights she manages to sleep right through. My caregiver jokingly addressed me as "Doc" the whole morning. She also thinks our geriatrician is a quack and that I've managed (with the help of my boss) to do a better job at solving mum's sleep issues. 

Today's chip pic ~ 

(I really could do with some french fries ...)

Vietnamese Dinner, Christmas Pressies, and Plant Updates

I enjoy a Vietnamese restaurant as long as it isn't just all about the pho and fresh spring rolls, which is what a LOT of them are about in where-I-live.

BIKSS and I agreed on a plan some time back to try new restaurants based on what the food discount app suggests according to our GPS location. So last week when we were to have dinner and I was running way late cos I needed to help the mum with her dentures (they wouldn't come out and she was getting very confused about what she was doing in the bathroom - Am I done? Shall I go to the bedroom now?) BIKSS arrived to get me, asked me what I wanted to eat, and I said - I'm stuck with mum, will run down as soon as I can, and you make the plan. I'll eat anything. 

So we ended up at a Vietnamese restaurant. I was very surprised. I had originally thought it was a spring-roll only place, but turns out that restaurant had closed and this was a different one that opened up in its place. 

They had egg coffee which we'd only ever had in Hanoi - and I'd have ordered one too except the next day was a work day and I couldn't afford to be up till 4 in the morning. Turns out it wasn't great. It wasn't even good. Poor BIKSS now has a hankering for the Hanoi version!

We had grilled fish skewers - it was a first for me. And probably won't be my last. Yums.

The medley of colourful veggies rocked BIKSS' boat. He was rather taken with the okra - tender, juicy, and perfectly flavoured.

I love a good deep fried spring roll, so we tried a seafood version. Honestly, I couldn't taste the insides for the crispy crunchy spring roll skin! So goooooood. On the right - deep fried tau kwa (beancurd cakes) with peanut / lemongrass gravy. It was very interesting. And filling. 

And after that we decided we had eaten too much!

The rest of the week was a bit of a mad rush for me. I had classes AND I had to shop for a new mattress for the mum. We went to IKEA and ended up with Christmas deco for her room - 

Anyway the reason we needed a new mattress is cos Ikea beds are 90cm wide and the standard mattresses we have here are 92cm wide and that's ok, we can squeeze it in, which we've been doing, but since I bought a bed rail for her bed, I needed to get one that fit properly so that I could slide the bracket of the rail between the frame and the mattress. Like this - 

Anyway I took her on the wheelchair up and down a bunch of buses to get to Ikea, picked out the mattress she preferred, spent another hour pushing her to various shelves and displays so she could ooh and aah at things (she HAS been cooped up in a hospital for a month and then at home for another week, so I thought, what the heck, let her have a day out right?) and then by the time we got home I realised I had been pushing her on the wheelchair for about 5 hours. 

Moving on... the mattress arrived today, so the caregiver and myself stripped mum's bed, installed the rail, stuck the new mattress on, changed out all the sheets etc, and now she has a comfy new SAFER sleeping habitat.  

My back is also killing me, but a good night's sleep will sort that out. 

And since I had received all my Christmas shopping this last week - did I mention I did all my shopping online during the Shein 10/10 sale? I could have sworn I said so somewhere on the blog but I can't find it anywhere. Maybe it was in a comment. Well, all the stuff has arrived and since I was going to be sitting around all day waiting for the mattress to arrive, I thought, what the heck... why not just wrap everything. 

So I did. 

I now have 2 bags of wrapped presents beside my 2-foot tree. Talk about getting a head-start. 

I'm also planning to gift my boss a plant, as he saw the beetle peperomia cuttings I passed to my  colleague last week and said he wouldn't mind a small pot cos "it's so cute!"  Actually, BIKSS thinks so too, and I twisted his arm into accepting a tiny pot of cuttings as well :)  P/s, it didn't take a whole lot of effort on my part. 

So I came home and snipped. And now I have a propogation tray. LOL. And this is how you know I've been well and truly sucked into this plant thing. 

Top left and right -  Peperomia cuttings sitting in jars of rainwater, stems stuck through overturned plastic jello cups with holes made in them. 

Bottom left - peperomia leaves stuck in a bed of gravel to hold them upright, sitting in rainwater. They say you can propogate from leaves too... but it'll take longer. (If my zz leaves -see next paragraph - are anything to go by, I'm almost certain these will be here for 2 months at least!)

Bottom right - still waiting for the darned leaves of my zz to root. It's taking a LOT longer than my stems. Note to self - don't use leaf cuttings. I mean, these were the first batch of leaves. The stems from that same batch have rooted, grown rhizomes, and are sitting in a pot with BIKSS' name on it (you can see a pic of it HERE). The second batch of stems - from cuttings made a month later - look like this now (see pic below)  and YET those darn old leaves STILL haven't rooted. I'm kinda impatient for them to get going so that I can stick them into a pot with these two lovely rooting stems for the boss!

Anyway, maybe they'll have rooted by the time Christmas comes around, in which case, he'll get that for Christmas instead of the peperomia - which I suspect will be ready before then.

That's it from me for this week. I'm beginning to think that I'm only going to be able to update this blog once a week, what with the 2 new kids I'm teaching, mum being back and needing to be watched like a hawk (and assisted every time she stands up to go somewhere), AND the dementia prevention course that I'm enrolled in. Phew. 

Hopefully things will get better in time to come - she'll get stronger, hopefully, and won't need as much chaperoning, AND if not, at least I know my course will end in a couple of weeks so there's THAT. 

I HAVE put my other course on hold for this one, so when I'm done with this, I'll likely go back to that other one, but at least the deadline on that one is next year and I don't have rush to finish it. 

In the meantime, I'll try to at least post a weekly bulletin LOL. 

In place of a mood pic today, here's a video I found very interesting, mostly because I could totally identify with the Aspie kids as he was describing the scenarios. Enjoy!