20 Seconds of Fame and Other Nonsense

So I've just concluded a video interview with a media channel that wants to interview me for their Youtube series on caregivers (to Alzheimer's and dementia patients in general), and I suspect the producer enjoyed our chat so much that she offered me a spot almost immediately on their in-person panel event. Woot! "I really like how you engage with your audience, you don't sound at all like you're giving a lecture, it's so enjoyable to listen to you talk, like I'm listening to a podcast!" she said.

I'm not sure what lke listening to a podcast  means... but since I ENJOY listening to podcasts I'm gonna take that as a good thing. 

And so that will be my 20 seconds of Youtube fame. LOL. 

In other news I've been setting up a new lappy cos my old one gave up the ghost (I'd only gotten it about a year ago but it WAS already 9 years old by then, just underutilised in its old home) and it's been a bit tedious trying to work out what's what. I really dislike setting up new tech. Sigh. 

And since I was lappy-less for a while, and couldn't finish watching Reacher before leaving for Kuala Lumpur with BIKSS last week, he set up his streaming account on my phone where I have been getting my fix of smash bang crash! It's not the greatest acting, but hey, I'm not watching it for talent. Just the action. I love me a good car chase and some fake blood! 

Meanwhile I'm off to Genting Highlands with the sister this Friday (click here for a very brief youtube video showing the highlights)... but I'll unload the fotos from said KL trip before I leave. That's the thing tho, about going on frequent trips (because I'm a declutter freak!) - I really don't like having mixed vacation photos on my phone LOL. So I think I'll clear up the gallery tomorrow and post those as I save them to my backup drive. 

Stay tuned!

(That crazy colourful hotel is where we'll be staying!)

Also, post-steroid jab, the shoulder has been good. I can manage taking BASIC care of myself, altho I still can't reach across to scrub my left shoulder (I bought a long handled bath brush for that) or wear a bra the regular way cos I can't get far enough behind myself. But for most other things (washing dishes, doing laundry, sweeping the floor) I'm killing it! 

Well, at least I have a washing machine and a dryer to help with the dirty clothes!

In HRT news - we switched me over to Livial. Tibolone. And despite it not being a cyclical direct estrogen/progesteron medication with expected withdrawal bleed, I got my period last weekend. The doctor says give it 3-6 months to settle down. Okay then. Let's see...

This means I need to start watching my dates and weeks all over again... and here I thought I was done with that. Well, at least the NEXT trip we're planning won't clash with the next cycle. If the cycle plays nice and sticks to the plan that is. 

One can hope.

How am I Spam?

 

It has only NOW occurred to me that some of my messages / comments (and yours) have landed in the spam folder. It's really weird that Blogger would flag my own replies as spam. 

If you have commented in the past but it hasn't showed up on my posts, I do apologise.  What a mess. 

A Bit of This and a Bit of That (2)

They put this post under a warning too. Let's try this again. (where s-- is you know what... - when did that become a bad word?)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Mooncake season is officially over. I received a total of 9 mooncakes from various people and (gasp) my brother was one of them. 

I'm glad I didn't overdo it. Most of them were shared, and/or eaten over a few days and not all in one sitting. 

The jaw continues to annoy me. For a whole week there was no clicking and no pain. And then last Wed it began hurting during a session of Roger-worshipping. And I wasn't even vigorous or nothing. 

Speaking of playtime, last Friday after a particularly delightful (we ate too much of course!) dinner out in town we got back home and while I was playing with Roger under the waistband of BIKSS' pants, I remarked that he should take his pants off. "The whole way?" he asked. "Well, how else are you gonna have s--?" I retorted. 

BIKSS then went on to ask ME "And how are YOU going to have s-- when you're on your period?"

Ladies and gentlemen, the day has finally come when I must officially declare myself forgetful. 

I clear forgot that I was on my courses. DUH! 

"Well, what are we to do now?" I asked in mock dismay (actually, there was some REAL dismay on my part cos I was pretty keen to get some lovin' on, tbh). 

"You have two choices," he declared matter of factly, "a h a n d job or a b l o w job". 

And so some massage oil later, a h-job it was. 

Hopefully we'll get ACTUAL action going tomorrow! 

Um, what else is there this week... oh I got a text message from what I think is a scammer - They sent it from my actual mobile service provider's official channel, which made me panic. Apparently I'm to be charged $5.99 per WEEK for something. I rang them up and they put a barring service on my number effective immediately. They don't seem to see anything suspicious on my account so far, so I've been advised to monitor my bill and let them know if there is a charge I didn't sign up for. Good gawd. 

In other #techfailsme news - I tried sharing my Fever Up code with a friend who wanted to sign up to get some tickets... and all she got was a voucher for $10 AUD. Which can only be used in Australia. Which is kinda useless to her cos we DON'T live in Australia. 

But since the customer service rep can't do anything except say they're sorry and give me a voucher code in my home currency, here's a link if anyone in Australia wants to sign up for a Fever account or pick up tickets for a show there. 

https://use.fvr.to/eLh0grS9xIb

I don't know why this is the case tho, when my account is registered to my actual home address and the city that I'm in (under location services) shows my home city. 

I suspect it's because the first ticket I purchased was in AUD. But even then, it should pick up the location I'm in presently (or my registered address) when generating a link no? I guess not. 

Sometimes tech frustrates more than it assists. 

In good news, we've booked our flights to Bangkok. We'll be going at the end of October. There really isn't a whole lot of stuff to buy from there that I can't get here. Except sanitary products.. They used to be less than half the price of what I would have to pay here. If that's still the case, it looks like my luggage will be just THAT and chips. They have Lays chips in flavours that we don't get here. Spicy squid, tom yum etc. 

The weekend before that I'll be in Malaysia for 2 days to attend a conference. So I might get some shopping done then too. 

Look at me, jet-setting all over the place and feeling very adult to be doing so. Speaking of which...

I sent an old jade pendant that belonged to my father to my jeweller's on Friday. (Again, look at me, having a jeweller even!) It's a carving of a goat - my father's Chinese zodiac sign - on a traditional red string necklace. 

The problem with this is - 

1. That red string thing is a really old-fashioned way of wearing jade. 

2. Strings (and chains) are a no-go for me cos I'm very susceptible to skin tags around my neck. 

So I asked if he could lose the string and attach a clasp to it (in white gold) so that I can pull some ribbon through to wear as a choker. He said yes, and showed me a sample that looked something like this one - 

The goal is to have it worn in a fashion resembling this - 

As for it being a goat? Lucky for me, I was born under the zodiac sign of Capricorn. How's that for appropriation! 

Back to Bottega, Mum's Latest Gadgets, and The Quest for Pretty Nails

Bottega Dupes I mean. Not the real deal. I don't got that kind of money. 

Betty is getting me this pair on the left for $25 for Christmas. Not quite the same as the originals, but close enough. 

All because BIKSS got a real actual BV wallet in his DnD lucky draw. 

And the fella was like - apparently it's expensive, heard of the brand? 

Me - Are you fucking kidding me? You know those braided / padded sandals I've been on about? 

So he finally figured it out. My advice was "Use it, or sell it. Don't keep it till the leather starts to peel and crack... cos then it'll be worthless." 

He's gonna use it. And that hippie outfit I curated for him for that same DnD? Bagged him the 3rd prize for best costume AND a $100 voucher! I'm taking ALL the credit.

We had part one of Christmas feasting at our favourite French place. I bought BIKSS dinner and next week he's buying ME dinner.

Fusilli ratatouille, chicken fricassee and avocado on sourdough.

We're booked this Tuesday at a Peranakan restaurant that's supposed to be really really good. I actually wanted to try it when we watched a play last month (same venue) but the roads were so congested on the way there, we detoured to a burger place and picked up some food to eat in the car instead. Good thing too. Cos we got there just in time. 

But it's not all fancy foods and uppity restaurants. One of our favourite places is a little local fried chicken chain. It's good prices for greasy fried up stuff. 

Not-real cheese and mayo on a chicken cutlet on a salad

Chilli (it's underneath all that yellow stuff) cheese fries with an egg over top. It was pretty darn good.

Halfway decent lamb chops - tasted lamby but not in a bad way. We chucked out the bread. It sucked.

The new CG is workin' out just fine. (I'm hearing a Texan drawl with that. Cos I've been watching Young Sheldon. It's hilarious.) She's very pleasant. A little round and tubby, has a good disposition, speaks English, and feels more like a friend than an employee. Pretty much how I feel about CG1. So it's going well. I do hope that the agency manages to place that other one in a new home soon so I can get my damned refund from the unused portion of the fees I paid for her. AND so that I can get a refund from her insurance (mandatory insurance policy we have to pick up for our caregivers) - they've told me that once my name is off her work papers as official employer here they'll automatically send me a partial refund. Ugh. I'm still waiting. Should be any day now cos the agency says it won't be longer than 3 weeks. And it'll be 3 weeks this Wednesday.   

I've also been listening to 99% Invisible (Ninety nine per cent invisible) - check out their website and look for their podcast anywhere you listen... fascinating stuff, and no, it's not ALL about architecture, even tho that's what their intro implied to me. It might have been, in the beginning, but it's evolved. 

This week we got mum's hospital bed in. There was a lot of moving things about but it's finally sorted. Managed to give away the bed rail that we installed last year on a local recycle app, along with an old portable air cooler that's been sitting in the room untouched for 5 years. One of the mattresses and bed slats from mum's old bed were taken off my hands too. At least we didn't have to throw it all out. 

 

I wish I had gotten it sooner, to be honest. It's so convenient and a whole lot easier to adjust everything so that mum is more comfortable. The air pressure mattress really helps too. We don't have to worry about turning her (manually) through the night cos the alternating inflating and deflating columns prevent any one spot from being in high-pressure contact for any extended length of time. (I only learned about these last year!) You can read about these mattresses  HERE. 

I've just about recovered from a lousy cold and cough. It got me pretty bad the whole of last week. I was sleeping half the time. 

I've also been experimenting with nail polish. And have found the holy grail of quick drying top coats - it does contain toluene so if you're not a fan of having that in your nail formula, skip this one.

I have discovered that the Sally Hansen's Miracle Gel top coat works best with their Miracle Gel (colour) polish. When I tried the top coat on regular (other brands') nail colour it wasn't impressive in the least. But on top of the Miracle Gel colours it really does give a rather beautiful finish. Not quite gel finish (like in the shops with the UV lamp) but about 70% of that. Which, since I've sworn off UV gel polish, is good enough for me. 

I've been getting my nail polish on the cheap - resellers on that recycle app I mentioned. It's awesome. I even managed to get a bottle of Barry M Gelly Hi Shine in Blood Orange. (This brands isn't sold in the shops here.) 

Isn't it so cheery and bright? That's the other thing. I'm purging my nail polish collection of the darker colours and veering towards lighter, as well as brighter, fun-ner ones.

(This one's called S-teal the show!) 

(Love me Lilac)

It seems like I'm spending a small fortune testing this shit out, but really, it's not as bad as one might expect. When you pay 4-6 bucks for something that costs 15 at the store, it doesn't seem too extravagant. And all because I'm determined to get the glossiest most gel-like manicure without exposing my fingers to UV light. Besides, all the stuff I've gotten so far hasn't even come close to what ONE gel mani would cost me, and that's not even counting the soak-off I'd have to pay for after. 

AND I have also found a new place to park some of my money for 3.8% interest. No minimum sum. 6 month lock in period. It's a pretty good rate as far as local interest rates go.

I'm still eating my way thru the Marks and Spencer chippy loot. This evening I nibbled some cheddar alongside my lightly salted tortillas. It was good. Koff koff.

Infinity

 

I hadn't touched my Fishdom app in such a long time that when I logged in a little while ago my rewards included a bunch of things including a total of 13.5 hrs of free life! 

That is all today.

Dalat - Still Day 1 - The Night Market - Food and Loot

After the falls we headed back to the hotel where we got out of our wet clothes and changed into something a little warmer. Nights can get chilly (for me, anyway) at 16 degrees C, so it was time for my warmer long cardigan. 

I'm all about the local cuisine, and street food is a huge thing in many Asian countries. Where I live it's all but been eradicated. Hygiene issues etc. So the only chance I have of getting that old authentic local flavour (both literally and cultarally speaking) is when I'm on holiday! 

I'm glad we've both got our Hep A shots... along with the other stuff (DPT). Cos street food was definitely part of my holiday plan! 

Vietnamese Mini Pancakes (Bánh căn)

Vietnamese Pizza (Bánh Tráng Nướng)

In theory it sounds delish - egg, cheese, scallions, sausage - I think we had spam in ours - but the actual eating of it was rather meh. It didn't have a distinct taste of anything really. Just crispy with some sweet and salty profiles. It *looked* better than it tasted. 

The making of it was fun to watch tho - I managed to catch her doing the last bit.

There are also many shops selling fruit and vegetables! Both of the fresh variety as well as the dried / pickled / preserved kind. 

Them big purple things are brinjals. 

The stalls are on either side of the street - which, unlike the night markets in other places I've been to, is NOT closed off to traffic. So every now and again... and again and again, you'll get cars and bikes honking to get thru the human traffic. This was on Wednesday night so it wasn't crowded at all. We visited again on Friday night and it was packed! 

Hot soy milk in a plastic bag tied up with a rubber band and a straw stuck inside it.

I'm told warm soy milk (Sua Dau Nanh) is a great way to warm up on cold Dalat nights. Often paired with fried dough fritters, this is a popular supper food. The soy milk was fine. The dough fritters, um, NOT fine. We each took a couple of bites of 2 different types, then chucked them out. Charred. Burnt. Gross. Plain. Tasteless. Even the one with butter filling shown above. Give this a miss. We have these sorts of things in where I live and I much prefer the ones back home. 

The power bank I had with me is very very old. It was the biggest one in its time - 4000mah. Imagine that. It was time to upgrade to a slightly bigger one cos the old powertube would get really hot really quick when in use. And I don't know how long more it will last. I don't need something super huge anyway, just enough to get me through the day IF I need to be out all day. Most days I'm home by lunch time and can charge up then. BIKSS got this one for me from the electronic goods store around the corner from where or hotel was. We took it back to the hotel. I opened the box. There was no cable. So we had to go back the next morning to get a cable to charge up the thing. LOL. Do people sell stuff without charging cables now? 

This is the main souvenir shop at the market area. And any area, really. They seem to be everywhere. There'll be one here, and then when you go diagonally across the street there's another one. They're not all the same size tho, some stores like this one boasts a buffet upstairs - but from what we could tell it was more of a dried fruit buffet than an actual food buffet. 

Now who needs that kind of sugar overload when you can get it in this awesome avocado ice cream wonder! We tried three different versions - it seems there's no fixed formula for this treat - as long as there's avocado and a coconut-flavoured shaved ice ball on top, you're all set. This one had peanuts. Another had no nuts, but a dollop of fresh durian instead, and the third had coconut flakes in place of the peanuts. You mix it all up and spoon the thick yummy goo into your mouth and then experience heaven on your tongue. Yes, it IS that good. 

Some coffee to take home for colleagues - from the L'angfarm shop of course.

And that was about all the loot we got from that day. Oh, wait, here's a packet of sweet potato chips that I bought to try - cos if it was any good I'd planned on picking up more packets to take home with me. I didn't. It was't fantastic. So the one packet was all we got. Here. Have some!

I'm Too Old To Figure It Out

Or just not techy enough maybe? 

I looked at Wordpress.com. I even signed up. And migrated my Blogger blog (up to 28th Dec 2022) over - couldn't make it current cos when I've tried exporting my blog in the last couple of weeks blogger jams up at 14Mb. It. Is. Really. Annoying. 

BUT more importantly - I mean, having 30 lost posts is nothing to me when I've been here for 11 years right? - more importantly... I just don't know how to use the Wordpress menu. It's so fecking complicated. Site editor? Template editor? Clicking on blocks? Took me 4 minutes to figure out how to add a block so I could put in the archives. Took me another 5 to find the settings so that it would be grouped by month. ARGH.

I've watched the tutorials and it's still taking me way too long to even figure out how to set it so that I only get the most recent instead of last 3 posts on my front page. It really is quite annoying. 

U know, maybe I just stay here until I'm done with blogging for good.

Le sigh. 

And maybe I make it a private blog - so if you want access let me know and I'll send you an invite by email. I'm not sure if that will make it better - more accessible - cos some people have already reached out saying they can't get past the warning page. I don't know.. maybe you have to sign in or something? 

Tanks and Pigs

The tanks that I wear to work are looking a little worn so I picked up a few more from Shein... cos ... why not? The weather is getting into the fucking-hot zone these days, which is usual for us this time of year. And where I work it's not an issue to come in with tanks (as long as they're decent enough) so I got these - for under 20 bucks (total!). 

Except I'm not loving the button detail on the middle one so I popped them off. They were just decorative anyway. Much better without. (Also, I love stripes! Can you tell?)

I'm looking forward to wearing them, but it all depends on the weather. This morning, despite the 33°C (91°F ) sunny days we've been having, the monsoon rains blew in at a nippy 23°C (73.5°F)! It might not be terribly cold to some of you but when it's raining and you factor in windchill, it gets a tad cold for someone used to living so close to the equator.

And on the topic of tanks... here are two dresses I'm waiting for -

I'm in a midi dress kind of mood these days, and I don't have nearly enough of them imo, besides the 3 spaghetti strap ones I own, and a couple of long black tee-shirt dresses (don't ask me why I ended up with 2 in the same colour; the style is ever so slightly different tho).

And in other news, my godson introduced me to a game he's playing - it's called Pig Farm Mix. So far it's cute enough to hold my attention, AND it doesn't take a lot time. I just log in every few hours to feed them, and once they're old enough I ship them out for cash. I think you can breed them too... but I haven't gotten that far yet. 

You buy them as piglets, feed them stuff, then over time they grow. And when they're mature you can see what kind of pig they are. I had a Japanese chef pig in a cute white hat, and a Wet pig when a bucket on its head. BUT you'll only get their 'names' when you ship them off to be sold. They then appear in your collection books. 

When pigs get too old (over 50 hours old) you don't get any money for them. Hence that old pig sitting in my pen with the red hat. You can still ship them off if you need to make space, but since he was my very first pig, I think I'll keep him. (And yes, when they're old pigs, you can't breed them either!)

Here's today chip pic - pork rinds anyone? 

Money Week + +

Let's start with the plus plus. I play a game called Angry Birds Dream Blast that BIKSS started playing first. And at first when I tried it on his phone I didn't like it. But after some time when I went to play it again I found that I actually enjoyed it. Perhaps he had moved on in levels and I found it just challenging enough.  

So I downloaded the thing. And now I'm at level 7000 and something. I just thought it was cute that they built the '7000' into the game layout for the level. 

Dinner last week was at a place by the beach. It was one of those things that look like a hut, no fuss, not many tables - read : less chance of having to deal with screaming kids thank goodness! - and so we had a greek salad, some stuffed portabellos, and a grilled barramund. Could have been better... but it was decent enough. I'm not complaining. The ambience was lovely. By which I mean we were the only people sitting indoors. There were a few tables occupied outside. A quiet dinner is a great dinner imo.

One thing I found hilarious was that on the menu it said all mains were served with vegetables and starch. I mean, who calls it starch? Couldn't they just say potatoes? LOL. 

The rest of this week has been all about finances for me. I pulled out some time deposits that were giving me pathetic returns and stuck it all back in for another term with more than double the interest. Thanks to the 'rona, interest rates were at something stupid like 1.1% when I placed those funds. Thankfully it's climbed back up to the 3 point somethings. 

I also had to renew my home and fire insurance. Which isn't a whole lot of money, but it's just tedious having to log in and make payment etc. 

Then I got an email saying that my government approved integrated insurance plan was up for renewal and I had to pay a little over a thousand bucks. What? Wait. No. 

So I did some digging and asked around and someone suggested this company that mum and dad's insurance plans are/were with. I don't handle their stuff, the brother does... so I had no prior experience with them aside from recognising the name of the company. 

Turns out a friend's sister is an agent with said company so she put me in touch with her, and we sorted out the stuff in one afternoon. I will save about 27% in premiums annually, so I decided to pick up a rider that would limit my copay to 5% (instead of 10%) with a cap at 3k per year, and take care of  my deductible of 3.5k altogether - taking it down to zero dollars - woot!

I mean, that's some serious peace of mind for $200 a year. 

(For definitions on copay / deductibles etc click HERE)

I tried explaining all this to my sister when she asked why I was meeting an insurancent agent, but as usual she's all like "Oh I don't understand any of this my brain's too old to fathom these numbers and make sense of all the terms... I don't know... I'll just let my husband deal with this stuff." I REALLY CANNOT UNDERSTAND how someone could be so negligent. Yes, negligent, in that she just doesn't think about what will happen and how it will impact her children should anything happen to them. Argh. 

Side note - I later told my niece about the Silver plan - see below - and suggested she find out what her parents are covered for and consider picking up a plan on their behalf so if they end up in hospital she won't be bankrupted by their bills. 

Anyway, aside from that, because I know I don't have a great disability / critical illness plan, I decided to check if they had a cancer-specific plan cos the boss suggested it - he recently got one for himself because of the way cancer treatment costs here are escalating every year. It's gotten to a stage where in April this year they'll be announcing a revision on the payout schedules for ALL insurance companies across the board cos there's going to be some huge overhaul in the Health Ministry's definitions of cancer treatments and management.

So there's a cancer plan that pays out upon early stage AND late stage diagnoses of cancer (for 125% of the sum assured) and also the full amount of the policy in the event of accidental death; and then there's a "Silver" plan (I found this rather amusing) that I'm just old enough (50) to qualify for. My agent recommended that I take that over the former, cos on top of all that the other one has, it's got additional coverage for "fractures requiring surgery or surgical fixation" PLUS there is an extra payout (albeit only 25% of the policy) in the event I need to be placed in a hospice for "terminal cancer". For about $3 more monthly, that's not a bad deal. 

But if I die of natural causes then my next of kin gets a measly 5 grand flat. LOL. 

Alright, so I paid for all the things, and filled up all the forms. 

And downloaded all the apps and documents and what nots. 

Then I got an email saying it was time to renew the work visa for my caregiver... which also meant I needed to renew HER insurance plan. 

The government makes it compulsory for all employers to take up an insurance policy for stay-in caregivers / housekeepers when we commit to a contract. And so I rang the agent again to ask if they had a policy for stay-in caregivers, and she got a general insurance specialist to give me a call. 

My, but she was super efficient. She definitely knew her stuff! And she was a fast talker!

"Hi my name is Jane, and I'm calling per your agent's request (Marilyn) to help you with your caregiver's insurance plan prior to her work visa renewal. Is this something that you requested?" 

Me taking my own sweet time on the phone... - um, oh hi Jane, yup I asked Marilyn if she could assist with getting my caregiver a policy for the next 2 years. 

"Sure, we can do that. Have you received the official notice of renewal? Either hard or soft copy?"

Me - uh yeah I have an email.

"Ok I'm going to ask you to pull up that email, and also get hold of your caregiver's passport as we'll need the passport number and date of expiry, I'll hold while you gather the necessary documents." 

"If you look at the notice of renewal on the top right corner below the date you'll see a permit number beginning with  0 - can you read that 8 digit number to me beginning with zero?" 

"Now below the salutation (Dear Ms Fondles) you'll see a service expiry date - can you read that date out to me in date date month month year year format?" 

And on and on she went. It was ALMOST like being talked thru an automated system. But BETTER!

Anyway we got that done in no time at all and I'm a happy camper. 

Except now I have to keep an eye on the date cos come 30th March I'm gonna need to pull out another bunch of time deposits and re-deposit them with better interest. One matures on the 30th, so I thought I'd just wait till then (and not pay the penalty for that one) and then pull the rest (that won't mature till months later) out on the same day. 

Oh, and in some good news, one of mum's homecare grants has been doubled from this month onwards. Some enhanced financial measures that the government announced in the recent budget. It's only $200, but that's better than nothing.

It'll buy me more chips, at the very least :)

Because Blogger is Being a Brat

Here's the sitch - for the longest time I didn't need the sensitive content warning. Then one day I wrote something naughty and Blogger kept saying it didn't want to let me publish. Cos, I dunno, it bit of the fruit of the tree of knowledge or something and figured out what I was writing wasn't kosher for the general public. 

So I stuck the warning page on. 

And then it decided some of my friends weren't allowed to come in and read. And some who were, couldn't post any comments. 

So I removed the warning page. After all, it's not like I'm writing anything kinky anymore these days. 

BUT - in the event I do, please excuse the lack of detail or explicit descriptions. I'm trying to keep from getting shown the "please display sensitive content warning" message.

Like last night, for example. 

We went out to dinner at a vegetarian place in the same building that housed the theatre we were going to to watch a play. 

They had 'Spam' fries - vegetarian of course  - but it was as good as the real thing. I mean, if BIKSS was impressed, it must have been good. I couldn't tell cos it's been years since I ate any luncheon meat at all.

The otah or otak-otak (a Southeast Asian fish cake made of ground fish mixed with spices and wrapped in leaf parcels. Otak-otak is traditionally served steamed or grilled, encased within the leaf parcel it is cooked in, and can be eaten solely as a snack or with steamed rice as part of a meal. 👈 from Wiki) was also a very good dupe of the real thing! 

Our main was a lion's mane mushroom version of Bak Kut Teh  - pork rib soup (click 👉 here to see a previous post in which I shared a pic) 

We headed to the theatre for our play and then met up with my cousin who was acting in it after. Turns out he didn't drive that night so I volunteered BIKSS to send him home.We could go for a drive, he'd get a comfy ride home, and we could chat and catch up along the way. It was too early for us to head home ourselves anyway, cos you know, there's that whole deal with mum now. 

Eventually we ended up in my room and as we were chatting I asked him if we were going to have  s-- (rhymes with plex 😆). He said well yes, but only if I was up to it. I explained that because of all the stuff that's going on with me, I'm not feeling "it" at all these days (perimenopause and birth control pills do a serious number on your libido let me tell you) and I suspect I'll be perfectly fine never doing it ever again too. So if he wants to get some he's gotta do the work! LOL. I assured him I'm not s-- averse, "well, if you're not averse", he echoes, and I emphasise it this time "nope, I'm not a-verse. In fact I think I'm more of a chorus"... he didn't hear that one at first... cos he was busy taking off his pants. But eventually he realised what I had said! 

Ok, I had to throw in a lame dad joke in there just cos. Anyway, I get to um, saying my hellos to Roger in the way I do, and he's having a thoroughly good time of it. All that muscle twitching and grunting and expelling of air inspired me to ask (through sounds, which he clearly understood) if he wanted to c-- in my mouth. The answer was yes. 

I think that's a brilliant way to do it. No fuss, no mess, he's happy, I'm happy. I mean, it's not going to come as a shock to anyone who reads here that I enjoy a good bj as much as I used to enjoy s--. These days, more. 

And there you have it. I'm going to hit "publish" now and see if Blogger still thinks this is too raunchy for the general readership. Fingers crossed. 

And have a luncheon Spam chip while you're at it!

 

I Don't Understand Why Posts Are Getting Flagged

Is anyone else getting alerts for their posts being inappropriate? 

I've set up the warning.. and I never had a problem before.. I mean we've been writing about sex and kink for 11 years now...

Is this a new thing? 

Grrr... I don't like change. It throws me off balance. And it upsets me. 

Guess Who!

 

 

I got back after the vacation weekend, tapped on the power button and nothing happened. Ok, well, not true. A bunch of things happened. But NOT what I wanted the lappy to do. There was not even a blue screen of death. It just WOULD NOT BOOT. 

I took it to the repair dude. I also took a newer (still more than 5 years old tho) lappy that Betty passed to me (one of her old office lappys) and after 2 weeks or so I now have a fully functioning laptop again. 

It would have been sooner but I needed a power cable cos the one I had shorted when I plugged the adaptor in. I picked that up today and then it shorted the adaptor and tripped the circuit breaker. So I stuck the previous adaptor back in and now I have a laptop that works, a very achey back and my period just came. But the back of my bookcase and desk are SO clean now! 

It's really strange how physical getting a tech-thing fixed can be. I made a total of 3 trips down to the repair shop. And two trips out to get the lappy and the power cable. Plus moving the furniture and crouching into small spaces on two days in a row trying to get the wires sorted. 

I'll show you fotos in a couple of days... I'm still trying to get all the programmes downloaded. It's a good thing Chrome lets you sync your browser bookmarks! 

Have a good weekend everyone!

Impressed with the Robot and a Hiatus

I've seen some reports of this sort of thing on the news.... but this was the first time we'd encountered one in real life. 

4 veg stir fry

Barramundi fish and chips

The robot that brought us our food

BIKSS' hand getting in the way of my picture of the robot leaving our table.

I'm sure some of you have noticed that nothing has been going on in these parts except for dinners and medical updates. 

I'm not feeling much of anything at the moment. Except maybe overwhelmed. 

I still love BIKSS and he still means a lot to me. But I'm not sure this relationship means to me what it once did. 

I don't know that it's not contributing to my feelings of sadness and Blah. 

My inner monologue keeps coming back to the idea of us being on different trajectories. He's moving forward, towards stuff. I'm being held back, stuck in place, pulled back by responsibility. 

The language I'm hearing in my head consists of phrases like "nothing's going to change till something/someone dies", "what's the point?", and "eventually it'll just die out, maybe". 

So as you can see, I'm not in the best place. Maybe it's burnout, maybe it's reality hitting home. Maybe the time has come / is coming that we just can't do this anymore.

Our time together has dwindled to twice weekly dinners. And I don't even feel sad anymore when he tells me he has to go on a work trip. I meet most of his news with a figurative shrug and inner "yeah, ok, whatever" - cos the truth is it really doesn't change my life. How can it? I'll still be here, at home, watching mum, I'll still be dealing with her dementia. I'll still be dealing with my perimenopause, and work and class, and aches and pains and all of my own stuff that is separate from my romantic relationship. 

This is how I feel right now. And until something changes, I'm going to take a break from blogging. I've run out of things to say. I've run out of drive. I've just run out. 

If I have updates, I'll pop in and write something. But I just wanted to let you know not to panic if you don't see a post in a while. I'm just going to lay low for a bit.