Good day

Nice weather, nice gatherings, nice people, nice food...

Life is as simple as that.

Too enjoyable to have any ideas for writing more here? :p

Wah, 紅燒豆腐飯呀!! :p

Dim sum lunch!!

Oh my favourite rice rolls..  

Very nice dinner! The haddock from Waitrose was of good quality; the beef stew was good too! 

Doctor-phobia or obsessive about seeing doctors?

Another day with very nice weather. My mood was ok good...

I think I'm a morning person in that if I wake up late, I seem to be lazier for the rest of the day, whereas if I wake up early, there seems to be more time and I like to finish my 'tasks' in the morning. Like today, I woke up around 9 a.m. (which is actually a bit later than before! :p) - had breakfast, read some news and checked email, then went out for seeing doctor and gym. Then in the afternoon I did a bit of acca revision and do a bit of writing before going out again. But waking up early means I better go to bed early...

Yes, I saw a doctor AGAIN! I had been hesitant about it and asked myself many times if I did 'need' to see the doctor - not my GP but the Chinese doctor that I had seen before. I guess I need more reassurance from the doctor about my little recent skin problem. It seems seeing doctors is more than just about getting information (facts) but also about how to feel better psychologically. In the past, I rarely saw a doctor because I didn't like to see a doctor; even when I didn't feel well, I'd try to let my body rest and recover by itself. Now, I still don't like to see a doctor, but it's because I've seen the doctor so often that I wonder if I'm over reacting. I guess my self-image is also poor!?

Anyway, the Chinese doctor did make me feel better by telling me more about possible reasons why my body had those symptoms (itching, rash) and how I should treat it. According to his 'instruction', antihistamine is used to help stop those symptoms and help me (indirectly) identify what might lead to the allergy; last time the female doctor did tell me to take antihistamine but she didn't tell me what to do after taking it - it sounds like antihistamine would be the answer to my skin problem and I don't need to do anything further after that..

I think I do need to be more hardworking and determined, and make the most of my time...

Lunch: I was lazy again - scotch egg (炸蛋) + mixed vegetables 

Still tasty! :p

Finally the diffuser for my flashgun has arrived! 

Can't believe such little plastic thing could cost as little as £2.39! 

Can you spot the difference between the following two photos? 

Hmm, I'd prefer the second photo..  

Dinner: Subway £5 deal + meatballs! 

This Chicken Temptation was quite good.  The bread was soft and the chicken was 'soft' too, not '鞋' at all!

Is summer back again?

What a nice weather again today!! Sunny, warm, blue sky! But I didn’t go out till later in the afternoon. I didn’t sleep well last night because of the itchy skin and I woke up for a while in the early morning in order to do some downloads during unlimited download hours! So I slept till 10 a.m. and didn’t feel motivated to go out then.  

I did a bit of revision for acca and worked on some writing before going to gym. Surprisingly I felt quite energetic when doing gym; not sure if it's because I got more energy in the afternoon? Or because of the warm weather?

Finally the o2 dongle for mobile broadband arrived this morning. What a long wait! Home phone was also transferred to plusnet successfully today! :) Can't believe the whole thing (broadband & home phone) could take so long (2 months)... 

Lunch: It was a vegetarian meal - no meat but mushroom omelette & mixed vegetables! 

The red spots last night frightened me a bit and I decided to eat simpler to help the body recover

Dinner: It cost no more than £2! 

A chicken & mushroom pie from Waitrose at a reduced price + sushi (not in the photo)

Pie and rice were perfect match! :)  

'Free' day and eat eat eat

Feeling ‘free’ today. ‘Free’ in the sense that I can have time on my disposal. There was nothing on my to-do-list today, or I tried to put other non-urgent things aside. I went to gym in the morning as usual, when there were not many people (before 12 p.m.). The weather was very nice today and I did feel like doing some outdoor activity or staying outdoor for a while! 

I made soup at lunchtime, which is Lo’s family’s all-time favourite – tomato & potato soup with beef meatballs! J I put more tomatoes onto the soup and used the beef meatballs that I had bought from Waitrose at a reduced price last week. Plus the mow that mum sent to me last year. It was a very yummy, nutritious, satisfying meal! It was better than the meal I had at Wasabi last night. =_=’ I had a bit of stomach ache after dinner. I’m not sure if it was because I ate too much or because of the MSG in the food?

I had neglected my netbook baby for quite a while. I started working on it in the afternoon.  I’m gonna use it for my writing, including the anthology that I need to revise, and the two personal writing projects that I have longed to accomplish!

Finally I got to sit down and started revising some of my ACCA notes! :p I can see how many things I got to remember for the exams! 


I had dinner at GBK with VIP. The food was yummy. But soon after I got back home, I found that I started having some little red spots, which look like those for people with allergy =_=' I wonder if it's the tomato soup, beef or all things together that make my body have allergic response? *Sigh* When will this skin problem stop? 

Lunch: tomato & potato soup with meatballs + cabbage

 Chips at GBK! :)

'Cindy' having gathering with ex-colleagues

An enriched day.

F4 Corporate & Business Law class today. The tutor seemed to confuse my name with others. He kept calling me 'Cindy'! =_=' And perhaps because I sat directly opposite him and my name 'Cindy' was so easy to remember, that he asked me to answer questions frequently! Today's class was about partnerships, companies and shares. Lots of terms. Now I got to understand those terms that we frequently hear in media. Maybe because the tutor was not as strict as those for the other two classes, about 1/3 of my classmates were late today. They didn't get back to class on time after breaks. No wonder the tutor found it annoying. The tutor talked about our 'future' and the global economy. He said we needed to have a lot of determination and hard work if we want to get a job here, e.g. write to as many companies as possible with a good CV! Hmm, I should do that..

I met up with my ex-colleagues after class. We had dinner at a Japanese/Chinese restaurant. As our conversation went along, one of us started the topic on dancing and then a few of us (girls) were saying we should go out together one night for dancing and another for jazz! Oh... It was nice to see them. Everyone has their own busy life - one is about to move house, one busy with his study, one prepared to travel to HK for a short time, another one planning to find a job and get a work permit... My life seems to be a bit plain - though I'm satisfied with what I've got now; at least my health is doing ok, I can eat, drink and sleep ok, which is the most important thing! :)

Oh it's not just me who had skin rash problems these days. Another ex-colleague of mine, who's only 12 days older than me, told me she also had rash these days. Another ex-colleague also said he had a bit of rash too! They said maybe due to the change of weather, which is getting dry, that we have rash! My ex-colleague said I can try to put on E45 cream all over the body after shower. I did try to put on E45 cream but not all over the body. :p

No more class this week till next Monday! I should make the most of the rest of the week! :)

Lunch: last night's leftovers - steamed chicken with mushroom + spring green cabbage

Yummy, health & satisfying

Dinner at Wasabi: tofu sushi, egg sushi & avocado sushi (not in this photo)

All meat-free as I shared the sushi with my vegetarian ex-colleague! 

Ramen with deep fried salmon

The portion was bigger than before but the noodles itself were not of good quality

They were like those instant noodles; not the real Japanese ones...  

Body loves enough good sleep!

Usual household Sunday, with some good rest & good food. :)

I didn't wake up till 9:30 a.m. - I had 9 hours sleep! I felt my body was happy with me sleeping so much for it to recover! :p No wonder there's a saying 'Early bedtime early wake up is good for health' - though I didn't wake up early, I did try to go to bed early these days. As usual, after breakfast I did laundry, then cleaned the kitchen and shower room. I tried the new hoover and it was really strong and better than the previous one. I still didn't clean the filters for the cooker hood yet. =_='

Mum still seems to treat me as a little kid - she bought me a lot of 'big mouth boy' stuff, e.g. calendar, mobile phone bag. She's caring though. She asked me if I was dating anyone as my eldest brother told her so! =_=' Surprisingly mum didn't ask me anything further about it. I guess she's more concerned about herself (e.g. health, travel) than being nosy about others?

I was tempted to watch one episode of TVB drama 'Forsenic Heroes II'. Good that I hadn't downloaded all, or I'd have watched them all in one day! That's also good for my study - I should study and revise my ACCA notes...

Lunch: noodles with cabbage, chestnut mushroom & raider chicken 

Simple but yummy!

Dinner: steamed chicken with mushroom + cabbage + red & yellow peppers in teriyaki sauce! 

Stomach should be happy to have such healthy, nutritious meal! :)   

Koala: I miss you VIP! Are you still weak? Have you had good sleep & good food?  

Enjoy life no matter what

A relaxing day.

Gym in the morning. I wasn't very keen to do very intenseive exercise. I just wanted to stretch my arms and legs. Since my back pain started, which I suspected is having to do with my gym activities, I tried not to work too hard there. But that doesn't mean that I shouldn't go to gym. I just need to be more careful. Same as my skin rash problem. Today it was my left hand that had a bit of rash (the joint of the thumb); does that mean I should avoid going out? Of course not, though it didn't feel good when I went out and did shopping (as it was itchy and anything may irritate it and make it even more itchy!). Also, I noticed that when I started feeling warm/hot after doing some exercise, my body (including my face) started feeling itchy. =_=' But after a while, the rash will be gone. So I just need to be patient, and more careful.

Food shopping after gym. I got quite a long shopping list - toilet paper, bread, soya milk, fruit, vegetables, chicken/pork, etc. I ended up going home with my 'big mouth boy' bag filled up with loads of stuff and a few small tesco shopping bags! :)

I had a nice long distance phone chat with my HK tall girl friend. I found out she had similar problems to mine recently including skin rash/allergy. She said she supsects it was eczema which may be due to the change of weather! It feels like finally there's someone who experiences similar health problems as I do! She said she tries to go to bed early (so as to let her body recover) - which is what I'm trying to do too! She talked about the Korean TV drama ('Secret Garden') that she had just watched. That's my favourite! She also mentioned the iphone trend - she doesn't like iphone for becoming a 'monopoly' in the market (which to some extent has defeated her favourite brand - Nokia) and she's supporting samsung phones! She said she's having more and more enemies as she's against iphone! :p

Lunch: pork minute steaks from Aldi (they're really good) + spring green & courgette & mushroom

Dinner: pasta in tomato & mediterranean sauce with mixed vegetables (peppers & spring green)

with pork minute steaks! Yummy! :)  

Plain schoolday

Still F5 Performance Management Class today. Nothing special indeed...

Maybe I should really go to bed early when I have classes the next day. I fell asleep in class in the afternoon after lunch and I guess the tutor must have seen me 'catching fish' since he said he better turn on the air conditioner so that the air wouldn't be so stuffing that made us feel sleepy. =_=' The chapters he taught today weren't very interesting to me, as they were theories (budgeting) and statistics (e.g. regression analysis, learning curves). My attention in class was distracted for a while when I found that a friend of mine who had planned to meet me today couldn't make it; it turned out that I became a middleman for organizing a yum cha gathering two weeks later...

Don't know why my hand and even my lip got rash this morning. :S Also I wondered if the medicine worked as I found some white residue. Hmm... I know it wouldn't help if I keep thinking about those things and so I tried to tell myself that things would get better and to distract my own attention to something else (e.g. anthology, watching tv, job search) when I can (just like now, by writing this blog!)..

There comes weekend again! :)

Lunch: mini haddock pie from Waitrose + vegetables :) 

oh the haddock pie & rice were match made in heaven! ha!

Dinner: noodles with omelette, chicken pieces & remaining mini haddock pie :)  

Going to school does have benefits

Schoolday. That means back to routine and also my attention can be distracted...

I had an ok sleep last night after using the medicine prescribed by the doctor. It seems I got to know more about my own body whenever I had any health problem... Today was F5 - Performance Management class again. The tutor's teaching was ok but I still couldn't help falling asleep after lunch since I didn't have enough sleep the previous night. :p The tutor reminded us that accounting is not just about doing calculations but also about how to explain things (e.g. budget, costing). I guess it's the same with every profession (e.g. doctor, solicitor), which sometimes need to explain things to customers.

For lunch I only had a steak pasty from Greggs and a banana, which didn't seem enough to fill my stomach and that was why later I got stomach ache. >_< The lack of satisfaction of the stomach was compensated in the evening when I had big burgers and chips from GBK. :)

My efforts into the anthology resulted in good & encouraging comments from the MMU professor. :) That encourages me to get back to writing and other things I like to do.

I have been keeping an eye on our internet usage these days as we use the 10GB per month package. It's a bit tiring when having to keep an eye on the usage. Tonight I found our usage has 'suddenly' gone up to 700mb! On average we should only use 330mb (for two of us)... :S Anyway, sometimes it's good that I have to limit myself the internet usage as I won't spend too much time surfing the internet...

Lunch: Steak pasty from Greggs + banana + mini moo moo

Dinner: Yummy GBK takeaway burgers & chips :)  

Tidy up & medicine (again!)

Quite a relaxing day off and did a bit of tidy up.

I didn't sleep well last night. My itchness problem and the sound of water flowing outside disturbed my sleep. I woke up around 8:30 a.m. which was a bit later than before. I did a bit tidying up and surfed the internet for a while before going to gym. I seemed to be not as energetic as before. =_=' I went to different stores to do a bit 'research' on E45 cream & shower gel before getting the prescribed cream from Boots. I waited for more than half an hour before the pharmacist asked me to collect it. While I was waiting, I had a look at the medicine sections, which cover things like vitamins, treatment for muscle pain ahd hayfever tablets, etc. If I hadn't got so many health problems, I might not have paid attention to those things! :p

I did a bit of tidy up again after late lunch - wrote my diary and organized some of my stuff. I had a quick look at the notes on Corportate and Business Law. I can't imagine how I can remember all those terms, regulations and exceptions. =_='

My allery/itchness problem still persists. I've learnt to tell myself that whatever it is, I'll be fine. :P

Can't believe my Syrian classmate has just got married!! She was still single and lonely last December. How come everyone's got married so quickly this year? Some of them are a bit too 'young' (in their mid twenties) in my eyes; some got to know their partner for a short time only (less than half a year) before getting married. Maybe I used to think that one should get married only when they reach a certain age (e.g. late twenties/early thirties) and when they know their partners for some time (with certain understanding and maturity)...

*****

Lunch: Chinese noodles (蝦子麵) in soup with chicken pieces & broccoli :)

 Dinner at McDonalds: usual - Big Mac + McChicken! :)

Back to 'hardworking' mode

Back to my 'hardworking' mode today!

I have been working on the anthology since last weekend. It should have been submitted to the funding body yesterday. I worked on it from morning till around 4 p.m. I felt relieved once I completed the draft! I felt stressed when I worked on it but it's actually good for me - pushed me to work hard on something. I used some of the photos I took in the past by putting them into the anthology. You never know if your photos can be so useful! :)

Having completed the draft of the anthology helped me do gym afterward too! :p I saw the female locum doctor again. I asked her about my blood test results. She said there was nothing of concern. I talked to her about some female problems too. She's nicer and friendly than the useless gp. Hope she'll continue to be at the clinic. She asked me to use E45 or Aqueous cream all over the body twice a day so that my skin won't get itchy easily...

Yesterday my VIP said I was obsessive as I could go too deep with things like my health problems. That made me think - yes he's right. 命裡有時終須有,命裡無時莫強求. Every now and then I'll get into a 'trap' 鑽牛角尖/跌落胡同 and get worried about things. Then after some time maybe someone or I will pull myself out of the trap until next time. I used to read Buddhism books which help me to reflect and pull me out of those 'traps'. I guess I still haven't got enough skills or enlightened enough 看化 to overcome the difficulties/obstacles in life! When my VIP pinpointed my problem, I found it difficult to accept and feel frustrated at the beginning; but after a while, I'll calm myself down and absorb it..

Hmm, it's time to get back to my accounting revisons..

 Lunch: 'indian' pie + omelette + mixed vegetables

The 'indian' pie was actually ok but I really shouldn't eat it because of my stomach & skin problems. =_='

Dinner: linguine in tomato & mediterranean sauce with black peppered chicken :)

same old workplace, same people but different feelings

No classes on Monday today but I still had a bit of Monday blue! :S

Perhaps because I stayed up late over the past few days after broadband had become available (more internet, more downloads!), I tended to get up late as well. Today was not bad - I woke up around 8:30 a.m. I didn't need to rush as I had no class. But I had to finish the draft of the anthology :( It was due today but I still haven't finished it. I forgot most of the interview data. Also, it's not easy to organize the data in a way that 'has high impact' as requested by the funding body! No one gave me support indeed. The MMU professor asked me to work with another lecturer who was one of the team members for the project but that lecturer seemed to be too busy to reply to my email. My former supervisor, who I asked to help contact the worker that coordinated the group that I had interviewed before, didn't reply to me after I had replied to her previous email and the worker didn't turn up this afternoon. :S I couldn't talk to the group and I couldn't ask the worker for any photo that I might put into the anthology. Looks like I have to do the anthology on my own. Stress...

The blood test results were 'normal'. When I still hadn't heard anything from the clinic by this afternoon, I knew they wouldn't bother to call me when the results were 'normal'. But one of the items on the report was 'high' and my skin itch problem still persists while I found another health problem/question. I wonder when all these health problems will stop? Or is it all because of my stress/mental state? :S

Finally we got a new hoover. I collected it from the agent office. I didn't know we had to assemble its parts. It was easy though. The new hoover seems quite 'strong' and I don't get used to such a strong hoover yet :p

I went back to one of my workplace in the afternoon for the anthology. I was a bit nervous when going there. Fortunately only a few colleagues of mine were there and I got to see two of them only. One of them is facing the same visa problem as I did and we had a good chat about studying and working. She suggested working in the Chinese restaurants should be quite good. Perhaps I'm too obedient to law? It seems people around me are trying different ways (not so right/ethical/legal) to get around the same visa problem..

Lunch: chicken breast with broccoli, mushroom & courgette

Simple dish is the best!

The new hoover!! 

Dinner: pasta with minced pork & spinach in tomato & mediterranean sauce

I didn't cook it well. The sauce seems a bit strange. =_='

Lunch with funny couple

A busy day off.

I didn't wake up till 10:30 a.m., which was quite unusal for me who would always be awake at least once at around 7 or 8 a.m. I was awake around 8 a.m., the time when I normally get up for school or other things. But because I stayed up late last night (to do downloads after midnight and watch some of the tv episodes!), I was so tired that I could sleep till late today. I did laundry and cleaning as usual, before I had lunch with my funny couple friends.

The funny couple and I had dim sum lunch at Yang Sing restaurant. I can't remember when was the last time I had a meal there. They said there were discounts and so we decided to go there. The restaurant was full of Chinese and non-Chinese customers. We had 8 dim sum plates in total, including beef dumplings, thyme & pork dumplings, char siu buns, prawn rice rolls, fried rolls with shredded duck, turnip cakes, 咸水角 and pastries with carrots. They were yummy and only cost us £18 in total! Quite a reasonable price! Having been troubled by the skin rashes/itching problem recently, I should have avoided food like prawns, duck & beef. But I did ate them all! :S The funny couple talked about their Edinburgh trip that they did a week ago. My friend said her husband paid attention to a Chinese young lady when they were having a view on a high place and she 'accused' him of being 'naughty' while he was trying to defense himself and claim he was innocent! That was funny. He has been feeling exhausted by his mum who lives in another city as his mum has been telling him different problems she's got but he doesn't know if what she said is genuinue or not. My friend said her mother-in-law seems to have become a child again. I can understand how difficult it is to look after our parents who're getting old, when I think of my parents. Anyway, I had a good time with my funny couple friends.



I have to finish the draft of the anthology for my last project but it's difficult to get it done when I've almost forgotten anything about the project which was completed more than 6 months ago...

Also got to do my 'training' on ebay.. :p

 (no photos taken of today's dim sum lunch :p)

Dinner:  (butter?) pie & spinach & chestnut mushroom 

A bit disappointed at the pie. It tasted ok (a bit too salty!) but had nothing in it other than a creamy sauce!

Not too bad to eat it with rice.

food shopping & eating - the most enjoyable things to do on weekends!

The most relaxing day of the week. Gym, food shopping, dining out...

It had been a week since I last went to gym. I started getting a bit lazy about doing gym. It does feel good when you get your sweat out and feel energetic and refreshed after gym followed by a shower. But the hassle of having to go and get changed and spend 30 minutes working on a machine makes me hesitate - does it sound like an excuse of those people not wanting to go to gym? :p Anyway, I have to remind myself of the benefits of doing exercises in order to keep me going...

After gym, I did food shopping for the coming week. I didn't buy all I needed in one go. Either because the supermarkets at city centre didn't have what I wanted or their prices were too high. I actually don't enjoy food shopping at the city centre since there are usually too many shoppers and I can't get any good bargains. Fortunately someone took me to Morrisons for food shopping in the evening - we got 9 bread for 9p in total (1p each!), pies/pastries and sandwiches at a reduced price, plus yoghurt, drinks, chicken pieces at a lower price than at other supermarkets! :) It was also relaxing to do food shopping in the evening when there were not many shoppers competing for bargains with us.

Someone's reminded me that I should have started doing networking earlier in order to find a job to stay here...

 Lunch: very simple - just chicken in home-made black pepper sauce & broccoli

Dinner at Morrisons: very filling - 1) cheese & bacon omelette (yummy!) 

Dinner at Morrisons: 2) hunter's chicken  - yummy but the sauce was a bit too salty!

Gutsy junior was born! He took a photo with his twin brother! :)  

Inspirations on future career

In class today but in a relaxing mood (though still have various things at the back of my mind..)!

Class on Corporate & Business Law today. Perhaps because I'm interested in law more than those calculations and also because the tutor was not as strict as another tutor, I felt more relaxed in class today. We were taught employment law, agency law and law about partnership. The fact that I got some personal experience and heard of friends' experience helped me understand those legislation and cases (e.g. dismissal, redundancy, duties of employers & employees). Learning those legal stuff makes me feel it's still useful (personally) to study accounting. :p

Finally we have a new hoover! The agent called today to ask me to collect it from their office. Hopefully the extractor fan thing will be sorted out soon.

I had a drink with a former chairman of Manchester Cantonese Society who I had worked with before, and two of my friends. That former chairman is going down to London for his masters in Applied Mathematics! Now I've got more excuses to go down to London as I already have a few friends who have moved to London for their studies. He told me his plan of getting status in the UK. Maybe I should work much harder on getting a job or something. He asked me what kind of jobs I'm looking for, which made me think again about what I should really do here if I want to stay and get a status. Maybe getting a job in the third sector (organizations/community work) is not a priority since it's much more difficult to get a job, not to mention a work permit, in the third sector which has a lot of funding cuts. I should think about other options...

I have stomach ache since I went back home. It's probably because I drank cappuccino on empty stomach.(I didn't eat any rice but bread from Wong Wong and potato & meat pastry from Greggs for lunch only)  I should know that before. :(

 Lunch: potato & meat pastry from Greggs

(it's been a long time since I last bought pastries from Greggs!)

Lunch: 雞尾包 from Wong Wong :) 

Dinner: 梅菜蒸肉餅&broccoli & sweet potato..