"重逢與別離" (going back to the old office & gonna bye bye my flatmate)

Oh rainy weather's back to us! :(

But it didn't affect much of my day. Got a busy morning - delivered McDonalds breakfast, then gym,  food shopping, home-made lunch. I bought two salmon fish from the Arndale Market. I steamed them in the rice cooker and found they tasted strange. I think they got bad. :( I thought I could have made a good lunch box. Maybe I should've bought the £10 meal deal at Marks & Spencer, which includes a pack of salmon, tiramisu, mixed vegetables & juice. Anyway... had a great afternoon & evening - dinner & shopping at Morrisons!! Good food & good companion! :) The cheese & bacon omelette was good! Don't know if we were a bit late for getting good bargains this evening - we couldn't get reduced price items! Maybe next time!

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Today I went back to one of the offices of the organization which I previously had worked for. Felt a bit afraid at the beginning, though I know all my ex-colleagues including my boss wouldn't be there. The place was a bit strange to me, as I no longer work there and I haven't been back there since the end of March.

Flatmate did her last minute packing today. Some of her stuff was in the living room. She got quite a lot of stuff. There's still a bit of kitchen/fridge things she hasn't packed yet. Felt a bit strange she's moving out, though I have been wanting her to leave because of my disagreement on some of her behaviour. After all, her moving out while another person is moving in means I'll have to learn to get along with another person (who I don't know).

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I had a bit of dizziness occasionally. Hopefully it's not because of the iron level in my blood - I do wonder if my iron level would drop a lot since I stopped taking iron tablets. Maybe I should keep taking one tablet a day till later?

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Dinner: Fish & Chips at Morrisons!

The fish was smaller than before

The green peas were so 'green' & fresh!

The omelette was so 'cheesy'! :p

A gap

Stayed up late last night but still woke up early at 8:30 a.m. this morning. When I was awake, I asked myself if I'm really troublesome, making everything (trivial things) complicated?!

Being a bit 'hea' today, though I did have a good rest and felt relaxed. Had a look at the job ads on the free newspaper I got yesterday. Not many jobs that are relevant though. Flatmate's been busy. She went out while leaving her boyfriend alone in her room till the late evening. Two more nights. 忍忍忍... :p

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My eldest brother sent me messages on MSN early in the morning. He talked to me because mum said he didn't talk to me for a long while! I didn't share much with him. I don't know where to start and what to share with him. Feel like there's a big communication gap... Maybe I'm worried he'd give me any pressure or tell me what I should do (e.g. I should look for a job) if I tell him anything, though I know he wouldn't try to push me to do anything but quite often a piece of his advice or suggestion may make me feel stressed. Like, he asked me to consider going back to HK and live with mum for a period of time. I know what he means. After all, mum's old and she's alone. But it's a very tough decision - I can try to visit and spend time with mum but is going back what I want? My friends who have gone back to HK/Malaysia have shown me what life in HK or Asia is about...

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Made a call to mum in the afternoon. It seems what I heard most from her recently is who's got serious illness or who has passed away. Is that common among people of my mum's age? Or, does my mum select those news to tell me (which indicate her worries about her own health as well)?

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Since the unlimited o2 broadband is gonna terminated next Thursday (only 20GB/month thereafter), I think I better download some tv dramas/movies asap! :p Since I haven't watched 'Harry Potter' for a while, I started downloading the whole series!

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While trying to print out photos for my passport,

the ink cassette in my mini photo printer got stuck and became like this! >_<

Lunch: Had no idea what to eat (and not much left in the fridge for me to cook)

Got this combination of noodles and sausage roll! 

Hmm, sausage roll better be eaten on its own... 

Dinner: spaghetti in tomato & potato soup

Yummy Yummy!

"never relax vigilance against evil-doers"

Achievement today:
1) gym of 40 mins! (Yeah!)
2) food shopping
3) signed a tenancy agreement with new flatmate
4) bought an o2 broadband box for new broadband account

Someone has recently reminded me that "Habour no ill intention against others, but never relax vigilance against evil-doers" (害人之心不可有, 防人之心不可無). Having no trust in my flatmate who says one thing but acts another, I asked the agent today about what I could do if she didn't pay me back the rent and bills. Her boyfriend was still staying all day in her room while she had gone out; there's no point in asking her why he's here, coz I know she'll have lots of different excuses anyway. It's really frustrating when someone like her doesn't do the right thing and I feel bad when I try to be a bad person.

I tried to make passport photos by taking a photo of myself this morning. It was more difficult than I thought. The main problem was the lighting of the background. I found whether in daytime or night-time, in my room or in the living room, the background of the photos is still a bit too dark. I also found my skin is quite bad and I look horrible when I looked back at the photos taken. :(   I'm getting old... (I seem to have lost confidence in myself?!)

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Breakfast: carrot muffin from Waitrose

Tasty but I still miss blueberry muffin!

Lunch: my DIY cheese & egg burger

Dinner: Economic one - Uncle McDonalds!

Being social when feeling anti-social

My 'achievement' today:
1) gym of 40 minutes! :)
2) contact/gathering with ex-colleagues
3) completed an application form for a (summer) volunteer job

Feeling a bit anti-social today. Don't know why. Lots of things. It happened I met an ex-colleague on the bus this morning after gym! I'm actually a bit afraid of meeting old friends/ex-colleagues whom I'm not familiar with, not wanting to update them how I'm doing. :p

The day when my flatmate is moving out is getting nearer but it seems things haven't been sorted out, e.g. broadband/phone line, registration of my new flatmate with the agent. 4 more evenings to go. Fingers crossed...

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koala doing some writing and drawing!

Dinner: £5 meal deal at Subway!

Healthy sandwiches!! Tasty!

My favourite meatballs!! :)

A tent at Manchester International Festival outside Town Hall

Do meaningful things instead of being 'no. 8 por por'!

I still have 'nightmares' about my ex-colleagues and employer. Last night I dreamt that I joined my ex-colleagues to do an away day trip! =_=" I can't remember the details but at least I didn't feel it was a good dream! I have no idea why I had that dream. Maybe I feel sympathetic with my ex-colleagues who have to go to the away day trip this weekend?! :p

I'm determined to set myself a task(s) every day. Today's was about getting a CV sent to an agent and making a decision about broadband/phoneline. I did a very simple, short CV and sent it to the agent in the afternoon. I don't expect they'd get back to me because even I myself feel I may be over-qualified for a job they advertised for their clients ('call centre operator'). As for broadband/phoneline, I've decided to go to the o2 shop tomorrow to sort it out, after my flatmate makes a call to cancel her account.

I'm trying to get less addicted to facebook from now on. As I haven't posted much on facebook for a while, what I mainly do by logging into facebook is to be a '八婆' (no.8 por por! hahaha!), curious about what others are doing! That's not good for myself. I should do something more meaningful. :p These two days I still logged into facebook but not as frequently as before. Hopefully I can make it!

My 'Auntie' started paying me a monthly visit from today. I wonder if that's why I have been having tummy pain (and diarrhoea). >_<

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Lunch: last night's leftover rice & vegetables

It's almost oil free! :p

Dinner: Oh, I like the superfruit tea

But I like my E1 more, which took such a great photo!

Dinner: 'giraffee' burger with cheese & bacon

yummy yummy!

Dinner: Rodeo chicken burger

Also yummy yummy

But same comment as last week: they were still not as big as at GBK

Started the day with a short morning walk

Last night I got a strange dream related to one of my ex-colleagues. I dreamt that I was helping her to look after her newly born son (it should be a girl in reality!?) while she was not in office but went out for a meeting or something. I also dreamt that I was helping my IT colleague (but I can't remember what I was helping him with!)..

I went to Waitrose, the nearest supermarket to my flat, this morning to get soya milk since I had finished it yesterday. When I was walking on my way there, there were a lot of people too, walking out of the Salford Central train station. I felt a bit of stress when walking with those working people, which seems to be a reminder of me being unemployed. :( But it was good to have a small walk in the early morning, to breathe in a bit of fresh air (though you can't expect much when the roads are full of cars, buses!) and do a bit of exercise (I found I sweated a bit when I got back home!).

Being 'hea' today. Did some household work - cleaned kitchen & shower room, then did laundry. I was still trying to sort out the little mess in my room and do a bit of planning. I was thinking about how to reduce my expenses (especially bills). I really need to find a part-time job by September if I don't want to use up my savings!

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Lunch: 'chicken balti pie' with mixed vegetables

I had thought it was steak pie; didn't expect it'd be a curry one! 

By the way, I like eating vegetables these days. Feel healthy by eating more vegetables.. 

The chicken balti pie was quite spicy!! 

I only at the chicken pieces, not the sauce!

Dinner: I used the rice cooker to make egg fried rice with beef & sweetcorn! 

Back home, we used to put minced beef and egg only. 

It tasted ok but I think I forgot to put a bit of salt into it... 

Frustration with new & old flatmates?!

Insomnia last night. Still lots of things in my mind when I was in bed, especially when I thought about my flatmate. I shouldn't get pissed off by her any more but still I couldn't help thinking how ridiculous it was things happened/got handled in the way they do now, worrying if she'd pay me back the money, etc. It seems when you don't like a person, you can so easily get upset by those very little things, e.g. she didn't keep the kitchen and common area clean.

Today I found it not easy having to coordinate with both the new and old flatmates - for example I had to ask the old flatmate to do this and that (e.g. cancel o2 broadband and pay back rent; but then she said she had no money!), while I have to help the new flatmate to get the tenant registration form (we can't find the time when both of us can meet so that I can give her the form; at the end she asked me to help her ask the agent to send her the form by email >_<) and search for broadband & phone line deals. Looking back, maybe I should have moved to a friend's house instead, to save me troubles and stress. :(  I really feel tired and frustrated...

I should have revised my CV today when I stayed at home all day long. But I ended up watching a TV drama! :( Maybe I needed something to distract myself from all those frustrating things/people?!

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Breakfast: the bread we bought from Morrisons yesterday

Oh, it was still so soft :) 

Lunch: pie from Morrisons yesterday

Oh, it was a bit spicy as it got black pepper but still nice :)

Dinner: spaghetti in tomato sauce with beef & vegetables

The tomato & mushroom pasta sauce I bought from Aldi was cheap (79p) 

but the taste was so so. Maybe next time I should make the sauce myself!

Shopping for what I really need, not what is cheaper

It seems there're so many trivial things I have to do, that time passes quickly when I feel like I haven't done much. Like this morning, just looking at the information about renewing my Hong Kong passport could take me almost an hour! Then gym, shower, lunch... I wanted to do a bit of shopping (e.g. towel, kitchen utensils) whilst the shops were on sale but thinking twice, I don't think I need to buy those stuff yet and so I ended up buying nothing after a quick look at Debenhams. I wanted to buy a bottle of mirin (kind of Japanese rice wine) as I suddenly felt like making 'gyundo' (Japanese beef rice bowl); I found one at a Chinese supermarket but it was made in China! -_-" There was another bottle of 'hon mirin', which was made in Japan but it cost £4 something! >_<

The happiest time of the day was when I had dinner and food shopping at Morrisons! :) Oh, same as before, we felt so full. In terms of being a 'professional shopper' for reduced price items, we only managed to get a big pack of buns (10 buns for 9p!).

Finally my tummy seems to have got settled for now. It still got a bit of moaning before this evening. I went to toilet twice then! >_< I've been quite careful about what I eat and cook (in terms of hygiene and choice of food) since I had problems with my stomach & tummy but still sometimes you can't avoid something 'dirty'.

Oh mum said my eldest sister-in-law is 4-month pregnant! I feel excited! :) I'll soon be an aunt!

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DIY burger (actually the only DIY part was the egg!)

Dinner at Morrisons: cappuccino 

Cheese & bacon omelette again! :)

Fiiiiiiiiiish & chips! :)

Someone won £5.90 in Euro Millions! :)

What a rare nice weather! 

My camera family!

 

The left one is the latest addition to my camera family :)

Tummy not happy!!

Being 'hea' today. Thought of going to the gym but felt lazy. Had been doing some sort of planning/making a to-do-list. Flatmate came home with her boyfriend, her boyfriend's sister and their friend. She said they'd have lunch and then go. Their lunch was long. When I went out almost around 6 p.m., they were still in the kitchen/living room...

My poor tummy is not happy today - it's been making noise and I had diarrhoea twice and had abdominal pain. Not sure if it was the KFC chicken or last night's dinner that caused its trouble..

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Breakfast: potato cake with grated mozzarella cheese

koala with its new 'toy'! He loves it! hahaha...

Thanks to the screwdriver's owner! :p

Lunch: rice with tofu and last night's soup leftover (mushroom & pork)

This combination was quite nice.. 

Dinner: Uncle Mcdonalds

Busy eating, cooking, cooking, eating

Almost every night I had dreams, and quite often the people in my dream were my ex-colleagues or/and ex-supervisor and in my previous office. Like last night I dreamt that I had a meeting with my ex-colleagues, together with people from other organizations. I'm not sure if it was because my ex-colleague - 'Mr. Teacher Milk' :p - talked to me about the centre meeting of my ex-employer yesterday. I also dreamt that we were in the airport and some people's luggage were missing but fortunately they drifted from sea to the airport! (strange dream)

I found one of the changes I've had in recent years is I'm more interested in children - like how to give them good upbringing and observe how they grow up. Perhaps it's because the people around me - my friends and colleagues have children and I've got more contact with their children; also the parenting project that I helped at that Chinese organization some years ago may help me understand more about parenting and children. Even my relationship with my ex-employer (their Chinese parents management style!) and some people (like my flatmate) made me understand a bit about the dynamics between parents and children. Hmm, maybe I should think about being a kindergarten teacher or some kind of early years educator! :p

The phoneline & broadband thing has been troubling me. I've been looking at different offers on the internet but still can't make a decision about which provider to use. Basically I'm struggling between o2 and plusnet, though I'd prefer o2 because I've been using it and I'm satisfied with it (in terms of speed, not price!). I'm just worried if other providers provide good quality service. Having calculated the costs of different providers (on 12-month contract and 30-day rolling contract), I really feel tired and just wanna pick one, even if it costs a bit more. Today I asked a sales of an o2 shop. He said if I paid £25 to buy an o2 router, I could get £50 credited into my o2 account! Wow, it sounds a good deal. But I better wait and talk to my new flatmate first (though I don't think she'll have a problem with it).

Actually today was also busy for me - did gym before lunch. Then I had lunch with my two ex-colleagues at Arndale Food Court. We had a big bucket of KFC chicken pieces!! Oh, I hadn't had KFC for a long while! Later I got to know that one of them just broke up with his girlfriend. No wonder he asked me and another ex-colleague of mine for lunch. He must be feeling lonely. I feel sad that he and his girlfriend broke up. He does like her but the reality makes it a bit hard for them to be together. After lunch, I rushed back home to have a quick shower and make Chinese soup for this week!!

Oh, it's been a week since I finished my ACCA exam! Seems I haven't done anything for the past week...

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Lunch: KFC chips

Hmm, fatty though... 

Dinner: got reduced price items from Waitrose!! Wow wow!

Dinner: it cost only £1.75 (plus an KFC leftover chicken piece & chips!)

This beef pho noodles were a bit spicy. 6.5 out of 10 marks!

beef casserole - the sauce was ok, good for eating with rice; the beef was nice. 7.5 out of 10.

Mini smoked haddock pie: not bad. The pie did have some fish! The sauce was not too salty.

7.5 out of 10 marks!