TV addict again!

Initially I planned to spend tonight with a friend of mine when her daughter had gone to Amsterdam for an exchange but she decided not to come as we'd go to Bolton together tomorrow and she wanted to have more time on her own. So I spent the evening with my recent 'lover' - TV dramas! :p

Lunch at Sainsbury's: BBQ roast chicken! 

9 out of 10 marks! :)

Lunch at Sainsbury's: chicken & ham pie

7.5 out of 10 marks; the pie could have been better if it hadn't been burnt!

Dinner: fried egg noodles (from Waitrose) with mixed vegetables & luncheon meat :) 

Learning how to be a seller

Busy day. Quite nice. :p

I started the day by packing some items that I was going to post after successfully getting 'buyers'. It wasn't easy - having to fit the items into the envelopes of different sizes while trying to minimize the cost of postage. It took me some time to get them done! I went to the post office, then to the bank, and then to the gym (I only did 15 minutes exercise after being absent from gym for more than 2 weeks!). I also went to the Chinatown to buy some more foodstuff and a phone card! When I got back home, it was already 2 p.m. and I had a late lunch. The afternoon was spent on adding some more stories to the anthology. When it was done, it was already time to go out and get some food for dinner!

It was quite stressful but at the same time I felt ok having something to do to distract my attention from worries. That made me more productive!

Lunch: leftover from last night's soup + egg + spring green

Dinner: Uncle McDonalds

Quite a 'perfect' big mac!

Inspiring conversation with an old friend: think outside the box

A day for rest and relaxation!

I met with an ex-colleague for a chat in the morning before she went to work. Perhaps because she was born in the same horoscope and same year (only 12 days older than me!), we have some similar thoughts and feelings for certain things, which is why it is nice to meet up and catch up with her to voice out our happiness and unhappiness. A chat with her can also 'inspire' me and I noticed some thoughts that are in the back of my mind! We talked about how to decide whether to commit to someone! The conversation also made me wonder if I was stuck by myself (my own thoughts). Anyway, a nice chat always seems too short! :)

I went back home for lunch and made Chinese soup! It's not easy to decide what soup to make as each Chinese herb has different features and functions for different kinds of people! I bought a pack of Chinese soup ingredients to save me some troubles! :p Busy with nothing in the afternoon (e.g. checking email, writing diary).

Breakfast: Cheese Sandwich with Cranberry sauce from Sainsbury

Yummy!

A glass of hot chocolate with a nice book to read? 

Lunch: luncheon meat with omelet & mixed vegetables 

Dinner: GBK takeaway!! :) 

"Doctor, am I really ok?"

School day. Saw the locum doctor. Cold & cloudy weather.

I had a better sleep last night after taking an anti-histamine (non drowsy one!) tablet. I was hoping this morning that the locum doctor could offer some 'solutions' to my health problems. She still insisted my health was ok and there was no need to do another blood best within such a short period of time after last time (every 6 months is 'normal' practice!). She asked if I was concerned about any 'underlying' illness. I said anaemia & lupus. She said they were very unlikely based on the symptoms I got. =_=' When I mentioned about sinus problem, she said it might be the cause of the symptoms I've got, plus my immune system must be very weak! She suggested me doing steaming for the nose, and trying to strengthen the immune system by having a balanced diet, keeping off stress, etc. I did do all that, which is why I found it frustrating (& helpless)... *sigh* A friend of mine, who's also not feeling well these days and trying to recover from chest infection, asked me if I was interested to join a yoga class. That would be a good idea!

Revision class for the Performance Management paper again. I still found it difficult to answer the past exam paper questions. :(  It was hard when I was not feeling well. Luckily I don't have a class till next Wednesday and I can have some time to do some revision for the next revision class...

Not in the mood for the rest of the day. Don't know if it's the impact of physical problems. Simply feeling tired of everything. :(

*****

Lunch: Sub of the day - meatball sub! 

I can't resist the temptation of the meatball sub :p

It was not a bad choice; quite health indeed, as I asked for 5 kinds of vegetables into it! 

Also I felt like breathing in some fresh air instead of staying in class during lunchtime

Dinner: starter - vegetable sushi from Sainsbury

Dinner: Miso chicken soup (with noodles) at a reduced price (tasted ok)

Steamed salmon with mushroom 

A cold and depressing Monday!?

It was so cold this morning!

Back to ACCA class. It was a revision class for Performance Management. The tutor asked us to attempt some exam questions in class. To be honest, so far I'm only confident in Corporate & Business Law and I'm wondering how I can pass the other two papers - Performance Management and Taxation, with only 4 weeks to go! :(  *Sigh* Anyway I have to try my best!

I don't like winter, esp when I'm too weak! I keep having cold hands and feet in cold weather, just like today. :(  My skin itch didn't help either (I woke up in the middle of the night because of that!). Finally I had to give in and took anti-histamine tablets again. I feel like my health problems are never ending!

Lunch: chicken pie from Morrisons of last weekend! 

It was quite filling. It'd even be perfect if there was rice to eat with it!

Dinner: pasta in cream of mushroom soup with 6 kinds of vegetables & chicken breast! :) 

Relaxing day

Relaxing and lazy day... Simple but enjoyable!

Didn't do anything at all today. Did a bit of tidy up and rearranged some stuff in the kitchen. A long weekend has gone so quickly..

Lunch: This pie was bought from Morrison for 79p only!

It was best served with rice! :) 

Dinner: spaghetti with leftover pork from last night's soup & broccoli :)

Health Anxiety?

Health Anxiety?

It's been 2 weeks since I last went to gym. Lack of motivation. Plus I really still didn't feel well enough to do any exercise (an excuse?). I went shopping instead. But doing shopping at city centre was never enjoyable when you had to compete with other shoppers and rub shoulders with such a busy but small shopping area. I did shopping at different places and got some good bargains again at Morrisons! :)

I happened to find a website (forum) about 'health anxiety', which matches what I've been feeling and doing! :(  I know that but I just haven't tried to find out more about why and how I got that. It's probably a complex issue when it comes to one becoming so obsessive and worried about his/her own health so much; it's more than just stress... *sigh* Maybe being too curious about things and desire to find out why don't help much.

Lunch: Shallow fried udon with mixed vegetables and salmon!! :) 

Dinner: fish and chips as usual

The fish was so big today! 

Dinner: The cheese & bacon omelette was better than the one of last week. 

Relaxing myself via TV

Stayed at home all day. Busy with nothing but tv and household work!

I thought of going to gym this morning, but the weather forecast (heavy rain) made me give up. Though it turned out the weather was ok (sunny!) and didn't rain till in the evening, I didn't go to gym at the end as I was too lazy to go out. Having gone out for four consecutive days (Monday to Thursday), I think it was time for me and my body to have a rest. Also I have completed the anthology (finally!), I felt like giving myself a little rest/break. :p I did laundry and some cleaning (hoping to sweat out the waste!). Then I started catching up with some tv dramas! Watching TV is a good way to relax and distract oneself. My body seems ok so far (touchwood!), besides feeling a bit dizzy & my right wrist having some pain (don't know why; is it 風濕?). I tried not to think about my health problems/worries and other stress for the moment...

Lunch: Tofu with the leftover of the soup of a few days ago

Dinner: steamed salmon in home-made teriyaki sauce with mixed vegetables

Felt like having something simple and healthy for today. 

How to take care of our bodies?

School day again.

It was the revision day one for Corporate & Business Law. There were less students attending. Toward the end of the class, only 6 people were left! (half the class had gone!) Most of those who left were boys. No wonder the tutor said boys were useless once they left their mums! :p The class was quite useful in terms of preparing us for the exams. I'm more confident that I can pass this subject than the other two.

A friend of mine told me today that she had got chest infection. :(  As she said, both of us don't know how to treat our bodies. Maybe our bodies are trying to tell us, through various health problems/symptoms, that we haven't eaten well/we have bad habits/we are under stress. But it's really painful. :(  Skin was still itchy and rash occasionally. I'm trying various ways to relieve the symptoms - e.g. make soup, try not to eat/cut down spicy food/deep fried food/beef, do exercises including walking so that I can sweat out the waste while strengthening my bodies. But my body seems to be too weak to do any exercise at the moment. I did a lot of walking today and though I did sweat, I felt shortness of breath and dizzy afterward...

Lunch: meatball sub :)

Dinner: Sainsbury £5 meal deal - 2 mains + 1 side dish

The chicken chow mein was the best! :) 

Lack of life goals?

Back to school life after yesterday's event for my previous employer.

November is the month for ACCA revision classes. Today we started the Taxation revision class. We were supposed to have gained certain knowledge about all the topics covered in the syllabus after two months' classes (7 days) and so the tutor didn't show us the steps of doing each question on the exam papers; instead she asked us to attempt the questions ourselves, because she believed that unless we did those questions ourselves, we wouldn't be able to pass the exam without any practice! Since I had been so lazy in terms of revision, I forgot most of the stuff she had taught us. Those proformas, exemptions, allowances, rates, etc. have gone out of my mind! I started wondering whether and how I can pass the exams next month... What made today's class worse was I fell asleep! I tried to keep myself awake but it was difficult to concentrate when I had no idea of how to do the exam questions...

What's next as my previous job is finally over? Health problems - skin itchiness and rash still exist. What should I do? How can I deal with those health problems? And my ACCA study? What attitude should I have toward them? Hmm...

Lunch: Sub of the day from Subway - Turkey breast

Not as filling as meatball one but at least it was cheap & healthy

(I asked for tomatoes, lettuce, green peppers & olives!)

Dinner: GBK takeaway

What was thought as the most difficult became a thing of the past

A perfect full stop to my previous research project!

The research project that I had worked on in my last job had a report launch this morning. Though I left my last job in March, the final report had not been completed till recently (not by me!). It was a difficult project and I felt like I had done another phd! =_=' It happened that when I was doing this project, things didn't seem to go well, including my own family issue. Anyway, it was good to have such impossible mission completed! That also means I don't have any 'link' with my ex-employer any more! I feel like, what was thought as the most difficult would become a thing of the past at the end!

This was the first time I attended an event at the Manchester City Football Stadium! I was lucky today for not having to pay anything for getting to and from there - when I went there by bus, I didn't need to pay since the bus driver didn't 'have enough coins for changes. When I left the stadium, my ex-employer offered to give me a lift back to the city centre! The event was better than I had expected - in terms of the number of people attending, their responses and the running of the programme. I didn't have much to do, but just read out some bits of the presentation in Cantonese, an easy job for me. I would like to say something when people asked the panel questions, but I thought maybe I better be a quiet audience today! :p  Though the audience were quite interested in the topic and asked a lot of questions, I still think they missed some important points indicated by the study - which is not surprising, as it's such a sensitive topic, there's a lot of research studies on it and it's a very complex issue. I didn't know anyone else besides the research team I worked with and a few ex-colleagues. No one besides two of my ex-colleagues came forward to initiate a chat with me, nor did I bother to talk to others.

The professor (my supervisor) was really brilliant - she could still remember all those stories and data after the project had finished a while ago, considering that she's a quite old lady (>60 years old). If I could still have such a good memory and healthy body like she does, it'd be a big blessing to me! By the way, she seems to cycle to and from work every day! Maybe that's the key - doing regular exercises! Hmm, I haven't done gym for quite a while (more than a week), maybe it's time for me to do some exercise...

After I had gone back to the city centre, I thought I might do some window shopping but later I decided I better go back home and have a short rest - my body is still sensitive and feeling itchy! :(   I went to the Chinatown to buy some foodstuff, including those for making Chinese soup! I got interested in making Chinese soup these days, as I'm trying to find other ways to solve my skin problems after the western doctors fail to solve my puzzle! Tonight's soup was 粉葛綠豆薏米湯!

The event was held in the Boardroom Suite!

The lunch was not bad - I like the spare ribs & the noodles (it's like冷麵). 

But there were not many choices and most of them were deep fried stuff, e.g. spring rolls, curry rolls...

My little toy koala would like to get some body warmth in such a cold weather! 

Dinner: home-made shallow fry udon with tofu, pork chop pieces, aubergines & eggs

It was quite delicious indeed!! :) 

Stress again!?

Back to class after a week-long holiday. Tired.

As usual, my morning before going to school was a stressful one - having breakfast, preparing lunchbox, washing up, getting changed and making sure I got what I needed for the day. As it was getting near and near 9:30 a.m. I started feeling stressed and wondered about the quickest way to get to class. =_=' I told myself it wasn't a big deal if I was late, though it didn't look good; but I don't want to get myself too stressed just for such a little thing! The class today was the last tuition one. That means from November we'll have all the revision lessons and that also indicates that we only have one month left before we sit the exams! I couldn't help falling asleep before lunchtime...

As the winter time started since yesterday, it got dark earlier. When I left the class for home around 4:30 p.m., it was getting dark already! Quite depressing.

My skin seems to be a bit 'sensitive' again. Especially my face!! There's a bit of scalping around my mouth and near eyes area. :(  I noticed whenever I get stressed, my skin tends to feel itchy...

Tomorrow is a 'big' day - well, it depends. The project that I worked on in my last job is having a launch event tomorrow morning. I'm responsible for a small part of the presentation. Still I feel stressed - maybe because of the people I'll see who I actually don't want to meet at all, especially when I think about how 'ugly' they are. Feeling like I'm fighting alone at tomorrow's event. :(  Sighing... The memory about the project seems to be getting far away. Hopefully I'll let go of all those poor experiences after tomorrow...

Lunch: Got the remaining roast chicken (bought from Morrisons) 

Dinner: linguine in tomato & basil sauce with pork chop and mixed vegetables. :)

Time to clear my pasta and pasta sauce!  

Clock change gave me an excuse to be lazy

Very lazy today. Didn't do things as planned..

The UK winter time started from today, which means we can have one more hour for sleep last night! That was good for me as I stayed up late last night. :p I stayed home, planning to finish some tasks but I ended up doing nothing but watching TV dramas, sleeping & eating. =_='

Lunch: roast chicken leg with mixed vegetables

Dinner: roast chicken again! (I have to finish that half roast chicken I bought from Morrisons!)

But I steamed it in the rice cooker with mushroom, peas & carrots. :)

Day out in Bolton

A relaxing day out in Bolton.

It seems it's been ages since I last visited Bolton! The weather was not good - rainy and cool. But there were still many cars and people in Bolton! I guess that was because of the half term week. I didn't feel quite well today indeed. Last night I coughed and had to try hard to breathe when sleeping. Plus the severe headache I've got. :(  I still had a good appetite for food though. But whenever I had a meal, my face would get hot. :S Shopping in Bolton was fun because there were many different kinds of shops (especially 1-pound shops!) and you could find a lot of items there (compared with Manchester city centre). How could we miss Bolton market when we were in Bolton? We went there when the market was about to close, to see if we could get any good bargain. My main target is always fish! But today there seemed to be less (good) fish and they were more expensive than before (during summer). I couldn't decide whether to buy any fish. At the end we didn't buy any and I was a bit disappointed. :(  As we continued our shopping trip, I started feeling weak, short of breath and dizzy! :(  My weak body seemed to be exhausted. So we had a short rest before dinner. I felt better afterward.  A good partner does help! Hopefully I just had a cold/flu that made me so weak... otherwise I'll have to see the doctor again! :(

Breakfast: blueberry muffin from Waitrose

Not as good as the fresh ones.. a bit too wet!

Lunch at Sainsbury's: spaghetti carbonara with salad & garlic bread

Quite nice - the taste of the spaghetti was just right! And the salad was fresh! :) 

Lunch at Sainsbury's: mega all day brunch

It was actually English breakfast. I like the sausage & egg. :) 

'Free' sauces from Sainsbury's :p

No need to buy sauce indeed! 

Oh I happened to get a banknote with so many '8' in the number! :D

Dinner at Morrisons: as usual, cheese & bacon omelette

The omelette was not as good as before - cooked for too long and not as much cheese & bacon as before

Dinner at Morrisons: fish & chips

the chips were good! :) 

Oh Morrisons had lucky draws..