Back 'home'

Oh I almost abandoned this blog!

It's been more than half a year since I last updated it and now I'm back 'home' - back to HK for some reasons. I have been trying to adapt to life in HK and its weather. Have been busy seeing doctors - western and Chinese ones for my health problems. I still have anxiety. One good thing about HK is it's warmer here! Though these days it's been raining and dull most of the days. Feel a bit lost...

My summer holiday so far...

Only two weeks to go before my summer 'holiday' ends..

I have been enjoying my summer holiday:
1) Spent a lot of time doing household work, such as cleaning different parts of the house and kitchen utensils. I can now understand why my mum used to tell us every day to brush and clean the floor, and how hard it is to be a housewife! I also spent a lot of time cooking food, especially Chinese soup! The ingredients mum had bought me were so useful. :)  I've got a lot to learn about Chinese soup and its therapeutic effects.

2) Doing shopping. With so much 'free' time, I sometimes would spend hours trying to find the most suitable kettle at a reasonable price! Often I'd go to different supermarkets, such as Tesco, Sainsbury's, Morrisons, Aldi at different towns and compare their prices!

3) Explored the areas near my house. Since I moved to my new place, I bought monthly bus tickets each month, which enabled me to take bus unlimited times. So I took this chance to explore the areas near my place, which was sometimes like an adventure!

4) Reading. I've finished reading a few books that some of my friends lent to me. The reading process was quite enjoyable and I like to sit at a coffee shop, read a book an sip a cup of my favourite mocha/hot chocolate. Such a free time to meditate too..

5) VIP and friends' gatherings. I met up with a university classmate and a primary school classmate who travelled to UK from HK this summer. Nice chats. Also met up with some old colleagues to catch up. Not to mention the precious time with VIP. :)

Feel like doing some travel before the summer holiday ends! I want to broaden my mind/horizons...

Wish my holiday could be longer.. :P (so greedy!)

My new kettle!! It has a water filter and the water does taste better!:)

Treated myself with 3 dishes and one soup the other day :)

I like my halogen oven cooker! So easy to cook food!

The sausage, salmon and potatoes were baked in it.

Found Mediterranean bread from Asda the other day, which was nice! 

Ate it with eggs..

Long time no 'write'!

It's been a long while (6 months!?) since I last wrote a post in the blog here.

A lot of things have happened as a rule of life:
1) Finished another semester of ACCA study; probably will do another semester to see what lies ahead. 2 module exams passed, 1 failed. Not bad. The one I failed was within my 'expectation' - I didn't work hard enough then. Some of the ACCA modules are not as boring as I first thought of, and they may be useful in daily life (not as a career!).

2) My summer 'holiday' started in mid June since the end of the June exams. 3 weeks to go before I get back to the student life. Time to think about what I have/need to do in the remaining three weeks, and take action.

3) Health is not as worrying as before - thanks to my female doctor and a psychological well being practitioner. I guess every one more or less goes through some kind of low points in their life and I just went through my low points over the past two years. Hopefully such a good experience will inspire/help me to better life and take good care of myself and others.

4) The visa problems deters me from doing any paid work/having access to job opportunities. A could-be job became hopeless (I was offered a job but due to visa issue, the offer had to be withdrawn!). Nothing I can do about it. The only thing I can do is to equip myself better, and enjoy my life. So I still took part in volunteering at Manchester Art Gallery this summer (but not as often as last year, as I tried to spend more time enjoying myself! (an excuse for being lazy!? :P))

5) I moved from my old flat to a new house, to follow my flatmate who's a nice girl. Life's a bit different as I live away from the city centre - have to spend much more time on transport, but at the same time it gives me a chance to 'explore' other areas of Greater Manchester.

Lunch today: very simple & healthy -

Mediterranean bread from Asda with egg + baby plum tomatoes + broccoli & cauliflower

Also a cup of almond milk! :) 

Still keep the habit of going to a cafe from time to time (for reading)

Got a halogen oven cooker from Ebay. I love it! 

How not to be tense?

Trying to relax myself today by keeping myself busy.

Highlights of the day:
1) Went to the GP clinic to do a test. =_=' The nurse was very nice and I didn't feel uncomfortable at all in the whole process! My tendency to worry about things tried to set in but I told myself not to think much about the test!
2) Did wii fit at home. We all know the benefits of the exercise but I'm always lazy to do any. Doing a bit of wii fit exercise (my favourite: jogging, hula hoops, yoga, muscle workouts, etc.) did help my blood circulation and the overall muscles and stretching!
3) Did a bit of tidy up of my room. I still don't know what to do with all those ACCA notes and the notes for my past studies. =_=' Too many of them.
4) I went to Costa Coffee for a cup of mocha while doing my reading and thinking there. :) Doing something like that once a week is good - I enjoy it.
5) Got some bread from Waitrose on my way home. Only 15p for 3 bread!! :)

I think I'm very tense without being aware of it!? The nurse said my muscles were tense when I had the test done. I guess that's why I experienced some pain with my body - being so tense (stress again!?).

Lunch: Sardines (from Aldi, tasted ok) & 'kai lan'

Dinner: Leftovers from last night - Japanese curry + bitter gourd with egg & 'kai lan'

My favourite drink: Mocha!! 

Quite a good book borrowed from a friend

Stress is what it's all about

Really got 'inspired' these days, like today. 

Maybe I've forgotten the aim of this blog - to share my daily life and thoughts, especially things that I do to try to 'live for the day'. Maybe too many worries? Too much unhappiness shown here? What has inspired me to have reflection like that is:

1) I have participated in a study about depression at the uni and today I went there to do some computer tasks. While some of the tasks were interesting, I was led to wonder about why I had felt so anxious, especially when the researcher tried to assess my mood today. I think I can be positive and strong but it's just that I've been overwhelmed by those negative thoughts and stress! 

2) I saw the dermatologist this afternoon. As I had seen a specialist (in a different area of health problems) before, I knew that I shouldn't expect much. I did hope, before the appointment, that my skin problems could somehow be solved. I told him about all the symptoms I had got about my skin. After listening to all those, he had a brief look at my skin. Then he said my problems are not serious and there was nothing to worry about! I should forget those little problems! =_=' He said I might have STRESS RASH! He seemed to be suggesting that stress was the main, underlying cause of my skin problems! So nothing to be followed up. All I can do was to de-stress myself and maybe take antihistamine tablets if necessary. The dermatologist was the 3rd doctor here that asked me to relax. =_=' Have I been very stressed?? To be honest, I can't believe (and am not aware of) stress has taken its toll on me to such an extent. So all my health problems are down to one cause - STRESS!? I felt a bit ashamed of myself after seeing the dermatologist, thinking that I had worried too much and I had had a lot of different medical tests done! :(  Anyway, at least now I can be a bit relieved that my skin problems are not serious. 

3) I went shopping alone after seeing the dermatologist (I got a 'free' bus ticket! :p). I was like doing some 'exploration' - took some new bus routes to go to a supermarket on my own (the supermarket was 30 minute bus trip from home). Doing shopping in the supermarket reminded me of my shopping trips with someone before. No reduced prices yet on pies, bread, roast chicken, vegetables etc when I went there. I have been on my own the whole day and I wonder if I'm back to my life in old days of being alone. An enjoyable shopping trip though!

As soon as I got back home, I started worrying about my meeting with the professor and HR dept for a job that I may be offered! I have to stop my thoughts on it. I guess in the rest of the week I have to try to keep myself busy so as to distract my attention to it! 

Lunch at Subway - £3 deal with a cup of tea and meatball subway

Dinner: It consisted of 3 dishes! 'Kai Lan' + 苦瓜炒蛋 + Japanese curry chicken! :) 

The vouchers given for participation in the study

My healthy snack corner! Fruit, snacks, honey, tea...

Rest at home today. 

Tonight's dinner: 1) broccoli with garlic 2) cheese & bacon quiche

3) turkey mince with aubergines and Chinese mushroom in HP sauce!

Shopping mission

On shopping mission alone today. Back to a 'housewife' life. :p

After sorting out requests for bank statements at the bank (nowadays all are done by computers! Even people at telephone banking said I had to request online for bank statements as my account is an online one! =_=') and posting items at the post office, I treated myself (quick) late lunch at Uncle Mcdonalds. I could feel my mouth was 'hot air' after eating! :p  My shopping mission started from Aldi, then Tesco, and finally chinatown. Though I did buy quite a lot (two big bags!), I still have outstanding items left on my shopping list. I do miss shopping at Morrisons and so hopefully after the dermatologist appointment on Tuesday afternoon, I can take the chance to go to Morrisons to continue my shopping mission (since I'll buy a day saver ticket on that anyway!)! :p

Initially I was supposed to yum cha with my ex-colleagues, attend the launch event for an exhibition organised by my ex-colleague, and meet up with a friend who I hadn't seen for a while. But it turned out I didn't do all of those - one of ex-colleagues was sick; it was too late when I went out. But I'd rather enjoy eating and shopping by myself, than having to rush to different events, though I did feel a bit lonely...

I guess I'm trying to make use of the 'extra' free time to be on my own and de-stress myself from the recent problems that need sorting out...

Lunch: McChicken sandwich + fries

cost me £1.99 becoz of the discount voucher! :)

Dinner: Steamed salmon with aubergines + broccoli

(finally I finished all the salmon steaks that I had bought a month ago!)

Stressful times

Busy day. And stressful.

I had to go to work at 10 a.m. today. Felt quite tired after I had stayed late last night. Only got 6 hours sleep, which showed its effect after lunch - I couldn't help falling asleep while in a meeting for a funding bid. =_=' Fortunately I had an early finish - around 3 p.m., so that I could go back home early to have a short afternoon nap!

My stomach seemed to get a bit unsettled/not too well these days. It ached occasionally and I have been having problems when going to toilet over the past week! :(  I wonder if my body can't take many beans, as I started feeling sick after I had some beans soup (which I made with mixed beans) & bread for lunch. I also felt itchy afterward and had to take an antihistamine tablet! :(

I'm struggling about whether to enrol on the ACCA course again. I went to my college to ask for a letter to prove I had studied there before, while trying to find out more about the new course. The lady who wrote me the letter was quite nice but her colleagues who were doing registration thing in another room were not so friendly! =_=' In fact I felt strange about going back there. That's a similar feeling I had to my ex-employer. I guess when you don't like something/someone, it's hard to go back there.

Finally I got a 'real' appointment with the dermatologist department! They gave me a call this afternoon to ask if I could go to their centre next Tuesday afternoon, and said they don't do that kind of online booking thing (with telephone assessment) any more and so I could ignore that! Hopefully the dermatologist dept can help sort out my little finger and skin problems...

I saw my female GP again! She was as nice and patient as always. I told her a few minor problems I had and she answered and explained one by one. She said the ache in my joints/back might come back from time to time until my vitamin D level would go back to normal in 6 - 8 months time! :S  My poor circulation problem in my fingers (Raynaud's Syndrome) couldn't be cured and I could only take tablets to make my fingers feel better. :S Anyway, I felt better (psychologically) after seeing her. That's what a doctor is supposed to do! And that's why I'd rather see her than the other (useless) gp! :p

It seems this time of the year is the most stressful to me...

Hi I'm back here!

It's been more than 2 weeks since I last wrote a post here. Lots of things happened. Busy. Tired. Lazy. Stressed.

1) Still doing the 10-hour per week part time job. My boss is nice to me. I'm lucky. Have been helping her with some interesting and challenging tasks. The pay is low but at least I don't have as much stress and unhappiness as in my last job.

2) Finally my ACCA results have been released. I was surprised that I passed all 3 exam subjects. I was just lucky. Not decided yet whether to enrol for the new academic year.

3) My fingers problem still hasn't been sorted out. I'm still waiting for the referral appointment with the dermatologist. I was glad that the weather's got warmer this week but tonight and tomorrow it'd be cold again. =_=' I've been lazy doing any exercise these days. I did try to eat more fruit each day and I love eating more fruit! :) My interest in cooking seems to be back again, after I started using my 450d to take photos. :)

4) Recently I've heard a lot about how people's relationship with their families and friends, e.g. my mum and sister-in-law got worse because of communication problems. Or, I should say, their conversations/communication just reflect their views on each other - if you don't like someone, you'd interpret whatever that person says as something negative/bad/criticism - your interpretation just reflects what you think of that person, rather than what that person means to say! While I found how complicated people are, that has roused my interest in linguistic research again! My expertise! I think at some point I should be back to the linguistics field to do some research again! :)

5) I've been trying to pick up my old hobbies again - photography, reading, cooking, research. Does that mean I'm back to my normal self after a period of low mood/anxiety/psychological struggle? :p

I love this salmon (in lemon & dill sauce) meal at Morrisons! :) 

I have tried to grab bargains from supermarket these days.. :) 

My interest in cooking is back! 

The cake that I made with a little kid.. 

My new frying pan!

Hello Dr Useless!

I saw Dr Useless again this afternoon.

I can't be bothered to look for the chilblains cream for my little finger and so I made an appointment to see the doctor again. This time he thought my finger could have got infection! :(  He prescribed me antibiotics and asked me to see him in one week. But I made an appointment to see the other (female) doctor instead, as I still 'trusted' the female doctor (though I feel a bit bad about not seeing Dr. Useless as he told me to!). I have antibiotics phobia since last year, as it seems the antibiotics I took last time was the starting point where I got so many problems afterwards! I still remember how weak I was back then, after taking two kinds of antibiotics within one week's time. But this time I have no excuse not to take the antibiotics (it's a different type from the ones I had last time) since my little finger has been swollen for more than a month now and I have no choice but to follow the doctor's instructions to see if it'll get well after I take the antibiotics!

I seemed to feel a bit better today - the headache was not as severe, and I didn't feel as 手軟腳軟 as yesterday, but my running nose seemed to have got worse! :(  Also my skin itch problem seemed to have come back? (I didn't feel itchy over the past few days) Because I haven't taken anti-histamine in the last two days? or because the body now has settled from the cold and given the chance to the skin? :(

One good thing about today is I sold 5 items on ebay! :)

Never ending health problems...

Lunch: last night's leftovers!

Dinner: 牛肉河粉 (the soup was absorbed by the ho fan!)

Got cold :(

Finally I got cold!

How come I didn't know I had got cold until I had fever and headache last night when I was sleeping? The fact that I started having sore throat since last Sunday is already a 'signal' to me but I didn't catch that. I had just thought it was because I ate too much deep fried food over the weekend, that I got sore throat. I was still feeling ok over the last two days! Then all of a sudden, in the middle of the night, I felt my body was feverish, and I had severe headache and muscular pain. I didn't sleep well. When I got up this morning, all I felt was severe headache, muscular pain, 腰酸背痛, 手軟腳軟! :(  I knew then that I got cold. I wonder if the soup I had last night 'triggered' it, since it was so 涼 in Chinese medicine and for women like me who are weak when 'auntie' is coming, it's so easy to get sick! I remember last time when I had 綠豆生地湯, I also seemed to feel a bit ill afterward. :( Maybe my body can't take too many green beans?

Anyway, throughout the day, I just felt so tired, with severe headache. I didn't stay at home to rest though. I went out for hair cut in the morning - my long hair made my skin problem worse and also I wanted something refreshing. I guess I did look more energetic with shorter hair! Then I went to the china town to get some foodstuff for lunch. Later in the afternoon I was trying to look for chilblains cream for my poor little finger which is still swollen, red and itchy (the cream that the GP prescribed me doesn't work at all!) but I can't find any. :(

It's said it'll be even colder in the next few days, especially the weekend! I don't like winter.. :(

Lunch: 雪菜雞絲炆米粉 :)

I didn't feel like anything deep fried or too saucy. I just want something tasty but plain when I'm sick!

 Dinner: 薑汁炒芥蘭配雞肉, 冬菇蒸三文魚, 芝士洋蔥quiche (from Waitrose)

the quiche was the most tasty! The 'kai lan' was also good! 

Though I was ill, I still had good appetite! 

Trip to Bolton (again!)

A short lone trip to Bolton again!

With someone's bus ticket (day saver) available to be lent to me, I took a chance again to go to Bolton again. Last time I went there late, so this time I tried to be a bit earlier - 'earlier' just means 1 hour earlier this time! :p I still didn't have enough time to do browse things and do much shopping. When I got off the bus, the first thing I wanted was go to toilet! =_=' After that, when I walked past the BHS, I spotted a coat that I was interested in - a short black duffle coat from Miss Selfridges. :) I know that's the evil of (window) shopping! But it didn't have my size. :(  I then only managed to have a walk around the Bolton Market (I got some fruit and vegetables) and B&M before I rushed to take the bus to go back to Manchester. I still think going alone is not as good as with other people and also it was freezing cold today! But still I enjoyed being out of Manchester. :p

Next time I may need to go in the morning in order to have more time to do (window) shopping! :p

My next target is Ikea! meatballs.. hot dogs..

Lunch: turkey breast from the soup + vegetables

Dinner: stir fried egg noodles with chicken and vegetables

Soup: 蓮藕綠豆薏米湯

I thought I needed to drink some soup to help me get rid of 'hot' air 

but I forgot that it may be too 涼 for me at this time of the month.. 

How can I keep myself warm?

Freezing cold. How long will this cold weather last? :(

My little finger is still red and swollen (and itchy!). I'm becoming more doubted about the effectiveness of the cream Dr. Useless prescribed me. :(  The finger next to the little finger seems to have got swollen and painful too.. How can I survive this cold weather? :(

1/2 day work. Attended a meeting with rep from other community organizations. An interesting project. Also it was much more interesting to stay in office to see some unwanted faces. :p

It was so cold that I got no motivation to do anything but tried to keep myself warm. I turned on and off the heater at alternate times and also kept myself moving by doing cleaning and wii fit! I had to wear the thermal legging which was given by my 'biu mui' more than a year ago.

Lunch: Red jasmine rice with mixed vegetables & mushroom omelette

(Monday is a vegetarian day for me! :p)
(I ate 1/2 Waitrose carrot muffin for snack later!)

Breakfast: I ate a kiwi fruit for breakfast instead of blueberry as blueberry had been finished.. 

Dinner: mixed vegetables (with Chinese mushroom!) & baked beans

(I had a pear for dessert!:p)

A cold day for CNY celebration at city centre

Felt lazy today. Too cold to go out.

But I did go out, as I had to volunteer at the art gallery for their Chinese New Year event. Most of the people who came to our 'stall' at the art gallery were children with their families. There were a few Chinese as well. My role was simple - just interpreted for the elderly who'd introduce the Chinese objects displayed but in fact most of the time it was me who did the talking and to be honest, I didn't know much about those Chinese objects (e.g. the meaning behind some patters/pictures)! The Chinatown was so crowded when I went out for lunch, as people were watching the lion dance and 'dragon'. I wasn't as much interested in the Chinatown celebration - maybe to me it's still different, especially me without families and friends around..

I'd like to stay in my bed once I got back home - I had a short nap but I still had to go out again - went to a 'free' dinner with two friends at a casino. The Chinese food buffet was surprisingly good! There was a long queue at the casino! After the dinner, we watched lion dance, Tai Chi, 'face changing' and some other performance before my friends gave me a lift back home.

The weather's getting colder and colder..

Lunch: fish ball noodles at a local Chinese restaurant. 

It tasted ok but to be honest, I don't think it was worth the money in terms of service

and price (£5.90 + £0.5 service charge...)

Very unclear pictures of the 'free' dinner... :p

Un-interesting volunteering?

In the past, I was so passionate about volunteering - I could spend hours and hours doing voluntary work for the organization where I used to work for some years. But have I changed? I don't think I'm as passionate as before - like today, one of my ex-colleagues, who's also a good friend of mine, asked me to help her workshop do interpreting for a few Mandarin speaking service users. I wasn't looking forward to it, partly because I thought my interpreting (language) skills had not been as good as before, and also I didn't find it interesting. :(  The workshop went ok but I didn't enjoy that much. Interpreting thoughts and artists ideas was challenging, interesting but I didn't enjoy it... 

I had fish & chips for both lunch and dinner today. I guess I might have eaten too many of them, that my throat started having pain and feeling dry. I guess it's time for me to make soup...

Lunch: fish & chips + pudding pie with chips

Dinner: fish & chips + cheese & bacon omelette

Boring working day

Working day. Helped my 'boss' format her transcripts. Boring but I was fine with doing this easy boring work. The office was cold :(  but its air was so stuffing...

This was the multiseed deli roll from Aldi! Quite nice and soft! :)

Lunchbox at work: red jasmine rice with turkey and vegetables :)

Dinner: instant noodles with soup leftovers (花膠, 螺片, pork)

I couldn't resist the temptation of having noodles for dinner, having smelt the instant noodles in office today!

Though I know it wasn't good for my health.. 

I love mocha! :)

I treated myself a trip to the coffee shop after seeing Dr. Useless!

Dr. Useless said the same useless words, e.g. asked me to put some cream on my little finger and take anti-histamine for 4 weeks! =_= I had to emphasize to him how long my skin problem has been happening and then he said he might consider referring me to an allergy clinic if it didn't improve. Sigh... But his attitude was obviously a bit better than before! Of course, if he wasn't nice enough, he'd lose more patients! 

I hadn't been to the coffee shop for a drink and reading for a long while.. so today I treated myself a cup of mocha and read the book 那些年 that a friend of mine had lent to me. :)  

A nice cafe

Household work today. Laundry. Hoovering. Cooking.

I tried a new restaurant/cafe today. I like its environment and food. Would like to try it again! :)

Macaroni cheese! So cheesy! :)

Nice leek and mushroom soup and ham sandwiches!

Busy 'housewife' day?

Busy 'housewife' day! :p

I got a busy morning before heading to my part-time work in the afternoon. I had a shower and breakfast, before making Chinese soup, then checked email, did wii fit and had lunch before going out! Today's part-time work was about having a meeting with my 'boss' and her 'boss'! Then I helped with formatting the transcripts of the research my boss had been working on. I got my first 'lei see' from my former 'boss' while in office! Quite relaxed at work indeed. Then I went back home for my lovely home-made meal... :)

All the photos below were taken by my 450d! Welcome back, my baby 450d! :)

Time to get back to my favourite hobbies - photography & cooking!