Reflections on 2013!

I distinctly remember sitting in front of the computer to start my reflections on 2012. suddenly, here I am again, only it is now reflections for 2013! Where has the year gone?? The template I’ve used for previous years’ reflections comes back now~

First note to all: last year and the year before that, the first catergory I commented about was sporting-wise. However, at the end of last year, I said I had given up on the idea of resuming tertiary studies. By that, I meant the dual arts/law degree I was studying @ UQ before the cruel and unfaithful god so wantonly destroyed my life with the disabling brain tumour. However, recently on television, I have seen ads for the open universities study courses, and I’m thinking, why don’t I give that a go? I mean, the neuro-psych test I took in 2008 said I was unfit to resume tertiary studies at UQ, but hey, it’s been five years since I took that test and besides, open college provides studies off campus. I was thinking of trying studying something along the lines of the law degree I’d started the first two years of, before the cruel and unfaithful god so wantonly destroyed my life with the disabling brain tumour, but mother thought it’d be too hard for me (not sure why?) and instead found me this course about editing. I’ve nothing against editing; I mean, it’s what has earned me a lil money of my own this year, doing some editing work for a church brother who, while he grew up in hong kong before moving to Australia, has pretty good English skills already. So yeah, if that’s what mother wants me to do for her this year, I’ll give it a crack!

Sporting wise: this year has been another great year for the maroons, who have taken out their EIGHTH consecutive origin series! I was ready to hand nsw back the origin gloating rights after queensland had secured six consecutive wins, but this year marks our eighth straight series win, and I’m hearing some supporters say that we’re after TEN straight wins! Is that too greedy? Maybe, but oh, wouldn’t it be sweet if queensland could really hold the bragging rights for one DECADE straight! As for myself, I personally have not been in any shape whatsoever to run around a playing field, although I did have the joy of walking taco (sorry, toca XD) the dog around this playing field several times this year; thankfully, he’s only a small dog and wasn’t strong enough to pull me over. XD

Politically-wise: well, mr. can-do Campbell newman’s still our premier, but we have a new prime minister! I wonder, will tony abbott be ever be able to shake off the image of him wearing those red undies? XD however, on a sadder note, this year we farewelled nelson mandela; coincidentally, he passed away the very morning I was due at the hospital for a small eye surgery. I will admit, though, I don’t really keep up-to-date with political stuff; whenever an election rolls around, I usually vote for the first candidate smart enough to send out a flyer promoting themselves first. XD

Spiritually-wise: six years passed since the cruel and unfaithful god so wantonly destroyed my life with the disabling brain tumour came and passed without notice bar anyone but myself. Only two matters, spiritually-wise, were of note this year: the first thing happened one Thursday night, when I was out at the late night shopping with my carer/life coach/support worker/whatever they’re called now. XD Some random walking past hands me this pamphlet. Giving it a quick browse, I realise it’s an invitation to a free Christian concert and healing services.  So I ask the guy, “if I attend one of these, will I get healed? Coz I didn’t need this stupid wheelchair until I got sick.” The random just replied, “sure, come along for complete healing.” Excited, I took this pamphlet back to mother, and you can understand my distress when she refused to take me along! I mean, sure, if she’d had taken me but nothing had happened, I could’ve said, “well, at least I tried. Guess the cruel and unfaithful god isn’t interested in restoring my life” but because she refused to take me, for the rest of my LIFE I will be left wondering, “could I have lived a full, healed and meaningful life, one where I could’ve contributed to society?” >< the second matter happened during our church small group; we were doing a video series called gospel in life, and the last lesson was called eternity. The speaker had a really long rope with him, so long that you couldn’t see where the end was. At the tip of the rope, the front maybe 10cm was covered with red tape. The guy explained that your earthly life was represented by that red tape, but eternity, the time you have after you’ve left the earth, was that unending rope. After awhile, we’d be thinking, “what was that little time I spent on earth again?” not so with me, however. When the guy uttered those words, I was like, great, I will have ETERNITY to mourn the fact that I could have lived a full and meaningful life, a fruitful life, had it not been for the cruel and unfaithful god. I mean, nearly seven years on, and I’m still waiting for an answer: what was it that I did/didn’t do that was so sinful that made god completely destroy my life? I’m still waiting for an answer, but I highly doubt I’ll ever receive one. Actually, sometime this yeart, a church sister asked me, “em, do you still talk to god?” my answer at that time had been, “why should i? I’m so bad with him!” but she had replied, “you should tell him that. He’s big enough to handle it.” So that’s what I’ve been trying this year, telling god how angry I am with him for destroying my life, how much I hate him, how much I Loate him, how much I DESPISE him. Unsurprisingly, I haven’t received any answer, but hey: if you weren’t expecting one, you can’t be disappointed. XD

Work-wise: like I mentioned earlier, I’m very happy that a church brother has offered me a little paid editing work for him, although I’d love to find suitable paid part-time work that allows me to sit down.

Everything-else-wise: lol, I may haveta cut things short, coz there’s only twenty-five minutes left till the new year! One thing of note’s how great my sleeping has become; last year, I recorded ninety-one instances where I managed to sleep the whole night through before nature called after the sun rose; this year, I’ve managed 191! Lol, dunno will I ever manage to reach 200, but hey, it’s a far cry to back when I was still hospitalised and every night, the cruel and unfaithful god would send me terrifying nightmares, jeering that I was disabled, useless and abandoned forever … so, lemme just say it’s awesome to get such great sleep now!

Oh, one more thing: I’ve had a hugely successful year in 2013 and only managed to fall over twice! Originally, I was going to reset that and say, like last year, I hope I will fall five times or less, but what with mother going on about me needing to walk all around the house myself this year without any supervision … perhaps I’d better take that count to falling less than ten times this year …

Hmm … only fifteen minutes left until new year arrives … guess I won’t have any time to read over and check any mistakes and whatnot, so lemme just bid 2013 a fond farewell – coz, on the whole, it’s been great fun; like, this year, I rode a CAMEL! – and say hoping everyone has a smashing 2014! Oh, and apologies for any mistakes and whatnot. XD

Cheers,

Em. ^^

Christmas and Boxing Day 2013

Cripes, today’s New Year’s Eve, and I still haven’t shared about how I spent my Christmas and Boxing days yet! Yeah, call me slack. XD

Well, on Christmas day, I wished both parents a very merry Christmas, but when mother kindly served me breakfast, two yummy Weetbix with the smallest amount of honey ever, I mock-complained, “Oh, com on, mother, it’s Christmas! Surely you can gimme something better for Christmas than that?” Well, apparently she couldn’t. XD

Soon afterwards, dad tootled us off to church. That’s been our family tradition for goodness knows how many years. I think Catholics attend church on Christmas Eve, but we attend church on Christmas day. While dad drove, I sang a happy repetition of four secular Christmas carols, because I knew we’d only be singing Christian ones at church. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, We Wish You a Merry Christmas, Jingle Bells and Twelve Days of Christmas (even though I only remembered the first five0. XD

At church, I headed downstairs to A1 (the Canto service was being held in the main hall upstairs, but the English service got held in A1 downstairs) and visited the bathroom once before taking my seat on the very left (having no left side side vision anymore, I prefer to sit on the most left so that I can see everyone seated to my right). Mother went back upstairs to the Cantonese and Mandarin service.

I’ve found out one very awesome thing about having service in A1: because there isn’t a platform for the speaker/worship leaders/others to mount, you can remain seated for worship!!

Our speaker for the Christmas service was a guy called Brian Tran (apparently, ‘Tran’ is the Vietnamese version of ‘Chan’?) , and he gave us a Christmas message.

And Christy jie has returned!! She arrived sometime during worship; when Julz saw her, she raced outside and gave her a great big hug; I would’ve loved to do that also, but the cruel and unfaithful god’s abandoned me so physically disabled that if I attempted that, I’d probably just fall flat on my butt … *sigh* anyways, I waited until service had concluded before calling out “Christy jie!!” she turned around, mock-glared at me and retorted, “you’re OLDER than me.” Oh yeah, just by six months, that’s all. XD

After service had concluded, mother took me once again to the loo, and then I joined the queue for our church luncheon. Huge thanks to some random aunty who, seeing that I was physically disabled, said, “Hey, here, just jump in behind me.” Mostly, I was just very happy to get myself one full plateful; in the past, when mother went to get food for me, she’d return with about 2/3 a plate, or even worse, sometimes less than half! XD

Anyways, during luncheon, I sat beside this uncle Ben and his wife (didn’t grab her name, sorry); uncle Ben told me that he’s been attending BCAC since 2008 and attends the same bible study class as my dearest dad!

  After luncheon, dearest dad tootled us home. Mother hit pigland and I plopped online, until mother demanded I go shower.

Shower completed, our guests started arriving for dinner! Lol, when the door bell rang, mother was still comatose in pigland while dad was whipping up dinner; he called, “Answer that, will you please, Em?”Walking to the front door, I called, “That you, Dr. Dr. Tai?” To my amusement, a deeper male voice answered, “No, it’s me, Michael.” Whoops. XD

After I’d welcomed Michael and Ivy inside, they went out into our backyard to view mum and dad’s veggie patch. The next time the door bell rang, I was ready. “It’s gotta be you this time, right, Dr. Dr. Tai?” I laughed through the front door.

“Yes, let me in!” XD

She too went outside to admire the parents veggie patch, while I finished my first book club novel for January! Usually, we read one book each month, but because of some mix up, we received two books for January!

  I must admit, though, Christmas dinner, when finally called, was a slight disappointment. Sure, we had the yummy rice (the plain white rice; it gets called the yucky rice when mother adds grains of red and brown rice into the mix), lotsa ‘bor choi’ (say that in Canto; does anyone know what ‘bor choi’ is called in English?) Some beef and some salmon, but I was hoping for some of my favourite chicken or pork! Lol, no biggie.

After dinner, we yakked the rest of the night away. When walking Michael and ivy out, I cheekily asked Michael could I please have a pay rise. XD He’s my employer right now, I do a little bit of proof reading work for him, and for that, I get a little cash to buy my parents with and he calls me his editor! Sounds fancy~ XD Anyways, he laughingly replied that there’d have to be a long process to go through before he approved my application for a payrise, which I think meant just ‘no’. XD

Once they left, bedtime immediately followed, zzz~

Boxing day: the first thing I did was immediately sing mother happy birthday!

After getting up and kitted, I downed the usual Weetbix for breakfast, visited the loo once more, and then went out with Leanne, Peggy and Esther to the sushi place beside Rochedale café!

We ordered food to share: dumplings, fried rice, fried noodles and sushi. Yakking was a constant. XD

After lunch, Esther (our driver for today) tootled us off to Just Soy Cafe for shaved ice! Imagine my irritation when we discovered the place was closed. ><

But all was well, because I told them about that place opposite Sunnybank oriental that also sells shaved ice and Esther tootled us there instead. From memory, it’s called Home Town.

Funnily enough, I was the only one who had shaved ice! Peggy had this cute little egg pudding, while Leanne and Esther just had drinks.

Afterwards, Esther tootled me home, I hugged them all goodbye and then dearest dad tootled us all out to garbo to catch the end of the Boxing Day sales!

Personally, I was super-happy to find myself a Japanese historical fiction novel from Big W, although I suspect dad was even happier with himself to buy a thin block of dark chocolate ONE METRE long!! Mother just bought some skin care products.

Back home, the same thing as yesterday happened: mother went upstairs to hit pigland, I plopped online and dad started whipping up dinner!

Our dinner guests on Boxing Day night were uncle Slam (Anna’s gone back to Singapore) and Ronnie jie jie.

After dinner, we had birthday cake for mother! Oh, that’s right, I went and bought that cake with the parents myself, from the downstairs Breadtop at Garbo. So, birthday songs (English and canto), photos and yummy cake enjoyed by all~

When uncle Slam and Ronnie jie jie left, it was finally, FINALLY time to open all the presents Santa had brought me this year!

And hey, I must’ve been good this year, because Santa brought me lotsa presents! XD Check out www.taleofepic3.livejournal.com sometime in the New Year to see what presents Santa gave me!

So, Christmas and Boxing Day are over for another year. I’ve had great fun!

Next post here comes, well, tonight. ^^” Yes, I’ve been slack; meaning to post about Christmas and Boxing Day earlier, only never found the time to, then suddenly last night I realised, “Hey, tomorrow’s New Year’s Eve! I’ll haveta write out my reflections about 2013 tomorrow night, but I haven’t even shared about how I spent Christmas and Boxing Day yet! XD So, cya tonight; until then!

Cheers,

Em. ^^

Marriage

Was browsing through my old blog (victishonor.livejournal.com). Stumbled across this gem; enjoy!

Smart Little Twerps ^^

HOW DO YOU DECIDE WHOM TO MARRY?
(written by kids)

(1) You got to find somebody who likes the same stuff. Like, if
you like sports, she should like it that you like sports, and she
should keep the chips and dip coming. -- Alan, age 10

(2) No person really decides before they grow up who they're going
to marry. God decides it all way before, and you get to find out
later who you're stuck with. -- Kristen, age 10


WHAT IS THE RIGHT AGE TO GET MARRIED?
(1) Twenty-three is the best age because you know the person
FOREVER by then. -- Camille, age 10

(2) No age is good to get married at. You got to be a fool to get
married. -- Freddie, age 6 (very wise for his age)


HOW CAN A STRANGER TELL IF TWO PEOPLE ARE
MARRIED?
(1) You might have to guess, based on whether they seem to be
yelling at the same kids. -- Derrick, age 8


WHAT DO YOU THINK YOUR MOM AND DAD HAVE
IN COMMON?
(1) Both don't want any more kids. -- Lori, age 8


WHAT DO MOST PEOPLE DO ON A DATE?
(1) Dates are for having fun, and people should use them to get to
know each other. Even boys have something to say if you listen
long enough. -- Lynnette, age 8 (isn't she a treasure)

(2) On the first date, they just tell each other lies and that usually
gets them interested enough to go for a second date. --
Martin,age 10


WHAT WOULD YOU DO ON A FIRST DATE THAT WAS
TURNING SOUR?
(1) I'd run home and play dead. The next day I would call all the
newspapers and make sure they wrote about me in all the dead
columns. -- Craig, age 9


WHEN IS IT OKAY TO KISS SOMEONE?
(1) When they're rich. -- Pam,age 7

(2) The law says you have to be eighteen, so I wouldn't want to
mess with that - - Curt, age 7

(3 ) The rule goes like this: If you kiss someone, then you should
marry them and have kids with them. It's the right thing to do. --
Howard, age 8


IS IT BETTER TO BE SINGLE OR MARRIED?
(1 ) I don't know which is better, but I'll tell you one thing.
I'm never going to have sex with my wife. I don't want to be all
grossed out. -- Theodore, age 8

(2 ) It's better for girls to be single but not for boys. Boys need
someone to clean up after them. -- Anita, age 9 (bless you child)


HOW WOULD THE WORLD BE DIFFERENT IF PEOPLE
DIDN'T GET MARRIED?
(1 ) There sure would be a lot of kids to explain, wouldn't there?
Kelvin, age 8

And the #1 Favorite is........

HOW WOULD YOU MAKE A MARRIAGE WORK?
1 ) Tell your wife that she looks pretty, even if she looks like a truck. --
Ricky, age 10 

Cheers,

Em. ^^

P.S. Next post here ... prolly a post describing how I spent my Christmas and Boxing Days~

XMas Greetings 2013

Greetings everyone! How has 2013 been treating you? Hopefully, you’ve settled into the new decade well and truly by now – because suddenly, we’re like one-third of the way through it already!

Gosh, time flies when you’re having fun, and well, have I certainly tried my best to have fun this year!

Fun for me started all the way back at the end of January, when my parents and I went down on a road trip for a short holiday to Sydney and back! The last time we tried such a thing, I was only a squirt – five years old – and my dad laughingly asked me, “Em, do you remember? That morning, I actually CARRIED you to the car because you were so small and sleepy!’ Laughing back, I had replied, “Well, dad, you know what? Twenty years later, I think I am a bit too big and fat for you to carry to the car, but how about you just hold my hand and we walk to the car together?”

  That road trip and family was especially memorable for me – and this was one of the highlights of my year – because I rode a CAMEL! Yup, after lunch, mother and I were walking back to the car after a loo break, when I noticed some tents pitched along the sand. “Wonder what they’re for?” I asked mother, who replied, “There are some park benches here; how about you sit down and I’ll take a look for you?’ she came back and exclaimed, “They’re offering camel rides!” Obviously, I was immediately hooked. “Ooh, I wanna ride a camel! Please please please can I??’ Mother went back down to the camel people and explained that I wanted to try riding a camel but that I was disabled; would it be okay if she sat behind me on the same camel and held me safe? She’d pay for two people, of course. The lady said sure and so mother brought me down. You can imagine my mother’s terror when the owner guy wandered past, saw me and remarked, “Oh, she’ll be right on her own camel. I’ll just put her on one of the smaller ones.” Poor mother was stuck: she’d already offered to pay the fare for two people and obviously couldn’t chicken out! From memory (probably incorrect XD) she SHRIEKED when the camel rose from it’s kneeling position onto all four legs! XD

So life continued along the year. One night, when I was at Garden City Shopping Centre for the late night shopping with a carer/life coach/support worker/whatever they’re called now XD some random handed me a pamphlet. Taking a quick browse, I noticed it offered a free Christian concert plus invites to free healing services, plus a very short personal testimony. I asked the guy, “if I go to this, will I get healed? Because I didn’t need this stupid wheelchair until I got sick. The guy just responded, “Sure, come along if you want to get healed.” Excited, I took the pamphlet back to mother and asked her please to take me one night, and you can imagine my distress when she refused to take me! “It’s just a sham,” she said. How did she know that?! I mean, if she had taken me but nothing had happened, I could’ve at least have said, “Oh well, I tried. Guess the cruel and unfaithful god just isn’t interested in healing me” but because she refused, thanks to her, for the rest of my LIFE, every single fricking day, I will be left asking myself, “Could I have lived a full and meaningful life, a healed life, a normal life, where I contributed to society??” ><

  But it’s better to end with a positive note, so let me share with you the story of how I met my favourite author, Raymond E. Feist! My Logan City librarian told me about the event, and after numerous phone calls with me wheedling away, “Please, I really wanna meet this guy; he’s been my favourite author ever since I was like in my teens!’ I finally got to meet him, get his autograph and take a photo together!

  One of my church fellowship sisters asked me towards the end of the year, “Em, do you still ever pray to God?’ to which I replied, “no, because I know He doesn’t even bother to listen.” She suggested, “You really should try talking to Him,’ but I was like, “Why would i? I’m so mad with him for just destroying my life and abandoning me like He has!’ but she responded, “And he’s big enough to take that. You can tell him how mad you are with him. Just talk to him.” So, on her advice, I’ve been trying to talk to God lately, telling him how much I hate him, how much I loathe Him, how much I DESPISE him for totally destroying my life without telling me what I’d done/not done that was so sinful that was reason enough for Him to destroy my life like He has.  Unsurprisingly, I’ve had no response, but that’s okay, I hadn’t expected one in the first place. You know, if you don’t set any expectations, you can’t be disappointed! XD Everyday, though, I just remember the quote “You can break my body and bend my mind, but my soul is not for you to possess. That’s what I now tell God everyday: yes, He can break my body (I’m physically disabled beyond word ><) and yes, He can bend my mind (which He’s also done; my parents constantly jeer at me how I don’t think properly anymore ><) but my SOUL is NOT FOR HIM to possess!!

  Sorry, I’ve waffled on about my year for quite long enough, haven’t I? Apologies! ^^”

Please let me just take this time to wish you and your family a very Merry Christmas and a safe and prosperous new year! May whatever adventures you are currently undertaking continue to go well for you, and best of luck with whatever new endeavours you try out in the year ahead!

Me, my life is still constantly doing physio (read: I have no life ><) but Christmas is approaching and I will finally get a short holiday soon, Yay, I can’t wait!

Hopefully we can continue to remain in touch for the year to come! Thankfully, having Facebook and e-mail makes life a lot easier. XD

Looking forward to catching up with you in the year ahead to come!

Cheers,

Em. ^^

Xmas Wishlist 2013

It’s December! Heylo, Santa! Do you remember me?? I hope so, coz I’ve had a whole nine months (my birthday’s in March) to create a whopping big Christmas wishlist of all the presents I’m hoping you’ll get for me this year!

(1)              You and Me: this album’s Shane Filan’s debut solo album! You know, I was heartbroken never to have seen the Westlife boys live in concert (Pole and I had bought tickets to see their Brisbane concert in 2007, only that was the same time the cruel and unfaithful God decided to totally destroy my life with that disabling brain tumour ><) but since Shane’s going solo, I wanna hear how he sounds! Although I’m not sure will Brisbane sell his album … they were too stupid to sell any of westlife’s … may haveta ask any of my awesome friends/beloved family from Hong Kong or Canada to send me this present …

(2)              Hunger Games DVD: You know, I owe the fact that I owe the three books to my school (the first two books) and church (the third book) peers, and now that I’ve finished reading them, I want the movie DVD! Just the first one; isn’t the second one now showing @ the cinemas? Well, if someone gets me the first movie for Christmas, we can go see the second one @ the cinemas together!

(3)              Backscratcher: this is a random Christmas wishlist item … not sure how it appeared … prolly one night after mother had already booted me off to bed at some ungodly ridiculously early hour of the night and I was wriggling around in bed trying my hardest to (a) relieve the annoying itch and (2) not accidentally tumble outta bed. XD

(4) the Physics of Star Trek by Laurence M. Krauss

(4)              Yes, I will proudly admit to being a diehard Trekkie. XD I probably won’t understand this book at all, considering I only did biology in high school, and never even tried chemistry let alone physics, but hey, lemme pretend to be smart, okay?? XD

(5)              The Ghost Bride by  Tangsze Choo: Yes, the next few items are all probably from the Bookworld e-newsletter I subscribe to; I have no recollection of reading about this book, but if I added it onto my wishlist, it’s probably worth getting. XD

(6)              The People in The Trees by Hanya Gihara: okay, the next few items are probably all gonna be books I have zero recollection of hearing about, but sounded interesting, so yeah, someone get me this please!

(7)              The Reason I Jump: the Inner Voice of a Thirteen-Year-Old Boy with Autism by Naoki Higashida: I thought people with autism were very reticent and socially withdrawn … yet if a thirteen year old suffering from autism penned his memoirs, I certainly want to read it! And with a name like that, I’m presuming he’s Japanese … and if it got translated into English, it must be worth reading!

(8)              The Gravity of Birds by Tracey Guzeman: more books I can’t remember reading about appearing on this wishlist … well, I’ve never been a bird enthusiast, but the same logic applies: if I added it into my wishlist, it must be worth reading. Someone get me this too, please! XD

(9)              The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon: okay, I promise, this is the last book appearing consecutively that I can’t recall reading about; actually, it sounds downright scary/creepy, but I’ll be brave and try to read it if someone buys this book for me! XD

(10)           Earth Unaware by Orson Scott Card and Aaron Johnstone: every Thursday fortnight, I hit garbo with a carer. The library is our first stop. Now, the deal I have negotiated with mother is that I must walk to the library and pick out my book to read before I get to spend the rest of the night shopping in Sparkless 2 (my manual wheelchair XD) and luckily, one of my favourite author’s surname is Card. Imagine how much further I’d have to walk if my favourite author’s surname started with ‘z’! XD anyways, one afternoon, when I’d walked to where card’s books are held, I noticed a new novel that he’d co-written with some other dude named Aaron Johnston. I tried it, and it’s a great read! The second one’s called ‘Earth Afire’. Please will somebody get them both for me?? :D

(11)           Shaman by Kim Stanley Robinson: Sorry, I keep encountering all these titles that I don’t remember! XD however, I’ve always been a big fantasy buff, and this title certainly sounds along the lines of something fantasy related, so yeah: some get this for me, please! XD

(12)          In the Heart of Life by Kathy Eldon: Again, I don’t remember coming across this book, but it sounds inspiring and therefore worth reading!

(13)          Burial Rites by Hannah Kent: hmm, I really can’t remember how anything so creepy-sounding made it’s way onto my Christmas wishlist, but hey. XD

(14)          Me and Her: a memoir of madness by Karen Tyrell: This book sounds scary, but the only reason I’m asking for it’s because she must’ve re-found sanity to be able to pen this memoir. Hopefully worth a read!

(15)          Wendell Sailor’s Crossing the Line: I’ve always been interested in reading biographies, and plus, this man was a rugby league legend, so I’d like this memoir, please!

(16)          Google 7” Tablet: here’s the expensive item on my wishlist. Dad got me an ipad back in 2012, so I don’t really see why I would want one of these, but hey, every wishlist should have @ least one crazily expensive item! XD

(17)          Frosties: every wishlist should also contain one food item. XD I know this cereal’s super-unhealthy, but it’s also super-yummy! Weet-bix can get somewhat boring, you know?? XD

(18)          Two more goldfish: Poor Silver and Bronze passed away in the Winter of 2008, because I didn’t know to buy a heater for their fish tank, but I promise I’ve learnt my lesson!

(19)          Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother: isn’t this a book about crazy Chinese mothers always pushing their children to always be the best and more? Anyways, it sounds interesting, so someone get me this book please!!

The Magician and The Magicians by Lev Grossman

(20)          More books I can’t recall noting down, but because fantasy is one of my favourite genres to read, somebody please get me this book!

Okay, there are more books I’ve written down on my wishlist, but I think twenty items are more than enough for you to handle, right, Santa? Oh, unless you’re willing to get me twenty-one presents this year! In that case, I’d like a teddy bear, please. Remember, all my teddies are named and yes, all are loved. XD

So yes, Santa, here’s what I’m hoping for this year. Please get all your elves (i.e. my Facebook friends who read this XD) to get me as many of these presents as possible! I honestly reckon I’ve been pretty good and well-behaved this year, so everyone: go and secure me presents! :D

Cheers,

Em. ^^

P.S. next post here … either my post about one of my physios while I was still imprisoned in the insane asylum (aka the P.A. hospital to everyone else XD), otherwise my christmas greetings to everyone come December the 11^th! Righteo, until then~

Cheers,

Em. ^^
P.P.S. Sorry, Santa, one more present I really want from you! My favourite clothing store is JaysJays (never mind  that it's designed for sixteen to twenty-four year olds and I'll be 26.75 come December the 20th XD) and there's this super-cool shirt I want from there! It's got a picture of a minion, captioned with the words 'Whatever it is, I didn't do it!" Now, when Julz and Janice took me out to do my Christmas shopping yesterday, Janice measured me and said I'd fit into a small size. So get me that please! XD

BCAC Church Carnival 2013

Last Saturday, my parents and I attended BCAC’s church carnival!

Firstly, an introduction: when we first arrived in Brisbane after emigrating from Hong Kong in October 1990, we actually first attended CCCB (or BCCC; I can never remember all these A’s and B’s! I mean, sometimes I reckon I should plant a church and call it WXYZ! XD and met Uncle Him Wong!) However, dearest dad heard of Antioch International church, at that time only offering an English service, but just about to begin a Cantonese one, so he moved mother and me there.

So there we stayed with AIC, all the way until we’d saved enough money to build a new church over at Rochedale, and that’s now where we attend every Sunday: 983 Rochedale Road, Rochdale.

And last Saturday, we held our church carnival there!

Originally, mother was like, “Well, I have to work in the morning, but after I get home from work, I’ll take you there.” Only I was like, “Yeah, but sometimes work is so busy that you don’t get home from work until like after 2:30pm! The carnival will finish like one hour after that!”

On Facebook, I had written that I very much hoped that mother would finish home early and take me to the carnival! Dr. Lee read that status update and asked me, “Would you like me to organise someone to give you a lift there?’ I was about to reply “Yes please!” but mother had wandered over to the computer right at that very moment and forbade me from saying yes! “I’ll drive you there myself,” she declares. I was like, ugh, I hope she knows what she’s doing, but wise Dr. Lee reassured me, “I’m sure she has a plan.” XD

Come Saturday morning when mother leaves for work, I call after her retreating back, “Please come home in time to take me to the carnival, okay??”

At 10am, my morning carer Rhi (who’s only twenty!) arrives to dig me out of bed, and after brushing teeth, I head outside to the dining table for breakfast when the phone rings. Me, picking it up and answering it, “Hello?’

“Em? It’s me, Meow Meow.”

“Huh? I’m talking to a cat??’

A laugh at the other end, then the voice thunders, “No, it’s me, MEL MEL.”

Whoops, sorry, Mel Mel, my ears haven’t woken up yet! XD

Mel Mel’s just ringing to say that she and Kwany are going to the carnival now and would I like a lift? But I say thanks and decline, because mother has said she’ll drive me there herself.

Sure enough, mother arrives home shortly before 1pm! So while she heads upstairs for a shower, I wolf down my lunch (half a bowl of fried rice that Rhi has kindly cooked for me), then when mother comes back downstairs after her shower, she too inhales some fried rice, dearest dad comes home too, then we all hit the carnival together!

I’d dared to hope that mother would let me use Sparkless (my manual wheelchair) to navigate all the different stalls, but alas, that wasn’t the case. ><

Inside, I immediately headed into the main hall to play some games! First, some guy had set up several cans of Coke and was giving competitors a gun with six plastic darts to shoot down. I lined up for a go, realising that with my woeful aim, I’d probably score zero. XD sure enough, my first shot smacked the table underneath all the cans, and I realised I needed to aim higher than where I thought the darts would project. Ah, that was better; I managed to knock over cans with the rest of my shots, once, I even managed to ping off two cans simultaneously! For that, I received a little sheet of Hello Kitty stickers.

Next, I walked to a stall that was selling various items, and I fingered a particularly beautiful dark blue scarf. Well, turns out they were only asking for a gold coin donation, so mother kindly bought that for me! However, you’re all gonna haveta wait until winter next year to see me wear it; it’s nearing summer right now and I’m not going to wear anything hot enough to make me melt! XD

Suddenly, I espied this most ADORABLE looking teddy bear with light blue paw prints! I wandered over to see if he was for sale, too, then learnt he was actually first prize for a game where the aim was to pick up as many marbles as you could with chopsticks in one minute. I visibly deflated. “Oh, I’m no good at using chopsticks anymore…” but the bear was simply gorgeous! The lady manning this stall laughed. “Here, you can try this game with a spoon instead!” she invited, handing me a plastic teaspoon. “You’ve got one minute, I’ll time you. Ready, set? Go!” I immediately began shovelling marbles into that flimsy little plastic spoon, all the while eyeing that gorgeous teddy bear from the corner of my right eye. He seemed to be daring me, “Come on, keep spooning marbles! Take me home!” at the end of the one minute, the aunty (Amy Kwan, I think she was, from memory. Didn’t she used to sell sunnies at Sunnybank Plaza?) said, “Ok, stop!” I immediately ceased my marble shovelling and she counted the number of marbles I’d managed to scoop up. After she finished counting, she declared, “Right, you’re in second place right now.” I visibly deflated again. I’d tried my hardest, but that wasn’t enough! Seeingng my dejection, the lady was like, “Don’t worry, at the end of the day, I’ll bring the teddy to the winner, but if she doesn’t want it, I’ll bring the teddy over to you, okay?” Personally, I thought nobody could possibly turn down this adorable bear, but I said yes please, waved bye to the handsome lad, and then went downstairs with mother to keep exploring the carnival.

Downstairs, some other random aunty was serving ‘woon jai chee’ (say that in Canto; actually, does anyone know what that’s called in English? Please tell me if you do!) and she flapped her arm at me, saying, “Sit down, I’ll bring you some.” Mother drags over a chair for me, I plonk my butt down then share the steamy hot cup with mother.

Then I see Liam! Giving him a big hug, I ask him where Helena is (she’s at the carnival, too!) and how Jane, Luke, Aisling and Tavi all are.

Oh, I also get my face painted by aggie! She draws for me a unicorn on one cheek and a bumblebee on the other!

Suddenly, mother spots the SHINE fellowship chinese egg waffle stand! I immediately head over there, say hello to Little Chow (Vicky; Kathy’s Mid Chow and Smoky’s Big Chow, got it? XD) and Dr. Dr. Tai and place my order for some with Karen. When mother receives a small plateful covered with some chocolate sauce, both parents and I sit down and share the delicious things.

When they’re but memories in our tummies, I continue along and walk into the room where SHINE fellowship meetings are usually held. Spotting Dr. Lee, I call out, “Hey, doc, did you remember to leave me a yummy cupcake? You haven’t eaten them all already, have you??” XD After I choose a delicious-looking cupcake, I continue along and see Julz making crepes! “Ooh, I want one!” I squeal happily (Okay, so I don’t squeal; just cheer softly. XD). Then I feel special, coz Julz gets Masterchef aunty Winnie to make mine! It gets stuffed with thinly sliced banana, thinly sliced strawberry and chocolate sauce. While it’s cooking, I look at the table where all the ingredients are set out and spot a very familiar-looking pressure cooker. “Um, isn’t that ours?” I ask mother, who laughs and replies, “Yup, don’t you remember Aunty Winnie coming by last night to pick it up?”

After my crepe has been whipped up, mother and I head back outside to where a table is, call dearest dad over then sit down together and share our frightfully yummy treat.

Suddenly, I spot my own small group’s board games stall and decide I must head over there, where I take a seat beside Pole, and soon, we’re engaged in a game of double Guess Who against Tony. Ray has this little portable pinball machine game, which he and Ben are happily taking turns to play.

Suddenly, Julz comes around with a frozen bag of Zooper Doopers! You know, those little tubes of frozen coloured ice? Wow, I haven’t one for more than one DECADE! Yup, I’m sure the last time I sucked one was when I was back in primary school, all the way back in 1999! So I happily slurped an orange one, and gave myself brain freeze. XD

Oh, I almost forgot to mention! Aunty Jenny (from the Calamvale Chinese and BBQ Restaurant) came with Frances and Andrew! Frances took lotsa happy snaps; they’re up on facebook~

The day was coming to an end; mother came to collect me. Before leaving, I ducked briefly into A1, where a big garage sale of items was still being sold, and mother randomly bought me this little cross ornament. It’s blue and very pretty, but I’m unsure where I’ll put it.

So, one loo trip for me before we leave. Just before mounting the nine steps back upstairs, I finally bump into Helena! So we hug and talk awhile. Personally, I was rather desperate to sit back down (my disability nowadays means that I accomplish most things sitting down; I can walk short distances when necessary, but the hardest thing for me’s just to stand there) but ‘twas great to catch up with Helena, who’s studying to become a nurse, just like mother (well, mother’s already been a nurse for many years; I’m just saying that Helena’s becoming a nurse also)!

Back home, an afternoon carer comes to supervise my shower. I’m just about to turn the water on, when I remember my face paint! “Oh, poo,” says I, “I forgot to take a photo of this, and it’ll wash off once I turn the water on.” Luckily, my carer grabs her own mobile out and says she’ll take a photo for me. At first, I’m rather hesitant, seeing as I’m butt naked waiting to start my shower, but she’s like, “Don’t worry, I’ll just capture your face.” Phew, sweet. XD

Conclusion: the next day, I’m very happy to see aunty Jenny and Frances at church! Turns out quite a few people invited them along to our service yesterday!

Anyways, the carnival was great fun; will our church ever hold another one, I wonder?

Next post here … should be the Despicable Me2 movie review and me explaining my love of all the minions. I’ve started it, honestly! Righteo, until then~

Cheers,

Em. ^^

The Bible: Part One

Last week, I watched the first episode of the Bible miniseries! I can’t remember when I first heard about it; either Pole posted it up on our small group Facebook page, or I saw an ad for it on television one afternoon. Anyways, it was showing at 9pm on channel nine and I was all ready to go watch it!

So come Monday night, 9pm, here I am seated in front of the television, eagerly awaiting this program, only it doesn’t come on, nor can my mother find it on the television guide! So she orders me, “go back online and find out when it’s really playing.” I return online and Google the show. That’s when I discover what an idiot I am: the show is on Tuesday night, not Monday! ><” don’t worry; there’s a reason for my stupidity: I was dropped on my head as a baby. True story! XD

Take two: Tuesday night, 9pm, I am again eagerly sitting in front of the television, and happiness is that it actually airs!

The creation story is whipped through fairly quickly (and left me wondering: who played God’s voice? Wouldn’t that be a great thing to put on your resume when applying for your next job: hey, beat this: I played GOD in the Bible miniseries! XD) and we were into Noah’s ark almost immediately. Which raised another question: sure, Noah got all those animals aboard his ark and everything, but (1) how did he provide enough food for them all, especially the carnivores? And (2) how did all the wild animals’ associate with each other without fighting? I mean, they ARE wild animals!

The story progressed through the whole of Genesis; there was some really nice soundtrack accompanying it! I realised why it was rated M when Cain murdered Abel, oh dear, the blood…

But for me, the most compelling part was when god ordered Abraham to sacrifice Isaac. I mean, I can say with absolute surety that had it been me in that situation, I wouldn’t have had the guts to complete that action. I mean, sure, God stopped Abraham from murdering Isaac, but if it had been me in that same situation, I bet I wouldn’t have the heart to murder my own offspring. Not that this applies to me, however: mother has jeered at me enough times that nobody would ever want somebody as disabled as I am, so the point’s moot. I did like the part how Abraham covers Isaac’s eyes before raising the knife, though: I thought it was good acting, you know, to not have to see your own FATHER, of all people, raise the knife to murder you!

The first part concludes with Moses parting the Red Sea, thus allowing the Israelites to escape, but drowning all the pursuing Egyptians.

What can I say? I actually really enjoyed it! Will part two air tonight? If so, I’ll miss some of it, because I’m going out tonight, but mother has kindly said that she’ll tape it for me; I hope she remembers!

Next post here … maybe I’ll write a review for part two? Who knows? Anyways, until then~

Cheers,

Em. ^^

Feist

Anyone who knows me well should also know that I am (or I was; the awful disability that the cruel and unfaithful god abandoned me with has left me such an appallingly slow reader><) a huge bookworm! My reading interests lie in three main genres: science fiction (I discovered Star Trek sometime during high school when my dad installed Foxtel because television reception was so crappy where we lived in Shailer Park that we could only ever receive ABC! ><”), horse stories (I fell head over heels in love with horses when I wandered into my local primary school library when I was a wee grade two student and picked up Anna Sewell’s copy of Black Beauty) and especially fantasy. The love of fantasy novels stems all the way back to 2001 when my form teacher, a man by the name of Alwyn Griffin that wore a beret and liked drinking strong coffee, told me one afternoon, “Emily, meet me in my office after class today.” Hmm, that was strange. I couldn’t think of any reason of why’d I’d be in any trouble, so why would Mr. Griffin tell me to meet him in his office after class?

So anyways, after school ended for the day at 3:20pm, I find myself knocking tentatively on his office door. A gruff “come in,” has me treading cautiously into his super-stinky (strong coffee fumes, remember? XD) office, where he’s seated behind his desk.

When I reach his chair, Mr. Griffin pushes three books over to me and orders, “Take these, read and fall in love.” And I do!

After being introduced into the world of fantasy novels, I am entirely hooked. I discover many more amazing fantasy authors, such as Phillip Pullman. I also love David Eddings for his wittiness!

This fascination for all books written by Feist extends well beyond my teens, now, approaching 26.5 years old (yes, I feel like an old fart; dunno about you. XD), Feist remains my favourite author. Indeed, back for my 22^nd birthday, when some church brothers and sisters kindly threw me a surprise birthday party (after I randomly mentioned that I’d never had a surprise birthday party before), one of the presents I received was the newest Raymond E. Feist novel, A Crown Imperilled!

After the cruel and unfaithful god so wantonly destroyed my life with the disabling brain tumour, mother randomly demands that I attend a book club. Back then, Disability Services Queensland (DSQ) had not cut so much of my support hours yet, and I still had a carer come look after me from 3pm till 7pm everyday. One day, one of these carers takes me to the Logan North library, where I sign up and join a book club, which meets on the second Thursday of every month from 6pm till 7:30. When I first join, the lady running the show, Amanda, has gone on holidays, but another very nice librarian called Carol ran the show in her absence.

When Amanda returns, I am delighted to discover that she’s a diehard Trekkie, just like me! Indeed, during one meeting, she proudly boasts that her life is now complete because she met Patrick Stewart (who plays Jean-Luc Picard in the series) and he called her some endearment like ‘my darling’. XD

Anyways, one night, I receive an e-mail from Amanda, letting me that RAYMOND E. FEIST (still my favourite author, after all these years! XD) has finished the last book in his ‘Magician’ series and will be coming to the Brisbane Square library for a talk and do book signings! I ask her please for the contact details so I can ring up and book myself a seat ASAP, and when I receive her reply containing the contact numbers, I screech (well, I didn’t actually, but screeching’s more dramatic than just calling, you understand? XD) upstairs, “Mother, quick, please pass me the phone so I can ring the Brisbane Square library and book our (obviously, I’d need mother to accompany me; I’m too uselessly disabled now to attempt anything myself ><) tickets to meet Feist!” mother comes down the stairs and laughs at me, “you idiot, it’s like 9:20pm now. The library will be shut, duh. You can ring them tomorrow morning.”

So come the next morning, after wolfing down two/three Weetbix for breakfast, I ring the Brisbane Square library and ask to reserve two seats to see Feist. The lady on the other end clicks away on her computer, then comes back with the reply, “Sorry, that event’s all booked out already.”

But he can’t be! Feist has been my favourite author ever since grade nine and I absolutely have to meet him! >< Instead, I leave my name and contact details with the librarian, who promises to ring and let me know if anyone withdraws their reservation for two seats.

For the next several days, every time the phone rings, I hope desperately that it’s the Brisbane librarian ringing with the good news that someone has withdrawn their reservations and that mother and I are free to go, but alas, it never is. ><

That Thursday before the event on the following Monday, I attend the Garden City Creative Writers group and tell Gabby (she’s like the second-in-command of our group) about my wish to meet Feist but how all the seats have already been booked out. Gabby considers then offers one option, “Well, the only card you have left to play is the disability card. I’ll go with you out to the front counter and you can ask the librarian if there are any seats especially reserved for people with disabilities.”

So Gabby and I walk out together, where I come across a male librarian to whom I try the disability card option to get mother and I seats. Unfortunately, he’s not very helpful; all he says is, “You can try ring up the library yourself and ask.”

Back home that afternoon, I do exactly that. The council worker manning the phone decides to give me Brisbane Square library’s direct contact number, so I can try ringing myself.

Alas, the Brisbane Square librarian hasn’t heard of any disability seats on offer, meaning I’m still on the waiting list. “But don’t worry,” the librarian reassures me, “We’re open through the weekend and if anyone cancels their seats over the weekend, we’ll let you know right away.”

Meaning I spend the entire weekend in nervous anticipation, desperately hoping every time when that the phone rings, it will be the Brisbane librarian offering us seats to see Feist.

Alas again, the phone remains ominously silent all weekend. Come Monday morning, I try one last time at ringing the Brisbane Square library, asking could I please please please attend the event, but am again met with, “Just leave your contact details with us and if anyone cancels we’ll ring and let you know right away.”

All hope fading that I will ever get to meet my childhood favourite author, mother tootles me off to UQ for physio. As is my wont, I visit the bathroom once before receiving physio. Today, however, just before I push open the door, mother’s mobile rings. “It’s probably dad.” I tell her, entering first. “You know how he likes to give us a wakeup call on the mornings I come out to UQ for physio. He didn’t ring this morning, so it’s probably him now. I’ll go in first, and you come in once you’ve finished talking on the phone, okay?”

Mother agrees, and when I enter the bathroom myself, she reaches into her handbag for her ringing mobile. Once I grab hold of the disabled rail and let the door swing shut, oops, I realise that the lights aren’t on. That’s okay, I can wait in pitch-darkness for awhile; I’m not afraid of the dark anymore like how I once was when I was little. XD

When dad rings mother and I with his wakeup calls, usually they are very brief, like, less than one minute. However, for some reason, two or three minutes later, mother still hasn’t come inside and suddenly I realise, “Hey, what happens if the call was from the Brisbane City Council librarian offering mother and I seats to meet Feist?!”

Despite knowing that the cruel and unfaithful God doesn’t bother listening to me anymore, I find myself offering a prayer up to him. “God, if you please please please let me attend the Brisbane Square library to meet Feist, I promise I will read my two daily devotions twice everyday and try to remember their content.”

When mother finally comes inside and flicks on the light, I look expectantly at her. “Who was that, mother?” she looks back at me, grins then says, “You’re going to meet him tonight.” Hallelujah! I cheer with excitement, but then suddenly pout. “Oh poo, what book will I get for him to sign? I don’t have his newest, ‘Magician’s End’. Ah well, hopefully he will sign his older books too, I’ve got several.” Mother just laughs. “Don’t worry, last Thursday night, when you were out at Garbo, I went and bought it for you.” Awesome, you’re the best, mother!

Anyways, mother rings she rings Carol (my carer/life coach/support worker/whatever you call them now XD) and asks her to please come from 3:30pm till 5:30pm instead of 4pm till 6pm because the event starts at 6pm.

When Carol arrives in the afternoon, I excitedly burble the whole long story of how I’m getting to meet Feist tonight. Carol is happy for me, then reminds me, “Bring your camera, you might be able to get a photo with him.” Oh, definitely. I immediately yell upstairs for mother and ask her to please charge my mobile.

All too soon, it’s 5:30pm and we’re heading out to the Brisbane square library to meet Feist! Suddenly, I remember, “Oh! Mother, you should grab one of my Feist novels too and get it signed!”

Mum bounds upstairs and grabs Feist’s ‘A Kingdom Imperilled’ then we head off to the Brisbane Square library! As you can obviously tell, I’m super-excited. XD

 We take two lifts up into the library; super-excited me can’t contain myself while the second lift’s moving, telling the other guy in the lift with us, “Oh, I can’t wait to meet Mr. Feist!”XD

Walking into the library, there’s two very long lines. Mother quickly susses them out, then directs me to the longer of the two lines. “People are just getting books signed for the other line.” She tells me. “We can wait for the event in this line.”

And so begins a twenty-minute wait for the doors to be opened for us. I find it particularly awful, because after my brain injury, I do most things sitting down (even showering) and I can walk short distances when necessary, but the hardest thing for me to do is just stand. >< mother stands behind me, wraps her arms around my waist and we just stand there and wait. Looking in front of me, I see some people have actually brought LUGGAGE CASES worth of feist’s novels for him to sign! XD

Finally, when the doors are all opened, we all file in. I automatically make my way to the chairs on the most left of the area, because one side effect of my disabling brain injury is that I have lost my left-side side vision and I get nervous when there are people sitting to my left when I can’t see them.

Mother grabs us some refreshments (one can of fizzy orange drink and two packets of arnotts bikkies) and sits beside me to await the start of this event!

When Mr. Feist walks in, we the audience breaks out into applause. :o)

I thought he’d just tell us about his journey while he wrote his massive series, but instead, the whole session was conducted in a question and interview style, with the interviewer being no other than the guy mother and I had caught the lift up with, the very same guy I’d burbled, “I’m so excited!” to! XD

Again, huge thanks to mother who accompanied me; she must’ve been bored out of her brains, never having read one of his books in her life!

As for me, I thoroughly enjoyed myself, and even learnt a new thing: in his novels, Feist has created a race of people called the Panthathians; only when listening to him speak that night did I learn that they were actually pronounced ‘pant-AYE-thians’!

At the end, when everyone gave him a new round of applause and we were told we could go out to get our books signed, I immediately told mother, “Quick, let’s go, I don’t want to have to stand in line for ages again!” getting out as quick as I can now walk (which, alas, is quite slow ><) I again lined up. Thankfully, there was a seat next to Feist, and after I’d had my photo taken with him, I told him the story of how I’d first encountered his books all those years ago. Mr. Feist just laughed and said, “Good.” XD

Before we left, mother rang dad to let him know we were ready to leave. We passed a security guard, who pointed the way out to us, and as we were nearing the exit, I saw some movement from the glass doors outside. After a longer inspection, I asked, “Um, mother, is that dad dancing outside for us?” she giggled and replied, “Yup.” XD I blew dearest dad a kiss, then flapped my arm at him, indicating he should stop dancing, less the police suddenly appear and arrest him for unruly behaviour outside a library! XD

So dad tootled us home, and the next day I jumped online onto Facebook to upload my photo with Mr. Feist and the photo of my autographed book~

Well, what can I say? Meeting my childhood hero author has definitely been tie the highlight of my year so far! (the other highlight was when I rode a CAMEL at the beginning of the year! I know I’ve said this several times, but hopefully our road trip down to Sydney at the beginning of the year will really be my next post! Righteo, until then!~

Cheers,

Em. ^^

Light

About twenty-odd years ago, like many young children, I was afraid of the dark. My parents’ solution to this was to buy me a nightlight in the shape of a teddy bear that gave a small glow and faintly illuminated my room, thus protecting me from any terrors that lurked in the night. Actually, I wasn’t scared about monsters hiding underneath my bed or anything like that (probably because my bed was very low and there wasn’t any space for a fat evil monster to squish himself inside the space between my bed and the carpeted floor), I was more afraid of whatever terrible monster that skulked behind my bedroom door. Creaking doors swinging open and closed totally freaked me out! Therefore, I always had my door opened wide and secured into place. This proved a problem come winter; see, to have a bedroom heater turned on and warming your room meant closing your door at night. Therefore, I avoided heaters and instead buried myself under layers and layers of blankets. Unfortunately, however, I have always been a messy sleeper and would often wake up in the middle of the night, my blankets kicked off the bed and me a freezing person! Nothing to be done about that but retrieve my blankets, take a quick glance at my teddy bear night light to reassure myself that all possible scary monsters were being held away and return to sleep.

As I grew older, the concept of light vs. dark intrigued me, and I would just like to share with everyone one of my favourite quotes regarding this subject from the book star wars: Revenge of the Sith. The book is written by a man called Matthew Stover, and my favourite quote comes from pg. 406, when Obi-Wan Kenobi tells Anakin Skywalker: “You were the chosen one! It was said you would destroy the Sith, not join them. It was said you were the one who would bring balance to the force, not leave it in darkness. You were my brother, Anakin. I loved you, but I could not save you.” I find this particular quote poignant regarding the topic of light because it illustrates the stark difference to be found between the concepts of light and dark.

I’ve just realised: with the topic ‘light’, could I have interpreted the light as the light vs. heavy light? Anyways, never mind, because I’ve just reached the four-hundred word limit. Bye!

W/C: 409     

P.S. The floor is open to general comments after you've finished sharing your written piece, and today, Pat (I think she's the one who drives Carol and her seeing-eye dog to Garden City Creative Writers) said she like my descriptions/my use of adjectives. When I mentioned this to mother, she ordered that I post it up onto this blog for her. Dunno why, but here it is. Hope you enjoyed it! :o)                                                                                                                      

The Biography of Bear Bear

Once upon a time (because don’t all good stories have to begin that way?) there was a twerpy little kid named Emily, who was in grade two at her local state primary school. After returning home at the end of the year with an outstanding report card, Emily’s mum congratulates her and promises, “The next time we all go out to the Hyperdome for the late night shopping, I’ll buy you a reward.”

   So the following Thursday night, Emily and her parents hit the Hyperdome for the late night shopping. Emily ducks into Mr. Toy’s Toyworld, where she spots and immediately falls in love with a plain brown teddy bear. She has her heart set on this plain-looking teddy bear until she peers at his price tag. Wow, this plain brown teddy bear costs a whole FIFTY bucks! Impossible, she thinks, no way. Mum and dad will never buy me anything this expensive. However, the next shock is when her parents DO buy her this teddy bear! Hugging him tightly on the drive back home, Emily promises the bear that she’ll take the bestest care of him ever.

   However, remembering that Emily is only almost seven years old and has not yet acquired a very extensive vocabulary, she gives this teddy a very boring name: Bear Bear. But not to worry, because she gives him a much better Cantonese name, which when translated into English, means ‘beloved bear’.

   So Emily begins grade three at school. Bear Bear is her faithful companion every night, although he tends to be a bit of a messy sleeper because many mornings when Emily wakes up, he’s lying on the floor! When Emily expresses her concern that he might catch a cold during the winter months if he’s not lying in bed with her, snug and warm under the blankets, Bear Bear reassures her, “Don’t worry. I can’t help being a messy sleeper! Often, when you roll in your sleep, I roll too, and plop! That’s when I often hit the floor! But don’t worry about me, because I’m covered in fur and am well insulated from the cold.”

   Sometime during grade three, Emily returns home from school one afternoon and is told by her mother, “Oh, by the way, Em, I washed your Bear Bear for you today because he was getting smelly.”    Little Emily almost has a heart attack. “Oh no, mum! You didn’t stick him into the washing machine, did you? You would’ve murdered him!” Emily’s mother just laughs, before scoffing, “Of course not, silly. Remember, I’m a registered nurse, right? Don’t worry, your precious Bear Bear got first class treatment: I hand washed him.” Oh, phew.

   So life continues in the Chan household. While Emily does acquire many more teddy bears over the years, all of which whom are named and loved, Bear Bear holds a special place in her heart. Indeed, he even gets to go on overseas plane trips with Emily and her family back to Hong Kong to visit their relatives!

   However, disaster strikes at the beginning of 2007, just before Emily commences her third year at university, studying a dual arts/law degree.              

   Collapsing suddenly one day, she is rushed to hospital and diagnosed with a brain tumour. Sent back home one week to wait for the operation, on that fateful morning, Emily goes upstairs to her bedroom, bringing Bear Bear along with her and lies briefly on her bed, saying that she must do this once more just in case something goes terribly wrong during the operation. Bear Bear insists on going to the hospital with her, saying that he would try his best to protect her while she was in the hospital.

   The first operation is given, the extraction of the brain tumour. Tests are performed, which reveal the brain tumour to be a benign one, meaning that luckily, Emily will not require any chemotherapy.

   The second operation is for the insertion of a drain into Emily’s abdomen that will drain all the excess brain fluids. However, the drain isn’t permanent, must be replaced and that’s when disaster strikes. The surgeon, when replacing the drain, accidentally grazes the tumour site with the drain and causes massive bleeding, which gives poor Emily a stroke. Emily is moved into the I.C.U for a period of time, and poor Bear Bear gets frantically worried, because he can’t stay with her to protect her. It takes another three operations before the problem is finally rectified, but Bear Bear is extremely distressed to hear a doctor tell Emily’s mother that “Emily will never be able to walk again. At the very most, she will only transfer from her wheelchair to the car, then the car back to her wheelchair.”

   Emily gets released into the Brain Injuries Rehab Unit, where she spends the next year there rehabilitating after her brain injury. For what’s left of 2007, Emily gets around in her wheelchair with Bear Bear lying in her lap, and she tells everyone that this bear is her best friend. However, when 2008 rolls along and Emily’s still stuck in the insane asylum (her pet name for the Princess Alexandra hospital) things change. “Nope, I’ve been stuck in this crazy place for too long.” She decides. “This bear isn’t just my best fried, he’s now my BOYFRIEND. And we’re very loyal to one another.”

   A crazy one year, three months and twenty days after first collapsing with the brain tumour, Emily is finally released from the insane asylum, and she and Bear Bear are free to return home!

   Life isn’t easy for Emily back home. She has to endure gruelling physio four times each week, plus whatever other exercises her mother dreams up for her. However, she continues to grit her teeth and persevere, telling herself that come the end of another long day, she can collapse into her bed and be comforted by her beloved Bear Bear, who’s now getting quite along in his years! Indeed, when a friend of Emily’s mum comes to visit them in Brisbane during 2010, she gives some plastic surgery (i.e. sewing work) to Bear Bear’s arm, saying, “He’s starting to get a little frayed.”

   Emily’s mum starts telling Emily that she must retire Bear Bear soon, but Emily keeps putting it off and putting it off, until Emily’s mum finally hands her an ultimatum. “Em, if you let Bear Bear go into a happy retirement now, he can live in the top shelf of our beautiful display cabinet, but if you keep putting his retirement off and he starts falling to pieces, I’ll have no choice but to throw him out, because it’s not sanitary to keep broken things in our home. You might get sick.” Eep, Emily doesn’t want Bear Bear to get thrown out, ever! So she negotiates with her mother that Bear Bear will get retired on the 21^st of March, one day after Emily’s next birthday.

   With his retirement imminent, Emily asks Bear Bear, “Is there anything you would like me to give you before mother forces you into retirement?” Bear Bear ponders this question for awhile, before answering, “Yes, there is, actually. Firstly, can you please help me open a Facebook account? Even though I’ll only need three friends: you, dearest dad and mother.”

   “Definitely, I’ll do that for you right away!” promises Emily. “Anything else?’ “Just one more thing,” says Bear Bear. “Can we please go upstairs to sleep in your old room just one more time like we always did before you got sick? Because I have such awesome memories of us together in your upstairs room.”

   So that’s how things roll. On the 19^th of March, Emily and Bear Bear go upstairs and sleep happily together in Emily’s old bed one last time, just like they always used to before Emily’s brain injury, then on the night of her birthday, the 20^th of March, Emily and Bear Bear spend one last precious night sleeping together in her downstairs bedroom.

   Come the morning of the 21^st of March, when Emily’s dad goes to work, Emily sits up in bed to kiss him goodbye and wish him a good day at work. Emily helps Bear Bear sit up too, and explains to her dad that Bear Bear is being retired this morning so he wants to give dad a goodbye hug. Dad laughs and gives Bear Bear a massive hug, “Don’t worry,” he reassures her, “Bear Bear may be getting retired, but that doesn’t mean he can’t come out of his fancy retirement cabinet occasionally to spend important events with us, like the State of Origin!” Emily gets filled with hope. “Are you sure?” she excitedly asks her dad. When Emily’s mother comes downstairs to help Emily get ready for the day, she affirms what dad has said. “Yes, Bear Bear will be allowed to spend important occasions with us. Only afterwards, he must go straight back into his retirement cabinet, because he’s a very old bear.” Well, fair enough, Bear Bear is turning twenty at the end of this year! That’s very old for a teddy bear!

   Anyways, so ends the story of Emily and her most precious friend, Bear Bear. After he gets one more bath, he will be retired and hopefully, live happily ever after.

The end.

P.S. This little piece actually won me the runners-up prize at the Garden City Creative Writers group! I won this special edition silver kookaburra one dollar coin! A member of the Garden City Creative Writers told me that she’d had the coin valued, and that it was worth about thirty bucks. I said, “cool, I’ll wait until it’s worth fifty bucks, then I’ll sell it and use the money to shout my parents out to a fancy dinner somewhere.” XD Only, the parents don’t agree! XD
P.P.S. Jasmine Giddy, I posted this up for you! XD
P.P.P.S. Next post here ... well, considering how the poor Maroons lost to the smelly Blues last night, I'm hardly going to be writing an Origin wrap-up ... oh! Maybe I'll go see Despicable Me2 soon and write a review of that! ;D

Visitors

You know the saying ‘when it rains, it pours?’ Well, in May, for me, it was like ‘when one guest comes over from Hong Kong to visit, they all keep coming!’

Our first guests were our neighbours back when my parents and I lived in a townhouse in Shailer Park. Like our family, they too only had one mum (Winnie), one dad (William) and one daughter (Jasmine). Mischievous me tended to call Jasmine ‘Wendy’; I mean, if the mum’s name starts with the letter ‘w’ and the dad’s name also starts with the letter ‘w’, then surely the daughter’s name should also start with the letter ‘w’ too! XD Jasmine was a sport and responded to that name whenever I called her that; Aunty Winnie was silly and joined me in calling poor Jasmine ‘Wendy’. XD oh, and did I mention that their surname was also ‘Chan’, just like mine?

Jasmine gets the credit for the fact that I learned to play the trumpet for two years back in year six and seven at primary school, because that’s what she learnt to play too! I remember going to their unit back when I was still little and Jasmine bringing her trumpet out and inviting us to try have a go. Mother was basically useless, but I remember producing some sound, which led Jasmine to suggest, “Hey, you should play the trumpet too, when you reach grade six.” Uncle William (an accountant) and Aunty Winnie (a beauty therapist) returned to Hong Kong once Jasmine graduated primary school, but Jasmine remained behind, taking boarding school at St. Hildah’s.

We’ve kept in touch over the years, more recently through Facebook and whatsapp. Well, jasmine doesn’t Facebook because she’s a lawyer by trade, but Aunty Winnie uses an account.

Before they came to spend about four days in Brisbane with us, Uncle William, Aunty Winnie and Jasmine actually went to Sydney first!

My only regret is that I never got the chance to have a dinner out with them. The parents did, one Tuesday night when I was attending Toastmasters, but I’ll just have to content myself with the fact that I got to enjoy lunch with them at the Sushi Train once.

Aunty Winnie also bought us gifts from Hong Kong! For me, she brought over four tubes of Darlie toothpaste! Now, I’m unsure what brands of toothpaste are available in Hong Kong, but I recall using Darlie and loved his minty flavour. She also brought me this adorable ball-shaped, rainbow coloured bear! I named him (in Cantonese) Chan Choi Kou. Usually, whenever I receive a new stuffed toy, he/she will spend that first night in bed with me, before getting moved out to the sofa and meeting Bear Bear, but Chan Choi Kou stayed for several nights, until aunty Winnie, uncle William and Wendy all left! Daddy bear was most displeased about that. XD

After they left, our next guests were family!

First was my dad’s big brother, uncle William. He’s eleven years older than my dearest dad, and after the cruel and unfaithful God first totally destroyed my life with the disabling brain tumour, he actually came over to Brisbane to spend some time with us. The next time he came over (around 2009, I think it was), he asked me to open an e-mail account for him, which I dutifully did, opening him the account uncle.cheesecake@gmail.com. Why? Because back when I was first hospitalised, my parents would arrive at the hospital bright and early to spend the whole day with me, while my uncle William would wake up later, then make his own way to the hospital and join us. Now, one morning, my uncle William was hungry, and because Warrigal Square hadn’t been built yet, he caught some bus to the nearby Centro Pinelands and bought himself HALF A CHEESECAKE for breakfast! XD

Soon after he arrived, my dad’s youngest older sister, aunty Kitty, arrived too. She’s only two years older than my dad so basically, they grew up as playmates together. Her Cantonese name’s Chan Lai Pui, which the family shortens to call her just ‘Ah Pui’. Indeed, when I was younger, I honestly thought her Cantonese name was ‘Chan Ah Pui’! XD

Aunty Kitty arrived very early one Sunday morning (like, 12:50am). They day before, I’d spoken with her over the phone, and she told me to tell my dad that she was coming over on flight CX 157, and to make sure my dad remembered to pick her up. I told her, “Gee, fourth aunty (in Cantonese culture, you usually number your aunties and uncles), your English sounds pretty good. You said ‘CX’ very clearly just then.” She storms back at me, “Yeah? Well, that’s all I know how to say, so you’d better make damned sure that your father comes to pick me up, else I’ll be stuck at the airport just saying “FX! FX! FX!” to some airport worker, who’ll think I’m crazy!” XD I reassured her that my dad would definitely come to pick her up, and after she arrives, I get a peck on the cheek from her before she goes upstairs to sleep in one of our spare rooms.

Our final visitors this month were my cousin Carrie (she’s my first aunty’s youngest daughter) and her husband Rolls! Well, his name’s actually Royce, but he says I’m allowed to call him Rolls (short for Rolls Royce XD). Like Jasmine/Wendy, they humour me. XD

Rolls is actually a boat-builder by trade, and because there was this boat expo being held down at the Gold Coast this month, the company rolls works for sent him over to Brisbane to buy boats for their company. Originally, their little daughter Ashley was to come over also, but isn’t this ridiculous? Her school refused to let her go because she has to prepare for some entrance exam for her to get into kindergarten next year! And sheesh, she’s only turning THREE next month! ><”

So as you can very well guess, our house has been very busy over this past month!

One morning, woken by dad, Aunty Kitty and Uncle William chatting by the front door, I heard Uncle William announce, “I’m going for a walk. Be back later.” Aunty Kitty asked rather worriedly, “Are you sure you know the way back home?” and I almost burst out laughing when I heard uncle William reply offhandedly, “Oh, don’t worry, if I get lost, Ah Em will know to go to the nearest police station and find me!” XD

Aunty Winnie, Uncle William and Wendy all left before my family arrived and Carrie and Rolls left right after the boat show had ended, but Uncle William and aunty kitty only left yesterday morning! And my dad even took two days off work so he could all take us out together before they left! Personally, I was just overjoyed because that meant I didn’t haveta see Vincent the bloody physio for my twice weekly torture sessions with him. XD

On Tuesday, dad took us all to Roma Street Parkland, where we all posed for photos. Uncle Cheesecake admitted to me before leaving yesterday morning though, that he didn’t know how to upload them onto Facebook! XD

As for yesterday, dad took us all out to several different places! Firstly, he drove us down the coast to some place called something like Broadwater Beach (Parkland, thank-you, mother); we all strolled along the jetty and took happy snaps.

For lunch, we had Japanese food! Personally, I thought the restaurant, called something like Asahi, wasn’t good value for money, because I only got to eat two wee slices of bef, three of chicken and one of inari – and did you know, our local Sushi Train makes better inari than they did! ><”

Next stop was Harbourtown! I remember the last time I went there, I browsed shops in Sparkless (my manual wheelchair), but alas, this time, the parents demanded I walk. That’s fine, but with my disability nowadays, whenever I get up and walk, it’s with the purpose of going to the next place where I can sit, and how on earth would I be able to browse items when I’m focused on finding a place to plonk my butt down? ><

Luckily, mother did the browsing for me. When I entered Converse (my favourite shop in Harbourtown because I almost always find something worth buying there!), as I was walking towards a short row of blocks that served as seats for people looking to try and buy footwear, I pointed out to mother which items looked interesting and/or appealing.

After I sat down on one of these blocks, mother went selecting clothing items for me to try, with me throwing in unhelpful comments like, “I don’t wanna wear that; it’s duck-piss yellow.” XD (in reference to how the Cantonese have a colour they call duck poo green, I decided that there must also therefore be a duck piss yellow; in actual fact, I have absolutely zero idea what colour duck pee is. XD)

Walking away from Converse with a brand-new jacket, we went next to Colorado, where I got this really awesome maroons Queenslander tee that has a cane toad’s tongue wrapped around a cockroach. XD

Our final stop was Jayjays, where Uncle William bought himself a pair of boxer shorts for only three bucks! As for me, Jayjays is like my favourite clothing store and I scored a tee, too! It had a rather complicated diagram of the scissors paper rock game, showing which hand triumphed over which hand. Only, it wasn’t just scissors, paper and rock; two more diagrams were added too: lizard and spock! Unsprisingly, the spock symbol was the Vulcan salute. XD

The day was drawing to a close, and dad was tootling us home when he decided he felt hungry. “Let’s have dinner at Fasta Pasta tonight,” he decided. Lol, that’s cool with me; the flourhead (say that in canto)’s favourite restaurant is Fasta Pasta!

When we arrived, mother took me once to the toilet, and when we rejoined the others outside, I made a beeline for the comfy sofa seat.

As usual, we ordered several dishes to share, meaning I really only got very little, but hey, no biggie. I had two yummy potato wedges (dad made a show of giving me the biggest two in the bowl; but I noticed how he himself ate many more than just two XD), some yummy white sauce pasta (my choice, called something like ‘sth bel paese’) and some ravioli in red sauce. Wednesday’s also my ice-cream day, meaning I tried asking mother could I please have one scoop of yummy choc mint chip gelato, but she refused, even agreeing with me when I accused her that she only refused because she knew at home, she would only give me barely one level spoonful! ><”

So that ended a great day and night out. Back home, mother demanded I shower before I plopped online for a miniscule amount of time before I was gleefully forced off to bed by mother. Bidding Uncle William and Aunty Kitty a very good night, they both promised to come say goodbye to me before leaving early the next day.

So after a great night’s sleep, I’m wakened by dad entering my room around 7:45am, followed by Uncle William and Aunty Kitty. We all three squish into my bed for an awkward hug goodbye, I tell them please to come back and visit me ASAP, because it seems like I won’t be able to return to Hong Kong anytime soon, which they promise they will.

Epilogue: they leave on Thursday morning. Thursday night, mother’s true colours return to the fore, and she immediately forces me to endure a painful fifteen minute standing calf stretch, before gleefully FORCING L me to plod twenty-five minutes on the bloody treadmill for her. Only, during that time, both Aunty Kitty and Uncle William ring to reassure us that they have made it back home safe and sound. Earlier, I had spoken over Facebook with Ching Ying, asking him was he going to pick up his mum (my fourth aunty) from the airport, and he said, “No, from the city one bus station.” And my uncle cheesecake was such a gentleman; he saw his youngest sister safely aboard a bus before he went and caught whatever public transport to wherever he lived~

So endeth the story of all our visitors to Brisbane this month! Will anymore come this year? I’m not sure, but I’m hoping Kin Ying Chan (fourth aunty’s younger son) or sunny kong (my three metre-tall cousin; okay, so he’s not really three metres, but a commanding 1.85cm, which seems like three metres to me, especially since I’m only a short 160cm short woman! XD) will come over next, coz I don’t think they’ve been over before!

Next post here … I think I’d better write a review of the latest Star Trek movie I saw with uncle Slam several Saturdays ago! Righteo, until then!

Cheers,

Em. ^^