Five Years 3

Back in 2012, I wrote a fairly depressing post about it being five years since the cruel and unfaithful God had so wantonly destroyed my life with the disabling brain tumour without ever bothering to lemme know what I’d done/not done that was so dreadfully sinful and unforgivable to deserve such a fate. Then, in 2013, I wrote a much more cheerful post describing my joy of being released from the insane asylum (more commonly known as the Brain Injuries Rehab Unit of the Princess Alexandra hospital to everyone else XD) for five years. Only I totally forgot to pen another happy post at the beginning of 2014, describing my joy of not having had to stay in hospital overnight for five years! I have a good excuse for that: the parents and I were having a great time exploring Tasmania! Mother was going crazy with seeing all the beautiful scenery Tasmania has to offer; I was too busy trying to discover the reason as to why I didn’t see the two heads on the Tasmanians, as I’d been assured by two Tasmanian guys, that they apparently all had. XD

I actually had three hospital stays altogether: my initial one that lasted, from date of admission till date of release (including the two weeks I had off for Christmas and New Year when 2007 became 2008 and the extra few days I threatened the hospital that I’d run away for if they didn’t lemme out to celebrate my momentous twenty-first birthday, which very luckily also coincided with the Easter long weekend!) was a crazy one YEAR, three MONTHS and twenty DAYS! Then, near the end of 2008, I was admitted to the Mater Private (and gosh, I had a copy of the Courier Mail delivered TO MY BEDSIDE every morning, as opposed to just having ONE copy to share between the ENTIRE WARD back when I was in the insane asylum), after I think my MRI showed something wonky with my otherwise empty brain; however, I begged the neurosurgeon to please release me from hospital before Christmas – understandably, I didn’t wanna spend Christmas in hospital! – and she was awesome, releasing me on December the 23^rd! That night, the parents, Aunty A and I immediately went and saw all the pretty Christmas lights before they got turned off. My final short stay at the hospital (the Mater Private again) was just when Uncle Dickdick, cousin Teresa and Franco came visiting from Hong Kong; my idiot head suddenly decided to plague me with very persistent but low-grade headaches and mother somehow reached the neurosurgeon, who said to bring me in. During that stay, she replaced my shunt with another one, some programmable electronic one called a VP shunt, which led me to go around joking, “I’m a cyborg now. I’m planning to start my world domination plan very soon, so if you don’t want me to come and destroy where you live first, you’d better tell me which suburb you live in.” XD

My initial lengthy stay in the insane asylum was a very traumatic one for me. Guess I must’ve been a complete wuss back then (I probably am still now, but shh … XD), coz I’d be plagued with bad dreams, then I’d wake up and be too terrified to fall back asleep again for fear of the cruel and unfaithful God sending me yet another awful dream of how I was disabled, useless and abandoned forever. Even now, just over 6.5 years on, I still vividly recall the terror I felt standing on the road where my house is located, frantically turning around in circles, crying out for help, then remembering how the cruel and unfaithful God’s left me so physically disabled I technically can’t spin around in circles and falling down … at that point, I’d suddenly jerk awake, terrified. Clapping my hand over my eyes so I couldn’t accidentally see (post brain-injury, I can’t fully close my wonky right eye; that’s why I wear eye gel at least twice daily and eye ointment every night) and cry out to God, telling him, “God, I’m so scared .. I’m so frightened … look, I’m so sorry for whatever it was I did/didn’t do that pissed you off so much that you thought it was just punishment to totally destroy my life, but please, when I open my eyes, can you please let my parents still be here for me? Even if they’re just about to go, please, God, I’d feel so much better!”

Of course, whenever I opened my eyes, I was all alone. I’d cry myself back to sleep (silently, of course; I knew you couldn’t just suddenly have a noisy meltdown in the middle of a sleeping ward! XD), only for the cruel and unfaithful God to yet again send me another terrifying nightmare. Believe me, sleep really wasn’t an option back when I was in the insane asylum; at first I cried out to God asking Him to please heal me; when He refused and instead furthermore sent me awful nightmares how I was all alone, disabled and abandoned forever I begged Him to please save me; when He wouldn’t I asked Him to please love me, because surely I’d feel better and safer if I could feel His protective love cocooning me! When even that was denied, in the end, I just pleaded with Him to BE THERE FOR ME, only that was beyond Him too! ><

You can believe me when I say that when I was first released from the insane asylum, all I did was SLEEP! Like, I’d sleep until like 11/11:30am, get up, eat some breakfast, do some reading/watching television, have a light lunch, then say, “Okay mum, I’m sleepy. Going for a nap now.” Only a nap wasn’t like thirty minutes; it was more like three/four HOURS! After getting up, I’d eat dinner with the parents then watch some television/read and come 8:30pm/9pm I’d be like, “Mum, I’m sleepy. Bedtime, good night.” Then the whole process would begin again, me sleeping till very late in the morning, taking a huge extended afternoon nap then hitting the sack very early at night. This lasted for about one month, and got to the point where mother was beginning to think she’d take me to see a doctor; surely it wasn’t normal for me to be sleeping my life away?

Luckily, around that time, I began to pull out of it, and now, I’m fine with the recommended eight hours sleep that most people get, although I really do love the occasional sleep-in! Turns out I really just needed to catch up on all that missed sleep when I was still imprisoned in the insane asylum!

Life back home wasn’t easy for me at first. Disability Services Queensland originally refused to gimme any support, meaning poor mother was flat out looking after me. Actually, I believe some random church aunties suggested taking my story to shows like Today Tonight in a bid to get some support! Luckily, that wasn’t necessary, and now, to this day, I receive a little support most days of the week for personal care (i.e. showering) and community access (my fortnightly Garbo shopping trips and attending Toastmasters at QUT.)

But if I was released from the insane asylum in May 2008, how come I’m writing this five years’ post in 2015, not 2013?

Ahh, I have two more short hospital stays to tell you about. The first was in December 2008; I think when my MRI showed something wonky with my otherwise empty skull. This time, I was taken to the Mater Private hospital, and I’ve gotta say, what a difference! Firstly, every morning, TO YOUR BEDSIDE, you got delivered a copy of the Courier Mail! I remember back when I was still imprisoned in the insane asylum, there was only ONE copy of the Courier Mail for the ENTIRE WARD. Every morning, Habib (the awesome Algerian man who fed us breakfast and morning tea) and I would share it; like, I’d start reading it; when he finished serving morning tea he’d come sit beside me and I’d hand him several sheets of the paper. We’d swap around until he had to leave and start preparing lunch. So you can understand why I was super-impressed with receiving one entire paper for myself!

Another wonderful thing was that the nurses somehow dragged over a spare bed for mother, meaning she was able to stay with me during my short stay. Mother was so upset when she found out this; maybe if she’d known to send me to the Mater Private right away when the cruel and unfaithful god so cruelly smote me down with the disabling brain tumour, she would’ve been able to keep me company after everything went pear-shaped and I wouldn’t have had to be tormented by all those horrid nightmares! She truly was super upset, tearing up and begging my forgiveness. Me, I was like, “What’s there to forgive, mother? We didn’t know that was possible before. Besides, you’re here now.”

My only request of the doctor who did the daily rounds was please to lemme outta the hospital before Christmas; I mean, wouldn’t it be simply AWFUL to haveta spend CHRISTMAS in hospital?? Luckily, the awesome doctor saw reason, discharging me on the 23^rd of December. I still remember how that very night, dearest dad immediately took aunty A, mother and I out to view the all Christmas lights before they got turned off!

My final hospital stay requiring me to spend multiple nights in the hospital happened shortly after that, sometime in January 2009. I’ve forgotten specifically why I needed hospitalisation, but I suspect it may have been because I kept suffering low-grade, persistent headaches. Like, I’d get a headache and mother would pop me two Panadol, but eight hours later I’d be saying I had another one. Again, mother contacted the neurosurgeon, who said to bring me back in again, but this time, when I went under the knife, the neurosurgeon replaced my old shunt with what’s called a VP shunt! You can Google what VP stands for, but basically it’s a small programmable electronic chip, which led me to go around jokingly saying, “Hey, I’m a cyborg now, and I’m planning to start my world domination plan very soon, so if you don’t want me to ravage and destroy your hometown first, you’d better tell me which suburb you live in.” XD I actually had two operations that time; the first for the neurosurgeon to remove the old shunt and the second one for her to install the new one in, meaning for awhile, I was attached to some drip bag that drained all my excess brain fluids and whenever I went for a shower, I had to drag that portable drain with me; how annoying!

The good thing was that mother again was allowed to stay with me, meaning nightmares were no longer a problem. I mean, sure, when I was first released from the insane asylum, I’d still wake terrified at night that I was useless, disabled, abandoned and alone forever, but after awhile I’d wake up, realise that I was back home, in my own bed and therefore safe and sound. Hopefully God found someone else to torment; after all, considering the bazillions of people populating the Earth, surely, surely, I can’t be the most hateful person on earth to him??

One more cool thing from living in the Mater Private Hospital: instead of coming out to a communal eating area every day like I did when in the insane asylum and eating from a fortnightly menu (seriously, I’ve been out of BIRU for like 6.75 years now, and I still remember that you get chicken salad for lunch on Mondays, pork salad on Tuesdays, egg and cheese salad for Wednesdays and beef salad for Thursdays! ><), you ticked what you wanted from a printed sheet and it got delivered to you! I still remember that one night for dessert, I got an upside-down pineapple cake! Now that was cool~

So endeth the long and boring tale of my hospital stays. Hopefully I will never have to spend another night in one ever again!

Next post here … think I’ll be writing something about my prayer life; righteo, until then!

Cheers,

Em. ^^

New Year's Day 2015

HAPPY NEW YEAR, everyone!! Hope 2015’s a safe and prosperous year for you all~

Me, I welcomed in the New Year with just my favourite teddy. In all the years past that I can remember, the parents and I have always welcomed in the New Year together; however, this year, mother’s like, “I’ve got a headache. I’m going to bed now. Cya next year.” I suggested how about she take two Panadol, have a lie down and at 11:45pm I’d call her downstairs to welcome in the New Year together, but she was like, “Didn’t you hear me? I said I have a headache. You welcome in the new year by yourself.” Huh, and she calls ME self-centered? Who’s only thinking about themselves now, huh? ><

The other bad thing to mother refusing to spend New Year’s Eve with me was that dad refused to, also! ><

Usually, at around 9pm every New Year’s Eve, I hike upstairs with my favourite teddy, lie down on my upstairs bed in my upstairs bedroom and reflect on the year that’s about to pass for about one hour, then come 10:45pm; I tumble back downstairs and write my reflections on the year that’s almost over. When 11:45pm arrives, I call the parents downstairs (they’re usually asleep), we sit together on the couch and welcome in the New Year together!

That obviously wasn’t going to happen for when 2014 became 2015, what with mother being such a spoilsport … ><

Same as the past few years, I hike upstairs and visit my upstairs bedroom with my teddy, but only get a short time to reflect on what 2014 was like for me before mother decides I haveta head back downstairs, else I’m doing it all by myself, coz she’s feeling tired. *sigh*

Back downstairs I tumble super-early; it’s only 9:45pm! Well, all the more time for me to reflect on 2014 …

Only suddenly, dad shuts off the television and turns off all the lights! I scramble up from the computer. “Dad, what are you doing?! I need that!”

Dad just says he’s going to bed and flips off everything. He even threatens to flip out the main switch, so I can’t turn the television back on! >< Luckily, I manage to persuade him against from doing that, and I flip back the lights on, re-open the television.

So dad heads up to join mother in pigland. I sit in front of the computer and write my reflections on 2014, how things are going for me physically-wise (I’m still ridiculously disabled ><), spiritually-wise (still waiting for God to heal me/tell me what it was that I did/didn’t do that was so bloody unforgivable He decided it fitting to totally destroy my life for) and several other headings-wise.

Come 11:45pm, I shut down, walk around turning off various lights mother carelessly left on (like the laundry light) and head over to the sofa. At the mouth of the stairs, I also try calling, “Hey, it’s almost New Year! Are you guys coming downstairs or what?” but receive no reply, so make my way tentative way over to the sofa. Reaching it brings jubilation: I have officially made it through 2014 without falling flat on my butt even once! :D

Dearest Bear Bear and I cuddle, and I reach for the remote, trying to find out which channel will host the countdown fireworks. Hmm, not Nine, not Seven, not Ten. I open the television guide and scroll through the channels listed, trying to figure out which channel will broadcast them because surely, some channel must!

It’s not until like 11:55pm that I remember, “oh, it’s ABC hosting the countdown celebrations tonight!” I flip over and, sure enough, there’s only three minutes till midnight! Phew, I made it; can you imagine how embarrassed I’d be if I’d really missed the countdown?? XD

All too soon, we’re counting down! Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, Five, Four, Three, Two, One, HAPPY NEW YEAR!! As the television explodes with all the fireworks marking the arrival of 2015, I hear the Glen Hotel outside also set off their own.

I cuddle Bear Bear and we watch the beautiful fireworks together. Luckily, the skies are clear; I wonder, can the fireworks still go ahead if it’s bucketing down?

The fireworks last just over fifteen minutes. Once they finish, I turn the television off, grab myself some milk (I’m free to enjoy the full cream milk coz the parents are both already upstairs; usually, I only get low-fat milk XD) flip the light out then hit the sack, after brushing teeth, flossing and using the loo once.

The next morning, when dad randomly wanders into my bedroom, I sit up, wish him a very happy 2015 then return to sleep. XD

Awhile later, when mother comes bearing my clothes and demands I get dressed without assistance, I grouch at her, “Where’s dad taking us? I’m not getting outta bed till 5:55pm unless dad takes us out somewhere.” She replies, “Dad’s taking us out to Harbour Town. Get up.” Ooh, sure!

Dressed, teeth brushed and other morning routines adhered to, I sit outside and get served a tiny morsel of fried ham and egg for breakfast; oh, what a lovely start to 2015! Usually dad doesn’t cook any unless it’s Saturday!

Before heading out to the 4WD, I use the loo once. I also check to make sure Sparkless 2 is in the boot.

Dad tootles us out to Harbour Town. Thanks to my disabled parking permit, we get a spot fairly close to the entrance.

However, I get pissed when I learn that dad won’t lemme use my manual wheelchair to go shopping! >< I’m sure I have explained before, that yes, despite the cruel and unfaithful God’s initial intentions to leave me wheelchair-bound forever, I can actually walk unaided very short distances with very close supervision, but for longer distances, such as for shopping trips where one browses through items that are on sale, I need to be seated to fully appreciate what I am viewing.

Still, dad’s ultimatum stands: shop walking, or go home.

Fine. I’m left with no option but to grit my teeth, resign myself to an unpleasant day and remind the cruel and unfaithful God that I’m not gonna let Him ruin another day for me.

We browse several shops that morning, my favourite being of course Jay Jays, where I pick up a new Despicable Me minion tee! I probably won’t get the chance to wear it until Christmas, though; it’s the one with two minions on the front saying, “Uh, Santa, I can explain …” XD

Clever dad somehow manages to find for me the New Balance shop, and I walk away with a new pair of sneakers, as does he. As for mother, she ducks into some random clothes shops and buys herself a summer dress or something like that.

The parents call it a day shortly after that and we head home, because dearest dad has to work on the second, although I can’t see that as being a busy day for him. Me, I would cling onto my precious last several days of blessed holidays before endless physio begins again sometime again the week after. XD

As I’m writing this, yes, physio has indeed resumed for me. Well, there’s never any rest for the weary. XD

Next post here … well, I totally forgot last year to write my third ‘five years’ post – five years since I’ve had to spend a single night in the hospital! Maybe I’ll write that, or else I’d better finish my post on the family holiday I had with the parents back at the beginning of last year; you know, the one where I figured out the mystery of why I didn’t see two heads on all the Tasmanians! XD Anyways, until then~

Cheers,

Em. ^^

Xmas Eve, Xmas Day and Boxing Day 2014

Well, the silly season’s over for another year; here’s how I spent my Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day for 2014!

Christmas Eve:

For some reason, the English ministry had decided to hold a Christmas Eve service, meaning after wolfing down a quick dinner, dad tootled me off to church and I found my usual spot in the hall: first row from the back, the most left chair. Only Wilfreddy came and hauled me all the way to like the third row from the front! Well, technically, he didn’t haul me; I presume I’m rather too fat to be hauled by anyone, but he suggested and said he’d walk behind me up to the front, so I complied. XD

Peter Pie was the chairperson that night; he was funny, saying something like, “In case of fire, fling your hands in the air, scream, and run in that (he pointed outside toward the main entrance) direction.” XD

Turns out, the Christmas Eve service was basically a skit outlining the nativity play with singing and dancing added; to be honest, I’d actually expected some pastor to deliver a sermon about the upcoming birth of the baby Jesus!

The night started with Jacinta Lam, playing a little girl (although technically she’s not little anymore; she just graduated year twelve last year!) who ran up to her ‘dad’, played by Tony, screeching excitedly, “Dad dad dad, it’s almost Christmas!’ Tony asked her what was that special about Christmas, and Jacinta raved on about Santa and presents and the like, which led Tony to begin to explain the whole nativity story to her.

His story begins with the choir performing a song that I’ve never heard before, Mary Did You Know. I thought the song beautiful, and wondered who was the female conducting the small choir; she looked familiar, but I couldn’t place her coz she wasn’t facing me and I couldn’t see her features!

Tony’s story continues, interspersed with lotsa questions from Jacinta and more songs from the choir. Another group even danced, re-enacting the crucifixion of Jesus (played by Kalos)! Someone told me later that the choreographer was Aggie~ Top stuff, Aggie, the dancers looked very pro!

After the service concluded, everyone was invited downstairs for some supper. Aunty Yvonne kindly walked down with me, where I visited the bathroom once then took my usual spot to the most left. Aunty Yvonne returned with an amazing-looking cupcake for me; Lana, I’m sure I’ve told you this a squillion times before: quit your day job and start a bakery, coz I’m certain you’d be stinking rich in next to no time!

Several people wandered over for a chat, like Esther. I asked her did she know who’d conducted the small choir, and she was like, “um, me.” XD

Aunty Yvonne also kindly passed me a plastic cup of water, and told me that neither she nor the rest of their family would be present at the Christmas service tomorrow, because they were going bushwalking!

Pole and Josh also wandered over to say hi, naughty Josh ripping leaves from some overhead branch and tossing them at me; Pole socked him in the gut for it, but come on, this is Pole I’m speaking about, do you really think she could put any strength behind her blow?? XD

At 9:30pm, I rang for parental pickup. The home phone registered no response; I presumed that the parents were still out viewing Christmas decorations and hadn’t returned home yet. I tried mother’s mobile next; she replied that she and dad were on their way.

Only after I hung up, everyone decided to all leave at once! Meaning by the time the parents arrived, everyone had cleared out! When the parents arrived, mother immediately groused at me that I should’ve rung them earlier, but hey, I didn’t want them to come take me home when everyone was still there; how did I know everyone would scatter promptly at 9:30pm?? XD

Anyways, back home, repeat the usual nightly procedure, zzz~

Christmas day:

I woke up, and bid my teddy a very Merry Christmas! Mother entered my room a short while later, dumped my clothes onto the bed, then left me to get myself kitted, which I managed with just fine, although I did have my tee on back-to-front originally. >< It’s rather difficult to get yourself kitted properly, especially when you only have one more-or-less functioning arm … somehow, mother believes that by leaving me to struggle with getting myself properly clothed, I will somehow become more ‘independent’…

Anyways, outside, mother placed one cup of plain milk in front of me. “You’re not serious, are you?” I asked her, mock-incredulous. “I mean, today’s CHRISTMAS, and you can’t even come up with a mug of chocolate Nesquik or even Milo for me??” Obviously not; mother’s totally uncreative like that. XD Dearest dad, however, did fry some eggs with very thinly sliced Spam ham, and I enjoyed one tiny portion of that with one slice of unbuttered toast.

One more loo trip for me (on dad’s command; usually, I wait until we arrive @ church before visiting the bathroom), before dad tootles mother and I off to church for our Christmas service. While he drives, I sing my litany of four secular Christmas carols, knowing that once we’d entered church, we’d only be singing Christian ones. Those four secular Christmas carols were:

(1)            Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer, (2) We Wish You A Merry Christmas, (3) Jingle Bells and (4) the Twelve Days of Christmas, although I only remembered the first five days. XD

At church, I visited the bathroom twice before service started. Luckily, I found my usual spot at the far left in the back~

The choir sang a song, Mikey played the piano and Julz had the drum under her control. Speaker that day was Thomas, because I believe both pastor Chris and Reverend Lam are away on holidays.

After service, we headed down for the luncheon. I’ve learnt to always get my own food; that way, I know I can enjoy one full bowl of food; when mother gets food for me, she never gets me more than half a bowl; dad’s even worse: he only gets me 1/3 a bowl! ><

We sit with Uncle Jerry, Aunty Sandra and some other people. Nomnomnom~

After lunch, we head home. One bathroom trip for me, and then I plop online, while mother hits pigland upstairs. Not sure what dad does, but he’s back home and telling mother and I to shower before nightfall, because we’re having a BBQ at someone’s place! The family lives in some suburb called New Beith; can anyone please teach me whether it’s pronounced ‘Beeth’, ‘Bayth’, ‘Beth’ or something else entirely?

‘Twas a fairly long drive to the place; by the time we arrived, the BBQ was almost starting! I found a seat and Aunty Amy brought me over some yummy green grapes for munching; she tells me that Yancey’s ice skating requires training five/six mornings a week! Like twenty years ago, Pole and I tried ice skating lessons once; I was totally put off after some poor girl got a blade sliced into her calf! o_O

Two fires were set up, and we began cooking away! I saw mother holding two skewers over the fire, and asked her could she please get me one also to cook, but she was like, “Ask your dad. I’m busy.” Well, fine; after dad appeared (think he’d been inside the house), he moved me closer to the fire, skewered some pork balls for me, and I began cooking!

I sat around the fire with people whom I mostly didn’t know. There was one guy who kept calling me ‘mui mui jai’, which in Canto roughly means ‘very little girl’. He’d be like, “mui mui jai, you might wanna turn your pork balls around now, else they’ll get burnt on one side and uncooked on the other!” At some point during the night, when he referred to me as ‘mui mui jai’ again, I laughed and told him, “Uncle, I’m turning twenty-eight next year; I think I’m a bit too old to fit into the ‘mui mui jai’ category anymore!” The guy laughed, responding, “well, I’m gonna keep calling you ‘mui mui jai’ if you’re really turning twenty-eight next year, because that means I’m still slightly older than you are!”whoops, he’s not ‘uncle’, then, but rather, ‘gor gor’ (older brother in Canto). XD

After dinner, mother took me once to the bathroom, after which I crashed on the sofa and Whatssapped Merry Christmas to all my contacts.

The night ended very early, around 8:30pm! I guess that was because the host’s family lived so far away from everyone else and it’d be a long drive back home.

Mother took me once more to the bathroom when we left, and while she was putting her shoes back on, Lok Yee suddenly ran up holding a rangy dog by the collar! I thought mother would shriek/wave her arms in panic/explode or something dramatic like that (remember, mother’s the nurse that’s afraid of anything that moves that isn’t a human being XD) but I was very proud of her for not even batting an eyelid! Turns out the dog’s only young (two/three years old) and her name’s Kiki.

And that was the night! Everyone left around 8:30pm, which I thought was rather early, but it made sense considering how far new Beith was away from Brisbane.

Dad tootled us home; I got my usual half cuppa of milk, brushed teeth, used the toilet then hit the sack. Zzz~

Boxing Day: I enjoyed another great sleep over Christmas night, not waking until 6:05am. When mother came, dumped all my clothes onto my bed and ordered me to get dressed without assistance (she’s been doing that all year; apparently this’ll make me more ‘independent’? Not sure how that works, but hey, no biggie, because I’m seated and can fully concentrate), I sat up and sang her Happy Birthday before complying~

Over breakfast, I told dad, “Are you gonna take mother and I out for the Boxing Day sales today? Because if you’re not, please take me to Charlsy’s place; he’s opened it up for everyone. I didn’t RSVP on time, but I asked him last night and he says I’m welcome to still join.”

Dad considers, then says, “I’ll take you two to the Hyperdome; Carindale will be too crowded.”

Awesome! Before we head out, I open the boot to check that Sparkless 2 (my manual wheelchair) is still there then hop into the car.

You can imagine my distress when I find out dad doesn’t intend to lemme use Sparkless 2 once we arrive! Yes, despite the cruel and unfaithful God’s intentions for me never to walk again, I’m relieved to say that I can walk short distances independently with very close supervision (which makes mother not bothering to walk behind me while inside the house very dangerous ><). However, for longer distances I require my manual wheelchair; I also go for shopping (my fortnightly trips to Garbo) in my wheelchair, because nowadays, just standing’s the hardest thing for me, meaning if I’m to go browsing at objects, I’d need to be seated to be able to look at stuff. I mean yes, obviously I can look at things while I’m standing, but I wouldn’t be able to focus on anything because I’d only be thinking about the next place I can sit down and not losing my balance and falling over where I’m standing right at that moment.

However, dad’s ultimatum is shop walking or go home, so I grit my teeth, remind the cruel and unfaithful God that I’ll try my best not to let Him ruin another day for me, and head into the Hyperdome.

First stop: Coles, to buy juice for our night’s guests. After that, we wander the Hyperdome; to my complete delight, we find a Jay Jays! I thought Jay Jays were only found in Westfield centres? I’m fairly certain the Hyperdome isn’t a Westfield shopping mall…

But no matter, I enter Jay Jays and get a new minion tee! :D

More wanderings around the Hyperdome; we enter stores like Myer, where I find a comfy couch to crash on while mother goes browsing around the store. From somewhere, dad finds me a little booklet full of quotes penned by Oprah!

Lunch is at the food court: I enjoy a very little bit of Red Roosters (did you know, they sell APPLE fritters now?? Pineapple ones are better, though!) and some sushi, just drinking water, while the parents enjoy Coke/Pepsi. Dunno why mother refused to get me a Boost Juice, but hey, no biggie, she’s always gleefully imposing one restriction on me or another. *sigh*

And so ended our Boxing Day shopping trip for 2014~ The same thing happened as before: dearest dad tootled mother and I home, I plopped online after one toilet trip and mother hit pigland upstairs.

Before all our guests arrive, I take a shower, and after they arrive, head outside to sit on my dearest dad’s awesome deck after one more loo trip.

Aunty Winnie’s also made some sushi! I get a slice or two of that, lotsa lettuce and a lil meat, like some yummy pork.

After dinner, we all head back inside. Everyone just sits and chats (barring Mel and Sam, who watch television), eating fruit and drinking tea.

When our guests decide to leave, I walk them out and thank them for coming, before returning to the sofa and tearing into the presents that Santa brought me! I carefully open the first present mother hands me (the book Carol Lockwood bought for me), just to prove that I am, in fact, civilised, then just rip the rest. XD

I remember a blog I created several years back to note down items I’ve been given; haven’t opened it for years but amazingly, I still remember the password! If I ever get the time (which I doubt I will, alas), I may log in all the presents I got!

But next post here should be how I spent my New Years’ Day; until then~

Cheers,

Em. ^^