Birthday Reflections 2015~

Usually, I don’t pen my birthday reflections for that year until the day before my birthday (the 19^th of March), or, if I’m super-unorganised, not until my birthday itself, a few hours literally before my birthday (I was born at 6:22pm). But usually, dad’s work is the quietest around the end of January till the beginning of February period, and he’ll often take a week off work then and take mother and I on a short holiday somewhere, like how two years back we went on a road trip all the way down to Sydney and back and last year, we went down to Tasmania, where I discovered why I didn’t see the two heads on the Tasmanians, like I’d been assured they all had! XD Actually, I’ve just realised I still haven’t uploaded a post about that awesome holiday; it’s been started, and I promise to try and get it up soon!

But back to why I’m penning my birthday reflections early: instead of dad taking mother and I on a short holiday somewhere this year, mother instead went back by herself to Hong Kong for two weeks! Dad and I literally only picked her up from the airport on Monday night (well, literally very early Tuesday morning)!

So, instead of us three taking a short family holiday somewhere, dad’s decided that we’ll go for a small trip somewhere for my birthday! It’d only be a one night stay, though: I’m hitting Garbo for my fortnightly shopping trip with Roxana on Thursday morning but I wanna attend the first FX for 2015 on Friday night! Hence why I’m penning my birthday reflections now: I won’t be home to write them like I usually do on the day before (or the day itself XD) of my birthday!

I’m very relieved to be able to report that I have finally taken myself off the job market temporarily; for two weeks I was a telemarketer! Sure, everyone hates telemarketers and either hangs up on them (like I do! XD) or abuse them like crazy and believe me, I copped plenty of flak for my first two weeks of work, but it was a job I could do sitting down and it got me paid, even though if only on a supported wage! For those of you who don’t know what a supported wage is, the employer assesses you and decides that if you can work at 60% of the normal able-bodied worker, you’ll receive 60% of the wage. My employer, a man from Iraq called Jacob, decided I could perform at 70% capacity of the normal person, meaning I got seventy percent of the standard rate. Well, I worked for two weeks, before he decided that I needed more training and stopped my work. Oh well, I understand, thus far I’ve been an absolutely useless telemarketer.  >< XD I’m just hoping I’ll get my first fortnight’s pay and can shout my parents and a few friends out for dinner, because I’ve heard that’s what you’re meant to do with your first pay check: shout your family and friends out for dinner! Well, mother only arrived back from hong kong on Monday night (well literally, Tuesday morning); must remember to ask her please to check my bank account for me, see how much money I’ve got. Ideally, I’d like to shout five people out to dinner; if I don’t have enough money in my bank account from my one (and potentially only ><) pay check, I’ll settle for just shouting my parents dinner; surely I’ve got enough for that!

            Amazingly, I managed to get through the whole of last year without falling flat on my butt once! During 2014, I had three close shaves: the first time, when I was walking down the stairs from our church’s main hall to the building below; the handrail doesn’t start till you descend down to the top step; I aimed for the rail, missed and fell backwards! Luckily, Kwany caught me (and that was the first time I noticed how tall he was: I fell backwards onto him and my head only met his upper chest! XD) and I didn’t fall. The second near-miss was one Sunday afternoon, when Julz was walking behind me to Springwood’s Fasta Pasta for lunch with other church peoples. Randomly without warning, I trip and smack backwards into Julz! After she steadies me, we realise that my shoelace had become undone and I’d trod on it; you can believe me now when I say that every time I get up, before I start walking, I look and check that both laces are done up!

My last near-miss for 2014 was when I was pouring myself my nightly half-cuppa of milk before hitting the sack. Somehow, I tripped forwards, and would have face planted if not for my knees smacking into the tiled floor surface of our house. Actually, I earned myself a nice whopping bruise on my right knee for that; it was certainly interesting to watch it turn like nearly all the colours of the rainbow spectrum before finally fading! XD

Well, it’s been more than eight years since the cruel and unfaithful god so wantonly destroyed my life with the disabling brain tumour; eight years on, I can still only mourn the loss of my previously good life. Everyday I’ve asked God please to just tell me what it was that I’d done/didn’t do that was so bloody sinful He decided it was deserving to totally destroy my life for; alas, He’s never even bothered to answer me … actually, I’ve just remembered that I’ve already shared about this in my post ‘Reflections For 2014’; go read that, if you’re interested. It’s under the ‘spiritually-wise’ section.

Also, yes, everyday I do wonder what might’ve been if mother had taken me to that healing meeting I received a flyer about one night while out at Garbo with a carer/life coach/support worker/whatever they’re called now XD that offered healing. Mother has probably forgotten that incident by now; as for me, everyday I can’t help but mourn and wonder, “If she had taken me to that, would I have found healing? Would I now be living as a full, contributing member to society??” ><

I sincerely hope it’s not a sin to hate/be angry with God, because that’s exactly where I find myself now. From an old blog I used to keep, I found a quote there that I really like: “My soul is not for you to possess.” Randomly Googling the quote one day, I found it in its entirety: you can break my body and you can bend my mind, but my soul is not for you to possess. Every morning when I wake up, I’ve told the cruel and unfaithful god that. Yes, you can break my body (like you’ve already done; yes, I’m physically disabled beyond words) and yes, you can bend my mind (like you’ve also done; my parents are always jeering at me that I don’t think properly anymore), but do you know what, god? My SOUL is NOT FOR YOU to possess!! See, my point’s that I only hate god because He hated me first. I never hated anyone (nor have I found anyone else to hate) until He showed me how much he hated me. God taught me how to hate; it’s only and entirely because of Him that I am now so good at hating.

But let’s end this note on a hopeful note, shall we? This year, I’m hoping to continue improving on my mobility and aim for another year without falling flat on my butt! Yes, I realise I do seem to harp on about falling over quite a lot; you see, if you fall over, you just laugh, check for any injuries, dust yourself off and scramble back up. Unfortunately for me, if I happen to hit the ground, I won’t be able to haul myself back upright again without aid. Hence my fear of falling. ><

Actually, right now, I’m learning how to tie my own shoelaces again! Post my disabling brain injury, whenever I noticed my shoelace undone, I’d have to stick my foot out to somebody and ask them please to retie it. Currently, however, I’m learning how to tie them myself, so one day I hope to be able of independently doing the laces myself!

Well, that’s about all from me about my birthday reflections for this year. I’ve received only one birthday card thus far (from my little cousin Mickey! Actually, he’s only ‘little’ in that he’s twenty years and six months exactly younger than me; he’s got tall parents and by the last photo I saw, he’s already standing at my mother’s shoulder; him, almost 7.5!) but hopefully receive at least one more before my birthday this Friday! Oh, if you read this, please do remember to leave me a happy birthday message on my Facebook wall come Friday. XD My birthday should be fairly easy to remember: I share the same birthday as Tim Li!

Next post here … well, I really ought to publish the post I’ve started about our family trip down to Tasmania last year, right? I’ll confess that I’ve forgotten that post’s name: if you don’t get to read it for awhile yet, you may presume I still haven’t found the document yet. XD anyways, until then~

Cheers, Em. ^^

Valentine's Day 2015

Valentine’s Day was exactly one month ago! Me, doomed to be single for life (because mother has often jeered enough to me that nobody’s gonna ever want someone as disabled as me), usually never place much emphasis on it and treat it as any other regular day.

However, shortly before Valentine’s Day this year, I received a Facebook/Whatsapp message from Peter Pie (I think I just call him that to show I know alliteration; when he’s being mean I call him Peter Poo. XD), inviting me to join him and others for a Valentine’s Day road trip! Destination: to the Eumundi markets and then the beach! After asking for and receiving permission from mother to join in, I was all set for the day!

Peter Pie had said he and Lisa would come and pick me up at 9:15am, so mother had rung Kyabra (the agency that provides me with the Saturday morning carer who gets me outta bed at 10am) and asked that the carer come at 8am instead. Usually, the Saturday carer stays for three hours, from 10am till 1pm but obviously, if I was leaving at 9:15am, the carer would haveta come earlier!

My usual Saturday morning carer, Besta, a dark-skinned woman from Sudan who’s only one year older than me but already has a little girl prep age was away doing CPR training; instead, Kyabra sent this Vietnamese girl to get me up outta bed at 8am. I say girl because the moment I saw her, I could tell that she was heaps younger than me. She asked me how old I was, and after I told her, “I’m turning twenty-eight in March,” she was like, “No way. Shut up. Shut up!” Lol, I’ve heard that phrase being used in conversations before, but never at me! XD Turns out she was only twenty-one.

Anyways, teeth brushed, I’m sitting out in the dining room and munching breakfast when suddenly ding dong! Peter Pie and Lisa arrive early! I quickly use the bathroom once then sit outside on the bench and wait for dad to transfer Sparkless 2 (my manual wheelchair’s name XD) into Peter Pie’s boot.

Only, instead of letting us go, dad keeps yakking to Peter Pie and Lisa! Fine by me; I just visit the bathroom again. XD

Finally, we’re off! First destination, Dr. Lee’s place; we’re all meeting there before we begin the road trip.

Somebody walks behind me up to Dr. Lee’s living room (like Ray’s place; the stair’s handrail is on my left) and I crash on the sofa. When Dr. Lee shows up, I bid him good morning then show him my sore finger; which I somehow managed to chip the nail off too short. Dr. Lee was totally unsympathetic, just casually saying, “Oh, just chop it off”, to which I screeched that he was a terrible doctor and that I never wanted to see him. However, only after saying that, did I realise what a moot point it was: Dr. Lee has already made it clear that he doesn’t wish to treat anyone from BCAC because of personal relationship. XD

We are all required to partake in this game! Everybody’s handed a little red piece of paper in the shape of a heart; inside, we are required to write three things: (1) the order of preference for children (eg. GBG), (2) a romantic holiday destination and (3) one bad habit. The love hearts are then folded up, mixed together and every person’s given one. Our aim today will be to find who our ‘valentine’ is, i.e. who wrote those three answers on the heart-shaped paper.

Then we’re off! I visit the loo once more then get into peter Pie’s car, as does Lisa. Peter Pie starts driving us to the Eumundi markets! It’s a fairly long drive, so to pass the time, we play Twenty Questions, the answer being a member of church.

Upon arrival, Peter Pie drops Lisa and I off, gets out Sparkless 2 for me then goes to park the car somewhere.

After everyone meets up, we start wandering the markets! Alex Kwan pushes Sparkless 2 with me; around the beginning of the markets, I see a t-shirt emblazoned with three cranky looking emus and the slogan “we are not e-mused”. I laugh, and decide that if I can’t find anything else to buy at the markets, I’ll come back for that tee.

And so our wanderings begin! There’s seriously heaps of things on sale at the markets! Peter Pie goes and buys some kind of sausage on sale and shares it with Lisa and I, although I didn’t like the mustard-y thing that it came with, some kinda sour lettuce called something like sourkraust?

More strolling around the markets, until somebody decides he’s hungry so it must be lunchtime. We bag a big long table and people scatter to find food. Someone comes back with a kebab, and I consider getting myself one for lunch too; ever since Naz left Sultan’s Kebab at Sunnybank Plaza, I haven’t been able to enjoy a good kebab; the one at Rochedale Café tastes far inferior!

Lisa and I go together in search of food. I pass by a stall selling pulled pork crepes, and am instantly interested: firstly, I’m a definite ‘flour head’ (say that in canto) so I love crepes and secondly, what’s ‘pulled’ pork?

When I ask the lady manning the counter, she laughs and gestures to the guy beside her, who is pouring crepe mix onto the round frying surface. He also laughs, reaches into a large container, grabs some shredded pork, and pulls the pork apart. Ahh, so that’s what ‘pulled’ pork means!

It looks delicious, so I order one. Bringing it back to where everyone else is also returning with food, I ask Dr. Lee what we are doing for drinks, and he gestures to the building we are sitting adjacent to. “Gimme your wallet and I’ll go get you a juice.” He says, before asking what kinda juice I’d like, and I reply, “Pineapple juice, please. But if there’s none, orange juice will be just fine.” After coming back once and asking me would I like my juice with ice (yes please), he returns with a delicious pineapple juice for me.

Someone says grace, and we tuck in! nomnomnom~

Not sure why I eat so slowly? But I seem to have a recollection of when I was first released from the insane asylum (more commonly known to everyone else as the Brain Injuries Rehab Ward of the Princess Alexandra hospital XD) I’d try to wolf down my food too fast and choke, prompting mother to tell me, “Em, slow down. I promise, nobody’s gonna steal your food.” Meaning I returned to my rightful place as BCAC’s second-slowest eater. Fiona So still holds the award for being the slowest. XD

After lunch was over, someone suggested we all get a move on to the beach, prompting me to say, “In that case, will somebody please take me back to the stall to buy the emu-sing shirt? I haven’t bought anything yet!”

I think we all go to the stall where I buy the tee! The selling lady opens the tee then measures it against my front, before charging me thirty-nine dollars for it. Cripes, thirty-nine?? That’s excessively expensive! I don’t think I’ve even got thirty-nine dollars left in my wallet, not after lunch!

However, I think Dr. Lee covers the several extra dollars for me (so I’d better take back my earlier claim that he was a dreadful doctor XD), and we all leave the markets. This time, Lisa goes and sits in the other car, but Alex comes to join Peter Pie and I.

Our other stop for the day is some kinda beach/mountain lookout place with odd names. Someone again unloads Sparkless2 for me, and everyone goes for a wander along the trail. At some point, I hop out of Sparkless2, brace against the railing, and everyone else comes around for several happy snaps. Closer to the end of the day, Peter Pie decides I’d better hop outta sparkless2 and walk awhile, so I obligingly get up and plod 50/100m before being allowed to sit again.

When it’s time to call it a day, Peter Pie realises he’s running very low on fuel! He rings the other car to tell them to buy our pizza for dinner first and head back to Dr. Lee’s place, because we need to refuel. While he’s ringing, Alex Googles where the nearest petrol station is, and we head there to refuel.

When we arrive back at Dr. Lee’s place, I use the bathroom once then crash on the sofa/dining table and await dinner!

Three yummy pizzas are ordered, and two garlic breads. We all share, and while some drink wine, I enjoy one cup of orange-coloured cordial and later, Dr. Lee makes both me and somebody an orange frappe with ice!

After dinner, I crash back onto Dr. Lee’s sofa. Everyone is required to read out what their ‘valentine’ wrote as their answers to the three questions and guess who the other person is. Lol, just by random chance, Alex drew mine and I drew his! Well, technically, we didn’t draw them; they were given to us, but same diff. XD

After we all had fun sharing who our “valentine’s” were, ‘twas time to call it a night; ‘twas like 10pm! Peter Pie dropped me off back home, where I had another surprise waiting for me: dearest dad had taken mother out shopping somewhere, and she’d bought me a Valentine’s Day present: several balloons all tied together to make a beautiful flower! :o) Originally, I thought only lovers could give their other half Valentine’s Day presents, but mother scoffed at me, “Of course not; you can give anyone you love Valentine’s day presents!” Well, I immediately asked her please to take a photo of it for me; originally, she was like, “nah, it’s late; sleep now and I’ll take a photo for you tomorrow,” but I asked her, “could you please take it tonight? Coz I’m afraid it’ll shrink overnight and any photo tomorrow might look really ugly! She did, and guess what? Five days later, that flower still hasn’t started wilting! Of course, one month later, it has moved into heaven/wherever balloons head after their mortal life is up. XD

Well, so ends the adventure I had for valentine’s day, 2015. See, even singles like me can have a great day out!

Next post here … well, it’s my BIRTHDAY next Friday, which also happens to coincide with the first FX of 2015! Maybe I’ll scribble something about how I spent my birthday this year; anyways, until then~

Cheers,

Em. ^^

Birthday Wishlist 2015

Eep, apologies! My birthday wishlist was due out March the 1^st, but what with me battling off a random cold (I sounded like I’d eaten nothing but frogs for days XD), me finally starting a paid job that I can do sitting down (alas, I’ve been an absolutely bloody useless telemarketer so far; I’m just hoping I get my first pay check and can shout four people out for dinner before I get the sack! XD) and mother returning to Hong Kong to visit her family, I honestly haven’t had any time to pen down a detailed list of what I’m hoping I’ll get for my birthday this year!

But late’s better than never, so here goes!

(1)           Pet – ever since poor Silver and Bronze passed away in the winter of 2008, I’ve asked for two more pet goldfish. Yes, I will admit to involuntary manslaughter; I didn’t know that goldfish were that fragile they needed a heater to keep them warm in winter! Alas, I seem to have been deemed untrustworthy to handle any more live pets, so the onus is now on you, Luke Mac Court, to bring me a pet rock! When you first told me about them, I thought you were pulling my leg, but when I randomly Googled ‘pet rock’, I was amazed to discover literally dozens of pages on pet rocks! You ruined my Christmas when you didn’t bring me one, Luke; I’m hoping you’ll make up for that by bringing me a minion themed pet rock (like you offered) for my birthday later this month! Please don’t ruin another celebratory occasion for me. XD

(2)           minion bed – Effie, I’m leaving this one for you to get me! When you first showed me this on Facebook, I was like, I WANT ONE!! The only thing is, though: do minion beds come in king single sizes? Because the picture you showed me looks like a queen sized bed at least, but my bed’s only king single, and I doubt you can fit a queen sized bed into my little room! As for everyone else, you know I totally love all things minion-related, so just get me any minion-themed item, please! :D Oh, Donna Bella Baker, I almost forgot: you are exempt from having to get me a birthday present if you are really promising to take me to see the minion movie in GOLD CLASS when it comes out in like June this year! I’ve never seen anything in gold class before, so I’m nearly exploding with excitement at the very thought!! XD

(3)           Movies – I’m actually after three movie DVDs. (1) Divergent – I read the first book for the sci-fi and fantasy month at book club last year, and really loved it! An awesome book club lady gifted me with the whole trilogy the next month, and when I heard they’d been made into a movie format, I really wanted to see it! (2) Ender’s Game – back in 2002, when all my fellow grade ten peers attending Redeemer Lutheran College had to read Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card, it was only natural that I grab myself a copy to read also; surprisingly, I loved it! Nowadays, every fortnight, when I hit Garbo with a carer/life coach/support worker/whatever you call them now XD, part of my routine is to walk to the library and grab myself a book to read for one hour. I usually grab one by Card, coz ‘c’ is near the beginning of the alphabet and I don’t have to walk too far to grab a book! XD so yes, I’d like that movie, please! (3) Minions – again, Donna Bella Baker, are you really fair dinkum about taking me to see the minion movie in GOLD CLASS?? What if the cinemas don’t offer it in gold class?? ><

(4)           books! Like I’ve mentioned in like every wishlist where I’m hoping people will shower me with presents, I’m always after more books to read! True, my reading speed’s pathetic to what it used to be pre-brain injury, but I still sign up for several e-newsletters from random bookstores, and every time I receive an update, my current wishlist grows by several volumes! However, I think I’ll just limit my wishlist to two books this time around; other than that, my favourite generes are fantasy, science fiction and historical fiction; I’ll try read any from that genre! (1) Fifty Shades of Grey – yes, I realise this one’s an adult rated book and things may get quite raunchy, but I’m turning twenty-eight (late twenties, eep!) and surely I’m mature enough to deal with stuff like that! Besides, it was so popular, it’s been made into a television show! (2) The Great Zoo of China – during high school/my brief university education, I discovered Matthew Reilly! He’s really exciting, and I’d love to read this newest book of his!

(5)           Teddy – same as with books, included in every present wishlist I write is a teddy bear! Every single one of my teddies are loved, and each has a name, although I will sheepishly confess to owning two/three John Does, meaning I have two/three teddies I don’t remember giving a name to. XD But yes, one can never have enough stuffed toys! <3

Well, considering it’s only been three months since my last wishlist and also the fact that it’s come several days late, I’d better end this wishlist with just five items. Now go forth, everyone, and secure me birthday presents!! :D

Cheers,

Em. ^^

P.S. Next post here … well, if nothing post-worthy comes up over the next week or so, you probably won’t hear from me again until I recount how I spent my birthday this year. But seeing as I didn’t tell the tale of how I spent my birthday last year until almost six months later, who knows what I’ll write next?? XD

P.P.S. oh, one more thing! Mother, PLEASE COME BACK TO BRISBANE IN TIME TO CELEBRATE MY BIRTHDAY WITH ME!! I keep having this dreadful thought that something will come up while you’re in hong kong, and I’ll haveta spend my special day all by my lonesome self … >< XD