2023 Reflections

 

My first resolution for 2024’s that I won’t leave things until the final day of the year to pen my reflections for that year! XD

So, 2023. A year of highs and lows. Let’s stick with the template I’ve used in years past to reflect on the year that will be was in just several hours:

Physically-wise: unfortunately, it’s not been a very successful year in this for me. I’ve managed to totally stack it not once, not twice, not even thrice but FOUR times; the last fall was only yesterday afternoon! >< Other than that, I’m still enjoying my two weeks’ of annual and therefore the word ‘physio’ DOOES NOT EXIST in the English language. XD

Work-wise: today I e-mailed Axiom College and asked could I please resume study. It really sucks being on the disability pension and not having an income. >< Subsisting on the disability pension isn’t fun! Remember, any job that I can do whilst seated (even cleaning toilets) and gets me properly paid, I’ll do it!

Spiritually-wise: do I haveta love God before He  lets me into heaven after my Earthly life finishes/is just believing that He exists, sent His Son Jesus to die on the cross for us and brought him back to life enough? If it’s the former, someone please teach me how to love Someone that treated me so unfaithfully in 2007.

Sporting-wise: the mighty Maroons retained the Origin shield this year!  Dear all my smelly Blues friends, please prepare yourselves for another @ least eight years of pain. XD Sounds about fair, yes? We win eight straight, you take two and then we win eight again. XD

As for the Broncos … we got all the way to the grand final before falling to the Penrith Panthers! Despite several players defecting to the Dolphins to play under Benny next year, I really hope we can go all the way and lift the shield next year, coz we’re not had premiership glory since 2006!

On a personal note, I’ve really enjoyed playing para-table tennis this year! Mother found me a club to play in where the only requirement before joining’s that you’ve gotta have some kinda intellectual disability; I’m the only unlucky sod that has a physical disability too. Just another thing I can despise the cruel and unfaithful God for. >< But the sessions are fun, I get to play whilst seated in my manual wheelchair and who knows? Maybe you really will see me on stage for the 2032  Brisbane Olympics playing for Australia in the table tennis! XD

Everything-else-wise: after not having any food dreams last year, this year I’ve had SIX food dreams! I’ve remembered less dreams this but am eternally grateful that the cruel and unfaithful God has left me alone from all the horrible nightmares He so cruelly plagued me with back for most of 2007 and nearly half of 2008.

Personally, tonight I’m overjoyed because I finally found my oldest (he turned THIRTY this year; that’s very old for a teddy! XD) teddy Bear Bear! Mother retired him several years ago from keeping me company every night in bed but said we could still bring him out for special occasions like the Origin only then she went and LOST him! O_o >< Only tonight when I hiked upstairs to visit my bedroom up there did, I find him in the middle spare room atop the chest of drawers!!

Oh, and this year was my year, the CNY of the Rabbit!  One highlight was when the parents and I were down in Sydney and eating @ some fancy restaurant that made xiaolongbao rabbit-themed with chocolate inside and dad lemme eat one all by myself!

Only thirty minutes till 2024 arrives, so I’d better note down some new years’ resolutions: work for better mobility? Find proper paid work? Eat more yummy meals? Huh, fat chance for the last one. >< XD *sigh*

Righteo, cya all in 2024!

Cheers,

Em. ^^

P.S. Next post here … umm, doubt I’ll do anything interesting enough tomorrow to warrant a special blog post; you may not hear from me again until March, when I put out my birthday wishlist for 2024! Until then~

 

Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day 2023

 

Aww, has the silly season already come and gone for another year?? Well, here’s how I spent my Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day for 2023:

I started Christmas Eve with my third consecutive awesome night’s sleep: after bidding my teddy good night, I fell asleep and didn’t wake again until 6:20am, when mother awakes me by going a-THUMPING around upstairs. After I relieve myself, I immediately fall back asleep again since I’m certain she’ll wake me again with noisier a-THUMPING around exactly one hour later!

Sure enough, mother’s noisy a-THUMPING around upstairs exactly one hour later awakes me again, and soon she’s let herself into my room to hit me with some eye goo. (Post brain-injury my right eye doesn’t fully shut, hence why I wear eye gel during the day and eye ointment for the night to keep my eye lubricated). After the usual morning routine (brush teeth, breakfast and toilet trip) mother tootles me off to church, where I use the bathroom once by myself then grab my usual spot in service to the most left (Since post-brain injury I’ve lost all left side vision, I prefer to be seated on the most left so that there’s nothing I can’t see more left than me).

After the first half of worship our EM pastor Peter Pie gives a sermon; originally Winston was rostered down to give the sermon but somehow, he got something inside his eye and instead was at the doctor’s somewhere getting it removed! O_O I made a mental note to myself to ask after him later today.

Service over, I use the bathroom again and then take a seat outside the kitchen coz I’ve heard that there was gonna be some fancy morning tea!

I’d expected either parent to walk behind me while I got myself a plateful of morning tea but instead, they brought me nibblies? Strange … Aunty Jenny and Aunty Brenda brought me over a bite too and I finally met baby Ethan: gosh, he’s really CHUBBY!! XD

Back home, mother randomly declared that she wasn’t gonna feed me lunch since I’d already eaten ‘too much’ earlier? I’d screeched at her that what I ate earlier that morning was a fancy morning tea and she’d better not deny me lunch!! Luckily, dearest dad microwaved me like half a bowlful of rice and mother poured one huge mug of Chinese tea for me. Since mother was on the couch and not facing me, I happily played mobile games until nature called, after which I plopped briefly online for about twenty minutes until mother ordered me off to shower.

Unfortunately, I don’t get any support for personal care during public holidays but hey, I manage.

For our once-weekly family dinner out, dad takes us back to the Sunnybank Sports and Community Club. I’m not really a fan of that place because I’d rather Chinese food for dinner but since mother orders that little saucer of rice for me, I don’t fret. XD

Only when we’re leaving, the heavens have opened and it’s BUCKETING down! I sit briefly in one of those single-seat armchair sofas and we wait for about five minutes but when the rain shows absolutely no signs of relenting some staff member lends dad an umbrella and he walks back to the car with me holding hands before he does the same with mother and after returning the umbrella to the staff member just bolts back to the car! XD

The rest of the night panned out as usual: we got home, I returned online and then hit the sack at 9:45pm. Zzz~

Christmas Day: what better way to begin Christmas Day with not only my fourth consecutive awesome sleep (I’d bid my teddy sweet dreams, fallen asleep and not woken again until 4:50am; one of the things I love most about the Summer months are how early the Sun rises because during the middle of Winter the Sun doesn’t peek out until like 6:30am!) but my 22^nd remembered dream of the year: I’d just walked into some pet shop!

When mother lets herself into my room later to help me up, she says good morning and I reply MERRY CHRISTMAS!

For breakfast I get a new treat: yesterday mother lemme buy two boxes of TINY TEDDY cereal! I only ever knew them as biscuits but the cereal version tasted great! Only the bears didn’t go *pop* like Coco Pops do and my oldest teddy Bear Bear was rather nervous that I was eating him … XD

After breakfast I sit briefly over the loo then climb into the car. Dad tootles us off to Redeemer Lutheran College for their Christmas service since BCAC didn’t hold one this year. While he’s driving us, I happily sing four secular Christmas carols on repeat because obviously we’re only gonna be singing Christian ones at Redeemer!

At the school, mother and I both use the loo once and then we head inside to find seats. Since I’ve lost all left peripheral vision post brain injury, I prefer sitting on the most left because that means there won’t be anybody more left than me that I can’t see, but for some reason dad led mother and I all the way into about the middle before letting me choose the first bench? Doesn’t matter; I’d be only looking forward during the service.

For some reason, the service looked fairly empty? Mostly old folks … I figured younger people enjoyed having a sleep-in for Christmas Day. XD We sang Christmas carols, some lady told the nativity story to some bunch of less than ten kids, there was communion and offering. Once service ended, mother hurried us home, saying I could use the bathroom back home since we’re off to the Slams for Christmas lunch soon.

Back home, I use the bathroom and then tootle online for about thirty minutes while the parents finalise preparations for stuff to bring to the Slams’ place for Christmas lunch.

When dad says it’s time to go, I visit the bathroom once more, climb into the back of his 4WD and then dad tootles mother and I off to the Slams’ residence for Christmas lunch! Upon arrival I immediately gave Anna her belated 50^TH birthday card; since you only qualify for a proper numbered birthday card every ten years, I had to get her one! Her birthday’s actually right at the beginning of December, two days after Aunty A’s birthday, I think.

When Aunty A arrives, I quickly give her the Christmas card I’d written her since Ronnie jie jie hadn’t arrived yet; mother had said it’d look bad if she was already there and I didn’t give her a Christmas card but I did give one to Aunty A. XD

Will admit to being disappointed about Christmas lunch: we had hotpot! Lol, I’d been hoping for sth more substantial. XD But Anna got me a little 250mL poppa of Vitasoy milk~

After lunch, while dad engages mother, Aunty A and Anna in games of Big Two, I happily play with my mobile. The Harry Potter of Bejeweled is heaps harder than my original Bejeweled game that I downloaded and you only get five lives before you’ve gotta wait ages (well, like twenty-four minutes XD) for another life, but it’s a fun game and that afternoon I passed like four levels!

Best of all, there’s even dessert! I skip dad’s red bean dessert soup (I’m not a fan of red bean dessert soup although will drink a bowl when it’s Winter coz it’ll warm me up but in general I don’t like the taste XD) and also skip mother’s almond dessert soup (would blow up XD) but drink one bowl of her black sesame dessert soup (which isn’t quite sweet enough even though she screeched she’s already added extra sugar for me XD) and munch two little cubes of grass jelly (I like the jelly texture but not the flavour).

After heading home, I pop online for the most important two hours of my day and then sit at the dining table to play the HP version of Bejeweled more while waiting for mother to come downstairs from her long afternoon nap and lemme go shower.

She did come downstairs briefly to gimme some fruit for arvo tea but then she lay down on the couch and took another afternoon nap! When dearest dad returned home from whatever he’d gone to do he forbade me from calling mother awake and asking may I shower yet!

Luckily, she eventually wakes and I get to take one of my four long showers of the year before I happily watch the 6pm news bulletin for the 196^TH time!

Unfortunately, Christmas dinner was a total disappointment: lunch hotpot leftovers with rice. XD

After dinner I return online and happily keep playing the HP version of Bejeweled. It’s a successful day: I pass like NINE levels! As usual, come 9:45pm I shut the computer and hit the sack. Zzz~

Boxing Day: I begin the 26^th with my 5^th consecutive awesome sleep (bid my teddy sweet dreams, fall asleep and don’t wake until 6:10am) but it’s an earlier start for me than normal since Dr. Esther and David are coming to pick me up and taking me to our EM social! After the usual morning routine (brush teeth, eat breakfast, etc.) I plop online briefly to await their arrival but when Dr. Esther messages me to say they’re coming early I quickly sit over the loo once then sit by the door and await their arrival.

Wow Serena lives in a very fancy house in Wellington Point somewhere! It’s so big, once you go inside you’ve gotta take a step down to reach the like second living room! Her house even borders a lake!

More people arrive with food and the barbie’s fired up! I’m very impressed: the fare over Boxing Day’s much fancier than what I ate over Christmas Day! I make sure to photograph and send mother every morsel of food I take and don’t reach for anymore food myself. XD

After lunch I ask Yu Lam can I go fishing yet but she points at the sky and says prolly not; the storm looks like it’s gonna hit soon … instead, Rosanna heads inside with me and I visit the bathroom once.

Toilet trip over, I sit somewhere comfy and start playing the HP version of Bejeweled again while people discuss what to do next. In the end, Winston leads some game of werewolf-style Mafia …

Suddenly, BANG! One MASSIVE clap of thunder and the power’s cut! Everyone’s very brave and nobody screams although Serena’s mum quickly digs out a battery-powered lamp from somewhere and the game continues while the thunderstorm explodes around outside us.

Luckily, the storm has passed by the time people start heading home. Originally, Rosanna was my lift home but Dr. Lee told her he’d do it; he lives closer to me than she does.

Back home I sit over the loo again before showering.

Wonder why dad didn’t invite anyone over for dinner to celebrate mother’s birthday? Just us, and the usual dinner.

But after dinner it’s present-opening time! Thanks, Santa, for bringing me some very awesome presents~ :D

And thus the silly season ends for 2023 …

 

Next post here: sorry I’ve been super-unorganised: I only got this post published on the 30^th, which means I’ll haveta type my 2023 reflections tomorrow, since it’ll already be NYE! Until then~

Cheers,

Em. ^^

XMas Greetings 2023

 Greetings, one and all! Just like that, it’s the final month of 2023 already – where has the year gone?? Hope this year has been a good one for you and your family!

Since I had muchly enjoyed studying Ancient History during high school, I’d even chosen it as one of my majors in the Arts degree I’d begun concurrently studying with L aw for my first year of uni. However, I found Ancient History at the uni level extremely boring – I’d attend a lecture and promptly fall asleep! Telling myself I’d better change to study something else that I wouldn’t fall asleep in, I’d picked Chinese and in doing so, inadvertently pissed off my high school Japanese teacher  whom I’d  kept in touch with after graduating high school; apparently, I’d once sent him an e-mail saying that I was 99.99% certain I’d study Japanese at university level? He’d sent that e-mail back to me, screeching, “Look what you wrote!!” Well, sorry sir: the 0.01% won instead and I studied Chinese. XD

A close church friend introduced me to her close high school friend who was also studying Chinese at university; Madam Hippo (her cousin gave her this very apt nickname, not me! XD) and I hit it off immediately! Unfortunately, while pathetically useless me went and suffered a brain injury, she finished her degree – and then became a published author! We’d met over our shared love of fantasy novels and Naruto but instead, she went and wrote a bloody ROM COM!! How low can you sink?? I remember screeching at her. XD Still, I wasn’t gonna miss her book launch for the world! It was held at some fancy multi-level book store in Sydney and was actually the first author event held there after COVID-19 had forced the closure of like everything! My friend had given me a copy of her book and I’d promised her I’d find all the errors and bag her out for them. XD In the end, I dug out 2.5 errors. Actually, I thought I found three but she conceded to only two of them, so we settled on 2.5. XD Mother had warned me on threat of disembowelment (well not really; I don’t even know how one says ‘disembowelment’ in Canto! XD) not to bring attention to those mistakes and obviously I wouldn’t! instead, I remain, as always, her most loyal squeeing fangirl. XD

Last year, I shared the devastation of me marking the 15^TH year since the cruel and unfaithful God had so wantonly destroyed my life with the brain injury but this year marked a much happier event: 1.5 DECADES since I’d been released from the insane asylum (my pet nickname for the Brain Injuries Rehab Unit of the Princess Alexandra hospital)! XD

I thought such a momentous event deserved a dinner out for celebration, but when I tried politely asking mother could we please have a celebratory dinner out together on May the 23^rd to celebrate my 15^th year of release from the insane asylum, she’d IMMEDIATELY snapped back, “No way! What’s there to celebrate about??”

Me: “Um, I’ve been out of the hospital for 1.5 DECADES; isn’t that enough cause for celebration? Mother pointed out, “You still walk like crap.” Sheesh, did she like stick her fingers into her ears when the doctor I’d NEVER even STAND again, let alone walk?? Sure, I still walk with a disabled gait (and I can’t help but despair that I will never ambulate normally again ><) but I AM (however improperly XD) mobile.

So, mother obviously didn’t see the need for a celebration, but I still felt like one! Hence why I tried asking my gospel group (i.e. church small group) next were they free, they said sure and so on that Tuesday night, I met five of them at Garbo’s  Eight Street and we all pigged out on a dinner of Korean fried chicken! Even better, afterwards we all hiked to some gelato store in the upstairs food court, bought a big tub of gelato and then went to my GG’s leader’s house where we all munched gelato and  played this awesome fun card game called Organ Attack. Everyone starts with  three/five organs and then you just draw cards with illnesses and try to murder everyone else. I was the second-last standing but in the end died of tonsilitis. When I asked my doctor friend wasn’t tonsilitis just a very sore throat and how could I possibly perish, she explained that should the tonsils swell and impact on each other, that will block your airways and once you can’t breathe? You’re dead! >< Great, next time I get a sore throat I’m gonna be terrified that it’s the end for  me. >< Should that ever  happen, remember me fondly, please? XD

Last year I remember sharing with everyone how my dearest dad had started taking me to church on Saturday afternoons to play table tennis together; some precious daddy-daughter time~ Mother somehow found for me this table tennis club in Windsor (that’s the first time I’d  heard that Brisbane has a Windsor; when she originally told me I was like we’re rich enough  to fly me from Brisbane to Windsor and back every week?? No way! XD) and the only criteria you must meet before joining is that you must have some sort of intellectual  disability. I’m just the unlucky (but since Christians aren’t meant to believe in luck I suppose that’s just another thing that I can hate the cruel and unfaithful God for ><) sod that has both an intellectual AND physical disability. *sigh* But the once-weekly sessions are fun and there are even three/four competitions during the year! My dearest dad drove me down to  the Gold Coast to compete in one competition although unfortunately he wasn’t available to drive me up to the Sunshine Coast for another competition because he’d just returned from an overseas trip to Hong Kong that morning and was obviously too tired to drive me up there on such short notice.

But speaking of overseas trips, can you believe it: this year marks TWO DECADES since I went on the high school trip to Japan on exchange for two weeks, and it remains the BEST EXPERIENCE of my life to date! I’ll never forget how during our first night in Japan we girls (there were five of us and two boys) were AGHAST to discover that the youth hostels there had COMMUNAL BATHROOMS! We ORDERED our poor Japanese teacher to STAND OUTSIDE THAT DOOR and NOT LET ANYBODY ELSE IN, got it?? XD

But Christmas arrives next next Monday! Please allow me to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a safe and prosperous New Year; hope you’ve all been good boys and girls so that Santa will bring you all lotsa Christmas presents! Personally, I have a bone to pick with Santa: I’ve tried my hardest to be good year after year and year after year he brought me fewer and fewer presents until this year, all I’ve received so far is one -*one*! - measly *unwrapped* present under the Christmas tree! Perhaps you suddenly feel the urge to be Santa’s elf and bring me more presents to put under the tree? Don’t delay! XD

But seriously: all the best for you and your loved ones in 2024! May whatever you’re currently working with continue to go well and may whatever new endeavour you take up prosper~ I’m constantly thankful that we live in an age of technology where it’s much easier to stay in touch with everyone not just through snail mail and hope I’ll remain in contact with you throughout next year as well~

All the best for 2024!

Cheers,

Em. ^^