Times

So. I was made redundant last month.

O right. Happy New Year, 2021. And yes, Happy Lunar New Year, today.

Dont get too upset now, I expected my redundancy since the company merged early last year. And hence why I worked really hard to 'prove' myself valuable to the company. I think the company tried too, to create room for me. They just didnt value what I can offer, though.

So really, there was closure and relief, when I was told my position is redundant. I had a small payout too, which I used to satisfy a luxurious want (yesterday, kekeke), so I guess it isnt that bad. You'll find out soon *mysterious smile

In all honesty, after all the worry and anxiety for half of 2020, I was pretty calm by this time, more like fed up and resigned. Even was going to start looking for jobs in 2021. So.. knowing I was going to be jobless in a week, I left it all to God, my troubles and my worries. Even Fen was pretty taken aback by how calm I was. Although, yes I am very hurt by the company's decision and my new boss' promises that I was very much needed in the company *rolls eyes

In the 3 years I've been in Oz, I've had 6 jobs. In the 10 years of my Singapore career, I've had 3 jobs. Go figure. So yes, it is very disturbing for me that I cant find a workplace to settle in. Then again, I'm in a different country. So I got over it.

Before you start feeling sorry for me.

The recruitment agency that placed me in my last 2 jobs was VERY speedy to help me get back into the workforce. Within a week from my last day, I already had 2 decent job offers. Hurhurhur. Are they good or am I good, lol. But no.

GOD IS GOOD.

I mean it. The lessons learnt these last 3 years have been hard, so I'm saying it again. A job does not define me. Hence I chose not to worry. Not to be put down. Not to be depressed. Yes, I was sad because I put in effort in my job, only to be rejected. Knowing that it was not the culture for me.

So the whole episode was timely, was planned and in God's timing.

The last 2 weeks were just me resting, catching up with a few friends, hiking, shopping spreeing, and lotsa lame funny videos laughing my heart out. T'was perfect and refreshing.

P/s: Victoria just announced a Stage 4 lockdown reintroduction from midnight tonight. Again, perfect timing and I'm just thankful for God. My heart is full and I'm at peace.

Pp/s: I got a shitty haircut last week. Lost my thick blunt cut and have an overly layered head now. Worst thing was the styling after, made me look like a 50yo aunty. My face was speechless.

Ppp/s: I'm on a roll watching Chinese dramas. Shocking, but they're mostly wuxia ones, so brought back tons of childhood memories!

Anyway, hope you guys are doing well yourselves, take care. God bless!

Fifi

This poor 2009 Forester.

In the one year since we've been driving it, so much drama has happened.

• Hit by a van from the back. Because we were insured, we got Fifi fixed up easily at no cost.
• Battery died. We thought it was just a one-time thing after a kind person helped us work it up again, so we bought a jump start car kit to help ourselves. Then we realised the battery is legit dead, so we had to spend $200 to replace it.
• Coolant. Was a fucked up job done by a coward. Initially thought highly of and was immensely grateful to the coward who offered to help us at no charge, but when something went wrong and we asked him about it, he ran away with tail tucked under. Eventually changed out the whole coolant system along with pipes, damage of $1,000.
• Transmission. This Fen boy. Wanted to have the brightest blinding car lights installed. So he changed every single light in/on the car to LEDs. Bought from cheapass China.. Which burnt the electric board and tripped the car. Fixing his good intentions turned bad, $800.
• Full fledged servicing. Thought it was high time Fifi got a proper servicing done, you know, to make sure it can still run decent. $200.
• Wrong sized tyres. Welp. Everyone is selfish. Even more so when trying to sell off a car. We got Fifi without realising its tyres were the wrong size and a really lousy brand, so we had to buy a new set of tyres for the car to run efficiently. $700.
• Ignition leads and spark plug causing the car's engine to misfire. Plain wear and tear. $500.

Every time a problem surfaced, we will be stranded. Crippled. It's not anything major or serious enough like stuck in the middle of nowhere on a 1,000km road trip, but it definitely is deterring us from planning a long road trip for sure.

Honestly, I just needed a car to work. Like, how hard is that?

WINTER

O my, did i not blog last month? Who's reading anyway *rolls eyes

Winter. Winter, winter, winter. I reluctantly confess I dont do very well in winter. Mucus literally flows down my nose. Scalp is flaking. Flesh on finger splitting. Chilblains on feet and toes.

Unfortunately, weather is like this 9 months throughout the year. I needa adjust man.

Hair is a bob now, yays~ Until I can manage long unkempt hair, I'm better off keeping it short for now.

Pitch had her dental surgery and blood tests. Urine tests were inconclusive, and I'm supposed to catch her pee at home to rerun the test. Easier said than done. She treasures her privacy in the loo so much.

I'm working out at home more regularly now. Winter is making me wanna warm my body up. Plus always on a mission to. Lose. That. Weight. My pushups are looking more and more awesome, and I finally believe that hard work for exercising pays off. Most of the time I just give up after not seeing results. Now, chasing after perfect form is what drives me, not so much looking at weighing scales (we have no weighing scale anyway). Most of my plyo moves look ridiculous and clumsy, hope it gets more effortless soon =)

Fen and I are also hitting the gym weekly, and to my joy he is enjoying it so much. On rare occasions he would do HIIT at home with me too! Since the gym allows casual entries, there are no commitments, and we mostly head for the weights, which we dont have at home ^^ I'm doing 30kg barbell for deadlifts now! Did massive research for workout sets, and have this tiny book to refer to when in gym hehehe.

Which is also why I'm literally in workout clothes all the time. And still buying more. Omg. Moved on from Aloyoga to Gymshark now. Lol, Oz makes online shopping too easy, I think it's a crime =/

I tendered at NP, and that was pretty emotional. A little fearful of the unknown now, trying to look for a new job, hitting dead ends, self-doubting, feeling worthless. Looking to sermons and staying as faithful as I can now..

I am more thankful than I've ever been, that the journey so far has been so good and blessed, not all smooth-sailing but we werent expecting smooth-sailing anyway. We fell, we learnt, we got up and kept walking. Happy to have Fen with me, to have a roof over our heads, to have furries to cuddle.

Life

Life.

Sometimes it passes so fast, sometimes so slow.

Almost 7 months since we're in Oz. Pitch has gone for a general checkup, trying to set up her blood test, urine test, and dental cleaning now. A lotta money ($$$) so waiting for a while first. And it's not exactly super urgent, seeing that she's not throwing up ever since I dropped her off dry food, and pacing her food intake over a couple hours daily.

Ginger is doing well with homemade diet for a month now, and I've sent his medical reports to Massey Uni for  a complete analysis to determine his balanced diet, which I know is not yet. Deliberating whether to buy a grinder ($$$) to grind turkey bones for his calcium needs. And he's also due for another checkup just to make sure the homemade diet is not giving him problems.

As the weather has dropped a lot over the past 2 weeks (highest in the day is 15°C), so furries are behaving a little differently. Pitch has up her food intake from 2 cans to 5 cans (!)/day, I try to keep within 4.. Ginger is however eating lesser than his usual 150g/day.

The electrician guy came over this morning to fix the house downlights that were not working. He changed a total of 5 transformers, and since he was taking a while, we chatted a bit. He was lamenting how expensive it is to stay in Oz, how the government cant/doesnt do much to help the locals, and how A$2k/week is just enough only.

In fact, I've been speaking to all the tradies who always come by the house to fix stuff, and they all lament. Some say Aussies just like to whinge, some say Aussies are lazy.

Truth be told, Aussies are just people. People are just like that everywhere in the world. Nothing's really that different, and nothing is really that easy. If life is hard in SG, it's also hard in Oz, and pretty much anywhere else.

Fen and I are blessed. We've heard stories from people, from friends. So much drama, so much unhappiness. Life is not easy for us either, but it's manageable. We're contented. We dont have a lot, but we have just enough. We would like more, but that's not up to us either. We're not starving, we're not freezing, we're not at a dead end.

Maybe we're truly living the quote - when life gives you lemons, make lemonade =)
O yes, Fen found a job. He loves his job, and I'm so thrilled for him~

We've moved to a new rental this month, and it's so much better than the last. Same 3 room-2 bathroom-1 garage house, but this place is a tad smaller, and not as long. I swear the last rental is like 30m long, and we only used 10m of the place. I wouldnt even use the backyard coz it was just too far away to get to. Now, the backyard is just out the kitchen/back door, where I do my outdoor workouts and line clothes for some sun. Fen can easily do his gardening too, everything is just together and convenient. The place is also a lot quieter, peaceful. First few months in Oz, the silence was deafening, anyone from SG would not be comfortable with it. Now, I wouldnt be able to stand the constant humming background noise we hear everyday in SG! Lol.

Anyway, with the new place, we got ourselves a rice cooker, this mighty food processor, and Nutribullet. The non-stick pot does a lousy job of cooking rice, so we had to get the cooker. We were tired of mincing up garlic and onions with knives, so the food processor finally came into the list. It's so mighty, I've made butternut squash puree soup, almond butter, and mayonnaise with it! Looovvve it so much, what took me so long to buy this!?

Initially we wanted to bring our Philips glass blender (S$120) from SG to Oz. I love blenders, use it to make soups and smoothies. We decided it was silly to bring a heavy electrical appliance when blenders are sold everywhere. We first got this KMart glass blender (A$30?) urgently because of Ginger's prescribed liquid food fed via o-tube. It isnt powerful, but it did make mushroom soups and smoothies for us. I'm now thinking of chucking it, so in come food processor and Nutribullet.

Nutribullet. What a highly raved popular product. First and probably only con. It is LOUD af. Okie, I'm not thrilled it's not glass either, but something's gotta give for the affordable price point. I am happy with how easy it is to clean up though, because I can get Fen's smoothie done in 10min tops, including cleaning, before he leaves for work. High speed blenders are quite scary though, I admit. Whenever I operate it, I just wanna keep a safe distance away..

We are always keeping our eyes on Philips Airfryer. It was our holy grail in SG, and how we missed it so. We have been using the oven toaster (A$39) from KMart (again. Just know KMart =  cheapo), and now contemplating if it needs chucking.. And that Dyson V10 (A$999) just popped into the market, so we've turned our eyes from V8 to V10.... Even though we own a SG Dyson big ball animal pro..

As you can see, I've just spent 3 paragraphs talking about nothing but household products. And I'm mostly blaming the fact that we have more room space now, to get sucked into all these consumerism blabla. Remembering SG.. everytime we wanna buy something, first question, "does the house have space???"

Just booked my first flight ticket since being in Oz. Will be a family overseas trip with Mum, Sis and her family. Fen wont be joining, and will be taking care of furries =)

This week is exciting, bought a few stuff over the net, waiting for their deliveries due this couple days! From Amazon (OMFG the shipping is rocket high), furries' toothbrushes, cost only $20, but shipping is $60 (muthafucker). Also bought back Cleansui tap filter, heard that Oz tap water is hard (yea, there's a thing called hard water, who knew), and yes we have a a filtered flask, but this is mostly for furries ^^" the things I do for my furballs..

Also bought this shampoo called New Wash. I actually forgot how I chanced upon this, but had been deliberating on it for months. Again, because Oz tap water is hard, it doesnt do well for hair. My hair has been a wreck, really, hard to tame and style. I've tried buying Lush products, but really only H'suan Wen Hua calms it enough. Also by the way, Lush products are cheap here! If you know better quality hair products, help a lady out here!

I really wanna cut a bob, but Fen is certain I'll whinge =/

Anyway, New Wash is from HairStory, very confident of their product's performance, currently only does online sales, so yep, finally did it and bought it. Only sold in US and a few other countries (not SG) though, for now =)

I am still crazy for Air Max, just cant see the need to buy it, so everytime I walk into stores to ogle at them, I still come out empty handed. Proud of myself, heh.

hiatus

Okay, I've been procrastinating.

Bike's tyre was punctured one day, and I had to push it home. Literally walked 100 minutes, but t'was a beautiful evening, so I'm thankful~ The bike store apologised for pumping lower psi, which caused the tube to pinch and puncture. Pfft.

CNY came and left. We did steamboat and 3 rounds of yusheng with friends, and in the last round of louhei, I must say that I've never tasted yusheng so fresh and yummy!!

Place to go if asian chinese craving is strong

Fen bought a pot of roses, knowing I dont like bouquets, that sweet. It flowered in time for V-Day, hehee. Our other gardening doesnt seem to be doing very well, some pesky insects have invaded and are destroying them. Welp.

Fen and I have been running around. Other than him being obsessed with bleaching/colouring our hair that can take up hours(!), we've visited a couple of weekend markets. He loves flea markets, 2nd hand buys, cheap deals, homemade stuff. We have started attending connect groups too, and as a first timer for me, I did find it kinda nice and cozy.

And well, we've been cooking. Our mushroom soup is spectacular, if I may boldly say so myself. Our clam chowder needs more work, currently quite unsure if the problem is with the clams or milk, hahaa.

Clam chowder tastes fine, but not clam-y enough!

Perhaps I should start a list of dishes we are cooking regularly, like we did before in SG.

• Steak with broccoli
• Mushroom soup
• BCM
• Shakshuka
• Lamb shanks
• Baked rice
• Oyster omelette (耗煎)
• Taiwan oyster mee sua (台湾蚵仔面线)
• Japchae
• Chicken soup
• Smoothies and juices

Received a package from Sharon last week. This sweet sweet angel. I do feel loved by people, even if it's just a few. Have always known that life isnt about popularity and a huge network of acquaintances, but the few precious gems of people you meet, that you hold dear and close.

Didnt lug my tumbler from SG, but it's okie! Hail Hello Kitty!

Fen also surprised me on my birthday. He took half day off, and cooked me Taiwanese oyster mee sua. It was so yummy. I also requested for the oyster omelette, and he nailed it the first try.

Yummier than it looks!!

Recipe from Meatmen

Fen. This man of many talents. So hidden and obscured, why I dont know. I pray for God to shine him to greatness, he's so capable of many things. All he needs is a chance to prove his worth..

In other news, Pitch also celebrated her birthday. She's 5 now! ilovehersomuch

This needy ball of fur =*

Summer

I'm eager for summer to end, as I took my cold shower this evening.

Mostly because seeing Nigel sleeping right outside the door makes me sad. And the weird confusion over whether I'm hungry or not. Not to forget the heat is somehow melting our gardening.

Watched a couple of movies this weekend, since our car is in the workshop for repairs, after a van hit us from behind, as our car was stationary waiting to filter out. Quite a clear case, so we claimed in full without excess. Nobody was hurt, thank god.

I'd say I've got a movie overdose, mind is whirling and shacked but body is just so restless.

But perhaps the movie that got me most intrigued is The Man From Earth (2007). A small budget film, 10 years old, shot entirely in an enclosed room, with 8 characters tops. Built entirely on intellectual conversations. Left me baffled and wanting more. Lol. Questioning. Wishing. Desiring to walk the 14,000 years together as an observer. It's weird. It's strange and abnormal but so possible. Full of science and philosophy and ideology and privilege.

Tagline: Anything is possible. A real good storyline.

Sci-fi movies these days are boggling too. Life (2017), been a while since I watched horror films with dreadful endings. Hahaa. Space is some scary shit. And we, we are so damn bloody small.

Cycled on the roads this week, due to lack of vehicle transport. Scary to think about it, sucha thrill to be doing it. The subconscious involuntary smile plastered on my face while I'm back on the bicycle. Even though I was nowhere ready to be on unfamiliar roads, absolutely not confident making right turns, and riding a bike that is 2 sizes too big for me.

It's the long weekend, Australia Day just passed and we bought 24 bottles of beer to celebrate. How timely to carry 20kg of glass bottled beer  when we are crippled without a car. How very smart. Feels great to be young and strong =)

Shipment from SG

Finally got our 2 boxes in today. My makeup stash is COMPLETE.

What I brought over

With shipment, altogether now! *2 more pouches were forgotten in another corner, oopz.

Packed compact neat and tidy~

Someday I should probably do a detailed write up and stocktake of my makeup huh. Interested?

No breakages for all fragile glassware, kudos to Fen for the fantastic wrapping and packing!! As usual, movers cannot give 2 hoots about keeping the boxes right side up, so I had some leakages from my toner bottles and nail cleansers. No biggie, didnt lose much liquid there.

Fen and I wanted to wait for our boxes which had certain essentials instead of buying, but some things couldnt wait.

Our cookware, for one. Just. Couldnt. Wait. We got a set of 4 cookware here eventually, stone pots and pans. And we use them every day. So, couldnt wait. We knew we could buy here, so why ship? Well, because our SG pots and pans are from Le Creuset and Visions. Well, Oz has those products too, but too bad we got that long ago in SG, so... Shipping them. And now we just might have one too many cookware ^^"

Coldwear. Couldnt wait too, the weather here fluctuates too much. I planned for summer, but was proven wrong by the strong cold winds. But of coz, I never complain having too much outerwear =)

Well! Other than that, we did manage to persevere till our stuff came! My hair styling equipment, nails equipment, workout equipment, accessories, rest of my makeup, all happily with me now. And our extra bags, and the awesome Hurom slow juicer!

I must say though, if we could do so far and so well without those things, does it mean we can continue to survive without those things? Food for thought, we really dont need that much in life.

So happy to finally have our ice cream scoop and cherry pitter, we were soooo tempted to buy. So proud we didnt. Now we can finally scoop ice cream properly and I can buy cherries! Cheap thrill, lol~ 

I see now that the more important things we really needed, are very inconsequential and possibly cheap, but very necessary and perhaps cant be found in Oz. Furries have their elevanted anti-ant tray, they no longer need to crouch to eat, and the tray keeps ants away!

It is also awesome that Fen is TB king, we got our bedsheets from TB, smoothest fabric ever. The cheapo bedsheets from Big W? A$50, and gives my delicate skin some massive abrasion! We've brought in 4 TB shipments so far, and it's saved us so much.

I did wish we brought more of our SG stuff though. I really miss my Philips glass blender. We actually needed to use it. It's funny on hindsight, though, the very first use for the blender was to blend Ginger's prescribed food, in order to tube-feed him when he was just discharged, hahaa..

I mean, we have a glass blender now, it works fine.. Cost a quarter of my Philips glass blender.. And I wonder why I'm using a lower quality product while having my awesome blender collecting dust back home.

And then, I realise again, we dont need the best things in life, as long as it works. We dont need the best car, the most expensive clothes, the most branded bag. As long as the vehicle gets us places, clothes fit us well, bag carries our valuables.

We also dont need too many of the same thing. If I had just brought my blender over, then I wouldnt need to buy another one, and leave one unused and wasted. If you really like something, you dont really have to buy for "stock up". Unless we're talking about perishables like food or makeup or underwear. You know what I mean, lah. Because I've seen the perishables go bad, and basically threw my money out the window.

A shipping transaction taught me so much. To plan ahead what to bring, what we can forgo and buy instead, to manage expectation, to be patient, and even whether we need those things at all.

Happy 2018!

Half a month in to the new year folks! Was pretty caught up with spending time with friends in the East, getting our hands green (yes, gardening!), and spending more time with Fen. It has been so wonderful.

End of 2017, BIL went to take our letters from our place, and told us we have a speed ticket. Was from way back in Oct, in the first week of our landing when we were using rental car, and were unfamiliar with the speed limits on the roads without a GPS. By GPS I mean those legit ones, not your phone maps. We only saw this letter late Dec, and due date was 1 Jan. So, I didnt have enough time to appeal, and just paid T_T Do not speed peeps, it's not worth the fine!

Spent the last day of the year with Keith and his family, picking blueberries in the morning, and dinner at his place at night. His house is so cozy! Fen and I agreed we should make more effort to hang out with his kid~ Rockclimbing next perhaps, hehee~

We headed home around 2300, and reached home just in time to welcome the new year. Didnt need the clock or TV shows to tell us. Every other random sky had mini fireworks going on, and we can hear people making donuts in the distance (tell me you know what is making donuts). We stood outside in the chilly dark, alongside our neighbours, quietly wishing one another happy 2018. Peaceful and lovely.

Fen had a break from work during the festive holidays, finally. We spent a couple of days plucking weeds from the backyard, and front side lane. And went to Bunnings to get seedlings and a mini greenhouse. Our 1st try was a disaster, either no germination or seedling wilted. We then found out from a gardener near our rental that greenhouse is for winter!! We basically cooked our seedlings T_T Having a 2nd go now, and bought vegetables (kale and brussel sprouts) seedlings! Whee! Seeing some very positive growth, although we might have mixed up the seeds a little, coz we thought the seeds from the 1st round had all died and so topped up with other seeds, and unsure/confused with the identity of the seedlings now, HAHAHA. Didnt know seeds/seedlings can resurrect?!

You'll probably hear me talking about these places where we frequent, because cheap/always got sale and Fen loves a good DIY:

• Bunnings
• The Good Guys
• KMart
• Big W
• Target
• Super Cheap Auto
• Coles/Woolies/Aldi

Many of these shops have competitive prices on the same item, so we're running up and down for deals every other week. Seriously, I didnt even care this much in SG *rolls eyes

Fen spent a good number of days working on our car. He's like an artist painting the car, delicate work. So much effort and muscle with the polishing, too. He totally needs a polisher soon. 

We also went to donate plasma. Wanted to donate blood actually, but the bank needs plasma more than blood, so yea, first time donating plasma. I'm not comfortable with the red blood cells being returned back to the body part. Sounds.. unsanitary, even though everything is sterile. Still. And the bank doesnt use numbing cream! The thick needle goes straight into the skin, mighty ouch. No colourful bandages after donating too, bummer. Lol~ Okay okay, the idea is to save lives.

The dry weathers here have Fen's skin kicking up rashes, and left me with really cracked heels. BodyShop to the rescue! Our hottest day experienced was 43℃, and we went to the mall to cool off during the hottest hour, and chanced upon some really good cream! Hard to miss, the leaf packaging looks like weed.. o.O"

That's Fen's. He's tried a couple of creams from other brands, but this one worked best.

 

That's mine! Love it!

If you didnt already know, we've been sleeping on our mattress without a bed frame. Not complaining, we've got a good mattress, blessed enough already. Because Fen's cousin is coming for a short stay, we had to get a bed for him. So we got a queen set for our guestroom, and decided to also get a king bed frame for ourselves! Finally sleeping on elevated ground. Hahaha. Furries can get more jumping activity too.

I wanted to sign up for some gym membership, saw this HIIT gym, and went to check it out. Lacks the aesthetics and equipment I've seem in SG gyms and studios, so... save the money, kekeke. I just need to stay motivated to workout/yoga at home! Argh.

Finally cooking steak again. Fen LOVES it. Such a quick meal too, no wonder it was on our menu during SG days, where only food that can be prepped in under 30minutes will make the list. Have also tried out bulk cooking, which is a little intimidating, watching how much soy sauce I'm spamming. I found egg noodles in the Asia supermarket that are really close to the wanton noodles in SG! So proud of myself ^^

Next happy news. Our shipment from SG is FINALLY going to be delivered. After 3 months. Within my forecast, but was promised it will be delivered before Xmas. Welp.

Done with random musings. A little hiccup to end off 2017, but so positive and thankful for 2018. Treasure every day, folks! Xoxo.

Cooking

I've been so obsessed with cooking the last couple of weeks.

I'm pretty good at stir frying bok choy, with just (pork oil), oyster sauce and sesame oil. Bcm is still a wip. Nowadays I make easy meals that can last around 3 days in the fridge.

1. Japchae, a Korean dish. Never knew what japchae is until I came here. A introduced me, and Fen and I love how it tastes!

Pick any 4 of your favourite dishes to mix with the noodles.

These noodles are so chewy despite their dull gray unappetising appearance!

Add desired amount to pot of boiling water and cook for 6-7minutes.

In a bowl, pour some light soy sauce and sesame oil.

Strain cooked noodles.

Add to bowl of sauce. Before mixing.

After mixing.

Add in your 4 dishes. Before mixing.

After mixing! Eat it!

2. Chicken soup with kway tiao. Has to be my proudest achievement yet. I make good soup. YAAAS.

3. Baked rice. Similar to fried rice, you use whatever leftover dishes to mix with rice and bam, dinner.

Used basmati rice, cooked smoked salmon, spinach, mozzarella.

4. Shakshuka, a Middle-Eastern dish. Fairly easy to make. Havent quite perfected the taste, need to try again.

Capsicum, onions, lotsa tomatoes, feta cheese, eggs.

5. Hotdogs and sandwiches. LOL. Mostly for Fen to bring to work. He likes it =)

I didnt add every single photos of the foods or cooking process, only the japchae was more intensive. Lemme know if you would want the whole process or recipe, I'd be happy to share if you'd like to read!
But really, what isnt googleable these days. You can easily search them recipes and make a fusion out of them to suit your taste =)

Feline blood donation

Bit on my fork. Hard. 

Now I have an achy shaky tooth. Zzz. Lesson learnt, eat slowly, chew carefully. No wrong taking your time to focus on your meal. No wrong.

Pitch donated blood for the very first time. I am so darn proud of her. She's forever my champion. Probably done lots of things a cat wouldnt do. Taking a plane, selflessly saving other furries' lives, living a very very loved life.

I am conflicted if I want her to donate again. Many reasons for that.

• My furry is away from me, for 8 hrs. Could have been just 6, but she had her munch before I sent her in. Still. Too long. Hahaa attachment issues. You would know if you've gone round a guilt trip sending her on a flight that she wouldnt see you for at least 10 days.
• The hospital asks you to sign a disclaimer form every damn time you selflessly send in your donor baby. And I quote, "I hereby release and hold harmless the hospital from losses of any kind...". Essentially telling me that if anything happens to Pitch, not their problem. Err... Like, wouldnt you do everything in your power to save her? Wouldnt you absorb all costs to keep her healthy? You want her blood to save someone else, so.. cant you keep her safe and well too? It's not a life exchange, right? I'm well aware the clauses companies use to keep themselves indemnified, and emotional attachments cannot be in them. But I dont quite think there is a level ground here. O wait, you know what's the benefit the donor gets? A free bag of dry kibbles. I raise my eyebrow.
• I asked the vet what (health) benefits does a cat get for donating blood. She actually got me wrong, she thought I was asking what's in it for me to send my cat for blood donation, and went on to say I get a free bag of cat food. Pfft. Anyway, if you are a human blood donor, you might know that if we donate blood, our bodies get like blood regeneration which is like good for us. Like new clean blood, yea. So I wanna know if that's the same for furries. This vet, she was honest, brutally honest, not that I'm complaining. She said no known health benefits to the donor cat, and if anything, it could lower their blood pressure and lead to life danger. To level the blood pressure during blood donation, the donor cat is on IV to pump in fluids that she is losing. Ooooookay, not quite a plus to be a donor cat. AT ALL.
• My furry gets clipped. I DISLIKE/LOATHE/HATE/ABHOR/DETEST my furries getting clipped. It's a peeve, I believe. Everyday I look at Ginger and his badly shaven body, and I feel so sorry and sad for him. Thank god it's not winter. Cats' fur grow at snail speed, it takes 9 months to fully grow out!!!
  Granted, I was told Pitch would be clipped if she is a donor cat. I was also told the area clipped will be a small little 5cm x 5cm on her neck, and her front leg for catheter to pump in fluids. Well, I can tolerate this peeve; it's saving another furry's life. I'm bigger than that. So I'm cool.
  When I collected Pitch 8hrs later, I saw that they had clipped a really large area on the other side of her neck (she already has a patch from her 1st donor checkup that is slowly growing some fur), her front leg, AND her hind leg. THE HOSPITAL CANNOT COUNT. O MY GAWD.
• Pitch was very restless when we collected her. She was a little groggy, uptight, wouldnt sleep with us, very needy, kept real close to me wherever I went. She only relaxed and got some shuteye 10hrs after we collected her.
• Pitch, like Ginger, yanked her catheter out during her stay at the hospital, resulting in a red bruise on her front leg. Now she's just licking at it non-stop. She looks like she had a fur-cut that went wrong. 

Patchy Pitch

Would love to hear your thoughts. If you were me, would you let Pitch go for another donation? Fen responded a resounding yes. Ugh.

Fried pork lard

This is a distasteful entry. One that will push me back miles from my aspiring vegetarianism goals.

Fen and I were at A&S' for dinner last night. The menu was bak chor mee ("bcm"). No one was craving for the dish, it was just dinner.

Since we are new settlers, naturally we would compare the taste of A's bcm with what we're familiar back in SG. Fen and I thought "something" was missing. We couldnt figure out, and I just casually mentioned pork lard. Because all hawker stalls pride themselves with this little evil blob.

S got excited because he is a lard lover. He decided then that must be the missing ingredient. I then recounted childhood memories of how I saw Granny prepare fried pork lard once. Of coz, back then I didnt know what she was cooking, except that cubes of white solids turning brown and produced oil. Granny was so happy making it, excited and all. She loves pork lard, she loves cholesterol in general.

Since I was deemed the most free among us, with no job and idling at home, it became a challenge for me to attempt making fried pork lard to make bcm 2.0. Armed with fuzzy Granny memories, and 5 websites sharing fried pork lard recipes, I mustered the courage to drive out to the Asian supermarket, and shamelessly buy pork fat. With my research that indicated the output is far lesser than input, I decided to buy 1kg of pork fat. They came in slabs.

This is a third of what I bought.. For comparison, that's a 16cm chef knife.

The dicing part was hard work. Really laborious, partly because I had a blunt IKEA knife. Bah. WMF on its way in the shipment! Also because the slab was so slimy and oily! Argh.

1kg of diced pork fat. Pink marshmallows? =/

By this time I was quite grossed out with the smell. House smells like Tasman. By the way, I can no longer walk into Tasman, the butchery aura of despair and death has presented a no entry sign to me.

I was also having sore wrist from the slaying. It was a mountainous 1kg pile of 1-2cm diced fats. Took about 40minutes for a novice.

Time to juice the lard. And so began my steps that followed the websites' instructions.. Until I found the lies hidden in the recipes not discussed.

Dunk them in a deep pot

On medium heat. But the pot is sitting on the biggest burner of my cooktop. 

For the record, I did add pink salt. Like... half a tablespoon? More realistically, 6 twists of the salt grinder.

So I know how it should look like when fully done, hawker centers have taught me well (visually).

In just a few minutes..

It could be a bit amusing to watch something so dry turn into a pool of liquid. Mesmerising, if I may.

Wait, what's with the foam?

Turned the fire down to its lowest. Maybe foam will go away.

Shit. What is this. I so did not put soap detergent. Where r my cute little fatty cubes?

Fishing ensued.

 

O there you are. You sneaky little oink.

The foam was not going away and I cant see the cooking process. Perhaps my fire was too big, perhaps my pot was not right.

I decided to switch off the heat and fish out all them cubes. And then think about what to do next.

This is not right. Still got juice in them.

I took out a saucepan, and went for smaller batches.

Them cubes are not escaping my eyes this time!

More manageable this round. Less foaming, more even coating. And I figured each cube needs to touch pan, like, for more direct heat and searing. If you know what I mean.

Looking more right.

Even after this first batch was done, I still picked out the ones that still had juice in them. Not all cubes are evenly juiced. Hahaha, QC -_-

See the difference?

Also, notice from above pic how colourless the pork oil is? It's not yellow. My research found the pictures of oil all pretty yellow. I suspect overheated oil. I disapprove.

Moving on to second batch.. By this time, I realised this fried pork lard is not easy to make! For a novice, at least. For a first timer, a person who doesnt work in hawker. For a no-lard lover. For a perfectionist. You get the point.

So much work.. My back was aching and my legs were tired from standing. Cooking doesnt come with chairs.

1kg slabs of pork fat, a mountainous plate of pork fat cubes, juiced and contained, all in this same plate. It shrank, but still that's a lot of fried pork lard!

END PRODUCT

Let's not forget the juice. The pork oil I mean. Remember I said it's colourless? It also has a very low melting point. Like coconut oil. Also, both oils are saturated fats, creamier. And where I'm at, it's steadily 16℃ this week. So the pork oil solidified in just under 2 hours, to this smooth moisturiser.

1kg slabs of pork fat produces 1litre of pork oil. Interesting. Face moisturiser, anyone?

I did let A&S sample the fried lard. Apparently, it should be crispier. So, I should have let it cook longer. When I tasted it, it burst oil in my mouth on biting, which I thought was the right doneness. But I'm no lard eater, so it was hard to assess on my judgement. Basically, it's disgusting to me. I'm trying to like it, but no.

I'm however, gonna try using the oil. But Fen and I dont stir fry often. We use toasters and ovens and eat raw. I'm guessing everything would eventually go to A&S =/

I'm prolly never making fried pork lard again. It was a humbling experience, fun while it lasted (for 2hrs).

Crippled

Okay, who has been an idiot for not finding out how to recharge her prepaid mobile data?
Just remembered to recharge our sim cards last night, and thought of switching providers. So smart. On the night when your plan expired. Well done.
My only solace is the wifi at home. Less than happy because I've a number of important calls to make to the bank, and stuff. And Fen is at work today! Hurhur~ Wait, I mean zzz, he cant be contacted since his plan expired together with mine. Blah.
And also, did the recharging online. Not sure what happens next. Cant call the service provider because NO MOBILE DATA. I cant find a more sarcastic way to scold myself. I cant even.

Ramblings

The weather has turned warmer, so no more cowering in the cold, until the next season, which I was told would be end March.

Week 4,

1. Finally ran yesterday morning, since touch down. Felt similar to running on treadmill in the air conditioned gym back in Singapore. Breathing cool air into your lungs, perspiration evaporating as soon as it forms. I'm aching now, though. Need. To. Up. Finesse!
2. Ginger puking probably once every 2-3 days, weaning him off his medication, seeing him eating so much more and so much better and so much more active. Pitch acclimatising so well to the new place and weather, running (galloping) so hard around the house and getting along with Ginger again. All is well. O, I'm gonna send Pitch for feline blood donation this week, getting her blood and temperament tested. It's for a good cause, but I'm not very happy she's gonna be shaved. I dont like my babies patchy if I can help it. But it might make the now patchy Ginger happier =/
   

   

   Ginger's o-tube wound 3 days after he yanked the tube out

   

   Ginger's wound healing beautifully 1 week later!

3. Ginger will have his next appointment with the eye specialist on the pigment in his eyes. Just the consultation alone costs $220. Will appreciate all your prayers..
4. Had a scare yesterday morning in the wee hours, when a few kids (?) were climbing on our roof, and entered our pergola, that's right outside our dining area and our bedroom. Fen heard footsteps and shuffling at 0200, and thought it was his imagination. Until our neighbour came over the next day to confirm his suspicion. The kids (?) were on his roof too, and he called the police. They were long gone when the police arrived, but he still came to warn us. Such nice neighbours. Needless to say, we were shaken, and both of us were on high alert last night jumping at every noise we heard.
   Today, I tried climbing to the roof myself. It is so damn easy. And after intensive reading up on house burglaries, we headed to Bunnings to get some burglary deterrent, and also got ourselves more torchlights. The main power switch is outside the house, and can be switched off by ANYONE. I really dont like the dark very much!
   We're now looking into security alarms, motion sensors, contents insurance, and weapons of choice for attack. Also acquainting with neighbours and wondering if we should start an informal neighbourhood watch.. Appreciate any advice.
5. Cleaned the grotesquely dirty oven in the house. Finally mustered courage to face it. Couldnt keep using the cooktop, because who doesnt like easy cooking with oven. Project Cleaning Oven took 3 days, and still isnt entirely over. I'm also not sure when I will feel safe eating food cooked by the oven, given the amount of toxic chemicals I put in for cleaning up the gunk and grime.. The dishwasher was nowhere better. Fen did the cleaning for that, it works perfect now, and we have so much fun using it. The only problem is we dont have enough dirty dishes to fill it up.
6. Thought I should mention that the sun here is different than Singapore. It's the same sun (or star), but it looks different. Feels different. The way it colours the sky, the way it sets, the way it burns! Fen and I slap ourselves with at least 50 spf sunblock before we even step out the house. It's intense.

That's all for now. Ending off with a photo of what's typically going on in our lives~ ^^

Of trials and tribulations 2

Week 3 since touch down. Let's run week by week.

Right before we flew, we left our very very important MacBooks and iPad on the Grab car. Found out only 2 hours later when we are entering the departure gate. So much panic and frantic and worry. People who came to see us off were so kind, reassuring and helping to contact the airport's lost and found, and Grab company to trace down driver. Eventually we flew without our potential work gadget and boarded with a heavy heart. We retrieved it one week later, when Fen's cousin got them back from the driver and flew here to pass us during his work trip. We are beyond blessed.

1st week flew by so fast, and yet so much drama. And so much was done! In order (which worked out favourably for us because some documents were pre-requisites):

• Got a prepaid mobile SIM
• Rented car for 5 days
• Bought furries' necessities (litter tray, sand, food bowls, food)
• Applied Tax File Number (TFN)
• Applied/Activated bank accounts
• Applied Medicare
• Subscribed to internet, gas and electricity providers
• Bought a 2nd hand car
• Started tenancy period
• Converted driver's licenses at VicRoads
• Bought car insurance
• Bought a new mattress
• Collected car and returned rental car
• Bought washing machine and refrigerator

In between the above, we had to make time to visit Ginger at the hospital daily, and still try to be home as early as possible for Pitch. Basically the day was worked around Ginger's visit, which was pretty challenging. Applying TFN, subscribing to service providers and buying car insurance were done online, but needed some reading up and careful filling in. Didnt take super long. Took 2 weeks to get the official card for TFN and Medicare, and at least 3 days for the subscriptions to be activated. Gas took 1 full week! Because complications with outstanding bills from previous tenant. And for 1 week we had icy cold water from the tap and had icy cold showers which I found out were absolute excruciating torture. Landlord was kind and took pity on us, asked us over to have showers.

The drama: Left my wallet at Medicare centre, a public place with many migrants. All our critical identification was inside that wallet. I left it on a telephone booth halfway filling up the medicare application form. Because I was caught on the phone call with Ginger's vet. And everything else didnt matter. Fen also didnt watch out because our names were then called to the counter. And for the next 10 minutes we were sitting at the counter, until Fen asked "where's your wallet?". And my heart froze. I stood up and walked stiffly back to where we last sat. Wallet was not there. I went stiffer. The security guy at the door saw my white face and asked if we needed anything. I could only blurt out "my wallet..". Security guy quickly led us to a guy who was walking around, HOLDING MY WALLET. The guy was trying to contact the owner of the wallet (me). He was tracing the computer to find if our info is with the system. When he turned around to face me, he immediately asked for my name and the contents in the wallet, the country of the identity cards. OMG this guy knows his shit. I'm so glad he was the one in possession of my wallet. GOD BLESS HIM. A false alarm but a terrible scare. We were really out of sorts and not in our game the first week. Very jumpy and constantly worried.

We got our 2nd hand car within 2 days of car shopping. 

Car shopping in a sea of cars

Our rental car, upgraded to Toyota Kluger 3.5L. I actually enjoyed this gigantic white beauty!

A crappy but only photo we took of the car, because the 1st few days were really moodless about fun.

Subaru 2009 Forester
O yea, this is our car, casually taken in the wilderness~

Not too bad, and the car is in an otherwise decent condition despite 300+k freeway mileage. My only criteria is that it works. Fen loved it and has bonded with it immediately. Cant jazz it up in the meantime, but will be a work in progress.

Most things above were done fuss-free, and it definitely helped we did our homework/research and made prior appointments and had documents ready for proof of identification. Blessings everywhere as we had kind landlords and kind-hearted souls who gave advice and offered help along the way. Thankful for all the help rendered. Thankful for God.

Week 2 was more settling. Did more shopping for essentials and had stuff delivered. Bed, fridge, washing machine, dining table (we got a 2nd hand 7-piece solid wood set for $200, woot!) helped make the house more habitable, when we can finally sleep better, keep and cook food, do our laundry, and sit at a table. With the gas activated, we can also use the cooktop, turn on the heater, and have hot water for showers. The nights have been cold, down to 6℃. So cold we needed 2 quilts. Our landlords also brought us around the area, to know where to get good deals and go for road trips. Things we found out here:

• Grocery prices are like the stock market. Case in point - broccoli can easily go for between 99cents/kg to $6.50/kg.
• By default, people enter your house with shoes on. I havent tried asking them to remove before entering, but it's my house and I mop my ass off to keep the floors clean, so I can exercise that right.
• Driving on the road is less courteous than before. We've been to Oz  since 2014, and the road ethics have definitely changed, possibly because of more migrants? But I must say, if you signal, 95% of the time the car will slow down and let you go ahead to change lane. Still beautiful people~ Singaporeans have much to learn about graciousness.
• I've heard stories about the gazillion unique creepy crawlers that are only found here in Oz. So the house has been pretty much shut tight from Day 1 of moving in. Even with windows open, there will always be a mesh (to prevent big slow flies during summer). Still, I keep finding one bug after another in the house. Freaks me out every time.
• Speaking of big slow flies, they are really ridiculously easy to swap and kill! I killed 3 in 2 minutes on first attempt. 
• When the people say something is clean, it is NOT. Zzz standards can be quite low here.
• Cheaper than SG stuff include Lush products, storage containers, (good) coffeebeans, fresher fruits (kiwi and blueberries!!!) and vege (kale and broccoli!) etc. Sorry the stuff I buy are boring. O yes! Cars, lol.

In short, I dont feel much is different. It's almost like we never left Singapore.

We're ending Week 3 soon. All is good. Weather is turning warmer. I do look forward to days where I can just wear a t-shirt, and wear thongs (slippers/slip-ons/flip flops. Forgive me I'm getting aussified). These days I'm furiously buying thermals and warmer jackets (because I left my beautiful awesome fashionable jackets back in SG, kicking myself alot), and watching my pocket burn.

Every night, furries crawl under the sheets to steal our warmth (and our hearts), and I really love spending quality time with them as they acclimatise and adjust to their new home.

Of trials and tribulations 1

There has been a short hiatus between my last entry and this new one. In between, heaven and earth shook in my simple little life. And also, we just got internet at our place.

Furries flew to Melbourne 10 days before us, and as unsettling as that was, I had to let it happen if I wanted to continue having them in our lives. It sounds selfish at times to me, that I'm making decisions for them without their consent or that may not be in their best interests. In my (poor) defense, I've done everything I could to ensure they were safe and healthy enough for travel.

It wasnt good enough. I didnt convince the furries to trust me enough that I would come for them. I did not do enough homework to know I could secure insurance coverage for them. I wish the pet agent had offered me this option which was available but she didnt mention this at all. Because. Against all odds, Ginger fell ill on Day 8 of the 10-day quarantine. It. Was. Devastating. My heart sank. I was literally crushed. I just cried everyday since. I couldnt see him, wasnt entirely sure what was going on. All I had were email correspondences informing me he stopped eating, started vomitting, asking me for permission to send in private vet, to send him to emergency vet hospital ICU, to provide his last blood test from Singapore, to take ultrasounds, to run more tests.. I called in from Singapore to the hospital twice daily to get the latest updates. I could only call back to Dr Nicholas, Ginger's vet in Singapore, to get some light or any possibility on Ginger's well-being over the years I've had him. Dr Nicholas assured me that Ginger had been sent to the best vet hospital in Melbourne, and was receiving the best care and support any animal would in Melbourne.

Finally,  on the 3rd day of his hospitalisation, the vets eventually diagnosed acute pancreatitis. Amidst the panic, we still had lots of packing to do at home. I eventually called in Mum for SOS. On the night of our flight, Fen and I left our most important possession (ok maybe passport was most important possession) - MacBooks and his iPad - on the Grab car. We didnt even notice it missing until 2 hours later, when we're waving goodbyes and about to go through the gate. It was MADNESS. Frantic calling Grab to contact driver, making lost baggage report to Changi Airport, thanking friends for coming to send us off.. And a big part of my brain was just hoping to reunite with Ginger and Pitch. That complex surge of mixed emotions, dont know to cry or worry or panic or just sleep the troubles away.

Fen and I touched down on the 4th day of Ginger's hospitalisation. After clearing customs, we headed to collect car from rental and flew straight to the quarantine facility to collect Pitch. That immense relief when I saw Pitch. She looked so cautious and unsure, and didnt eat/drink that entire day. Once we collected her, we went straight to U-Vet at Werribee. When I finally got to see Ginger, he was stoned from the medication and was just scooting everywhere, confusion and daze in his eyes.

Since he hasnt been eating for so many days, the vets put a feeding tube (oesophageal tube) from his neck through to his stomach, so that he can get nutrients. According to them, the only way to treat pancreatitis is supportive care. Ginger will get anti sickness pills (for his poor appetite), pain relief (for his pancreas inflammation that basically causes pain to neighbouring organs like gut and liver), and antibiotics for his o-tube opening (to prevent infection).

 Baby so badly clipped and front legs were both poked with needles..

After finally reuniting with furries, my mind was more put to ease, and the crying eventually stopped. The days after were planned around visiting Ginger at U-Vet and getting our local documents ready and settling down. After 8 days of visiting him daily at the hospital ICU, he finally transferred to normal ward last Friday, with his drip taken off. And the next day afternoon, he was discharged!!

In the 9 days Ginger was in hospital, and since we touched down, Fen and I and Pitch have been staying at Airbnb, where the room was cramped and dirty. Pitch was very very restless and ate/drink very little. We were constantly out to settle our administrative documents, and only came home after dark, where she was pining for us and would only then nibble some food. When Ginger was discharged, we moved straight to our rental accommodation (without electricity, gas, internet), and again, another change of environment for her. This time, with an unwell Ginger who smelt funny due to the hospitalisation and the drugs he was on. I have to say, Pitch has been through just as much. Both my furries are such champions, and we really have been hard on them.

Ginger has been back with us for a week now. I've been tube feeding him every 6-8 hours, together with 5 other medication he's on. 3 days ago, he started eating a little on his own. I was overjoyed.

Ginger looking sad in his new snuggly bed.

He's making good recovery, and I was tube feeding him only 2-3 times a day. And then. Yesterday. We came home to find he had yanked his o-tube out. Faint. His drama never ends. Another frantic call to the hospital, and was reassured that as long as he continues to eat and doesnt show signs of pain of nausea, he's fine at home. Since I cant tube-feed anymore, Ginger needs to be eating enough on his own. Argh.

 

The marked length was inside his body! Literally delivering food straight to his stomach =O

Next thing that's bugging me. There's spot pigmentation on Ginger's eyes. Yes, both eyes. I raised this to the vet during his review appointment on Wednesday, and she brought him to see the GP for a quick check. She called me just now to address the matter, and said that it could be sequestrum. Nothing to be alarmed, although early detection and treatment is advised. Now I have to make an appointment with the eye specialist, and consultation can easily be a couple hundred dollars. Ginger.. I know you're a fighter, why doesnt God give you peace.. =(

Let's look at the cost of bringing furries over now. It cost me about S$8k to bring both furries over. Ginger's hospital bills at U-Vet is currently at A$6.5k and counting. His eye specialist visit will also be contributing to the cost. I'll be lying if I said all's good. I'm not concerned about money as much as I'm concerned about furries and their well-being. Having just landed in a foreign land with no income, it is definitely unnerving, untimely, and unforeseen. There is currently so much stress and worry. Just praying every day that furries will be back to normal soon and stay healthy and happy for as long as possible.

To summarise, it takes commitment to bring your pets overseas. It takes dedication to own pets. If you're not up for this, dont even keep pets. Pets are for life. They're family, and deserve no less.