Eco-friendly journey

I am going to list a number of changes I've made in efforts to do my part to be kinder to the environment.

And remember, anything is better than nothing. I'm not a saint, so dont be saying unkind lame shit like "o you dont drink cow's milk anymore, but you still eat cheese..?"

• A lotta Oz homes are installed with solar panels for hot water. It's pretty neat, and works to save bills and tap on available energy =) If I ever have my own place, I'd defo install me some solar panels.
• Switched to natural hair shampoo. I get mine from Hairstory, and there are definitely cheaper options out there. The shampoo has no suds, and my hair health has even impressed hairdressers. The point is, the soap we use washes down the drain and into sewage, and eventually, the ocean. What we do matters. I only wish natural is the way to go as a normal lifestyle, but brands these days market natural and chemical-free like it's a royalty and prestige. Our body washes are now also sulfate-free as we try to reduce our contribution to pollution.
• Stopped drinking cow's milk. The production of cow's milk is now commercialised on a large scale. Google 'cow's milk industry' and read up all you want. Simple fact: Cows need to give birth in order to lactate. To get that much milk you need to make cows give birth and deprive the calves from their mothers' milk because, well, humans wanna drink it.
• I've recently also stopped drinking soy milk. Was on it for 2 years after eliminating cow's milk, but I think soy milk is not ideal for my skin. I couldnt explain the millions of bumps on my face for 2 years until I started to pen down the changes I've made to my lifestyle, soy milk being one of them. It's only been a month, so I'm going to keep up with this to confirm my theory.
• Saying no to plastic bags when we buy stuff. That being said, we need trash bags, so.. we buy eco bags for our trash. There are however controversies over how eco the eco bags are, so.. I am just trying to do what I can, and if I have a better alternative, I will do my research and act on what I'm best informed of.
• Carrying our glass water bottles and reusable coffee cups everywhere we go. There was this time I went to a cafe to grab coffee, and it was like 4 out of 5 orders were in a reusable cup. This really comforts me, knowing how many disposable cups are reduced with everyone's combined efforts =)
• Even at my workplace, I'm constantly asking if there is a need to print. Where I can do digital copies or signatures or set up excel templates to do the exact same activity, I would. It's getting the team on board that's the challenge.
• Switching from plastic clingwrap to beeswax wrap. You can even make it yourself if you feel adventurous. Food wraps are pretty essential, and I find that a beeswax wrap does the job. It doesnt even have to be beeswax, as long as we use reusable ones that can reduce our garbage. Anything we can do on our part. Or finish our food every time so we never have to clingwrap any leftovers. Anything goes.
• Menstrual cup. I cant even stop raving about it. I got mine from Woolworths, DivaCup. Packaging says biodegradable silicone, which I really hope it's true. Truth be told, I am not a tampon user, had a bad experience when I didnt know how to use it for the first time (I was prolly 20 years old), and never touched tampons again. So this menstrual cup... Is weird. Every time I insert or take out, it just feels like.. I'm fingering myself. I know how it sounds.
  But it works, and I'm pleased with its function. So... I've put it to test:
  - Overnight 5hrs 1900-0120
  - Church on Day 2 6hrs 0900-1500
  - Hiking on Day 4 7hrs 0900-1600
  - Full day at work Day 5 8hrs 0700-1500
  Interestingly I didnt trust it enough for gym on Day 3, and used a pad which in turn ironically stained my pants after =/ 
  I will however recommend wearing a period underwear because in between changes, there will be a bit of blood spillage/leakage. It feels so good though, to have a clean bum (because, pad). Unless you use in and out of shower where you can thoroughly clean and wash the nether region, it wont be blood-free for sure.
• Latest switch: reusable cotton pads. I have, for many years, looked at the disposable cotton pads I'm using and wonder if it adds to the landfill in a negative way. I dont know what took me so long to search up reusable cotton pads, but I'm just thankful for whoever came up with it. 

I hope this is helpful to any of you looking to take some baby steps to change your lifestyle to a more eco-friendly one.

I think I can prolly do more on my part, and off the top of my head, compost is something I'd be interested to start, takes some work and research. This will further reduce the trash we take out. Currently we'd have 3 bags of general trash per week and a pretty full load for recyclables per fortnight. I'd just really like my own place to set up the compost though, coz you cant exactly move it about =/

Blink; it's 2020

Happy New Year everyone!

Despite being MIA for over half a year, can I just say, the last 10 days have been soooooooo packed. It's amazing how Fen and I could still find a day to sleep in till 1300 in the arvo, and still gym 2 times the past 2 weeks! Okay you think 2x in the last 2 weeks is weak. But I went with a Grade 3 full ligament rupture and avulsion fracture, so.. beat that.

As Fen and I were reflecting 2019, he said it was more eventful for me than for him. Well, so I began to recollect the events of the last 12 months:

• Learning (still) to have 3 cats in the house as we welcomed Ash the highly likely Abyssinian-mixed into the family. It hasnt been the easiest, but we do love all 3 furries so very much. Our cats have very different personalities, and as we embrace all of them, we continually pray for them to accept one another and co-exist to be happy and healthy. Not quite there yet, but we'll keep trying..
• Jobless for 1st 2 months of the year; constant crying, feeling sorry for myself, dwelling in past glory days, stressing Fen out with my suicidal thoughts of unworthiness and uselessness in the world.
• Got into serious rock climbing - Fen bought us the climbing shoes and gear so we can now hop around climbing gyms and just pay entrance fees. Love climbing with my boy =)
• A church friend threw a crumb for a casual job as a Receptionist; grabbed it immediately, got the role, and started to mingle with humans again, after a very very bad 10 months of my 1st job in Melbourne being assigned a janitor's room as my office. What a breath of fresh air. And did I mention the job was in the city?! I was stuck in the West since we touched down in Oct 17, so having a daily commute to the city was definitely welcomed. In the 3 months I was in the role, as I started processing with my qualifications and experience, that the best job I could get was a casual Receptionist, negative thoughts started to crawl back to my head.
  That's when Fen told me to get off IG for 3 weeks to be more mindful of my reality and not get caught up with all the social media and their superficial 'perfect' posts.
• Made new friends at church and finally could be ourselves with like-minded and open-minded people. Really was quite liberating when we find ourselves some good friends =)
• Started doing more and longer hikes. Went camping! Love all the experiences ^^
• And then Daniel fast. Felt really good with clean food. Lost 6kg. Had a breakthrough with a recruitment agency and aced the interview and finally landed my first ever accountant job. Albeit still a casual role. But finally getting the local experience that is soooooo required in this country. Yes, every company asks for a local experience without FIRST giving you that experience. Go figure.
• Got tired of the city commute HA. Didnt take that long. Have thoughts of relocating to regional areas, still thinking about it =/
• Bought our 2nd second hand car (lol). Bit dramatic during the purchase process really (then again, when am I not putting myself in dramatic situations *rolls eyes), but really thankful for this sturdy reliable vehicle now. Fifi had done us great great service for almost 2 years, and we're ready to have an upgrade and start exploring this country with longer road trips =)
• Celebrated Fen's birthday with our close friends at our rental place. So much laughter, so much love, a home away from home <3
• Finally landed a permanent job. After 2 FULL years in Melbourne. A very awakening journey. Taught me so much. "A job does not define me." "I did not move to Melbourne to get back the exact same life as I had in SG." "Happiness does NOT come from just having financial stability."
• Signed up for a gym membership with Fen. Fen researched intensively, and we literally tried/inquired 5 different gyms before settling with Crunch Fitness. And we've been enjoying it so far!
• Sprained my ankle and tore a ligament. You know, just to celebrate the closure of a dramatic year. Jazz up this year further~

The last 10 days of the year were definitely fun and packed. Lunches and dinners (non-stop feasting) at friends', cherry picking (cutting it real close coz the season is almost over!), beach day, not forgetting to gym regularly, hiking (with that ankle yes), still remembered to save lives and donate plasma at red cross lol, movie night with friends, sleeping in with Fen, catching up with laundry and ironing (!), spending quality time with furries.

O my, I enjoyed the break so much. Although I definitely wouldnt mind a quiet peaceful time spending Christmas and New Year. Spending it surrounded by friends is a bonus =)

So I'm just thinking up a list of prayers for 2020. Getting the Australia bush fires to stop will be a good start. A very painful lesson for the nation, dont know how the people directly impacted can recover. Let's not stop praying and doing every bit we can =*

I'll check in again, hopefully soon!

Take care, have a very blessed 2020, thanks for reading =)

Q2 2019

It has been a hot minute since I blogged here! I do have many topics to talk about, just never got around to doing it. Perhaps it's lack of time, motivation, creativity, or just really plain lazy.

I had a fantastic birthday spent with Fen, he was such a darling. We are hooked on indoor rock climbing for a couple of months now, so he bought me climbing gear for our future climbs =) It was such a great day spent climbing with him. Weather held up so well too, as we hopped around the city~

My prayer came to pass as I also managed to get a job and started working in March. It's not the best job I can get, but for now I'm just happy to bring in some dough. It has been a rough year, and things are looking up. I know I should be counting my blessings, and sometimes it's just so easy to sink back into self-pity. Fen has been a great support system, and church friends are reaffirming that and all encouraging.

Our hiking days are going strong, and now it's bumped up to camping! Had a overnight car camping experience during the Easter holiday weekend. It wasnt like, superb, but it was nice. Nice enough for us to wanna plan for the next one. In 3 weeks. Lol.

So our camping gear were fully sponsored by Fen's colleagues, who were more than excited to encourage him to go camping. He kept refusing to go when our church friends invited us, but I managed to convince him at the last minute. Still, we were under prepared for this trip, it got really cold and felt colder because we were in the nature and not the urban jungle. I also had too much Vietnamese coffee to drink, which didnt help my tummy. On top of it all, we kept getting lost and losing sight of the camp lead while on the road. Add-on, there were 4 cars altogether (12 campers) and maybe only 3 had Telstra network. It was bad. Nonetheless, the experience and company was really good.

Fen and I got excited enough to want to get our own camping gear. So when we say camping gear, it should have basic things like these..:

• tent
• sleeping bags
• mattress and air pump
• light/lamp
• camping chairs
• all-wheel drive (lol)

So, we've got ourselves a really good 2-man tent, and 2 really decent sleeping bags. We've got a well-battled Fifi, and the rest will have to come from China, unfortunately. But it's all good, I cant actually foresee myself being a regular camper, but I'm happy to be doing outdoorsy stuff like hiking, climbing, camping! Nothing too cray cray~

Cats. Pitch. Since my last post, she has given me a least 8 very deep puncture wounds, and on 2 occasions have sent me to the doctor's. She's still not cool with Ash, but Ash is getting cooler and cooler with her. So I guess there is some progress..

Fen and I are thinking of going on a Daniel fast for 3 weeks to pray for a new car. Doing some research now, and will need to work out our daily meal plans. We've been thinking about a new car for a year now, and while Fifi has been doing very well the last 2 months, we're thinking of going for longer and longer day trips and with her 325Ks mileage, we are just that bit concerned about making those trips safely.

Lastly, can I just quickly talk about Endgame!!! Sigh, a mega blockbuster, and the highlight from it all is fat jokes on Thor. The scene that stood out for me was the part when Thor's mum commented that 'the future hasnt been too nice' to Thor. Life is so hard for Thor.
Sure, the entire story is bizzare, but if I break up each character and what they've gone through, o man, such losses they suffered. Sigh. I'm a sucker for good character building stories.
Having said that, I'm definitely not a fan of time travel stories. Opens up tooooooooo many cans of worms that are very difficult to wrap and account for.

So yea, nothing exceptionally interesting in our lives now, but the days are good for us. Thanks for popping by to read!

Happy Lunar New Year 2019!

Okay, so I ended still paying the $161 fine, because the government needed the money *rolls eyes

Pitch still not friendly towards Ash, and has been aggressive and violent and rough to the point she broke her 5 nails trying to claw her way to Ash. Also, she behaves savagely around Ash and has given me puncture wounds that needed a tetanus jab and antibiotics. Sigh. She is now on medication for her paws to avoid infection and relieve pain. She's chirpier today than the past 3 days, when she was on the cone of shame and feeling miserable.

Did a record breaking 19km hike with church friends and Fen's colleagues at Lorne (150km out of metro Melbourne). It was brutal, good, satisfying, love it! The more west I travel, the more beauty in the suburbs I see. No longer the city girl I once was.

CNY came, no feels much. Celebrated it with lou hei with SG friends here. It's also the 2nd CNY that I'm not celebrating in SG. Not sure if I like it, since I never really enjoyed large social gatherings much.

Swung by Fen's work place yesterday! His colleagues are such friendly people. Spent the rest of the day in the city, walking, shopping. And I was so drained.. from that many people, that much noise, that much sun, that much hustle. Clocked 20k steps in total! Amazing~

I actually have many topics to talk about, but everytime I start blogging, the thoughts and words disappear. Pfft.

I also cannot wait for the weather to be cooler (I seem to have forgotten how annoyed I was with winter). This summer has so many 40s, I feel bad to even head to shopping malls and leave my furries in the warm house. Tolerating the heat indoors at 30s is not a lotta fun. Cold showers were joyful, but fleeting. Ooh, I was outside during one drastic cool change the other day. It suddenly poured heavily and the strong winds turned the temperature down 8 degrees in 5minutes (length of 1 song that was playing in the car), from 31 to 23.

I'm also working on editing plenty photos that are a year overdue.

2nd summer

Happy 2019 everyone! I've had a happening month, hope your year is starting off great too~

Fen had a 2 week year end break, and we spent it at the beach with friends, hiking in heatwaves, cooking, church events, getting piercings and tattoos, test driving cars, met up with NP friend, and best of all, a 3rd fluff!

New year was quiet, as Fen wanted some peace from the outdoor activities. It was nice, like last year. Called up our mums and family, although they are 3 hours behind 2019 =)

And for the past 2 weeks, more beach, more hiking, more cooking, rock climbing, cycling, and hitched a $161 parking fine -_-

Just wrote in this morning to appeal, Yaga's 2011 reference email came in soooo handy~ Hope it works..

Summer is hot, and I am wondering why even complain about the cold. Which I'll be doing in a couple months..

Got ourselves another cat at the end of 2018~ Ash is our 3rd fluff, and Pitch has not been very friendly to him. But Ash has already dropped off dry free feeding and is willing to take Pitch's/Ginger's food mixed with canned food. I'll need to book him in for a checkup, give him his first ever shower, formulate his diet and continue integrating him with Pitch.

Beaches in the west are better than the east, like Brighton. Brighton is so overrated, the sand is so coarse and painful, but the waters are calm clear and cool~

Why am I a beach person?! I thought those days are long past.

We've hiked in the cold, in the heatwave, in drizzling rain, and in good weather. All were good fun~ Still got lots more hiking places to do though!

Fen got himself a cross ink on his forearm, and I did 4 piercings. Just cannot wait to change earrings now!!!