Lucky

Hello

I'm on the train back to Sydney after spending the day in Kiama today. It was such a good day. The sky is blue, the weather was nice, a bit too warm for me actually, since I was wearing extra warm heatech and had coat on hahaha...

Anyway, I just read an article about a letter a pilot left at the tray table at his last flight before covid as a time capsule. That day he flew the plane to desert to park it for 14 days. Who knew it was gonna be 459 days before the letter was found.

It got me thinking, and my friends and I actually talked about this today as we were having fish and chips on the grass under the tree. We have been very lucky to be living in Australia. My friend said that when her game buddies from overseas talk about how it is in their countries, only then she realised that we are still in pandemic. We are very lucky that sometimes I feel guilty for it. When we have spikes of cases of 10 a day, some areas were locked down for a week. I wanted to share it to my friends who were living in Asia, but when I started typing, they said their numbers are up again, thousands a day. I started hitting backspace. Malaysia took 7.5k new cases a day before they had another lock down, while Melbourne only needed 10+ 

We only had 3 months of full lock down. After that, though restricted, we still could enjoy the outdoors, went for bushwalk, did coastal walk, mushroom foraging, shopping, movies, and so on. We can still enjoy all those. And when we get symptoms of cold, we can go straight to get covid tested without thinking about the costs. We are indeed, lucky.

When Your Colleague's Wife Unknowingly Knows You

Seems like my colleague's wife knows me well even without us actually knowing each other... 

Yesterday, a colleague of mine said to me, "Ah, you missed it last night!". I was like, what?? What did i miss?

Apparently, his wife said something while she was about to go out, he didn't quite catch what she was saying, he only caught a name. And since she was taking their youngest, he thought oh, you're going to get ice cream.

When she came back, she said, "I didnt stop by Abla's. The baby was sleeping, I didn't wanna wake her up". Then, my colleague just got it. His wife told him before she left, that she was gonna stop by Abla's to buy me baklava!

His wife and I are not friends lol we even only met once and it was just really brief. But I've heard a lot of stories about her from my colleague, and I guess he must have mentioned me quite often for her to remember me.

This wasn't the first time it happened. Last time, when Woolworths had Ooshies promotion, she also went and asked the staff if they still had stocks of the case. She said to her husband, "I'm going to ask the front desk if they still have the case. Your colleague hasn't got one right?".

Even my colleague was really surprised to hear she wanted to get me baklava 2 days ago lol 

But... I was happy :) To know that there's someone out there, not my friend, not exactly knowing me, but still could think of me.

:) 

Bye 2020, Not Going to Miss You

 So I didn't write anything for the whole 2020 eh :/ 

2020 sucked, it was such a tiring, frustrating and depressing year for me. I blame it to Covid19. Of course, I'm still grateful that I still have my job, didn't get a paycut, even though my payrise was conveniently cancelled *rolling eyes*, talk about bad timing. I guess this year had a lot of bad timing for me *sigh....

I've always considered myself a more stay at home person. Going out tires me out. So, I was happy at the beginning of quarantine and wfh. I could stay up late to play games, and still had enough sleep and woke up in time for work a.k.a. open my eyes, walk 1.5m to my laptop and start working LOLLL But I wasn't happy when wfh those 3.5 months. The internet speed frustrated me (thanks to you damn Optus), 1 monitor wasn't enough, and I had a very bad back/neck/shoulder pain. The good thing that came out of wfh was that I lost a lot of weight and have now achieved my ideal weight. Strange, I know, people said to me that they all gained weight, but I on the other hand, lost quite a few kilos without even trying. The secret, you ask? SMALL DESK SPACE CANNOT ACCOMODATE SNACKS!!!! And I used to eat out a lot, but couped up at home, I couldn't eat out and my portion grew smaller.

Speaking about couped up at home, thanks to Covid, I realised that sunlight does make me happy. When I feel gloomy at home, I go out for a walk and I feel better with the warmth of the sun on my face. So yes people, sunlight DOES CHEER YOU UP! I never considered myself an outdoorsy person, but I still remember the first time I went out for bushwalking after so many months staying home, I was SO happy. Maybe it was the feeling of prisoners after they are released from jail. I felt so happy, so free, so relieved, like I could breathe again. So weird...

Compared to all years that have passed, I think I got to know myself more this year. And honestly, I do not like it hahaha... I've been very sensitive and moody this year. And guess what, I was so damn happy when I went back to the office to work. We started going back to the office way earlier than other people, and I would have thought that I'd be cursing my bosses for being so conservative and not let us wfh longer, but you know what? I was relieved. My first day back? I was cheerful and happy. I never realised that I enjoy those banters I have with my colleagues, the arguments I have with my colleagues, and them teasing me for any faults that happen eventhough they are not mine. I actually enjoy those social interactions! I said I got to know myself way better right? I did MBTI test and I was identified as ISFJ, which they say the most extroverted introvert, and the type that craves attention from their loved ones (not in an attention seeking or spotlight hugging way, just in a love and care, emotional support and conversation sort of way). I guess I enjoy social interactions but only with people I'm comfortable with?

This year was full of Covid related things. I lost 2 granduncles, 1 from Covid, 1 from other disease. There was also a distant relative that passed away due to Covid. My cousin and 1 of my close friends got married on the same day in Oct. Thank God, 1 got married on Zoom only, so I didn't have to choose which one to attend.

I cut my hair short. I haven't cut my hair short since I was in 2nd grade LOL I got tired of washing and hair drying my hair, and since I didn't have to meet people, I asked my sister to cut it short, and I actually love it hahahaha... I've been having it short most of 2020. This is 1 of the good things Covid gave me.

It's really hard to think what I did this year.... I played games most of the time, watched Netflix, anime, sleep, lazying and procrastinating. I really haven't done much this year...

In terms of friendships, I got closer to my gaming friends. They made me laugh a lot, though they also are the reason why I didn't get enough sleep, pissed or sulking till next day, however... it's been fun, real fun. And I'm scared of when this all ends. I also got closer to my uni friends here. I was surprised to know that apparently they don't have a lot of real life friends too... I've always thought I'm the one with least friends.

I haven't been a good person this year. I also realised that being a good person doesn't give you great return most of the time. You'll be used by other people. Of course I've known that, but I thought I'd be able to pick up the signs and stop it before it happened. Turned out that I was wrong. Who knows if karma actually exists.

What else did I do... I got addicted to reddit for a while, obsessed with MBTI for a while, and went on a phase of buying gifts for people, sent 1 to Spore, 2 to Indo, and 1 in Oz I think. I also treated my colleagues. Something I don't really do often.

I have been unlucky this year. I only won 1 competition for movie premiere, The Croods 2. But guess what, the premier happened on the same day of company Xmas party and I couldn't go. Asked my sis to go instead, and she fell ill on that day. I couldn't even get the goodie bag -.- And my drops in game? very scarce. A lot of annoying events...

So yeah, here's me wishing for a better year ahead. A luckier year, a happier, kinder year, a more exciting year, a more loving year, and people to be more understanding, value, spoil and appreciate me. Is that too much to ask?

And hope I'll be better in 2021, either for the sake of me, or for other people.

<3

Happy New Year 2020!

Hello =)

I'm in the Philippines now!!! To be exact, I'm in Palawan right now. We're currently on the road from El Nido to Puerto Princessa. This is our 11th day in the Philippines. And, tell you what, it's been better than what I expected (maybe coz ppl have been telling me bad stuffs only b4 I came hahaha).

This year has been...weird..and fast. It's full of ups and down, I had fun and wonderful moments, but also got in troubles sometimes. It's a pretty interesting year really, I don't think I regretted it. I wasted a lot of time yes, but I also gained a lot of friends! Like this ph trip, I'm with 2 new online friends! I never imagined to visit Philippines, even more with online friends!! I did chat less with my usual friends and relatives, but I got to know new people in depth too! So I guess it's not too bad.

Actually yeah it wasn't bad at all! I've never imagined to swim with the fish and see corals, but I did yesterday! And the day b4! I was really really surprised when I looked at the bottom of the ocean and saw corals! I never thought I could see great barrier reef and then there I was, swimming in the middle of El Nido sea, surrounded by the tall majestic rocks, with magnificent corals and fish underneath my feet! I am thoroughly grateful. It's worth all my troubles! The only thing I regretted was that I couldn't take photos of the underwater view, but I saw it! And I'll engrave it in my memory hopefully forever =)

Remember the Chinese fortune prediction my bffs and I usually read? I read it recently to check if my year was correctly predicted, and I came across this line:
"You will attend social activities and chat with internet friends often." Wowwwwww that's so eerily correct! My online social world indeed has been very active this year. I found good and fun friends I clicked with and hope to be friends for many years to come, and I also found annoying and weird people. There was hours of fun chatting, and I also was ignored a lot. But then, i think I'm getting better at being ignored now lol you know I don't like not being replied? I think I handle it slightly better now. Don't want me? Fine, I go find someone else! I also get better on ignoring chats. My FOMO is less too. I think xD

Work is the one I had troubles with lol. I had my demotivated moments. Colleagues I was close with were mostly gone. Somehow I wonder if I'm surviving, or am I actually a frog that is being boiled to death...

Family.. I am definitely lacking there. Hope it gets better next year.

Hope next year will be even more fun and exciting, and not stressing me out! XD

Happy new year 2020 everybody!

Xoxo
Purple Lady in Puerto Princessa, Palawan, Philippines.