I've got a ticket for the long way 'round

Just booked plane tickets for Mum, Dad, Zhen, Simon and I for Malaysia in April!!
Literally so excited right now. I know, there is still so much time, but before you know it, April will be here and BAM! Epic holiday. haha
Been so long since we have had a family trip, I think last one was for Zhen-Ti's wedding in 2013.
And even better, I get to bring Simon along to experience all the places I love.
Mum and Dad have promised to take us proper tourist sightseeing, as opposed to every other time I've been back to Malaysia, where I've just tagged along to shopping malls and to visit family.
Super keen.
January is almost over, time is already speeding past. Chinese New Year this weekend!
In Feb we have things planned pretty much every weekend, bucks and hens nights, Birthdays..
and March is the month of Weddings- to be specific- the month of Four weddings!

I can already feel that the next couple months will be fun, exciting, busy, and for sure, pass me by very quick.

Already starting my research on the ultimate tourist areas in Penang and KL haha.

Hope 2017 is going well for everyone :)
Definitely learning to be grateful for everything I have.

MariCAR Madness

Just waiting on my friend to get her ass out of the shower so I can go over and cook her some hokkien noodles. Haha.. Cooking asian for two of the most Aussie girls I know. Should be interesting. Lol.

So I realise I missed out on updating you guys about our Trip to Japan! So we went for maybe 10 days, plus 2 days of flights to get there and back- it was a pretty impulse decision that the five of us made, because there was an epic 2 for 1 deal, where the return trip was free. How crazy is that!? Little did we realise Japan is now such a 1st world country, pricing is pretty up there for most things.
Food, accommodation, transport, clothing.. pretty much everything was about equal to or more expensive than that of Australia. So we all ended up spending alot more than we intended.. even I did, and I literally did not buy much. Most of the money spent of accommodation, trains, buses, food and souvenirs for family and friends.
Definitely worth going though, alot of culture and so many cool things to do, see and experience.
10 days was not enough. Lucky we had Chris there, because he was pretty much the organiser. Our day would be fully packed from morning til late into the night. Thanks Chris-toe-fur.

One thing I will highly recommend if you're going to Tokyo is to check out MariCar- a real life SuperHero Go Kart experience!
So its pretty much like you're playing real life Mario Kart. You pick which character you want to be and suit up into a character onesie, get your own gokart and then 8 of you plus tour guides get to ride on the streets alongside traffic. Its pretty crazy.
No helmet, no seatbelt and going up to speeds of 60-70km/h on the main roads and for some of it, highway and bridges. Absolutely mind boggling. Because we were sitting so low to the ground, even 50km/h felt like a crazy fast speed.
It was extremely well planned by the tour guides and we followed the leader in single file, while he blasted tunes from a boombox in his go-kart, and the other at the back of the line making sure everyone was keeping up. It was exhilarating. I will say, I did stop and think about how dangerous it was, seeing as one wrong move and you could get hit by a car and get seeeeriously injured.. but I couldn't not have fun. It was most definitely the highlight of the trip. Especially as we did the 2 hour tour at night and got to drive across Rainbow bridge, and had pit stops at the major sightseeing areas.
Daaaamn. If you go to Tokyo and don't check it out.. definitely missing out.
And it wasn't even a super expensive activity, I think I paid $60AUD for 2 hours total? Money well spent hahah.
Triple thumbs up and five stars to MariCAR! :)

Chicken Potato-chip Sandwich.

Good evening Ladies and Gentlemen!

So Christmas is coming, just around the corner- as all my patients keep reminding me.. haha. The first year that my parents won't be around, I think they're off to China?

But all is good. I love being around family this time of year but it does mean I won't be so busy, trying to spend equal amounts of time between Simon's family and mine. Coincidentally Simon's parents are also overseas in HongKong at the moment and will be for a few more months.. So, more time to spend with friends. Yayer!

Haven't planned to do much as yet, I've put a $50 limit on our gifts to each other because we are both trying to save as much money as we can.. Christmas last year was an expensive one since I wanted to buy something for everyone in both families lol. Roookie mistake. 

Will get about 10 days of holiday for Christmas and New years. Not too bad, some people only get the public holiday off. Also planning on taking parents back to Malaysia in April, Simon might come too.. and I can intro him to my Mum's side of the family O: Shit is getting real. Hahah..

I'm not sure what it is, maybe its because people are spending all their money and time on preparing for Christmas, but past couple of weeks have been extremely quiet at work. For example tomorrow I have just two patients booked in- my worst day so far.. plus ofcourse any emergency patients or walk-ins. On one hand its good cause I get to just chill out.. but on the other hand, I am purely commission based so.. No patients, no money. haha shiet. I think I'm going to treat myself to a bit of a sleep in, gym and then go in to work for lunch.

My assistants want me to try a Chicken chip sandwich.. They were horrified that I hadn't tried one before.. hahah Not sure, maybe its a Port Augusta thing. Pretty much just chicken flavoured Thins chips inbetween buttered bread. I don't see the appeal but I guess I'll find out tomorrow!

Goodnight everyone, sleep tight. Hump day tomorrow, the weekend is almost here! Going to the Christening of the Daughter of Simon's boss on Saturday. Definitely will take an Uber there cause Greeks.. they love to party. Last time they threw a Christening for their baby boy we had suuuuch a good time. Friendly people, good food, great range of alcohol ;), picked up the traditional greek dance from randoms and just had a ball. I didn't know anyone there but I still had an awesome time. Greeks are just so inviting. Excited. hahah. 

Dear Diary,

I feel bad for not speaking to you for so long. Back in the day I used to write pretty much every day. I always looked forward to coming home and writing about my day. Or even procrastinating at uni and writing it there! haha..
I guess it was because back in those days, I didn't have many people I could talk to about my day. Sure, I had a boyfriend at the time, but that particular guy had no interest in the things I got up to, maybe thats why I felt like I had to turn somewhere else. And where else to turn but here? I didn't feel like I needed to bother my uni mates or other friends with my shit haha.
And now that I think about it, I'm so thankful for Simon always being there when I want to talk, no matter what he's doing or how his day is going, he always shows interest and empathises with me.
So why the need for a blog if I can just pour my heart out into him? Haha That guy.

Everytime I look back onto my blog though, I feel a sense of disappointment that I haven't been able to keep up with it lately. Blogging was my daily past time, my therapy and really it was my friend. No other friend listens as well as this blog, right?

I love looking back on all my posts, on occasion I get caught up in my memories and spend hours reading about the Me I used to be.

I feel like I'm still very much the same, with minor changes- slight improvements? Hopefully. haha.

Although now I have my other half who is basically my lifetime blog, I would love to continue doing this, seeing as I've already been at it for a good 5 years. We'll see how we go shall we?

It definitely won't be in order, and I doubt I'll even make sense from time to time.. But i'll do it.

It's just R e a l i t y.

I'm barely 23 and here I am, curled up in bed, shedding tears over finance, housing, family and the future.
I feel like a massively large amount of responsibility has just been thrown onto me for some reason.
Why? More money, more problems I guess.
I have no issue with helping out my family but what my parents are asking I think is abit too much.

Problem is that I feel like I absolutely cannot disappoint my mum and dad. I just can't bear it.
Even just thinking about disappointing them makes my heart ache. Thats the problem with me, isn't it.. its that I'm overly-sensitive.
It might sound like I'm praising myself for being kind and caring and blah blah blah
But no. I wish I weren't so affected by other people's feelings. I wish I cared a lot less. Its mentally exhausting, being so easily hurt all the time.
Even at work, if I see someone who looks poor and tells me that they can barely afford treatment, I charge much less, or sometimes don't charge for certain procedures. For what? They probably don't even realise or don't appreciate. I only hurt myself, and my income.

I desperately need to learn how to desensitise myself, and quickly. You don't get far in this world by being soft.
I know family is always number one, but sometimes I need to stand up for what I want, and what's best for my future and my future family...

Fingers crossed, let this not be another worthless rant where nothing ends up changing.

Itinerary

My 7th week working here and boy, time has gone by so damn quick. Its gone by so quickly and yet I feel like I've worked here for a long while already. The staff and I have bonded so well and I've gotten along well with most patients (all the non-crazies). Hahah.. but seriously. Some of them be crazy. And it really does ruin the day. Especially if it happens first up in the morning, then its hard to re-focus and learn to just concentrate on the task at hand.

My housemate had one of those bad days where she just had a few too many difficult patients and cases. Came home pretty down. What to do? Took her out for maccas icecream lol. That's pretty much what I do to cheer up. Or a bag of chips. Or chocolate.

Thankfully I haven't had to do that in a long while. Not since Whyalla days haha..

I think its because of my epic dental nurses. If I feel down about some patient or unsure of whether what I did was the 'right' thing to do, they always say the right thing to cheer me up or reassure myself. The best. And thats why I love it here :) Having good support staff make work ten kajillion times more pleasant!

Changed up my routine a bit the last week.

Started going to the gym in the morning before work, instead of afterwork. Reason being I've missed way too many sessions after work, because by the time 5:30 rolls around, I'm ready to just pass out in bed.

Its always 'I'm too tired', 'this day was too hard', 'its getting too dark', 'I'll go tomorrow', 'I need to do my laundry', 'I need to cook dinner'. And then I don't go. And then much sad feels after.

So I've been waking up early, training at the gym and then eating breakfast at work before patients come in. So far, its been great :) 

I can't believe I actually wake up these days. Sleeping early really does make all the difference. And exercise in the morning really does energise you. I used to think it was all made up BS that people say to make you wake up earlier to exercise. But it really is great. 

Plus, the thought of not having to drag myself there after work is so wonderful throughout the day ahha.. Double thumbs up!

I hope I can keep it up, I'll do my best not to get lazy.

Ooo, fun bit of news. A couple of our friends, Simon, my brother and I are all going to Japan in October for 12 days :D SUPER EXCITED.

It was a VERY spontaneous decision. We saw the cheap tickets and sort of just said... screw it, lets do it. And where else better to go!? Simon hasn't been overseas in YEARS, and has never actually travelled. He's been back to HongKong but just for family stuff. And even then hes never really done the tourist-type activities.

I'm so excited, if you can't gauge that already ahha. Our first trip together! Albeit not alone, but still! I can't think of better people to go with either. My brother is going to be buckets of fun, and Chris and thong are very chilled people, yet quite organised. 

I'm all for relaxing and chilling and waking up at 12pm, but if you have the opportunity to be in ANOTHER COUNTRY and there are a buttload of fun things to do, hell no I'm not going to waste my time sleeping.

I wouldn't be able to stand a holiday with no itinerary. Gonna make sure we plan everything! So much to do! So much to seeeeee.

I've been to Japan before but with family, and when I was still a vegetarian. The food and alcohol is a big part of my excitement, not going to lie. haha..

Already made a large list of what I want to do. Thinking about it is just getting me waaaaaay to pumped up. Still got 6 months to go. Calm the farm Juniper. haha..

Aaaanywhose. Yet another public holiday coming up next Monday, so definitely going back to Adelaide. Also badminton tournament on this week and next week. Busy busy :)

I feel like even though I haven't been playing much over here, my baddy skills have definitely gone up. Maybe because of the gym? Or maybe it was a good night. Hahah Can't wait for the tournament to see whether I've improved or not.

Couple more days until the weekend. Leggooooo people!

YDC

Had a weekend in Melbourne to attend the Young Dental Conference. My first conference! It was.. very informative to say the least haha which means i was predominantely bored out of my brains haha.
A few of the speakers were really good and i learned heaps of good tips, but most of them just spoke about topics we were already pretty well versed with, just trying to refresh our memory. Which i guess is a good thing for us to be doing anyways as new graduates. Fresh off the boat. The boat of life. Hahah what even.
Melbourne .. I cant seem to make up my mind about how I feel about the city. Its overwhelming at how big it is in comparison to Adelaide. Sure its epic for shopping but I dont reckon i would ever consider moving here. Its just way too big, bustling and .. unfriendly. They always tell me that Adelaide people are much friendlier than any other city and i didnt believe it til now. I guess im just used to people in Adelaide.
You can probably tell that the country lifestyle is getting to me haha. So accustomed to peace and quiet.. :)

Currently watching the Aus championship swimming comp on tv hahah.. much fit, many abs.. what can I say.
..wish I could swim properly. Super jelly.
No legit, I look like a jellyfish when I breaststroke hahaha.. oh the shame.

Enjoy a good week, work hard!