Happy Chinese New Year!
Filed Under Asian-ness, Family & Friends with 5 Comments
It was very strange for me to be in Sydney away from family for Chinese New Year this year. Not that it really makes a difference considering that my parents and brother are currently on holiday overseas so I wouldn’t have seen them anyway, but it still feels strange.
I celebrated with a large family dinner in a restaurant with Kieran’s family last night – there were probably around 50 people in total. While we had the traditional feast foods like lobster on noodles and drunk chicken, we also had the choice of such foods like sea cucumbers, angel hair, chicken feet and jellyfish. Most people weren’t adventurous enough to try those options, but I got stuck right into it, and actually turned my nose up at the more Western sweet and sour pork option. There’s no better time than Chinese New Year to get your Asian on right?
I’m the lady in the red dress at work today (red for fortune and luck!), and have been trying to do my part in educating my colleagues about the Year of the Water Dragon…and of course, the most accessible way is through a universal crowd pleaser like horoscopes! I sent this link around in an email this morning for everyone to explore their horoscope for the year. Apparently, I can expect a year of popularity, more responsibilities at work, and growing to another phase in my relationship. What can you expect?
The Person I Want To Be
Filed Under Food, Life, Relationships/Men, Uni/Work with 3 Comments
I found it interesting how a lot of people interpreted my last question as what you wanted to do to change your physique. I don’t see my physical self as the definition of who I am, or the most important thing that I need to work on. Sure I’m overweight but in my eyes it’s not a huge issue that my arse is huge. What’s more important is the person I am. The values I hold. The things I do. The things I say. What I prioritise. Those near-intangible qualities that are most influential in how you would judge a person. With that in mind, there are things that I want to do to continually work on my best qualities.
I want to be a giver. I am, comparably speaking, really lucky. I have my health, my job, my family and friends, a roof over my head and food on my table. I have discretionary income – I can take holidays, buy clothes I don’t need and see movies I’ll forget about in a month. Not everyone is as lucky as I am, and I am constantly reminded of that working in a charity. Every day, I encounter families whose young children can die overnight from hypoglycaemia. Mothers who get up every hour to check to make sure their child is still alive. I don’t have anything like that to worry about – I am one of the lucky few. So I want to give back. I donate my time on the weekend fundraising at events for the organisation I work for…but I can do more. I have more time and skills to contribute. I just need to find charities and organisations who need me after work and on weekends.
I want to be more of my own person. This was never really a problem for me when I was living in Melbourne. I was never dependent on a partner to the point of only spending time with him or his friends. However, after moving to Sydney where I don’t have an extensive friendship network like I do in Melbourne, it’s very easy to tag along to everything that Kieran does, and spend all my time with his friends. I don’t have a reason to turn down an invitation, because I never have other plans. This needs to change. It’s not healthy. So I need to build my own friendship network. I’ve been attending trivia nights on Wednesdays with a regular group of people who I met on Sydney Livejournal (who are now Facebook friends, who are coming to my housewarming, etc.), which is a great start. I’m very conscious though, of the fact that I can and should do more. I’ve signed up for an account at Meetup, and I just need to find the right group for me. It’s an ongoing project.
I want to be recognised for my abilities. In other words, I don’t want to make excuses. I’m only going to use one example here – and that’s my ability as a cook. For the longest time, I’ve always claimed that I’m not a cook because I was never really allowed in the kitchen growing up – it was very clearly my mother’s dominion. I’ve loudly and proudly proclaimed my expertise in creating beans on toast or two minute noodles. That’s all a dirty lie. I’m actually a really good cook. I don’t follow recipes, and I don’t meal plan. I cook from instinct, and it always turns out well. Case in point – my attempts at salmon and chicken. I need to stop hiding behind a facade of incompetence to lower people’s expectations of me, and admit that I’m actually pretty awesome.1
I want to be realistic about my capabilities. More often than not, I’m my own worst enemy – I think I’m capable of doing more than what is actually humanly capable. Case in point. I’m also Captain Possible at work – no matter how much work people throw at me, I won’t stop to say that it’s not manageable – I’ll find a way to do it all even if it means staying till 8pm every night and taking work home on weekends (which believe me, I don’t get paid enough to do). So I need to a) learn to say no/stop; and b) be realistic enough to look at what is actually possible. This is not only for my own benefit in terms of stress levels, but also for others around me as they recognise what is possible and in what timeframes.
I want a lot more. But this is a start.
1Note: I still think it’s perfectly acceptable to make an excuse that you’re not strong enough to carry heavy things up two flights of stairs. If a stronger person can do it for me, then that’s definitely preferable!
Question For You To Ponder
Filed Under Q.O.T.W. with 5 Comments
Because no one is perfect, what are you doing to become the person you want to be?
We can all do with improvement in at least one area of our lives. I’m interested to see what people are doing to become better people. I have some ideas of what I’m currently doing, and what I want to do more. I’ll share these in the next entry.
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