I have been up since 5am this morning with huge stomach cramps :( I'm all tired and sleepy but cannot go to sleep.. This morning I have an appointment for a massage, and I'm utterly worried that I will actually fall asleep :S *Eeep*

Anyways, last night I went to Coco's for coffee with a good friend of mine who is rather Malaysian, and loves to tell stories about asian ghosts, traditions and ceremonies.

And then it occurred to me that my family does very little in the way of Chinese traditions. Having lived and grown up in Australia, I sometimes miss the traditions that I get to experience when I go visit family in Malaysia. I miss the two weeks of chinese new year celebrations, the huge family dinners that it affords, rolling glutinous rice balls in anticipation of the winter festivals, playing with lanterns and firecrackers, and getting ready for the autumn and moon festivals.

Whilst I'm rather anti-asian in some respects, I think that they're fabulous when it comes to enjoying and preserving traditions. There's always a big hoo-ha when I'm at my Aunty's place, and family really get into the spirit of things there.

I know - i broke my promise to blog on the weekend... but I hope it's no biggie ;)

Anyways, today I got a call from my concerned boyfriend whose housemate has the same problem as me - grinding teeth in my sleep as if i'm strangling someone. His friend Brett's girlfriend is also a dentist, and warned Brett that if he continued to grind his teeth and did nothing about it, his teeth would wear out, he would required dentures and implants, and it would never be the same again.

Normally, if my boyfriend warned me of a similar situation ie. if i dont stop wearing heels, my feet will get sorer as time wears on (umm.. sorry, can't do that.. heels are a must for shorties), i would normally have waved it off.

However, this particular issue hits pretty hard with me.. you see.... teeth are the subject of my recurring nightmare..

I know I know, most people have really scary recurring nightmares of monsters and stalkers and stuff like that.. but my recurring nightmare is my teeth.

It is a very short nightmare, but always identical in content but over time, seems to have grown more sinister in nature. In my dream, i just run my tongue over my teeth and each one falls out individually onto my hands. As I stare in shock that I've lost all my teeth, I try to put each one of them back into the gum sockets, but as I try to eat things, they all fall out again... and this cycle occurs over and over again in my dream.... And over time, I have actually noticed that in my dream I tell myself "wake up kae, it's only a dream", but I never wake up. It's my subconscious living in my subconscious..

But anyways, when i dream, i usually grind my teeth at the same time (or so i think)...

This dream was the catalyst for me to go out and get private health insurance.. and it's also the dream that will catalyze me into going to the dentist and asking for a plate to sleep at night with.. :(

You're probably thinking im strange... but do u have weird recurring dreams too ?

We came, we played, and we lost :(

Our netball team - the 5 Footers - played our first game tonight and whilst we had lots of fun, we lost... Unfortunately, many of us haven't played netball before, or haven't touched it since highschool, so it was a game filled with stepping, contact, obstructions and replay. There was definitely some talent though - with Pete being the kickass player, Roy an excellent defender, Hong a very zippy little centre, and the girls - well, we were just filling the spots.. hehe

Simon watched from the sidelines and commented that we were a "very good team.. just makes a lot of silly errors", and I suppose that could be said given it was the first time that we all met, the first time half the guys got told the rules, and the first game.

Unfortunately for me, I ran smack bang into Hong's head eheh which afforded me a nice little bruised swollen left side of my cheek/mouth, but luckily for me, I won't be in the office for the rest of the week so no one will see my funny face :D

Definitely looking forward to playing the next game though - should be lots of fun :)

Sorry - have been very busy so a quick post for the last (almost) week...

- My supervisor has left for a month long holiday, so I have now assumed the roles of two people and have had all her phone calls forwarded to me, and have access to her mailbox. This has resulted in an extremely busy Kae, juggling the work of two people, organising all my "to-dos" and assuming the position of someone who is an expert on the subject matter and pretending to know what I'm talking about.

- Went to the Brisbane on Saturday night to watch a comedy fest, but unfortunately, due to "i'm-sure-we'll-get-in-so-don't-need-to-buy-tickets" bright ideas, was left cold and dirty on the streets. No, i exaggerate. It was true that we weren't able to get in to see the comedy fest, but we made do and drank a bit at the Brisbane before making our merry ways for the night...

- About to start netball on wednesday - have no yet met half the team, but that sort of makes it all the more interesting ;)

- Have been polishing up on my sewing skills and made two skirts for work. Rather proud and joyful :)

- Have eaten way too much - sushi, icecream, cakes, muffins... ooh the fatness...

Adios :D

Today on the way home from work, I noticed two teenagers doing the whole "wheelie bin" riding.

It looked like fun, until i remembered that bins are full of grotty leftovers, dodgy mouldy food, and all kinds of disgusting infested maggots stuff...

And i came to think that perhaps these boys:

1. had no sense of hygiene

2. had an incredibly laid back personality

3. was just into having fun

or 4. plain stupid...

(i think i'd like to go with 1 and 4)

Has anyone out there done these wheelie bin rides? do you use old dirty bins for it?

And just to prove my point (stolen from a UK government website):

Whilst I had noticed a mass exodus of friends and uni pals moving east, I particularly noticed it last night at Trevor's birthday dinner. In a group of about 12, almost 30% of them were leaving and joining the exodus out of Perth.

In front of me was Gavin leaving for Melbourne in two weeks. On his right was Trevor (the birthday boy - Happy Birthday - again), who is off to Sydney next year. On my left was Quan who lives out in Kalgoorlie. On my right diagonal was Richard, who works a FIFO roster out in West Angeles. And down next to Trevor was Philbert, who is off to China next year.

Gone are the days where people grow up and stay in one city :( Instead, everyone grows up and people move away. Sure, there's the bright side of seeing a new place, having freebie accommodation when visiting, and of being more "worldly", but at the very core, is the fact that these are the people that have shared a part of your life, and may never ever come back and see it through - and i think that's the saddest part of it all :(

*wipes tear* hehe