Pretentious Monday

I cooked and my sister was a vegan. There’s nothing more pretentious than that. My sister was up early to do her grocery shopping for her vegan menu of the day which was pad thai. Between the two of us, she’s the “better” cook. Although, I might be doing her a disfavor by comparing her cooking skill to me which is non-existent. She does cook pasta very well. And her japanese omelette is really nice. It’s called Tamagoyaki.

Tamagoyaki

When I cook on the other hand, it’s more like a trial and error and the chance of getting it right is 1:5 with one being an accident.

So, we cooked the morning away and I am happy to say we did a great job.

Shrimp in sour soup

This turned out surprisingly well. And because I love fried rice, I cooked some as well. I know the soup and fried rice don’t match but hey, I was quite happy with everything.

And here’s the delicious pad thai my sister made. I swear she’s getting really good at this vegan recipes.

So by late evening, I thought that was it. She was able to go complete vegan for a day…well until I saw her putting 2 spoonfuls of fried rice (it has ham on it!) on the pad thai.

There’s always tomorrow.

Good day, good mood

We had a complete weather switch! We woke up to a bright sunny day, a blue sky unmarred by clouds and to people milling in the street with big smiles on their faces. The sun was so good on the skin it immediately put me in a good mood. I guess the hour long jog helped as well. Here are a couple of photos I took while at the park.

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I had to stop to take a photo of these beautiful flowers. I recently found out that red tulip means eternal love. I’m not sure what the other flowers are called though but what I do know is that they’re lovely, too!

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The jog was invigorating except for the itchiness that attacked my legs a few minutes into jogging. It was so bad I wanted to turn back to see if I got something on my clothes. But my sister insisted that it was normal and would soon go away. It did went away several minutes into our cooling down exercise. And of course, I had to google it! There were hilarious (but probably true) explanations but the one that made sense for my case was this: I haven’t been exercising lately (for decades now) and when I finally did the capillaries in my lower extremities had an increased blood flow and the expanding capillaries (they expand to allow for more blood flow) stimulated the nerve endings surrounding it which in turn sent “itchy signals” to the brain. Itchy signals? Probably because it was not pain and the brain doesn’t know how to interpret the discomfort and chose itchiness as an alternative (cheeky brain!). Thanks livestrong for this very scientific explanation.

My poor brain probably was so alarmed this morning when it received strange signals it went to self preservation mode and launched “itchy legs attack”.

I spent the entire afternoon just chilling in town. I found this book which I hope will help improve my rudimentary skill in photography.

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5 tips to survive your first week on a new job

A year ago, I moved here in the UK and worked in a completely new environment where the practice is different from what I was used to and the people I get to work with are diverse. There are new equipment to use, new procedures to learn, trainings to undergo, exams to pass and spellings and medical terminologies to get used to. I did not know what to expect. On my first weeks at work, I would always come in expecting for the worst (habit) so every good thing that happened was a surprise.

So here are my personal tips to surviving your first week at a new job:

Smile. This is an unfailing overture of friendship. I didn’t know anybody on my first day but I was always quick to greet with a smile even before I speak to create a positive atmosphere.

Be open-minded. While learning the culture of the workplace and familiarizing yourself with the system, assimilate new information without prejudice. It will help you learn and grow.

Study and don’t be afraid to ask. Take every opportunity to learn. Ask questions to clarify things you’re not sure of. Don’t be afraid to admit that you don’t know how to do certain things. And study cases you’re presented with at work by reading related journals and the classic textbooks.

Be yourself. This applies to any situation and any place, always be true to who you are. This gives you integrity and promote good interpersonal relation with your colleagues.

Avoid gossip. It breaks good work relationships and create unpleasant feelings for everybody. Also, when you gossip, doesn’t it say a lot about your character?

Hope these are helpful. How about you, do you have personal tips to share? I’d love to hear them!