A Communication Space for Jaeteuk and bestVase7265 only. (Please do not reply or respond, thank you)

Long weekend for us here, will have family friends over for another BBQ on Sunday. Going to have 12 people in the house. My brother is lucky, his company gave him an extra day off on Friday, so he gets a 4-day long weekend, while I only get the 3-day long weekend. We haven't really stayed much in contact the last decade, ever since they lost their eldest daughter to leukemia (she left on Valentine's Day). But my brother has lunch with the oldest son whenever he needs to work at the office. My parents often sees the youngest son at Costco, as he works in the Pharmacy. But my parents have know their parents even before both our families immigrated to Canada. We offered them to bring their dogs. But they may not, since it'll be the pup's first time, they may end up peeing everywhere. So, won't know until they come. The oldest son has 2 kids, the youngest son is single. We've also invited the uncle's brother, as he's single and has a dog as companion.

So, the BBQ ended up with 13 people, 2 couldn't make it. My Uncle was invited and my cousin was free, so he came too. He's 6 years younger than I, recently bought an antique camera online and brought it with him.. he took pictures of us, group picture and pictures of food. But after my brother asked him for them, we realized he doesn't really know how to take pictures, a lot of the food had pictures of people's body and the group picture's lighting made some people look disoriented. My mum joked that none of the pictures turned out well. We haven't had this kind of gathering with the family friends for over 8 years. So yesterday, we decided to invite them over more often.

After their eldest daughter passed away, the Auntie and Uncle rarely left the house. So, it was a blessing that they agreed to come for the BBQ and stayed until 9pm. My parents have known them when they still worked in Hong Kong, and my brother has been playing with their sons since he was 8. So, these are literally life-long family friends. I told my parents that they should ask them out more often, as they are all retirees now. So, they planned on asking them over for Christmas. Hope the other son and Uncle can make it then. The other Uncle suffered from painful gout on Sunday, and the younger son, ate something and was having an upset stomach, so decided not to come nearly last minute. Otherwise, we wouldn't have leftovers. We gave them partially away to the other son, as he's a family of 4, with 2 young kids.

Otherwise, I think the BBQ went well. Had some good chats with everyone. It was nice.

Thanks. I did enough rest on Thursday to survive today. Now I just need to be ready to teach tomorrow...

I've purposely gone to bed at midnight, so I could sleep for 6 hrs.. but, I have been waking up before 5am the past couple of days instead. Really doesn't help when I'm working 10+ hours this week. Hopefully sleep will improve overtime.

Glad that you were able to get some sleep. I am doing okay overall too. It wasn't a major fall, just enough to jar things a bit.

The first month of the school year is nearing the end for you. How have things been going on?

I have been so busy with work all summer, I barely have time to go on my computer. Next 3 weeks will be super exhausting for me. Next week, a 4 day work week because Monday is a holiday for us, I'll be working 11hr shifts.. because one colleague is on vacation for 3 weeks and we have a new addition to our team that starts her training this Thursday and next week. Since the person training her will be working the same early morning shift, aside from the other morning shift I'm covering (the one on vacation), I have to work into the evening shift too. Going to be a very long week/day for me. Will need to be well rested over the coming long weekend.

It's been a while since we've last spoke. Hope the hurricanes didn't do much damage to your place. It's good that you had your windows changed, that would've helped.

I finally have a week off from work, had been working non-stop since July, with only 3 days off, which one of those days, I called in sick for. With a lot of overtime shifts, I really need this week off to recharge, and run some errands.

Oh, I'm also home alone for the next 2 weeks. My brother went on vacation, left home the past Friday, with a friend to Japan. My parents are gone on another Cruise trip since Sept. 15th. This time, they won't be back until second week of November. Their initial Cruise trip is to Japan. Then, they'll go to Taiwan, meet with another couple that's already there, then, go to Hong Kong for 3 weeks, before coming home. Meeting more friends there, and they will be visiting both my grandmothers. At least, they will have a place to stay, my Uncle has an apartment space that he no longer lives in (he officially came to Canada for good). Brother should be back on the first Friday of October. He'll also go to Thailand for a few days.

It's nice to be off, I've been baking and cooking new recipes for dinner. At first, I thought I'd be ordering a lot of takeout, but I think I'll wait until I'm back to work the first week of October. I might be too tired to cook after work then, as I'll be doing an early morning shift. I most likely will need to nap when I get home.

How is the school year going so far? Any exams to grade recently? Busy?

I wish I could play more on a regular basis, but with my brother working from home, and he's always in meetings, when I don't have work, I can't play on the piano. I have the weekends, but there are always others things I need to do and I feel that I should only play when no one is in the house. Which isn't often that everyone has gone out.

Going to work weekends as overtime. Time for the annual cleaning of the department. Last year, it took me 2 and half weekends (5 days). So, I'm currently scheduled for 3 Saturdays and one Sunday.. See how much I can get done, if still not finished, will add more days. Colleague requested something else needs to be "cleaned", so, I'll probably need that 5th day or more. So, will be working tomorrow, then off on Sunday, because I have a doctor's appointment. I know, it's odd how the Hospital has ultrasound appointments on a Sunday.. When a few years ago, there were no Medical Imaging on weekends (but that was probably because of the start of COVID).

Monday is Thanksgiving for us, so another short work week. But, seeing how I'll be working over the weekend, it's not really a short week, as I'll end up working 9 days straight. At least, working over the weekend, being by myself. I can listen to my music playlist from my phone (have to remember to bring my phone charger, just in case playing music drains my battery more quickly), and with no one else in the department, I won't have to wear a mask (starting this week, masks are mandatory in hospitals and doctor's offices again). There had been Covid outbreaks within the hospital, and I think because of flu season.

I've also been getting night sweats this week.. Maybe it's from the stress for work (as we were short-staffed, and although I'm working one shift, I'm doing 2 jobs, because another colleague was on vacation). I did an hour of overtime the day before. I'll have to keep an eye on the night sweats.. I'll see my GP for something else Oct. 19th, and will bring it up if they continue.. When I tried to Google it, it says that it could be some underlying problems, or due to stress. So, I'll think of it as stress for this week, so if it goes on before my appointment, while working regular shifts again.. then, I'll know it's not just from stress.

Hello, it's been a while since I've checked in.. been working even weekends this month, so had been quite busy. I ended up working a 9-day work week last week, because of working over the weekend as well. I was supposed to be off this Thursday and Friday, but my Manager asked me to work for a few hours on Friday. I had requested Thursdays and Fridays off for last week and this week, because my brother's dog is with us. And he has to go into the office on those days, and I didn't want the dog to be home alone for such long hours. So, this Friday, I agreed to work 6:30am to 10:30am, because I have a doctor's appointment for 11am, so Manager had originally asked me to work 7:30am to 12pm. I asked my brother, he says that he has a meeting at home in the morning, so when I'm off at 10:30am, the dog wouldn't have been left alone for too long. The other reason for me to request the day off, is the dog's meal schedule is he gets hungry by 2pm. So, on Thurs, I'm meeting a previous colleague for lunch at noon. I'll need to return home around 2pm, or else the dog may be barking from starvation.

Then, on Oct 30th, I'll be having dinner with this previous colleague and 2 others. They eat early, so dinner will be at 5pm. Dog will be going on the 29th, this time he was with us for 3 weeks.

I'll be busy in November too. Fully booked, only off for a Stat Holiday and for the last week of November.

How is the school year coming along with you? Getting busy with midterms/exams?