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December 04, 2019

December 2019

Summer is delayed apparently. The air is still crisp and chilly. Only at lunch time is it sunny and warm in Melbourne. By 6pm the clouds have come into force and the temperature has dropped.

My old team shrinks further more this month. One more work colleague was retrenched. We have no choice but to think of ways to ease the work load burden and time pressure outputs.

PoGo world. I have been having dinners with friends and drinking bubble tea. While laughing at pokestop recommendations in Wayfarer.



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November 09, 2019

November 2019

No life is not peachy.

Weather wreaking havoc

With the climate change and all the weather remains in winter mode in Melbourne. I am still wearing my thermals and my umbrella is getting a beating from the rain and wind. Amazingly enough just last month from a random shopping outing I scored a water-proof feather down jacket from Uniqlo. How fitting. However, the air is densely filled with pollen. so, my nose is runny and my eyes are burning. It makes attendance to outdoor events a challenge. I have burnt through several tissue packets. Crazy I tell ya.

A few more months and 2019 comes to end. Work has been a roller coaster ride with emotions strung low and high. Each month a team member of mine leaves, not by choice, but outed, as the new restructure has no role for them. All the newly created roles are for people who "design" stuff at coordinator level. We are now seeing talented staff refusing to come back after leave, many have chosen to resign or retire. Young and old. One shining light, is my new team is very welcoming and happy to accept me into their wing. That is very comforting.


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October 08, 2019

October 2019

Nothing but odd thoughts this month.

The noise in the public streets of the city. Some of us, adults, get to a point where nagging becomes a turn off and sometimes pisses us off, but what counts as nagging? Sometimes it is just a warning, a statement repeated out of courtesy or carried out due to policy.

Work front. I learnt that with internally advertised jobs, it isn't always a case of shoo in, even if you do possess the necessary skill set, management still insists on externally advertising the job. Bias? I do not know. What I do know is the work place is not keen on training people up.

PoGo world. Halloween event has us bursting at our seams. I have managed to encounter many of shiny pokemon ghost type pokemons new and old, just Shuppet who eludes me. I did get the chance to do two Ex-raids at lunch time with a small crew: John, Linh, Michelle, Daniel, Harris, Riche, Byron, and Peter. It was fun. We came across a Cranidos too. The committee is thinking of packages for volunteers and first time visitors to Melbourne.

Sis and I attended Spooktober scare sessions and it is glorious.


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September 28, 2019

September 2019 - Uluru


Sep 22

While waiting at the airport, I played Pokemon Go. Don’t you just hate it, when you drop a lure and your character drifts away from it. Boo.

In Sydney, ibis birds would walk around everywhere. We were eating a packet of French fries in Circular Quay and we accidentally dropped some chips on the ground. Silly of us. The bird was able to distinguish the difference between a cigarette butt and chips. We watched it decide and saw it picked up the chips. I was most impressed by its ability to adapt. 

The MCA cafe really has the perfect view of the Sydney Opera House and the harbour bridge. In the one corner you can see both of them. My sister and I had lovely time eating lunch there. Just slightly ruined by poor service. They mixed up our drinks. Took away our table number stand, when the food has not been served. By noon the cafe was packed out and most of the patrons mainly ordered drinks. We are the odd one out. That explains a lot. I managed to squeeze in 2 x T5 raids, one with little kids at the State Library and one at a fountain by the park. No shiny MewTwo though. 

My sister and I went back to the hotel to properly check-in and have a nap. By 3pm we headed back out to the city. Unfortunately, Sportsgirl shop no longer resides in Pitt street mall. It has moved to Wyndham station. My sister wanted to buy a phone case but we only had 30 mins before all the shops would close. I did one more T5 raid on George St, and again, no shiny MewTwo. But I got a 98 IV one. Not bad I guess. 

We had dinner in Glebe. Faijita Flying sisters. Trio dip (cheese with kale pen is the best), fried taco brisket with potato, and mango soft shell taco was sweet. The corn cob and watermelon salad was so so. My sister found the area to be a bit too dark for her liking. 


Sept 23

Flying from Sydney to Ayers Rock, we watched John Wick: chapter 3. Took a nap and the plane hasn’t arrived, then we realise there was a time difference. Argh! We both felt tired as we got off the plane. After we had checked-in, we took another nap. By the time we woke up, we have missed out on all the free tours in the afternoon. With nothing better to do, we went to Gecko’s cafe for dinner. We had an outback pizza (kangaroo & emu) with crocodile ribs. Walked around the town square and sussed out their IGA.  


Sept 24

5am in the morning. We waited for our tour bus to arrive. With so many buses stopping by and no staff to control the crowds. It was more or less a self-serve check-if-your-tour-bus has arrived. I had to duck in and out and ask staff, am I on your list? It was 9 degrees. Cold. We both wore sandals to sunrise tour for Field of Lights. Nuts we were. It even rained on us. Other tourist wore active wear and duck feathered quilted jackets still felt cold. 

Up close, the field of lights resemble neuron connections. From a look out point, it was white light bulbs across a paddock. By then the sun has risen and colourful lights were turned off. We had hot chocolate with some cookies. Aaron the bus driver entertained us with stories of snakes and lizards coming out from their hideouts in search of water after a day of rain. Also, he kindly took some happy snaps for us.   

Upon arriving back at the hotel, my sister went straight to bed. I went off to meet up with other hotel guests for a garden bush walk tour with Leroy. I learned about the difference between native trees from the wester desert and gum trees originating from interstate, the latter depends on water or they would die and collapse on you. 

The native fig and quandong was a highlight. Good food come in small packages. Quandong tree is hemiparasitic and needs a host tree nearby, or it would sprout 3 trees from the ground to support itself. When you see pods on the white cypress tree means they have found underground water. Desert oak tree release resin to sop fires burning it. The pods from the desert oak carry a sweet taste like a marshmallow. At the end of the tour, I grabbed a piece of fig and a quandong for my sister.

After dropping off the native plant at the hotel room, I set off to do one T1 raid for my sister’s account, and it was all they way across the dirt road to another hotel. I asked my sister to meet me at the Kulata Academy cafe for lunch. When I got back, both the Gecko’s cafe and Kuala Academy cafe was packed out. Phew. We got a spot.

A quick browse at the post office and souvenir shop, we went to Wintjiri Arts + Museum to listen in on bush food experience s(free activity). Only bush plum and honey grevillea are the two fruits I did not see in person. Apparently, they have just beginning to flower. We got the chance to sample short bread with roasted wattleseed served with rosella strawberry jam. Yum. 

We stayed and watched an astrology documentary narrated by Geoffrey Rush. There is a big emu in the northern western sky. Ooooh! CFS kicked in and I missed half of the footage.

Evening sunset tour of Field of Light was just as cold and windy as the sunrise tour. I had two flutes of bubbly wine and triple serving of the blue cheese puffs canapés. It kept me happy for a while. My sister and I took pre-sunset pics. Smart. This time chose a shorter route. Smart. We didn’t want to miss the only two buses that would take us back to the hotel. Smart.


Sept 25

Uluru the rock is located within a national park and it costs $25 pp for entry. Even if you want to jog or ride a bike there, you have to pay for entry, and yes, there is a yearly pass. 

The segway tour was bloody awesome. We got to see and hear the stories behind the shapes, rock formation, engravings, and shapes that make Uluru. So many hidden gems. There are two sections of the rock are off limits to photography. Towards the back and the big lips (a cultural taboo between the genders). Here we saw a head carved into Uluru (okay for snaps). The uneven, rocky, different sands, and bush made the segway tour all the more fun. Loving the rugged pathway. The segway held up its weight in gold. Flawless. 

Kyle our segway tour host told us how much he missed Maccas, Krispy Kreme, and Kmart. Sure we laughed with him about it. But I can see how it can be a big of lifestyle change. There is only the IGA and a post office for budget retail therapy. Not much junk food sold in this area. The nearest city is Alice Spring and it is a 500 km drive from Ayers Rock resort. 

The helicopter ride was short but we got the chance to see the top of Uluru. It was a spectacular view and my first time in a helicopter. A good choice indeed. The helicopter can fit 6 people. The seat belt was unique. You had to rotate to unlock it. The pilot pointed out the east side of Uluru is the indigenous community’s residence. 

Sound of silence (food experience). After canapés and two flutes of bubbly wine I was tipsy. A second evening with a sunset view of Uluru. This time we aimed for smoked kangaroo canapés. I got the chance to see the planet Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, southern cross, and the Milky Way. Wow, Plus the big emu in the sky. Upside down, but I got to see it. Extra wow. The host had a really good sky pointer. Superb! Nothing like a cup of warm tea to smooth the belly from over eating. Hee hee. 

What I did notice was the tours were held on the west side of Uluru. We are encouraged to take snaps during sunrise and sunset and according to the guides, it so that the cultural images on Uluru would be covered by shadows from the clouds.


Sept 26

The breakfast session at Gecko’s cafe was over and lunch served until 11am. Due to time constraints we had lunch at Kulata Academy cafe again, but this time we sat outside, as it was nice and warm. Behind the Emu walk apartments was a communication tower labelled emu look out. Umm. An interesting poke stop.

The 12 noon airport transfer bus arrived at the Ayers rock airport on time, but the queue to check-in was super slow, and we only just made it in with 12:50pm. Geez. My sister went off to buy emu jerky for bro and dad. lol. The departure lounge was too small to fit the amount of guests flying out. The queue went far back as the toilets.

Dropped our bags and went into the city. There we got off at Museum and onto Liverpool street. I was putting away my smartphone in my denim jacket and I fell down a short flight of stairs in World Square. I ended up cutting my left knee and bruising my right knee and ankle. I told my sister we still had 30 minutes to spare, there is no need to rush to the dinner reservation. I hobbled all way to Chippendale to try out Bubble Nini fresh pearls tea. Nearly all the stuff on the menu was sold out. My sister had the hot matcha and I settled for the brown sugar one. The pearls were not hard rubbery as most. So yeah. Nice.


Sept 27

5:50am I checked-in and at the bag drop the machine refused and issued a receipt stating my bag was two kilograms over. The service desk then told me my 7am flight delayed until 1:35pm. They offered to switch us to the 11am flight, I said sure, and they waived the fee for the check-in bag. That flight was delayed as well to 11:55am. It wasn’t just us, Virgin and Jetstar was cancelling and had delayed flights. Something is fishy here.

Both my sister and my butt are sore from sitting down for so long. Nearly all caught up with my tweets. Nice to be back home.



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September 05, 2019

September 2019

As luck would have it, while I am successful in catching 200,000 pokemons in PoGo, my career is on hold. At the very least, I have few internal job interviews lined up this month and next month. However, it feels like I am standing still and everything is moving at a snail pace. I want to go for a dip in the ocean and float away my worries. The wind is cold. I cannot bring myself to immerse in cold water. There are swimming pools, sadly, they do not come with a view like ocean pools.

There has been some disruptions and development in the social aspects of playing PoGo.

I had no choice but to delete a particular individual and all of his 5 accounts from my friend list. For weeks, the player would ask repeatedly, "why do you do research tasks?", especially the Sneasel quest. He even asked the same question on community day when I was evolving my hundo and 98 IV Turtwigs. Argh! God! I explained to him, I don't need his shiny Sneasel(s), I already got one, but I would like a few more as trading fodder. It seems this player doesn't respect my style of play and so he was deleted. This is the third male player that I had to seriously erase from my life and my game.

On the upside, I have made a few new friends this month.

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August 04, 2019

August 2019

Life has been bubbling away at such a rapid pace, that I nearly forgot to print out the paper work for my holiday. Luckily, I decided to spare a Sunday morning to sort out the little details. I am smart to have booked everything in advance. Phew. April was the worst and the lowest month for me. Psychologically damaging, but I am slowly healing, and I am ready to embark on more projects. ^_^

PoGo world wise, I find that I am poor at initiating conversation with players, who really don't want to have a conversation in the first place. Yet I'm having a blast with players who do want to chat. So much laughter to be had. A random hottie on a tram asked if he could add me to his PoGo friend list and so I show him how to use QR code camera in the add friend section. He laughed and smiled. Nice.

Recently, I have watched the movie, The Public, and it puts the issue of homeless people and public library on the big screen. A reality for most public libraries. It raised quite a few questions:
Will I lose my job if I was to ask the stinky patron to leave the premise?
What management and board support is being offered to front line staff when dealing such issue?
Will future library design include emergency shelters?
What policies have public libraries have place for dealing with the homeless and mentally challenged individuals?


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July 04, 2019

July 2019

The cold weather has settled in alright. You can tell it is bloody cold, when you head home and on the streets you can catch a whiff of burnt wood coming from the houses. In the darkness you cannot see the smoke billowing in the air, but you can smell it. The hands starts to tighten up and chills roll down your the shoulder. The cold air make old wounds hurt more. It has just been a year since I had my scooter accident. The scars on my hand have very much faded away and the soft tissue damage along on the right side of my body no longer ache. At traffic lights, I jog on the spot to keep my legs warm and my joints moving. Upon arriving home, one cannot help but turn the heater on and begin to doze off in front of it. Knowing there is food to be cooked and chores to done.

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Work has been steady. The restructure will hit stage 2 soon and I will have start preparing for internal job interviews.

Industry wise other libraries around Victoria are undergoing restructure as well. The common trend seems to be a reduction in full time roles for entry level jobs and sprouting of advisory/coordinator roles. Where the minimal is a postgraduate/master degree. Are we pushing for an American library model? Where a librarian are required to have a master's degree and debt? A question that was posed 5 years ago in Twitter chat has now become a reality. So surreal.

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PoGo world. The 'Melbourne for Go Fest' committee has new members. Yay! We have divvied up the tasks once more and this time the work load was evenly distributed. We hope to have an independent website up and running soon. So that: a) it is one stop shop; b) for players who do not use social media platforms to be informed; c) explain clearly what is needed for Melbourne win the nomination.

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Life is all about waiting. I find people enjoy making other people wait, wait for a response, a reply, a reaction, and a decision. What they do not realise is time waits for no one. You either do something or people will move on without you.

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June 10, 2019

June 2019

No one ever tells you that being an adult means living under the thumb of or by other adult's rules/expectations. There are laws. I totally respect that one. There are policies. No doubt they are necessary for business operation. There are ground/rules. Without them mannerism would go down the pits. Then there are ones, where people say "adults are forbidden from playing", ranging from sports, board games, mobile phone based games, and console games. Why is that? What is wrong with cooling down from work with a game. I find this expectation to be saddening. As it is 2019, and adults prefer to wind down with some sort of substance instead of playing a "game".

Through PoGo I have made meaningful friendship and built myself a new supportive network, one that is beyond ex-work colleagues/friends who have ceased regular contact and no longer wants to hear about my work woes. This game has opened a whole new lifestyle choice which I never knew of, and to be honest, it is constantly changing and quite exciting to be part of.

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May 11, 2019

May 2019

Emotions are running high and raw. The new organisation chart is creating power silos, where people in the upper levels all hang together, and the front line of staff are isolated to one end with little or no say in the issues that arises within the work place. Is that how process driven organistion work? Someone needs to sit down and explain to me how that is profitable and sustainable at the same time. Libraries need to copy social enterprise and not capitalist factory model businesses.

Outside of work. I am part of a fun committee working on a promotion video and proposals. Loving the chats. A nice distraction and meaningful goals.

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Here I am trying to play Pokemon Go app and there is this one player who sexually harasses me. Marlon (the name has been changed for privacy concerns) demands that I hug him after raids and trades. Marlon constantly tried to touch my fingers.

It gets weirder. Marlon thought that I was his gal. When I suggested to him to see Brandon (the name has been changed for privacy concerns) for a Meltan box top up, Marlon sent me a FB message accusing me of using Brandon as my decoy boyfriend. I did not reply and deleted the message.

It gets spastic. After I had told Marlon that I am NOT interested and he replied that he understands. He kept sending FB messages asking why.

It gets nasty. In one FB message he accused me of coercing other players to delete him from their Pokemon Go app's friend list. I did not reply and deleted the message.

It gets sinister. Since Marlon had triggered guarantee lucky special trade with me during all this barrage, he insisted that I honour that trade. This made me sick to the stomach. My friends, a psychologist, and the police advised against it. So I deleted Marlon from my Pokemon Go app's  friend list and blocked him on FB.

I regarded his behaviour with much loathing since 17th March. Marlon thought this issue only started on the 13th May. Crazy I tell ya.

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The rainy season has begun and pokemon players have fallen ill to the cold weather and some have university assignments to complete. Me? I'm no longer a university student, but I do have three job applications to complete before the end of June 2019. I have been researching and reading annual reports, strategy plans, and job descriptions. Close to complete 3 sets of draft key selection criteria statement. In meantime, I managed to write a short professional blog post. Long form reading and writing is a skill we all need to work on and learn to write lengthy document on the spot.







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April 07, 2019

April 2019

Started my introductory training on family history research as a patron and as a staff member. It ain't easy and there may not be a clear cut answer. There are so much inherent hidden information and legal restrictions. Social events influence what sort of information are collected on individuals.


I finally gave in and purchased Apple AirPods 1.5 and I was astonished to find it can connect to Apple TV. For my family that would be a god send, as we have one member who enjoys watching videos with full volume can use the AirPods without disturbing the rest of the house. Yay! The real benefit for me is the ability to switch between laptop and iPhone with a tap of a finger. Previous bluetooth headphones can also switch, but they drop out and sometimes don't pair up again, and by the time you do the battery would deplete. 


My home has mice infestation. My brother and sister bought mouse traps, poison, and pellets. They place them on the side of door ways and under their bed. While mother created her own box trap and lays in the middle of the room. I went and purchased 1 traditional mouse trap, 2 snappers and placed peanut butter in the center, and one tiny box mouse trap. I placed mine along the walls where the mouse was last seen running to and from rooms. Hopefully one of them catches them.


What adults do not understand is the hours between 6pm and 9pm is my free time. When you ask me to give time slot up for you, it better be for something worthwhile. But if it involves burning a hole in my wallet. Then no way. Life is more than pouring money down the drain to just feel “fun”.
Pokemon Go (game) may consume much of that time slot, the game itself uses very little internet data and doesn’t cost money to play. The poke balls are free, the incubator is free, and the raid pass is free. You only get one free raid pass a day and the incubator has infinite use. What's not to like? You can play solo or in a group with strangers or friends. Also, each week the company runs different events and challenges. Strangely enough, while I am playing the game, I come up ideas for my work and home.

Life has hit a new low. My career progression is on hold. On 30th April my team has told we do not exist in the new organisation chart. In addition, each one of us was told their roles are no longer continued within the organisation. The new organisation chart has only two NEW library technician roles in the new team. Yet there are 6 of us who are library technician. They are pretty much asking us to compete for the positions.
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