A week prior, I was already gearing up for this week, which I had nicknamed to be my Hell Week. Little did I know that it was really really an apt name. Now why was it hell week?
Longest teaching week
For the module that I’m teaching, it’s divided into Odd and Even weeks as each tutorial is taught once a fortnight. I like to pack most of my classes into the Odd week so that I can do stuff for The Wellness Insider on Even weeks. This semester, I have 3 days of classes during the Odd weeks and Wednesday is where I teach from 10am till 6pm with only a 2-hour lunch break.
Not complaining because that’s what I asked for, and it’s really not too bad when I’m teaching via Zoom. But due to final papers, I have opened up 2 days of consultations this week – Monday and Friday. That means that it will really be the longest teaching week ever. Get ready my pipagao!
Nature called
As I mentioned, teaching the whole week was something that I had consciously planned. I knew that I would be tired and I also knew that I would be neglecting anything else except classes and my students’ papers. However, on Sunday evening, my period came.
As if I wouldn’t be tired enough from work alone, Mother Nature decided that she’d throw in lethargy and cramps to the mix to drain even more energy. Nonetheless, I told myself that I was going to take ginseng in the mornings to keep my energy levels up and since I’m working from home, the bed is always there for me to catch 15 min breaks in between classes.
HOWEVER, the cramps this month were bad. Epically bad and came with insomnia. And got worse after my period ended. They were so bad that I couldn’t get out of bed and was rolling around trying to find the most comfortable position.
Hot compresses didn’t help. I ran out of strong painkillers so I could only take Panadol and those only dulled the pain but it still felt like I was being kicked from the inside every few minutes. Drank turmeric milk and that helped a bit but the cramps would still come back at night and that naturally affected my sleep. Is this how labour contractions feel??? But with labour pains, at least you know you’re getting a baby at the end of your misery and it’ll end once the baby pops. I don’t have a baby (unless it’s a food baby) and I didn’t know when the pain would stop!
On Friday morning, I knew that I had to see my Gynae and he put me through a few scans. As such, I had to postpone my Friday student consultations to Monday. The report is out and I do have fibroids, but my doc isn’t too worried about them as they’re very small and he said that “fibroids are common” but what he IS worried is that my endometriosis may be flaring up again. I’m still under observation at the moment and we’ll see how I feel next period cycle. In the meanwhile, I have turmeric pills to take as supplements so that I can reduce as much inflammation as possible and I also have a few back up painkillers from the doc. Fingers crossed. I really do not wish to go through another surgery.
Missing bun
As I had to wait 2 hours for my medical report on Fri, I went window shopping after lunch. Crystal Jade was having a Buy-3-get-1-free promotion and so I ended up buying 8 buns. Or so I thought. I was busy checking the receipt that I didn’t realise that the cashier missed out on one of my buns! :'(
Browning of my toilet
I recently moved my Butterfly Pea plant from the corridor outside my flat to inside my toilet because:
- I wanted to prevent any insect infections
- My toilet gets a good amount of sunlight, which is good for the plant
- I’ll remember to water it more regularly
Last point about watering it. So, I watered it today and I didn’t think too much about the amount because I usually stay over at my parents’ place during the weekends so I tend to water my plants a wee bit more on Saturdays. As for my Butterfly Pea Plant, it sits in a hanging rattan planter that is lined with plastic.
What I didn’t know is that this plastic lining had escape routes…and excess water did just that. It dripped alllllll over my toilet floor and parts of the wall. It looked like my plant shat in there and I had to deal with the aftermath. And that’s what I did. I had to spray the tiles with trust Clorox and rinse it all off while I was also taking a dump. That’s multitasking for you.
My Suicidal wardrobe
My walk-in wardrobe is an open concept and I DIY using IKEA’s Elvarli 3 sections system. It’s pretty similar to the picture above but of course, I customised it to my needs. It has been up for almost a year and it always seemed pretty sturdy to me because I would occasionally be holding onto the poles to put stuff at the top shelves etc.
I have no idea why but today, as I was taking a photo of one of the hanging shelves that I placed onto dear Elvarli (to give the merchant review via Shopee), the whole thing just came crashing down. I was lucky that nothing crashed into me or knocked my head or caused me to fall down since I was still standing on a stool.
I managed to get off the stool after pushing the whole wardrobe system against the wall and I thought that it would remain leaning against the wall while I get my toolbox and try to figure out the weak point. But before that I also needed to take out the clothes before I could do any adjustments. Alas, as I walked out, I heard a very loud crash.
I was glad that I could still open the door to my walk-in and what a sight to behold. Clothes all over the floor with the frames making a diagonal barrier. After picking up all my clothes (they’re now lying on half of my bed) and putting away all the frames, I spy my little eye on a warped piece of plastic/rubber. This circular thing is what goes between the ceiling and the top pole. I know that I screwed the pole up very tight because I would shake each pole after installation before I added the shelves and horizontal poles. But from the way that it has warped, I think this is what loosened the frame and since all 3 are joined together, when one falls, it just brought the rest down with it.
Causes of the warping? One theory is due to temperature changes. My walk-in is actually the utility room, with windows that get a lot of sunlight. As such, the room gets heated and cooled very drastically. This piece of plastic couldn’t take the constant changes in temperature and warped. Second theory is that due to the age of this flat, the floor to ceiling heights aren’t even. As such, this might affect the weight distribution of my clothes onto each frame and this one just gave away.
Backlog of work
As mentioned earlier, I knew that I was pushing anything to do with The Wellness Insider aside for this week but naturally, nobody else knew that. Thus, I was receiving WhatsApp messages and calls from PR agencies about following up on their emails which I’ve ignored for a week. Yes, this added to my stress.
In a nutshell
It has been miserable but I am just taking things one step at a time but I needed to rant. Hence this blog post. I’ve put in a consultation for a wardrobe system and I know that it’s going to cost me a lot of money but I think I need something that’s actually drilled/attached to the bloody walls and ceilings. Moreover, these professionally built systems will come with at least a year guarantee. I will sleep on a ‘single’ sized bed now since half of my mattress is occupied by my clothes.
I will learn not to give my Butterfly Pea plant that much water ever again but I’ve placed a thick piece of paper at the bottom so that’ll absorb some water in case I do make the same mistake.
I’ve edited some articles and they’re either published or scheduled to be published…but I still have a video to edit!
Breathe Mel, breathe. Ok. I shall go shower and head on over to the parents where I can ignore everything and binge on dramas.
Leave a Reply