Gym Anyone?

Okay, in the plight to lose some of the weight accumulated in Malaysia and also to tone the abs, I went to 24-Hour Fitness because the guy I spoke with offered a 30 Day Free Pass to try out the gym. Okay so went to the gym yesterday with a friend for the yoga class. I was apprehensive at first because I know yoga has some base in the Hindu religion or something. But my friend said if they started meditating and praying to their god, then we will just use that time to meditate upon Christ. Okay, sounds good to me. So we went there and we were definitely lemmings. We just looked around at others and followed meekly. Take off shoes, take off socks, sit cross-legged. Instructor began. Music soothing. Breathing exercises, check. I wanted to laugh out loud when she started saying do the cat pose, cow pose, monkey pose, dog pose... hilarious. But I really enjoyed the time to just check out of every care of the world and just concentrate on the body and the poses. It was pretty relaxing although some of the poses threatened to break my back and scared my muscles into shivering for mercy. At the end, I refrained from saying Namaste (I think it means I bow to you or something). All in all, a good experience. Next will be the cardio workout. Was supposed to go today but got call from Accountemps. Maybe tomorrow.

Job Search Continues.....

Still searching for a job. After waiting a week and a half for Appleone (temp agency) to call, I decided to call the Accounts Rep. I have been assigned to, to check in and ask what is going on. Well, it's been two days since I left her a message and 5 days since I emailed her. Still nada. I must say that her work ethics must be quite unprofessional for someone working in that line, well actually, as a matter of fact, any kind of line. So I went ahead and signed up with Accountemps yesterday and I got a call this morning to go in for the interview. Called a little after 8:30am and silly me picked a 10.00am appointment! So here I am rushing all over the place. Picked clothes to wear. Shoes. Shower. Shave. Blow-dry hair. Iron. Got directions from Google. Okay. Out the door. Except that somehow the directions were wrong and ended up going a totally different way. Which was just as well because there was a bad traffic going that way. Made it to the agency 2 minutes late. Filled up the application, and was asked to take 6 tests(!!!) A/P, A/R, AlphaNumeric Data Entry, 10-Key, Ms EXCEL, MS90. Took me 1.75 hours. Grueling. Especially when I was not expecting to be tested so soon. Well, I made above average on all of the tests except for MAS90, I was just average. :( Then the lady interviewed me and said she might have a job for me, she will call in 2-3 days. So let's see where this takes me.

Fun at the Beach

Bizarre Happening

I was in church last Sunday when a lady I've said hi and bye to slipped me a piece of paper with her contact information and told me to call her sometime this week. It was quite bizarre as I hardly know her. But I said okay anyway. Perhaps she wanted to invite Cael to her son's party (they are about the same age) or something like that. That was the only reason I could think about. So anyways, I had forgotten all about it until yesterday when I was looking through my purse and saw this piece of paper. So I called her. Got voicemail. She called back later in the evening and we started this very odd conversation. I said "Hey, I'm Julie, you gave me your contact and told me to call you? What's up?" She starts telling me she had caught the flu and had been home. I was thinking, Wow! she is being real friendly like we have known each other awhile. It was really odd. She must have felt like something was not right because she suddenly asked me who I was again. I said I was Julie. Then she said, "Do I know you?" I said "Well yes, we are the couple who used to sit behind you in church with a toddler". She said, "ohhhh...I thought you were Wendy, I meant to give the contact to Wendy as I said I would." So okay we ended the conversation after a laugh over mistaken identity.
I am writing all this to say that for some very very odd reason, people here have a hard time recognizing Asian faces. I guess we must all look alike to them. There are basically 3 Chinese girls (that I know) in our church. And I have been mistaken for 2 of them. Once, someone came up to me and started congratulating me and asking me how the honeymoon was. As I did not know this person, I thought it was very bizarre that he would be asking me about my honeymoon that happened 4 years ago. I later found out he thought I was another girl who just got married!
Well, I guess I will take these happenings as a compliment since I think those 2 ladies look much slimmer than me. Haha!

Learning to RELAX

Ok, I am learning to not stress about the no job situation and just enjoy this free time that I have to myself. After all, in the weeks to come, once I start work, I will probably have to work for the rest of my life or at least until I retire..I think. Unless we struck lottery. I am telling myself not to worry about finance. Yeah yeah so what is $650 dollars a month for childcare that we don't have because I am not pulling my weight? haha. Not going to last forever right? Well, except that it is $650 lesser in our savings towards buying a house. House shmouse. I am just thinking that if I don't ever have the desire to buy a house, we will be relatively well-off. No mortgage, no property taxes, no HOAs...Might even be able to send Cael for golf lessons, music lessons..you name it. So why am I so itching to buy a house? One question I cannot answer. Is it because everyone is doing so? Keeping up with the Joneses? I wish I didn't WANT to buy a house. Makes life easier for us.
The pit of my stomach is going to have a hole soon because although I make light of this situation, I am a worrier, which goes against my belief. And again, this is not because I think that God cannot open doors..I know He can.. I just wonder why He would want to? I confess I have not been the best of His sheep, not even close. Mediocrity is my middle name. Unfortunately.. although it is something I detest.

Where is My Job?

I always have this fear in the pit of my stomach that no one is going to hire me because I am just not good enough. I am now feeling the same thing as I felt 7 years ago when I came to America and was looking for a job. I had gone to an employment agency called Appleone. I said I was willing to take any kind of job, temp, temp-to-hire, whatever, just to get my foot in the door. So I got kinda desperate when after 2 weeks I had not heard a peep from them. I started looking for a job on my own and found one that paid a MEASLY minimum wage which at that time I think was $6.25/hour. You will realize that unless you have worked in America before, most time your previous work experiences will count for zilch! Furthermore, when you are asked what your last salary was, the computer won't even allow you to put in the amount since an error message will come on to say that you have made a mistake, there is no possible way you earned so little for a month's work, may they suggest instead that you meant WEEKLY? So there ya go... so anyways, back to my story... So here I was working in this hole in the wall company processing invoices for a wireless service provider when I get a call from Appleone 3 days later to say they have a job for me. Pay is of course considerably higher. Can I start next week? I say yes. (BUT OF COURSE!!!!) So I told the supervisor that I don't think this is my kinda job and I don't think I will be coming back. Well, she immediately calls her boss and then the boss came on the line and told me that although I have been working there only 3 days, they liked my work ethic and told me I was really efficient and how about they bump my salary up a dollar and maybe in 2 years' time, I could even become a supervisor myself and get a higher salary of x amount of dollars? Well I thanked him very gratefully and said no thank you. That is because what I would be earning in my new job is already higher than what the poor supervisor is earning! Well she is very young and so is the boss. They might not mind starting from the bottom of the pile but I am too old and cannot afford that. Got bills to pay. They are probably still living with their parents and are carefree.
So here I am 7 years later, same place, same Appleone, same situation...it's like deja vu. And the same 'fear' in the pit of my stomach. I will let you know soon if I resort again to accepting minimum wage!

10 Things You Might Not Know About Me

10. I used to be able to remember all sorts of things that used to surprise a lot of people. Not anymore, not since Cael.
9. I am too direct for my own good and have offended tons of people. (well I guess a lot of ppl know this about me!)
8. When I was a kid, I used to wake up at 3am in the morning and sit in the bathroom to finish reading a new Enid Blyton book that I just could not put down.
7. Someone who once liked me a lot failed his university exams because he was busy writing love letters to me in class. He was never my boyfriend.
6. I ran away from home when I was 17 but that only lasted a day before my mom came and got me.
5. I have been to China, India, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand and the Phillipines for mission trips.
4. I never realized I love working with numbers until I started managing our home finance and budget and happened to be very good at it.
3. My secret desire is to be a part of a broadway musical like the Phantom of the Opera.
2. I faint at the sight of blood because I once saw an uncle of mine in anger took a chopping knife and whacked it down on his fingers.
1. I used to dream prophetic dreams and am fairly good at interpreting other people's dreams. "And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions." Joel 2:28

Biking

Gerald went biking with a group of bikers last Saturday. The small picture is him taking the curb. Cool!

What A Difference a Year Makes

Eeewww, girls!

First Visit to the Dentist

Today marks the first of a lifetime of semi-annual dentist visits for Cael. He did pretty good. Took x-rays of his teeth while he sat on my lap and we were covered with the black protective thingy.. He was fascinated with the equipment. Then the dental assistant took us on a tour of the place. Very clean. Dropped us off at a playroom so Cael can be busy without making mama crazy. Was barely 5 minutes before we were whisked away to meet the dentist. She was nice. Very Hollywoody, must be because she also has an office in Beverly Hills! She was very well groomed with (must be) Japanese straightened hair and glittery eye liners. I sat on the chair with Cael on my lap again. Took all of 3 minutes to get the tartar (she called it calculus) off Cael's few front teeth. Had to hold him down of course. He cried of course but I could see it was not painful at all, just didn't like his mouth invaded. He was ok once she was done. Then armed with advice on how to care for his teeth, we walked out where Cael was rewarded with a toy car and a toothbrush and floss. All is well, waved bye bye and off we went. Took us about 35 minutes including the pages and pages of paperwork I had to fill up.

The End of the SAHM Era

Well technically, no, because I will still be staying home until I have found a job. But it does mark the end of 'Exclusive Cael and Mama Days'. My miniature person will start daycare tomorrow albeit just half a day for now. This will go on until I feel comfortable enough to leave him for a whole day. Then it is back to work for me.
I am not concerned about getting a job. It's just a matter of how low will I go.. salary-wise I mean. haha. But that's another blog.
I have mixed feelings about this. Not that I am worried about Cael going to daycare. I am mixed as in part of me is happy to get out of the house, join the workforce again and have some outside interaction with other adults. The other part of me is sad because like the title says, it marks the end of a chapter of my life. I can't say that it has been all wonderful. There have been days when I want to tear my hair out in frustration. But this new chapter means that from this day forward, I will never ever have my baby boy all to myself again. I will no longer be his sole caretaker.
I console myself that there will be vacations, holidays, weekends. Plus I am a much nicer mom when I have been away from my baby for a couple of hours. Plus it will definitely be good for Cael to have a social life. Plus someone else will potty train him instead of me!!!

Chillin'@home