24th August is Daffodil Day

Tomorrow is Daffodil Day. A day of fundraising for the Cancer Council of Australia to "to help support Cancer Council's research, prevention and support services for patients and their families" (http://daffodilday.com.au/cancer-australia).

I didn't really used to think about cancer. It seemed like it was a distant concept that had nothing to do with me. In 2004, my Aunt aged 33, was diagnosed with breast cancer. I was in my last year of high school and I had finished my HSC. I had all this free time. It was spent going with my Aunt to and from doctors' appointments for tests and appointments. She had a biopsy performed to check if the tumour in her breast was actually cancer and I was in the room with her. She didn't want to be alone. She was scared. And I regret not being able to hold her hand at that time.

It was an odd summer day when we found out she had cancer. My uncle, her husband, returned first from the Doctor's office to where we were waiting and said simply, "She has it." My Aunt returned a little after, dabbing her face with tissues and sat with us. Her phone kept ringing and she just ignored call after call.

She had so many operations and stays in hospitals. She had a metal rod put in her leg, she had a mastectomy, chemotherapy, she had seizures. The cancer had spread from her breast to her bones to her brain. And it was sad. She was so positive and she believed in God and miracles and she prayed.

She spent time in a hospice in the last few weeks of her life. She spent her last birthday there. She was full of drugs of some sort and seemingly out of it. She was transferred back to a hospital where she was in a coma for the most part.

On 23rd April 2009 my cousin called me to say that the doctor believed that she would not stay much longer. All the family came to visit in the hospital. She was not conscious, just a body in the room, still alive but not living. My cousin had been spending the last few months living with my Aunt and taking care of her. I watched my cousin clean my Aunt's teeth and talk with familiarity with the nurses. My Aunt's two little children, aged 9 and 6 at the time, went in to say their last goodbyes.

And then, early in the morning of 25th April she went. There was another call from my cousin around 1am of 25th April and we all headed to the hospital to see her. I kept on thinking, she must have waited for everyone to see her before she left. The timing was spooky. What if we hadn't all said goodbye? What if we hadn't said "If this is too hard, then you can go. It's ok." What if we had sad, "Stay." But then, what kind of life could she have had? She was in pain and drugged up all the time. It would be selfish of us to keep her here. She once said that she didn't want anyone to tell her to go. Her mother, my grandmother, was in hospital because of cancer too. My other Aunt had said to their ill mother something along the lines of "It's okay if you want to go". But then, I wonder if it works that way.

My dad is currently scheduled for an operation to remove the lower left part of his lung. The doctor said that he's more than 50% sure that it's cancer. His opening words to us at the appointment were something along the lines of "It's probably cancer." I'm hopeful that once it is removed, whatever it is, that it'll be the end of it. That if it is cancer, it hasn't spread. It seems like removal of it is not urgent and that hopefully in the time before the operation, it hasn't spread either. I don't think I've said but my dad is the only parent I have left. I've wishing so hard that this operation is all he needs to be healthy again.

So, when fundraising days like Daffodil Day come around I try to do my part because it's not such a distant concept that has nothing to do with me. According to the Daffodil Day website "1 in 2 Australians will be diagnosed with cancer by the age of 85." Statistically speaking, someone you know will be affected by cancer. Tomorrow, and if you can any other time, please do what you can. Every little bit helps.

http://daffodilday.com.au/

The one where I go to beaches, and eat.

(Did I use that Oxford comma correctly? XD)

It seems like the last blog entry I made was almost a month ago. July was rather a boring month for me this year. I’ve finished all my subjects for my Juris Doctor and I just need to do my PLT. Some personal things are in the way currently so I’m looking for work and placement rather slowly. A whole bunch of my friends have or are leaving Sydney for work reasons. A few of my friends are heading off to South Korea to teach English. I’ve been to so many farewells in the past month!

One of my friends had never been to Bondi or Manly and so, before she leaves the country for a year, we went!

I don’t live close at all to Bondi. I’ve been there now 4 times. Maybe. If you’ve never been you can catch the bus all the way to the beach or, like we did, catch the train to Bondi Junction and then catch the bus from there. It’s much quicker than a bus, I feel.

(I need to clean my lens. I can see spots!)






To get to Manly you catch the ferry from wharf 3 at Circular Quay. You can take a billion photos of the Opera House while you ride the ferry. I know I did.



It’s about a 30 minute trip one way. I no longer get concession tickets so it was better for me to get a MyMulti day pass for $21.00 than to buy all my tickets separately. Adult return to Manly via Ferry is $14.00. So steep.





Don’t be like my friend and I, be prepared! We didn’t have thongs or towels or anything. So when we went to splash our feet in the water the bottom of our pants were wet and we were struggling to remove the sand from our feet. Taps, where were you?

We took the 5:15pm ferry back to Circular Quay and got to see the sky change from sunset to night.



Places that I’ve eaten at recently:

Lemongrass Takrai (86 Union Street, Pyrmont)

Reasonably priced, delicious Thai food. Friendly service. They do takeaway. Loved their yellow curry with beef.

Adriano Zumbo at The Star

First time I went to The Star and first time I’ve had Adriano Zumbo macaroons. I got salted popcorn butter and peach iced tea. I can’t believe that the salted popcorn butter tasted so much like popcorn and went so well with the cream. Was so good.

Red Chilli Sichuan Restaurant (3/51 – 53 Dixon St, Haymarket)

Lots of Tsingtao beer was had. My mouth hurt so much when I ate the food from the chilli side. Ate so much. I think my digestive system had some trouble handling all of that food! Going to the toilet was ... yeah XD

Fishouse, Bondi Beach

Fish and chips and potato scallops and deep-fried Mars bar. They were sold out of Pluto Pups though! I wanted them so badly. XD



Deep-fried Mars bar. Very very gooey chocolate. Interesting to try. I probably couldn’t eat a whole one. Just too rich! Wonder if a deep-fried Snickers bar would taste better?


That's been my past month and a bit. I've just enrolled on an online course about journalism to keep me occupied and my brain moving while I look for a job/work experience. I've always wanted to do something in that area but it never happened. And I've been watching The Newsroom too much and yeah. I've enrolled in one unit for the forthcoming online semester about writing. So that should be fun. Maybe you'll see some marked improvement in my writing style in this blog!

And you guys, cannot believe it's August already!