I have given my stomach such a good fasting for the past few days...that when I ate a bigger meal today, it gave me diarrhea. Well, actually over the weekend I gave in to my sugar cravings and snuck in a little chocolate, and a piece of cake, and some ice cream. Ok, I gave in a lot ^^"

But I need to start giving my body more nutrition now because it's that time of the month. Actually I had some bread during the day and black bean soup in the evening. But what I'm craving even more is fruit and vegetables. I'll slowly start eating more. Once I visit the dentist tomorrow for a quick check-up hopefully I'll get the all clear. I wanna start exercising again too.

The swelling on my right cheek has just about all gone. The only thing I'm worried about is the pocket of pus inside my cheek that sometimes leaks after I eat. Also, I can still see my sutures. The dentist lied, he said they would dissolve in 7 days which is today.

There is only 6 days left til I fly to Seoul, and time is slipping away. I'm so behind on my to-do list, including revising Korean! Last week I was groggy because I couldn't eat and felt tired, so I didn't get anything done. Writing lists is not helping me anymore either...because I have mutliple lists!

Time to get organised!!! Pronto~

This is one beautifully written, beautifully illustrated book...that I discovered at my local library. Despite what the name might suggest the author/illustrator is from China, a college teacher actually, called Xu Han 徐瀚. Ali's Dream Castle website can be found at www.a-li.com.cn. And if you do a google search, you can find the English version to read online.

Read if you still believe in fairy tales. That is the author's dedication!

If you can not cry, then just keep smiling

If you can travel, then just keep roaming

If you can sing, then just keep...*

If you can forgive, then just keep forgetting

If you can avoid saying goodbye, then just keep staying together

(*Not sure how to translate this)

After spending an awesome five days in Melbourne dining out every single day, discovering new places around Melbourne, visiting my university for the first and last time this year, wearing my legs and feet out, shopping, meeting new people, having an unexpected adventure along the way to the-beach-I-wasn't-planning-to-go-to, despite getting drenched on the night I arrived, my last day was spectacularly warm....so yes, after all that I had to come back to good old Perth to have my wisdom tooth extracted.

Today is now day 5 of recovery and I am feeling so much better than yesterday. Yesterday I wanted to punch my right jaw because it was so annoyingly stiff. That and also I was feeling miserable because I couldn't eat any real food. I haven't been eating any real food for five days now. I think anyone would be miserable about that.

Maybe I should backtrack for a moment to day 0.

Day 0 - Day of wisdom tooth removal. My appointment was in the afternoon at 3.30 and was finished in half an hour. The dentist forgot to put in the rubber thing that helps keep my mouth open so my jaw was a little sore afterwards. Anyway all I had was two shots of local anaesthetic, then the dentist went in to cut my gum, saw a little of my jaw bone to get to the wisdom tooth before successfully pulling it out. I was numb and bleeding for the rest of the day and no doubt my mouth felt like crap the next morning. I only took three nurofen caplets to help with the pain after the aneasthetic wore off, and was drinking water through a straw before I realised you're NOT supposed to use a straw.

Day 1 of recovery. After a warm salt water rinse in the morning my mouth felt much better - no more blood. I made myself a banana milkshake for breakfast and decided to experiment for lunch by added peanut butter to my shake. I forgot that the peanut butter was the crunchy version not the smooth one so it turned out being a "crunchy smoothie". I think I put too much in as well. For dinner I had fork-mashed potato and carrot soup. I diligently washed my mouth with warm salt water five times today, as well as starting to carefully brush my teeth. I love the feeling of freshly brushed teeth.

Day 2 of recovery. Today my right jaw was swollen and the toothache had started. In the morning I had fork-mashed banana with sugar cane juice. Then I indulged in ice-cream for lunch...but had a little too much. I was inspired by my friend who told me all she ate when she got her wisdom teeth removed was jelly and ice-cream. I think I'm a little too healthy to survive on sugar only. I need my fruit and vegies! Dinner was the same as yesterday.

Day 3 of recovery. I made myself a delicious banana and avocado smoothie for brunch and later in the day I simply had avocado mash (with salt and pepper). My jaw started to get really stiff today, along with the toothache and swelling. The swelling is not that bad I guess, it just looks like I've always got something in my right cheek.

Day 4 of recovery. I ran out of bananas so I had to make do with avocado and decided to try it with grape. But my avocado-grape smoothie turned out having grape skin throughout because the hand-blender I was using couldn't blend it smaller. By the end of eating it I couldn't stand it any longer - I could just imagine all the grape skin clumped in my throat. For lunch I had a bit of rice porridge which went down my throat surprisingly smooth. Dinner surprised me even more when I could actually smoothly swallow thin rice-noodle in soup. I started to remember the satsifying feeling of eating real food again. It gave me hope.

Day 5 of recovery. Today. I think the swelling has gone down a little, and it's also the day the sutures will start to dissolve. For brunch I had mashed avocado again (with salt and pepper) and towards the end decided to start chewing abit on my other side of my mouth. After all, if I really wanted to I could actually eat normal food with the opposite side. I'm just scared to get food stuck around the painful area I can't clean properly where my wisdom tooth used to be. I decided to try chewing a bit of fried tofu. It was all good except when I checked inside my mouth I couldn't tell if there was food stuck around my sutures or it was part of the healing process. So now I decided to wait two more days before I try eating anymore solid food. Better safe than sorry.

I hope I'm back to normal by the time I go to Korea. I want to start exercising again. I want to start enjoying food again. A girl can't live without her fooooooood!!!!

Oh and did I mention my baby niece was born the morning I had my wisdom tooth removed? I feel so forgotten but I know it's selfish to think so. Mum, you so know how to make me feel unloved. Haven't been having any good feelings towards (or from) my sister-in-law since I had that enlightening dream two months ago. I always thought she was super nice to me. I didn't realise it was actually all fake. I'm sorry to sound mean but that's the one thing I can't stand about people.

To avoid ending on a sour note: this is what I'm looking forward to - eating noodles!!!

...and a picture. Everyone loves pictures.

Monday February 6th, 2012: A day to remember - A baby, a tooth, and pretty clouds.

Slowly but surely, I'm returning to the original physical me.

感覺真好~！

Having excess baggage is a real pain in the butt.

Lately I've been having thoughts of turning vegan...Ever since I heard those horrible stories about treatment of hens, I've kind of developed a distaste for eggs, especially whole eggs. And also the treatment of cows to get milk, has turned me off milk 

After a visit to the dentist today, I feel so much more relieved than yesterday. Ok, so wisdom teeth are not such a big deal after all, especially if I'm not feeling any pain yet. I was just scared because I have the age-factor going against me.

As I was filling out the patient information form(because it was my first time there), one question asked: "When was your last visit to the dentist?". I was embarrassed to write 1999 ...I was just being brutally honest. Another question was: "Do you feel uncomfortable or anxious when you are at the dentist?". Just to be safe I circled "Yes". I chose that because it was my first time there and didn't know what to expect, but otherwise I've never had a bad experience with dentists.

Anyway, as expected the dentist was really friendly. He gave me a straightforward oral examination, including two quick x-rays, that cost $45 each by the way. I wish he would've told me beforehand because I already knew that I would need an OPG x-ray anyway at the radiologist. So basically he looked at my x-ray and told me my teeth were healthy, with no cavities or decay, capillaries and everything looked normal, and discussed a little about wisdom teeth extraction. Nothing I didn't know already. Just simply going through the set procedures. At the end of it I got a referral to the radiologist and a whopping $147 bill...but a little more peace of mind.

So straight after I headed to the radiology clinic. Filled out another patient form (first time getting x-ray) and didn't have to wait long before I went in to have my OPG x-ray taken. The radiologist technician was so fast! She told me to take my glasses, earrings and lacky band off (for imaging purposes) and got me to stand at the x-ray machine. This required me to rest my chin on the chin rest and bite the piece of plastic(?) between my front teeth and touch the roof of my palate with my tongue. While my head was held steady, and holding onto the handles, the x-ray machine moved 360 degrees around my head taking a 3-D scan.

I really wish the radiologist had told me when the scan was starting, so I would know to keep extra still. But I guess to her she had done this thousands of times before. The scan only took seconds. Then I was out of the scanning room and at the reception to pay another bill, this time it was just under $90 thanks to Medicare's bulk-billing. They told me I could pick up my results in an hour so I went out for a walk. If only the sun wasn't so scorching. I ended up returning to the cool air-conditioned waiting room.

So now I have an x-ray of my teeth including those hidden wisdom teeth. To my surprise, I actually do have four of them. I was especially happy to see that the roots to my bottom two wisdom teeth are nice and short and not touching any blood vessels. That was what I was most worried about.

I'm going back to the dentist in two days. And it looks like I'll be able to squeeze in a wisdom tooth extraction "surgery" before I go to Korea.

Fun

I bumped into a family friend today. I'm so sick of people telling me that what I'm studying is useless!!!!!!!!!!!!! As if I didn't feel useless enough already -_-"""""""'

What am I going to do when I graduate and when am I getting married. Two of my most despised topics of discussion lately ㅠㅠ IF I knew, you WOULDN'T NEED TO ASK!