8 April 2005
I think the outing last night had tired me out a bit. I just couldn’t get out of bed this morning. When it was about 8.30 a.m. I thought I’d better get up and start with my exercise bike. The 30 minutes on the bike seemed like eternity. When I finally finished, I did a bit of mini trampoline. I still had to finish yesterday’s blog. I checked my email and started doing my blog. When I went to save what I typed I couldn’t believe what happened. The Internet seemed to be down again and didn’t save a word I typed. Very frustrated with it so I started over again in Word instead directly in Blogger.com.
I had an appointment with Jill around 12.30 pm. I told her on Monday that I needed a haircut so she asked me to make an appointment with the hairdresser and she will accompany me there. My hairdresser appointment is at 1 pm. I booked it at this hair salon on Royal Parade. I’ve never been there before but it’s probably worth checking out since it’s so close to my house. The hairdresser I used to go is in town and it’s not so easy to get to. I started to panic when Jill didn’t show up at 12.30 pm. I tried calling her on the mobile but it went to her voicemail. I thought I’d wait for a few more minutes and then try again. When it was around 12.45 pm I thought she might have got the wrong date or time and I’d better head off to the hairdresser. I don’t think I’ll make it there in 15 minutes but I’m sure it’s ok if I’m a few minutes late. I called Jill again and left a message for her to let her know that I’ve left and she can meet me there later. When I shut the door behind me, Jill showed up at the gate. She said she was on the phone when I rang and suggested that she drives me there. We were able to get a disabled parking spot right in front of the hair salon so it was quite convenient.
I must say I felt much better that Jill was there with me. I felt I needed a bit of moral support when going to a new place. It was a bit akward when the girl who washes my hair asked me what happened to me when she saw me limping. I also found it a bit akward when I had to tell her not too scratch my head when washing my hair because I had a neurosurgery and my scalp is still a bit sensitive.
The hairdresser asked me what sort of hair style do I have in mind. I told her that I wanted something that will suit my face but easy to maintain. Jill told her that when you have a young child, you don’t really have much time so it’s best to go for something that’s low maintenance. I actually miss having long hair because I think it’s actually easier to care for but I think it’s more practical more me to have short hair like it very much. I don’t see much change at all. Jill said it looks nice but I think she just said that to make me feel better.
Neil came later in the afternoon to help me with my arm exercises. We talked about the comedy festival last night and I told him about how bad I felt because someone stared at me. He mentioned what the anthropologist called guilt culture versus
shame culture. I had no idea what he was on about at first. I couldn’t believe that what I’m feeling is a cultural thing. I’m sure everyone wants people to laugh with them but not laugh at them, it does not matter what culture you come from. Neil said the Asian culture is pretty much a shame culture – meaning you worry about what people think of you while the Australian culture is more of a guilt culture – meaning you don’t really care what other people think of you. After the explanation, it made more sense to me. I think that’s quite true. Maybe that’s why the designer label imitations are selling so well in Asian countries. I remember one year when I got back from overseas and was showing off my newly purchased (imitation) Gucci watch to Tim and he sneered at me. He thought it’s bad enough to buy designer label not to mention imitation. What he does not understand is why would you want to wear anything or carry anything that has the label on it that people can see. I told him that’s exactly the point – you want people to see you are wearing designer label. I guess I was brought up in a culture like that. He said one very big difference between them (him, Rosemary and Tim) and me is that if they were in my situation, they would not care what the strangers think of them very much as long as they are not doing anything wrong. I’m not sure how I can fix this if it’s so deep in my upbringing. Neil suggested psychotherapy.
We then moved on to my arm exercises. I suspect Neil was trying to compete with Gavin (to see who can push me harder). When my arm was getting tired he still asked me to do more exercises! I think it’s so nice of him to help out with the exercises so I don’t slack off too much.
I had an appointment with Jill around 12.30 pm. I told her on Monday that I needed a haircut so she asked me to make an appointment with the hairdresser and she will accompany me there. My hairdresser appointment is at 1 pm. I booked it at this hair salon on Royal Parade. I’ve never been there before but it’s probably worth checking out since it’s so close to my house. The hairdresser I used to go is in town and it’s not so easy to get to. I started to panic when Jill didn’t show up at 12.30 pm. I tried calling her on the mobile but it went to her voicemail. I thought I’d wait for a few more minutes and then try again. When it was around 12.45 pm I thought she might have got the wrong date or time and I’d better head off to the hairdresser. I don’t think I’ll make it there in 15 minutes but I’m sure it’s ok if I’m a few minutes late. I called Jill again and left a message for her to let her know that I’ve left and she can meet me there later. When I shut the door behind me, Jill showed up at the gate. She said she was on the phone when I rang and suggested that she drives me there. We were able to get a disabled parking spot right in front of the hair salon so it was quite convenient.
I must say I felt much better that Jill was there with me. I felt I needed a bit of moral support when going to a new place. It was a bit akward when the girl who washes my hair asked me what happened to me when she saw me limping. I also found it a bit akward when I had to tell her not too scratch my head when washing my hair because I had a neurosurgery and my scalp is still a bit sensitive.
The hairdresser asked me what sort of hair style do I have in mind. I told her that I wanted something that will suit my face but easy to maintain. Jill told her that when you have a young child, you don’t really have much time so it’s best to go for something that’s low maintenance. I actually miss having long hair because I think it’s actually easier to care for but I think it’s more practical more me to have short hair like it very much. I don’t see much change at all. Jill said it looks nice but I think she just said that to make me feel better.
Neil came later in the afternoon to help me with my arm exercises. We talked about the comedy festival last night and I told him about how bad I felt because someone stared at me. He mentioned what the anthropologist called guilt culture versus
shame culture. I had no idea what he was on about at first. I couldn’t believe that what I’m feeling is a cultural thing. I’m sure everyone wants people to laugh with them but not laugh at them, it does not matter what culture you come from. Neil said the Asian culture is pretty much a shame culture – meaning you worry about what people think of you while the Australian culture is more of a guilt culture – meaning you don’t really care what other people think of you. After the explanation, it made more sense to me. I think that’s quite true. Maybe that’s why the designer label imitations are selling so well in Asian countries. I remember one year when I got back from overseas and was showing off my newly purchased (imitation) Gucci watch to Tim and he sneered at me. He thought it’s bad enough to buy designer label not to mention imitation. What he does not understand is why would you want to wear anything or carry anything that has the label on it that people can see. I told him that’s exactly the point – you want people to see you are wearing designer label. I guess I was brought up in a culture like that. He said one very big difference between them (him, Rosemary and Tim) and me is that if they were in my situation, they would not care what the strangers think of them very much as long as they are not doing anything wrong. I’m not sure how I can fix this if it’s so deep in my upbringing. Neil suggested psychotherapy.
We then moved on to my arm exercises. I suspect Neil was trying to compete with Gavin (to see who can push me harder). When my arm was getting tired he still asked me to do more exercises! I think it’s so nice of him to help out with the exercises so I don’t slack off too much.
posted by Teresa Liu at 6:13 PM
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