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So it's that time of year again. I want to get my mum something she'll love, but I'm on a bit of a budget. Past years ive done perfume, jewellery etc.. I kind of want to do more this year.

I was thinking of getting tickets to go and do/see something... I'm not sure what though. We just havent gone out and done anything other than lunch in ages, so I thought itd be nice.

Ideas? I live in Sydney.

I just got two impacted wisdom teeth removed, both lower, a week ago today. I've been coughing up some phlegm maybe 2-4 times a day since the actual surgery. Its always transparent/white or just slightly yellowy.

I had no cold/flu symptoms or coughing before the surgery, and as I received antibiotics through the IV in the actual surgery and have been taking them since I would've thought any infection would be stopped/dealt with. But I'm still coughing it up a week later, and I'm about to finish my course of antibiotics...

Any ideas what might be going on? My actual wisdom teeth/surgery site & sockets are healing fine I think, there's no pain anymore although I can't open my mouth far at all.

Another thing, I have no idea if its related, is that I actually had one coughing fit before my surgery. It was when the anesthetists assistant was getting me ready, she'd just inserted the IV and then injected something (no idea what) that made me/my head feel really strange and a bit sick. But as soon as she injected it I started to cough. She thought it was a nervous reaction, and said something like "nervous cougher, huh?" which I'm not.

I don't think its a big deal, because my gums etc have been healing well as far as I can tell, but because I'm going off the antibiotics after today... well, I don't want it to suddenly get worse and be an issue.

I'm going on a trip around Europe in June/July, and will be kind-of backpacking. I'm mostly staying at apartments and hotels, but because I'm going to a few festivals, I will be camping as well and as such am just taking a big pack.

So my questions are:

1. How can I help keep my pack, and all its contents, safe when wearing it and at the hotels etc. I mean, I figure I shouldn't keep anything really valuable in there, and if I do hide it somewhere amidst pairs of muddy gumboots and dirty laundry, but is there anything else that can be done/I should be aware of?

2. How/where should I keep and carry my valuables?

I'm a young female and, honestly, my clothes tend not to allow for much concealment. Those arm wallets and belt things also just annoy me. I was considering one of the purses/pouches that hangs around your neck, but it would be incredibly obvious still.

The other thing is, I like to just take a little cross-body purse when I go out (to festivals, clubbing, dinner etc. But I'm notoriously bad with taking care of my belongings - look at photos of me out and in almost every one my bag will be wide open with a couple of twenties hanging out. So obviously need to have some kind of other bag/pouch/pocket to put my valuables (that wouldn't annoy me when dancing all night/day)... I just have no idea what.

Trolling the internet, I saw zip ties on bags was recommended. Would that actually help? And I was thinking I could try and actually secure my bag to me somehow. So for example, the cross shoulder bag. So if the strap was cut, it would still be somewhat attached to me. Any ideas of how that could be done?

Should I split up money? Or keep cash somewhere, and then cards and emergency money really really close to me (like in my bra or something equally hard to steal)? What about my passport? I'm going to be partying a fair bit, and as I'm young, I'll need to have it on me most of the time as ID. I could deal with loosing some money or even my phone (I'm thinking I'll just buy a cheapy one for the trip), but my passport....

Also, with regards to getting money out, most people seem to say that you should pay for whatever you can in cash. But doesn't that mean you'd have to get quite a large amount out? And carry it around?

Any advice/experiences would be awesome! Thanks.

(Sorry for the rambling....)

Does anyone else experience this? It's really hard to describe, but it's kind of like feeling hungry but like you're going to throw up. There's a dull ache, nausea and that hungry feeling. Plus this kind of tightening in the throat.

It always seems to ease up when I lie down, but not really when I make myself eat something. It happens at seemingly random times - not often, maybe once every three months - but I can never figure out what it is or what will make me feel better.

Anyone else felt this? Or know what it is/why it is?

Hola. So I have a few VSDs, which I never really cared about it before but with a checkup coming up I'm actually getting curious about it/them. So I was doing a bit of research and reflecting on my situation and there seems to be a few... Anomalies.

1. My GP was the first one to suspect I had a VSD after hearing a heart murmur. I was 14 or 15. From what I hear, it's usually detected as a child. The GP in question was someone I had never seen before, and I can't help but wonder why it wasn't picked up on earlier. Or whether there was something to actually detect. Is it possible for it to not be congenial?

2.It was confirmed on my first visit to the cardiologist to be a small VSD. On the second he said it was closing up.

3. Third visit he said it was almost fully closed. And then found several other holes. New? Or were they just not picked up on?

I'm really wondering about the quality of care or if I have something wrong more serious than I thought. Anyone had any similar experiences? Or some knowledge of the area? Obviously I'll ask about it when I go to the cardiologisr (without accusing him), just curious now.

It's a massive difference. Where they dominated the Olympics, and usually do, the performance in the Paralympics is strikingly different.

I'm not saying that the athletes aren't doing well, just when you compare the medal tallies... well, there's a massive difference. And yes, the Paralympics isn't finished, but I was wondering why this might be. Lack of funding? Or encouragement for kids and adults to get started? Or a lack of support when they have?

It's not just the case for the U.S. It seems some countries - including Australia - have excelled in the Paralympics but not the Olympics or vice versa.

I honestly have no idea about the state of sport in the US, I was just wondering if there was something significant behind that difference.

It's just so exhausting. He's closest to me in age, I'm 19 and he's 21, and for the most part we get along fine. But I'm just get so sick of him I kinda.. Explode haha. I ignore heaps of things he does that irritates me, I just let them go, but after a while I just can't help but react.

It's just he's one of those people who can come across really condescending, and he's really moody. So you'll do something like leave a light on in a room you're not in, and he gives you all this (as far as I'm concerned totally unnecessary) attitude. Or he'll be angry at something and just take it out on you.

And that's just so different to me - I'm normally really relaxed and don't get angry easily, but eventually I just snap at something. I'm not saying I'm blameless, at all, because I can be the annpying little sibling and when someone makes me angry I always do this thing where I intentionally make them angrier.

Like now, I'm at a friends because I drove off after a fight with my brother. It started with him making a comment about the fact I was using a pair of scissors to fix my bag (and 'making them blunt') really rudely, so I just was really defensive and said that was rubbish because of blah, blah and blah. So it spiralled out of control from there, and I started using the scissors in a way that actually would make them blunt to piss him off more (making people angrier thing) while telling him to shut the **** up because he was a condescending asshole. And so on and on and on, until he told me to get lost and I drove off.

But I was just wondering how I can try and stop these fights? I mean, I guess I know no one can really tell me, I just hate it. I hate conflict.

Basically, there’s a guy I work with who just won’t get the message I’m not interested and I just don’t understand what he’s thinking.

I hardly want to be friends with the guy, let alone be in a relationship, but he keeps pushing for it. I treated him like I would any other work mate for the first couple of times I met him, but then he started making me really uncomfortable – kept hitting on me, giving compliments etc. Started texting and calling me heaps. So I stopped answering his calls, and only message him back if it’s work related. And to give a bit of context – he might message me twice in one day, once in the morning and once in the night, and call me twice. I won’t respond to any of it. But the next day or the one after he’ll do it again. I don’t give any excuses – I never mention it to him unless he brings it up, in which case I just do something like go “Oh. Sorry.” How can you not get the message from that? Especially because I’m practically attached to my phone.

Recently he’s started asking about “how much I like single life” – to which I always say something like “A lot. I’m not one for relationships.” And – most recently – “What would it take for me to get you” – which I didn’t actually reply to because I had to serve a customer.

It’s like it’s some big game to him, which I don’t understand. To me, it’s just so simple: if I was interested, I would let you know. I would have gone out with you, accepted one of your many invitations to the movies. I would respond to your messages. I would actually flirt with you, not just give a dismissive reply or ignore it. The fact that I’m going out of my way to avoid you when I can means you have no chance.

So frustrating! I’ve seen tons of answers to things like this on yahoo, with people saying that guys won’t understand till you tell them & that they’re not like women and don’t read every move someone makes etc. But far out, to me it’s totally obvious, not subtle.

But I definitely will be telling him flat out that I’m not interested.

Anyhoe, there’s no real point to this, I know it's really just a bit of a rant, unless someone can enlighten me as to the ways of such people (I’m sure plenty of girls do the exact same thing) - or where I'm going wrong.

So last night a guy I work with messaged me, asking if I wanted to go to a movie some time this week.

Now, I'm absolutely awful at understanding what people really mean - so I have no idea if this is just going as friends or.. well, you know. A date or not quite date. And while I'd be happy to go as friends just catching up, I'm not interested in him beyond that.

We've only really spoken to each other like 5 times at work, so we're not good friends, he's already asked if I have a boyfriend, and I offered him a lift home one night so now he waits for like an hour after his shift finishes so that I can drive him home. But it's only like a 20min drive, and max 40min on the train. So waiting for an hour just seems.. silly, really. And then when I get to his place, he kind of loiters in the car and it's really awkward. Most people just jump out or have something specific they want to say/have a real chat. But he just kind of.. sits and stands there with the door open but doesn't make any real moves to leave.

Anyway, I get the feeling he's interested in me but I don't want to assume that and be totally wrong. I've never had this problem at work before, with a guy actually asking me out - whether it's a date or just to catch up - as an individual thing, not group.

What should I do? Don't want to assume that he's interested, but I don't want to lead him on. Also reeeeeally don't want things to be awkward between us at work!

So my birthday is coming up, and I'm not one who gets really into birthdays, so I was planning on just going out with a few close friends (have something to eat, drink, dance, some more drinks... you know how it is) on my actual birthday. But my mum just told me she was planning a dinner with my brother, his partner & a few others (just at one of my favourite restaurants).

What would you do?

I haven't decided yet, but the whole thing made me wonder what I should do. On one hand it's my birthday, so shouldn't I do what I want to?, but on the other hand this whole day is as much (if not more) for my parents than it is for me. Especially because I don't care much about it, other than an excuse to catch up with friends and party a bit.

I'll probably go with the family dinner, just because, (I always end up doing exactly that, because of this same whole dilemma). But still, for once I'd kind of like to go out with my friends on my birthday.

So I went to the beach a week ago, and got burnt in odd places I missed when putting on sunscreen. Mainly it's the top of my legs, just above my ankles with some on my shins. I'm really fair, and although I often get a little but burnt in different places (I always forget to apply sunscreen somewhere) it normally fades/heals totally in a week. Even if it's really bad. But it's been a little over a week, and the marks are still really noticeable and haven't changed for most of the week. It faded a bit over the first three days or so, but since then there hasn't been any change. If anything, it's just gotten a little less.. pink and has a little bit of purple undertone. Which, again, has never happened before.

I'm worried that it's actually done some permanent or semi-permanent damage to my skin (that's visible, anyway, god knows what damage has already been done).

So I guess I'm wondering whether I'm over reacting, or if not what I should do about it.

Hey, so my 14 y/o border collie hasn't been eating very much lately. Over the past few days she's only really had a bit of wet food and a little dry food. (And I mean it when I say a 'little bit'). That's really out of the norm for her - she usually will wolf down anything you give her insanely quickly.

I've actually been on holidays, so she was staying with my aunt and uncle on their farm, and it's only since she's been back that I've noticed it. She might just not be feeling well, or is still adjusting or something, but I figured I'd ask for some advice now in case it does become a problem.

Thanks!

Oh, and in regards to staying with my aunt and uncle - she's pretty used to it & there's never been a problem before. I take her up there when I visit them & when I can't look after her (beats going to a Kennel, that's for sure). Not saying that it's not related, but just that it wasn't seriously disturbing/disruptive for her ( I hope...)

So I'm worried about my dog. She's a border collie, and turning 13 this year. I used to take her up to a dog beach and just throw a tennis ball is far as I could etc and she'd spend all day running up and down. I also used to take her for really long walks (just around the streets or through bush trails), throw the tennis ball for her all the time, and play with her heaps.

But she's been getting older and less fit so it's becoming increasingly hard to do that - there's only so much she can take. Also, late last year she snapped a ligament in her leg so we can only really take her on short walks etc. At the moment I'm really just taking her on a short walk every day or two, and just playing with her when I'm home from uni and work. It definitely doesn't seem enough though.

Does anyone have any ideas of ways to keep her entertained? She's always been extremely active, like all border collies, and she's definitely getting really bored and lonely now. I know it's just part of them aging but I'd love if I could make her life a bit more interesting.

Oh, and she's never really been interested in food. She loves bones, but when we were training her etc using food as a reward generally didn't work well.. we had to use toys and tennis balls. I've also tried those balls you fill with dog food but she just wasn't interested in it at all.

Hey, so I've got an interview for a tutoring job tomorrow (which was described as "brief interview/chat") and don't know what to wear. I don't really have any collared shirts/blouses, business clothes, long skirts, pants that aren't jeans...

Not to mention it's winter and absolutely freezing outside, so I don't really want to wear a skirt or dress. Especially because I have to go straight there from uni. It doesn't seem particularly formal though, so I was thinking about wearing a really good pair of jeans, a blazer style jacket and a solid coloured shirt?

So I've recently booked in for a trail ride at the place I used to have lessons (I haven't ridden for years, stopped in my senior year of high school), but having emptied out my wardrobe I can't find my old boots anywhere. I've got everything else - helmet, half chaps, joddies (it was pretty depressing that only my oldest, completely worn and stretched out pair fit) - but I'm a little concerned what shoes I should/can wear.

Basically, these are my options:

1. A pair of black lace-up leather boots - kind of like school shoes - that only go up a little past my ankle. They've got a pretty flat rubber sole, just some really fine lines running across them for grip, and a decent heel. BUT, they have this metal plate thing (that's about 1cm wide) that I was worried about. It's pretty close to the heel, and my stirrups shouldn't be anywhere near there, but I haven't ridden for ages so.... yeah. And they were incredibly expensive.

2. Another pair of boots, ankle ones, pretty sure they're either fake leather or just really bad quality (they were cheap, it's to be expected), that are a bit too pointy - more like the shape of a riding boot than the other pair - but perhaps a little too pointed. The heel is also a little small, not very big. The sole is completely flat/smooth though.