Of course Ann's description sounds better than her old nickname. But, recently, she found herself a bit tired of being a sounding board for her family. She still liked to talk to Ann a lot, since Ann always asked her questions even Ann may not be able to provide her with any "wise" suggestions. But at least Ann showed that she cared about her, and has never asked her a question for the second time and thus she was always pretty sure that Ann acquired the things she has told her. Kiwis, may be quite similar to other westerners, always ask you "how are you" first and do follow your answers to ask some more questions. That made her feel good since, at least they listen to her.

She found herself have had difficulty in talking to her family members. When she arrived home from work, her little kid told her about his school life, and then H told her about his day - especially when it was a bad day. But the thing is, she was not saying she didn't care about them, she has just ... There were times when she arrived home late, e.g. 9 pm or even later, with her stomach totally empty and has already been upset by some incidents happened on that day ... she was really not in a mood to listen to anybody's daily life even they are her loved ones. They haven't thought about why she was so late ... may because she had to stay at her office dealing with the consequences of some unhappy matters? She guessed nobody has ever thought about that.

It's just ... unfair. Even after she listened to her kids and H when she was having her late dinner, she's still made comments on their daily lives and tried to make them feel better. Then ... when she thought it was her turn to tell them (H only) how bad her day was ... they have got no time to listen to her. It hurt when H turned his back to her when she started talking about her day ... Just one sentence as an introduction ... then all of a sudden H has got a very important e-mail message to reply, or another must-read-immediately doc waiting for him.

Maybe she should suggest they learn from the Kiwis, she thinks, at least asking your partner how her day was. It wouldn't take too long, she promised ... At most 10 sentences maybe ... It wouldn't take any longer than the time every husband surfing on the web she supposed ...

Recently she has gone out with former/recent colleagues for having lunch, because she needs sb. else who was willing to listen to her. She's wondered if they also talk to their partners after work. But, however she didn't care ... She needed a sounding board outside her family since she couldn't find one home.