Piper & Dommy wishes all our readers and friends a Happyyyy Happyyy Chinese New Year 2009! May it be prosperous for all of you & good will... good health and good year ahead.
We are going on the road again tomorrow. Catch you all again soon! Stay well.. drive safe... eat a lot and be merry.
While doing all this... please spare a thot and prayer for the sick and the poor and feel free to do acts of random kindness along the way. Acts of random kindness always brings with it an almost instant contagious effect. Stay cool!
Yasmin as in Yasmin Ahmad.

Every festive season, she tugs at our hearts with her Petronas advertisements. Sometimes funny adverts but always with a strong message that drives a nail into our hearts. *ouch*. Most of the time, the adverts leaves me in tears.

I love to wait for her festive adverts to come on each season. We always have something new to learn from the adverts. Its not something we do not know but its just gentle reminders for us.

This Chinese New Year advert which i saw this morning left me blinking my eyes couple of times. Everything become blurry after that. My keyboard was soaked. (its still functioning now.. *phew*).

Why do you poke my heart all the time? Why why why...

My mom left us in 2007. I came back to a totally new environment and lived with dad and my nephew and a Dom. Its a totally new environment for me because i have been away from home chasing my dreams for more than 10 years in another state. My lifestyle is different from my dad's and we have different ways of doing things. But we do try and accomodate each other and he does let me have my space.

When i came home.. he never understood why i have to work all the time and why my computer is seeing more of my face that he does. He will nag when i am on the computer late at night. He worries for my health and he worries for my eyes. He says.. how can someone spend so long on a computer.

The Gap. Yes. We are three generations of people living in a house... plus a neutral Dom. How do we get along? All three of us are different but i do love my dad's selection of music.

Sometimes i hear Yasmin at the back of my head reminding me. I watch too many of her adverts to know that i must be patient with old folks. I learn to keep my mouth shut and hold my tongue when i am angry. I think we are doing fine so far. hahahaha.. With our differences, somehow we manage to find a balance. And of course the neutral Dom makes things more better.

I love Yasmin and all her wonderful work. Keep on giving us your best. You are indeed one of the best storytellers around.

Here's the Chinese New Year 2009 Petronas Advert.



One more day. We can never get back our one more day with our loved ones if we do not treasure our loved ones now. I can't have my one more day with my mom. She's gone. Too late for the what ifs. But God is kind. I still have my papa. And that is one of the reasons why we have parents.
One of my christmas present from Bebe J's daddy and mommy was this beeeeeeyootiful hardcover book called Huggable Hounds - A Dog Lover's Treasury.

Sis saw me holding this book and smiling to myself while flipping through the pictures and quietly bought it for me. Thank you sis. I lurveee this book a lot. This book was also one of the reasons my bag was overweight too.. hahhahahahaa.. i had a few hard-cover books in my luggage and man was i really overly overweight. The scene i created at the airport was of course priceless :) People like me never learn. I always like to buy books when travelling.

Anyways... i would love to share the quotes from this book with all of you. Hopefully when i am "freeeee" i would scan the pics to share with you. But "free" is a very hard thing in my schedule of crazy life. but i will try... i promise to at least try to sneak the time in.

First quote of the day... (most of you would probably heard of this before.. hehe)

"It is fatal to let any dog know that he is funny, for he immediately loses his head and starts hamming it up" ~ P.G.Wodehouse

Page 87: (picture of a brown and white bulldog coming out from a blue suitcase).. since today i am not free.. and its wayyyyyy over my bedtime.. no pic for you guys :p
My first nickname for Bebe J. Chomp chomp :)

Such a good heavy drinker. Everytime after a feed... he'll just quiet down for a while... then he's back to moving his mouth and he's hungry again. Before you know it, its time for another feed.

I miss him :( and his pink self.

No one made a right guess yet for his name. The "J" Contest. Maybe i should narrow down the list some more.

Here's a clue. Its just a 3-letter word. Happy Guessing!

Creative - Leon Jackson

This is quite a nice catchy number by Leon Jackson... quite unknown to me until my nephew told me about him last year :) He first heard him on the X-Factor in December 2007. When Leon sang I Believe.

And so i went to the record stores... going through rows and rows of cds looking for Leon Jackson at HMV. I don't know why i still keep doing it... should probably just ask for it from the sales staff. hehehe.. You never know.. cos sometimes when you go through rows and rows of albums.. you find something else you like ;)

I am a big fan of pretty boy singers. Used to love Tommy Page. hahahahhaaha.. that was like eons ago. This Leon's not too bad too.

This kid tells me that his ambition is to become a singer and keep long hair (alamak!). Cos singing makes him happy. I don't remember a day that i do not see him without some kind of music in his life. And a pretty boy singer he will be too. I just told him, go for it. But finish your studies first. hahaha Feeding a kid's ambition is good. Everyone should have dreams.

Someday You'll Want Me To Want You by Ricky Nelson

This version is sung by Ricky Nelson. It is a very popular song way back then. Written by Jimmie Hodges and published in 1944, this song is recorded by many pop and country singers.

My papa likes this version best because of the catchy strummings on the guitar. He always wishes he could play the guitar but never got around to doing it YET! Maybe soon, we will bug him to go for guitar lessons :) Never too old to learn rite?

Hope you all enjoy this song like i did... we heard it over dinner... a couple of times on youtube. Its been like a standard operating situation.. hehehhehee.. we have a new youtube song ON during dinner. Papa will introduce us to the songs he found on that day.

And Ricky Nelson sure is a hottie. I would probably swooooooon over him with saliva drooling... if he sings to me way back then.. hahhahahahaha

Excerpt from The Star Malaysia today. Do give me your thoughts on the article below.

I ALWAYS presumed that one’s own home was one’s castle. Obviously, I was wrong. Now I read that to own a pet dog, I need my neighbour’s permission “Dog owners in Nilai must now get neighbour’s permission” (The Star, Jan 15).

I am indeed baffled and I fear it will only cause more disunity than neighbourly camaraderie.
What if I am refused permission to keep a dog but I am registered visually impaired and need my guide dog? Am I the exception to the rule?

Why should a personal decision of mine, whether to own a dog or not, be entrusted to my neighbour?

Not everyone gets on well with one’s neighbour. This would be the perfect opportunity for him to repay any grudges he may have had towards me in the past.
And what if my friendly neighbour, who has given consent for me to own a dog, moves away? Do I have to go through the same process again?

And it does not do much for racial unity as it is generalised, wrongly or rightly, that most Muslims do not have dogs as pets as the dog is considered unclean, and so would be expected to turn down my request.

I think that the time and energy spent for the council to come with this latest ruling could be better harnessed towards eradicating poverty, or used it for other noble causes.

But, if the council wants to be seen doing something towards dog welfare, then maybe they should ensure that dog owners take their duty of care towards their dogs seriously.
This means ensuring dog owners house their pets in a clean environment, seeing that they are fed a suitable diet, are not suffering or in pain and are free from injury and disease.

By all means, do make it an offence if a dog is found wandering outside the house compound without the proper dog tag or microchip; or if the dog has no collar when taken into public places; or if a ferocious dog is unmuzzled in public; or if the dog has no leash when being taken for a walk on roads; or if an untrained dog is allowed to get out of control and be a danger and nuisance in public.

Also, owners can be prosecuted if the dogs are known to be maltreated or have been abandoned.

The owners could also be fined under the Noise Act if the dogs in a neighbour’s compound are too noisy.

Moreover, there should be strict fines for dogs that are allowed to defecate in public. In England, the fine ranges from RM 250 to RM 5,000 depending on locality.

As with most rules, there must be enforcement, not mere pronouncements, as what normally happens to these things.

MARIAM MOKHTAR,
Ipoh.

This is Elmer. Elmer the Patchwork Elephant... from a children's picture book by British author David McKee.

Elmer is a cheeky character with a cheerful and optimistic personality.

You can get books on Elmer from here.

And why am i interested in this colourful patchwork elephant?

My friend Stel sent me this picture of Elmer to give me her thoughts and help me with some design issues. Stel is a wonderful creative woman. I had great fun working with her for a short span of time.

Here i am sharing Elmer with all of you. Hope you find him inspirational.

My inspiration from Elmer... this is part of a cover i did for work :) From everyday things, we can get a lot of inspirations to fuel our thoughts. Even from colourful Elephant :) Thanks a lot Stel... for being a great critic and my constant reminder to work harder.

Life has been great lately. Anny's back... and its about time too. Going away for so long... she thinks she can just take off like that without telling me a peep. But its ok.. since she's back, bringing with her lotsa treats from the land afar, i shall forgive her. Hey man! I am a dog... i am always forgiving as long as i am loved.. WOoof!

Since she has been back, she's always a snoozing away... kinda in a daze. I wonder what happen to her. Maybe too much of a good time.. and maybe she's frozen too long in the land afar. Probably i'll ask her to take me to the garden more so that i can help her to defrost and bring some sunshine back into her skin.

I am marking her each day and each time she takes a walk. Just in case she goes missing again. I follow her everywhere. Even when she gets up to drink, i follow her out just in case she scoot off again in the middle of the night.

Today i went to sit in the garden. And wallaaaaaaa... Mr Kitty left me some chicken bones.. hidden behind the purple flowers trees. Very kind of Mr Kitty. He's leaving me a reward cos i am sharing my garden with him. I don't chase him up the tree nowadays. Its a big garden... we can share. I took my chicken bones treat... and sneaked into the house to eat. But Anny spotted me... and immediately threw it away. She says its dirty and probably with bacteria. Alamak! I am a dog.. i need bones to munch. Then she came back with some plasticky bone thing for me to chew. This is not real bones man. Adoi! But nevermind.. she gave me some deelicious chicken strips later... from Tesco. The salami was real nice... but i finished all that 2 days ago.

And finally.. she found my collar again with the golden bell under the chair. Someone took it off me during Christmas cos i was making such a racket jingling the bells away. She put it back on for me and suddenly.. i feel very loved i could just lick her nose. I am once again a handsome doggie. Tomorrow i need a bath and a good comb down.

I wonder how's PP. Haven't heard a peep from him since he came back for a short break last Christmas. But.. walla... i am going to PP's house again for Chinese New Year. Yehoooooooooooo Yehooooooooooooooooo..

Here's a picture of my beloved bro PP king sitting on his throne. He usually takes his afternoon nap on the sofa when no one is around. *shush* Smart little guy. Being such a tiny guy, he sure can jump very high.

See you soon my brother. Watch out.. here i come!



The letter "J". What holds for the letter "J".

As you all know... I have been refering baby to Bebe J all this time. What does "J" stands for? Can anyone guess what's baby's name?

1) This contest is open to all.

2) One person can only post 2 guesses. (comments will be put on moderation)

3) The winner stands to win a tee-shirt with the letter "J" (designed and colored by Dommy.. i mean by Anny)

4) International entries are allowed.

5) Contest will run on till someone make a correct guess.

Good luck peeps!

Here i am... still in a daze. Always sleeping... kinda like i am drugged. I am still jet lagged. Something must be wrong.

Came home last Saturday nite... and was whooshed over to see my cousin in the hospital. Very sick, she was happy to see me. I squeeze her hands and she responded by smiling. She was weak after the chemo. She ask me for pictures of Bebe J. I said i'll bring tomorrow. When i was away, i was worried that i might not be able to come back in time to see her :(

I went again the next day with pictures of Bebe J. But she was too sick to see. She was breathing heavily but smiled when i still show it to her. Everyday is like a big struggle to keep alive. Her will power to live is very strong. In any kind of sickness, if your willpower is strong, you still have a fighting chance. The faces i see that surrounded her, were all forlorn. Only the sick is still keen on fighting. The rest has some what lend it all to fate.

Families keep dropping in and out... bringing food for the sick and for the waiting. If you have never been sick and lying on the white bed, you will never know how it feels to be the sick one. We are helpless just hanging out at the hospital. Just talking among ourselves. But still giving each other some support. That is when the extended family's wonder came along.

I come from a huge family. I grow up with many cousins and ran, cycle, play with them as long as i can remember. My friends are my cousins. We have huge gatherings and each time there's lotsa food around. Picture taking and lots of catching up. Chinese New Year is like a gathering of sorts where all the family from the near and far, from the biggest to the smallest will talk eat talk eat and still talk. And then there's the picture taking. Everytime one of us is sick, so many will come a visiting with comfort food and talk but no picture taking. There's always family around in all seasons of our life. And did i tell you about weddings... the whole ging gang will make it a point to dress up and come no matter how far or near they are.

When sis gave birth to Bebe J, i wish i had the whole family around. It was just the three of us. Clueless and just three of us. Now there's only two of them to take care of the lil one. They will be fine but how nice it would be if there's more hands to help and more blessings for the lil one. More hands to hold him and play with him. More faces to entertain him and teach him. And let the mother rest and build up her energy again.

And that is when the importance of being in an extended family comes along. Don't push people away when they want to help. Listen when people have something to teach. And always surround yourself with good friends and family... plus a few dogs.

When i came home... the dogs that live in my extended neighbourhood... came over to see me. hahahahaha.. You might not believe me... but Fei Fei.. Johnny's dog... came by to say hi yesterday. And waiting for me to stroke his nose. He is a huge black and white dog. Friendly and big. The two dogs that live beside me even jumped up to say hi. They have grown much bigger too and a whole lot more excited... hahhahahahhaa.. Even dogs love to live in an extended family.

My extended family extends to almost the whole neighbourhood. These people have known me since i was a little kid. I lived here almost all my life. We look out for each other and its a joy to be back home again.

When they are little but very loud :)
I am finally back home to Dommy, PP and rest of my family in Malaysia. With a heavy heart, i have to leave Bebe J's home to come back and continue my crazy life.
Spending Christmas and New Year waiting for the lil one to come was a great experience. All three of us were very traumatised by the whole experience (hahaha.. who would not be) and somehow for me... it has open my eyes again and made me see things a bit different.
Giving birth is actually very painful and the aftermath probably left us all in a daze for days. I am not a mother yet but going thru this with my sis and brother in law was something which i would not have missed any other way. Probably i would know what to expect if i ever become a mother and decide to have my own children but you can never prepare for childbirth. There were so many things that we didn't expect. We only expected to go the hospital and Bebe J would just come plopping out and we'll take him home the next day. But no.. hehehe.. it was more than that.
But seeing the lil one smile for you countless of times (and it is not muscle twitch) made it all worthwhile. And smelling the pink lil man was indeed something one should not missed :) Pink babies smell nice even after they have done their poo and pee. hahaha.. they do they do. They always give u a contented smile after you give them a good wipe and clean they up nice. All babies need are just..
1. Feed them on time
2. Change their diaper when they are wet
3. Feed them on time
4. Hold them close in your arms and rock them gently
5. Feed them on time
Cos when you do not get their feeds on time, they are little but definitely very LOUD :)
I did not get much time with Bebe J but... i have a whole lifetime ahead with him. I left with a heavy heart but i'll be seeing him again real soon. Hopefully he remembers me then.
Have never been greeted with such an enthusiastic welcome home? Get a dog. They welcome you home with such enthusiasm that you wonder why you ever have the heart to leave them for so long in the first place ;) I am the lucky one.
Yehooo yehooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooOOOOOOOO

Finally the little man decides to come. He's pink.. very beautiful.. smells nice...
Even manage a 'smile' for me... they told me its muscle twitch.. but i don't care... a smile is a smile.

He opens his eyes immediately when he's out and checked out his environment quickly.

He smells nice and he's pink.. hehehe

Bebe J arrived on the 1st of January 2009 in the afternoon weighing 3.51kgs and he smells nice... and he smiled to me... hahaha

Sorry for the delirium... we were without sleep since 30 dec... only just napped occationally (i was the only one who napped the most)... but it was all worth the wait for this pink nice smelling man.

No photo release for this guy yet till his mummy allows :) I am the paparazzi but even paparazzi got to get permission for photo release. Till then... thanks all... i got to go run and get some cooking done for mummy.

but...

he's pink and sure smells nice... hahaha
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