The thing with donuts...

i ate 10 donuts in the car today. *BURP*
i have very sugary lips now :D
i love my life.

Watched Brave with my 18th year old nephew. We both did not budge an inch the whole movie. I still love cartoons and animated movies. Named one of the shelter cats Merida after that.

Binged on a MARS bar for a few nights in a row
Whole bag was finished
Got another new bag
Binged again till i cracked.
Don't think lactose and i are good friends.

I had one and a half months of total freedom.
When it was just Dommy and i.
We watched so much tv till Dom became bored and i became useless.
TV is bad. Too much tv makes me stupid+er
I am already stupid.. now i am stupid+er

I care less about people and things
I gave more things away
I read more books
Best book i read was
Yasmin How You Know?

I still read some of your blogs
I go to Bob and Sophie's every single day these past few months
They both taught me many great things about life
I love Angus.
He is a lovely storyteller.

Just gave me 21 year old nephew an earful.
He kept yawning and yawning
But i know he is listening
I never scolded him much the years he was with me
Might have pampered him too much
He is a man now
He's going to be a doctor one day
There's only 3 things i want to teach him all these years
Responsibility
Compassion
Initiative
Without these, you won't go far in life.

I have three sisters in my life
We all lead very different lives
My only wish for them is to be happy
They should be happy
When you have everything, you should be thankfully happy.

My smartphone is not very smart
Its usually left on the table now
Its usually quiet
Too many bings and dings
We spend too much time looking at the tiny screen
We go for dinners and forget to talk to each other
We take pics of everything we eat
We post it on instagram and facebook
We even smile at our smartphone
We forget to look around
At the people around us
We forget about the beauty of nature.

My dad is getting older
He don't even mind the cats in the garden now
God's creatures only bring delight
If only we take the time to know them.

Some people never know how it feels like to be hungry
They buy so much and throw so much away
If you see a stray dog or cat
Give it a bit of food or water
It will only make you richer if you feed a hungry stray
If you do not like them, do not hurt them.

I see my neighbours who are dog lovers
They cannot call themselves dog lovers
They only love their own dog
They shoo the strays
They throw stones at strays
The strays were just hungry.

I met this couple
They work at the shelter as shelter workers
Sometimes i bring them chocolates
They saved the chocolates i gave them
Its only a piece of MARS bar
But to them its heaven
I am ashamed because i ate a whole bag of MARS bars all by myself
While this couple shared their bar of chocolate and save the other bar for another day
I forgot how it was to be truly poor
When you have your last dollar in your pocket
And payday is another week more.

I am thankful each day
I wake up and Dom is by my side
He is happiest when i get up
"I need to pee I need to pee" he says
It doesn't really take much to make him happy.
My very loyal dog
I couldn't ask for anything more.

It is the donuts speaking. After 10 donuts... my thoughts are finally free.
Do not be alarmed. They were mini donuts in a doggie bag.
The MARS bar were mini bars too.
I still crack even though they were mini.

Am sorry if we have not been visiting or commenting.
Had to take a sabbatical :) But i am not sure if it did any wonders to my mental state.. LOL!

Dommy: me am sleeping woman.. go away!

Wordless Wednesday... not

A common sight at shelters.

They wait.
They hope... to be chosen.
They wish for a good forever home.

Adult cats are pretty hard to be rehomed because everybody wants a kitten.

We call her Lady. She is an amazing lady. Sweet natured and friendly. Calm and always waiting for her turn to be cuddled and loved.

She's been at the shelter since 2011 or maybe longer. That's quite a long time for a cat to wait.

People do not want an ordinary looking cat. Everyone says she looks ordinary. No cat is ordinary if you care enough to take the time to know them. Cats should never be judged on looks alone. She is a most extraordinary cat. Much loved by all the volunteers.

Hopefully, we'll have a home for her soon.

If you would like to give her a home, she is up for adoption at the ISPCA Cattery in Ipoh, Malaysia.

https://www.facebook.com/notes/the-adoptables/lady-ispca-cattery-ipoh/373708059397513

Wordless Wednesday 4/2013

Book Review: Animal Wise by Virginia Morell

Dommy: Once in a while, i will allow another animal on my bed.

Animal Wise: The Thoughts and Emotions of Our Fellow Creatures by Virginia Morell. A very moving narration of wild and domesticated animals.

Did you know that...

• ants teach.. yes teach...
• how fish can feel pain.. 
• earthworms make decisions
• laughing rats love to be tickled (ok...but i am not tickling any rats here)
• dogs and wolves are very different
• and chimps grieve

Animals do think and they have feelings. If you have been spending a considerable amount of time studying animals or your own pets, you will know that they have feelings and a lot of intelligence.

I loved the part where she wrote

On bonding with adult dogs: “The researchers discovered that even adult dogs living in rescue shelters rapidly form attachments to people; it took a mere thirty minutes of interaction between a person and an adult shelter dog for the dog to begin forming a bond.”

Her question on "how should we treat these other emotional, thinking creatures?" at the epilogue for all of us. My view on life on earth is changed forever after reading this book. Thank you Virginia.

I shall not give too much away on why this Animal Wise is unusual.

A very facinating book that every pet/animal lover would enjoy reading. It provides a very interesting window on the intelligence of these creatures.

This book was just launched on the 26th February 2013.

A glimpse at the incredible praise that ANIMAL WISE has garnered: 

“You will take a journey to the center of the animal mind.”
– Temple Grandin, author of Animals in Translation and Animals Make Us Human 

“Why is it that until very recently, many scientists claimed that animals can’t think?  Every pet owner knows better, and Virginia Morell is our champion.”
– Elizabeth Marshall Thomas, author of The Hidden Life of Dogs

“These animals have incredible minds.  Now thanks to Morell they have a voice.  I love this book.  It makes me even prouder to share this Earth with our non-human kin.”
– Jennifer S. Holland, author of Unlikely Friendships

“Anyone who reads this book will be changed forever in their view of life on earth.”
– Richard E. Leakey, FRS, Stony Brook Professor of Anthropology and author of The Sixth Extinction

Photo Credit: Michael McRae, 2012

Virginia Morell is a prolific contributor to National Geographic, Science, and Smithsonian, among other publications. She is also the author of Ancestral Passions, a New York Times Notable Book of the Year; Blue Nile; coauthor, with Richard Leakey, of Wildlife Wars.

She currently shares her life with an Collie named Buck. 

Virginia Morell on Facebook, you can visit Facebook.com/AnimalWiseBook. 
You can also take the ANIMAL WISE quiz here.
(Shhhhhh... I scored terribly)

Disclosure:
The book’s publicists from Random House sent me a free review copy. I was NOT compensated in any way for this review.

And when it rains...

Because of Georgia Lil Pea, i shall start blogging and bore all of you with very long boring blog posts again.

Blogger georgia little pea said...
Dear Anny, I'm pretty sure I saw a post on your dad on my GR yesterday or the day before. I didn't have time to read it because I was on my way to Brisbane. What happened? Did you delete it? Hope you're okay x
28 February, 2013 19:29

Blogger georgia little pea said...
ANNY, I'm feeling a bit twilight zone here. I don't see my comment, though you must have, because you wrote me. I guess you deleted it since it was Irrelevant to this post, which is fine.
I know I saw something else last night on my GR, in passing, and I don't see it here today. About your dad again. PLEASE! What is going on?! Am I nuts?
03 March, 2013 04:42

Thank you to The Typist for kicking my ass and getting me back to writing a very long post for you to read :) You've really thought i've conked right?

~ 19th Feb 2013
Here I am waiting for my train home. Another hour to burn. A macchiato maybe? Starbucks just 10 feet away. Starbucks is where we usually hang out for long catching up chats when i go to Kuala Lumpur. Hoity toity coffee. I could get a normal coffee for 1/10 of the price but we love to do the hoity toity coffee once in a while.

Its raining. The heavens weep. Or perhaps a good wash before they welcome another angel in their folds. She's on the way to Penang again for her final journey to the open seas.

She has finally left us. She passed away on Monday in her sleep. A peaceful death. I am glad. Glad.. happy.. that she does not need to suffer anymore. Her sufferings have finally ended.

Only her ashes came home to Kuala Lumpur in an urn for funeral rites. She was cremated in Penang and brought home on the day she passed away. Her father's wishes. He doesn't want the body to suffer anymore.

It is still Chinese New Year here in my country. CNY usually is about 15 days of celebration. Some people would not come for a funeral as its their beliefs. Some will fear bad luck if they visit a funeral during the CNY. Friends and family however will show up.

I have spent Monday in tears. I am all dried up yesterday. I know she would not want to see us cry. It will hurt her more to see us all in tears. I believe her spirit was with us that night. Even when we went out looking for vegetarian dishes for the prayer table. She was with us in the car directing us all the way like she always does. She was our human GPS. She knows the roads of Kuala Lumpur like the back of her hands.

Don't really know what the days ahead will be yet but I will try and make them remarkable. Time to mend some ties and its time to start keeping appearances with some people.

What makes her different from most of my friends? I have lots of friends but I choose to keep appearances with only a few.

I've known her for 20+ years. We practically spent most of our wild years doing nothing wild and have a good time. We have been through laughther, tears and mostly everything else. I was never angry with her.. not even once. I don't even remember both of us ever having a fight. She was like my soul sister. She trusts me with her secrets and I tell her most of mine. We know to call each other when we needed someone to talk to. We are always available for each other. Sometimes we spend hours and hours on the phone to catch up on lost time.

When she is sad, she always eats ice-cream. We've sat on kerbs outside 7-Eleven sharing a whole tub of ice-cream. It always makes her feel better.

3rd March 2013

She came into my life like instant coffee or instagram. She was instantly my friend. I liked her the first time we became friends. We had many adventures together doing stupid not too wild things. Usually we love to go on road trips and pig out. Sometimes with a whole bunch of people... and sometimes just the two of us when the rest didn't want to catch up. We could go anywhere together, and most of the time, she'll leave me alone to do my picture taking and sometimes she begged me to take her pictures. She doesn't understand why i rather take pictures of windows.. old buildings... or tiles.

I do have a lot of pictures of her. I am currently working on a photobook for her family. Her father misses her most. He could use some good memories of her. I don't know when i'll finish it. It is sometimes quite hard to do the photobook when my vision suddenly blurrs out when i remember how and when the picture was taken and what we did that day.

She has led quite an eventful life. She started working very hard when she left school. She started working 12 hr days and it went on to 16 hr days and sometimes at 12 midnight she'll call me and tell me that she's still waiting for materials to arrive. I do not know of anyone who has worked so hard from the beginning and never quite spend much on herself. She'll give and give it all away to her family... sometimes to friends and to whoever who asked. That's her.

Over the years, we have had other friends and other groups of people in our lives, but somehow we'll go back to this group of people we grew up with. She was with another close group of friends before she got sick. But somehow, she came back to us again. Somehow she was comfortable with us. We understand her from the beginning.

She only started being good to herself in the last three years. She started travelling abroad. She went from Dubai to London to Spain to the USA to Australia and to some Asian countries. She was finally happy and finally willing to spend some money on herself. I've always told her to go out there... spend some money. You have kept enough money, spend on yourself. Don't worry about taking care of other people, love yourself sometimes.

She's at the time of her life when she has made enough to lead a comfortable life but it has to be taken away from her in a most horrible way.

I knew her ending was near. I knew she was going to go. I sometimes pray that her ending will come fast and painless. There's no cure. It has gone too far. A miracle doesn't happen all the time.

We didn't make it for her last birthday. She managed to hold on till her birthday. Birthdays meant everything to her. She used to have a countdown... she'll have celebrations a few days before her birthday. All the way to her birthday. She was a Valentine girl.

Her family was with her. They did a recording of the birthday in the hospital. It was very sad to watch but she was happy that day. Very happy and she even manage to blow out the candles. 4 days after her birthday, she gave up. She passed away peacefully in her sleep with her sister sleeping beside her.

For the past 20+ years of my life... she has not missed texting or calling me at 12 midnight on each of my birthdays. Birthdays meant so much to her. She always try to make other people's birthdays special too.

Anybody can get cancer. Cancer cells are in all of us. It can happen anytime but being unhappy or being stressed could just bump up the speed more. Forgiveness is good. Being resentful or being angry over the littlest of things doesn't do any good to anyone.

I spend a day crying.. just sobbing away. Everything blurrs out. The tears just kept coming. Then i started stuffing myself with rice. I don't know why. That's how i deal with grieve. When mom passed away, i just kept eating and made sure everyone ate. Because life must go on no matter what.

We can blame everything on situations. We can blame it on other people. We can stop living and just keep crying day after day. We can stop working and just blame it on sadness. We can blame everyone and the death of a friend by not doing anything the whole day. But time will still tick and go on. We can take some time to grieve but life goes on in the most hardest way. It has to still go on.

I believe she is still with us in some moments of our lives. We carry her in our memories. I might not find such a wonderful friend again, but i still have Dom. He'll make sure i wake up and get up from bed. He'll make sure i eat and go for walks. He'll make sure to let me know i am loved.

I saw the tiniest orange butterfly in the kitchen the other day. I just hi to the butterfly and asked.. is it youuuuuuuuuuuuu. *LOL* Then i took its picture. A tiny grasshopper came to the kitchen yesterday while i was cooking. I asked again, is it youuuuuuuuuuuuuu again? Not very nice colors today. I assume the black and white bird in the garden is mum. I see it everywhere i go. My mom did mention to my nephew sometime back that when she passes, she wants to be a bird and just be free. It works and it keep and helps people like me move on.

My friend called herself Rain. It was from a very long time ago. Even before the South Korean singer named himself that. I had a good laugh over that and ask her why Rain?? She says its easy to remember and when it rains, people will think of me.

And now, when it rains, i will remember her.

Feline Friday #1

Grab the code here

 

What's Your Name?

She says to share this pretty interesting graphics with lotta doggies with you guys as she is busy at the moment writing stories for the Adoptables. She do not know how to do such pretty graphics... so she stole.. borrowed from Matt.

How come my name is not even in the list of famous names... BAH!

I think i'll just go to sleep.

Dommy 



Dog names graphic produced by Matt Beswick for Pet365. Click here to view the original post.

A Long Winded Rant

In the still of the night... here i am... still awake. A few things to purge out again. Thoughts and so many thoughts. I find that writing about it helps. So its out in the open and out of my mind. Its also to keep my thoughts in writing, so that i can laugh at myself somewhere sometime next year perhaps.

My dad is getting old.. and more forgetful by the day. He had a minor accident three weeks back. He was driving and on his merry way to buy lunch and BOOM! A car did not stop at a junction and dad being on the main road could not stop in time. That BOOM left many cracks.

He was not injured. Just a bump on the head. A bit of a concussion. A bit of disorientation.

When he goes out, i am always concerned when i get a phone call from him. Either the car is stalled (its an old junk) or he's in trouble. The last time an old man on a bicycle with no lights hit him in the mornings, the old man was injured. Not too seriously but he was injured. He sent the old man to the hospital himself. Called me from the hospital and i rushed over. Even though it was not his fault, my dad slowed down and got scared of old people on bicycles.

This recent accident slowed him down even more. Now he is petrified of junctions. Even when i am driving (i am already driving like an old lady). He'll shout.. lookout.. don't go too fast.. slow down slow down. I can remain very calm in many situations. Its years of practise and years of keeping quiet in most situations.

Sometimes i hear a lot of noise. Some of it comes from my dad. Sometimes i tune out. Even in a busy restaurant, my mind tunes out. It is not very kind of me but sometimes my mind is so tired from all the noise.

My dad is a very very picky eater. He complains about everything. Probably he's bored. Probably he just wants to make conversation. If i go out to buy lunch, he'll complain about the food i bring back. He'll complain the dishes are not to his liking. He'll complain there's TOO MUCH RICE (this happens all the time). He'll complain that its too dry.. or the rice is too wet. I can never get it right. I rarely complain about the food that others buy for me. I am always thankful for a meal.

My dad's going thru a chicken rice phase. Everytime he goes out to buy lunch, he'll come back with chicken and rice. I can eat chicken rice everyday. Dommy loves the chicken too. Even when we go out to eat, he orders chicken rice. Mind boggling. He was not much of a chicken rice fan two years back.

Today my dad's car is done and ready. All the cracks fixed. My uncle took him to the workshop the last two times. I didn't go as i had to work and i had some other issues. Today i took him to take his car and we cannot find the shop because he forgot where it was. I made a call to the workshop and they gave me very clear directions. But my dad directed me somewhere else.. and told me to turn another way. Its there.. its behind there. I told him there's no road up ahead. But he insisted that the road was there. Unless i am driving a flying saucer or maybe a bicycle, i can go behind the shops with the road up front. I remain calm and called the workshop again. The workshop was calm enough to repeat the directions again.

This time i didn't listen to him and went on my way. He kept complaining that i am on the wrong road.. and my uncle did not take him on this road... all the way until we reach the workshop. I rest my case.

I remember 5 years ago, we were on this same road, he was in a very foul mood. Mom has just passed away. He was driving fast and faster... scolding all the way. I just closed my eyes and thought that i was going to die if we crashed. He was going so fast and not in the right frame of mind. Accidents happen when angry people drive too fast.

Taking care of my old dad sometimes makes me want to run away. Each time i go to Kuala Lumpur, i abandon everyone and run. I always run. I needed to get away before i cracked too. Maybe one day when i am older, i will regret all these running away. Maybe one day i will wished for more time and wish that my dad will complain more.

When he came home after the accident, he had a major outburst. He was shouting and scolding (not to me) but everyone. It was like a volcano erupted. My sister mentioned that a concussion could spark the outburst. Dom and i got out of his way and just hid in the room. He was angry. I tried to tell him to look at the good side of things. Always look for the better side of every situation. I told him, you are not injured. The car can be fixed. It just money. As long as you are not injured and no one else is killed, we are fine. My siblings who called got hell from him.

His friends called and told him worst case scenarios. I wish i could smack his friends there and then. They told him if he had gone faster and the car hit his car on the driver's side, he could have been injured seriously. When people are in accidents, you do not offer worst case scenarios. That's just so dumb. My dad had an awful night. Shivering and scared. He didn't drive for 2 days.

He's still scared of junctions now.

My new friends from the cattery asked me what am i scared of. They ask me if i am scared of my dad. I just smiled. I am not scared of my dad. Especially at my age, i am definitely not scared. I just do not want situations to be hurtful or stressed. I don't like to pick a fight. I rather keep quiet. Keeping quiet is the worst for anyone who knows what being ignored feels like.

I wish my dad would learn to be happier and not complain about everything and anything. I wish he will learn to be thankful for the little things in life. I wish that he'll learn to look at the brighter side of ever situation. I know its hard for old people to change. Situations have made them what they are today. Being the younger one, we probably just have to learn to accomodate or just run away once in a while.

On another note, my friend is now transfered to a hospital in Penang. She just had her whole breast removed. A doctor is willing to do the operation for her even though her cancer is already everywhere. Only the brain is not affected. She's bedridden, wears diapers and am on a lot of painkillers. Dignity all gone as her sisters have to change her diapers and clean her up.

I was in Kuala Lumpur to see her when she was admitted a forthnight ago. Even though the family preferred less visitors for her as her immune system is very low, we got to see her. They allowed us to spend the afternoon with her in her room. It was a great day. Between the 5 of us, we cracked some stupid jokes, made her laugh.. fed her food... and just be with her. She was very tired when we left. She was glad we all came. She smiled and she was happy.

Maybe if we are lucky, we'll get to see her again in 2 weeks time. Her birthday is in two weeks time. We'll get ourselves to Penang and make her laugh again at our stupid jokes.

After seeing all the suffering she has to go thru, i am thankful that i am able to lift my hands... easily. She is not able to. I am thankful that i can still skip when i walk. I am thankful for many things in my life. Even though dad is a complaining old man, i am thankful that i am able to take care of him.

I am thinking of a week long hiatus in May. Somewhere far away... somewhere i've always wanted to go.

Dogs are easier beings to live with. They don't make a lot of noise. Especially Dom, he's usually quiet unless he hears something/someone at the door. He's happy to just stay by my side when i work. He doesn't complain at all. He's always happy to go for a walk. He's always happy when he gets food.

Dom is getting old too. Still a curly wurly. But still have the heart of a little puppy. Always curious and always skipping and jumping. He forgets he's old.

With that, i end my rant for today. *LOL* Thank you for reading :) zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzZZZZZ