The hermit with a cute dog

This is my Facebook's tarot reading for today:

This reading is so accurate for me... not only for today but for my life in the past few years. I have become a very anti-social person who dislikes hanging out in a crowd and making new friends. I find all these activities very tiring...as if my soul gets sucked out by a Dementor.

Dementors attack

I would rather spend time at home playing with my dog, watching TV, blogging and surfing the net. Gosh! I am even thinking of resurrecting my fishtank!

I have a feeling I will end up a hermit with a cute dog.

Axel's New Toy

Axel found a new way of keeping himself occupied. So far he is very smitten by his new toy.

It will be so funny to see that thing bursting in his face. :-p

Oversensitive or Insensitive?

If someone keep gloating to you on how great their jobs are...
when you are unemployed for a long time,
and you feel that their intention is to kick you when you are down,
are you being oversensitive?

If someone keep complaining to you on how little their earnings are...
when they know that you are earning a lot less,
and you feel that their intention is to put you down indirectly,
are you being oversensitive?

If someone keep lamenting to you on how low their positions are...
when they are in managerial whereas you are not,
and you feel that their intention is to blow their own horns,
are you being oversensitive?

Or is it them who are being INSENSITIVE?

It sucks when...

It sucks when... you are in the middle of eating your lunch and a rubbish truck comes along and parks itself next to you.

It sucks even more when it remains stationary for about 5 minutes, enough for its "aroma" to "enhance" your appetite.

Photos taken at Food Foundry, Section 17 at lunch time.

Because I'm Here

- a Buddhist story

An old monk was sweeping the yard in a monastery under the scorching sun.

Another monk passed by and asked him, "How old are you?"

The old monk replied, "I'm seventy-seven."

"You are so old! Why are you still working so hard here?"

"Well, because I'm here."

"But why are you working under the scorching sun?"

"Because the sun is there."

Qiang Qiang (蔷蔷)

I first heard this song on the radio and although my mandarin sucks, I could understand bits and pieces of the lyrics. I think if you are a pet lover, you will definitely be touched by the song.

This song is sung by Ella of the very famous Taiwanese trio, S.H.E. It is titled Qiang Qiang (蔷蔷) after the name of her pug which has passed away.

I saw the EP for this song in Speedy Video store, IOI mall just now but thought that I would download the song instead of getting it. Then I got to know from the net that the sales from this EP will go to Help Save A Pet Fund, Taiwan. I am so going to buy this EP tomorrow.

I surfed the net for the translation of the lyrics and indeed, it is really touching. Made me held Axel so tightly that my poor baby wondered what the hell was wrong with me.

Pets do grow in us and become a part of our lives. Watch this video and look at the lyrics, see whether you feel the same too....



The chinese lyrics along with the translation:

還記得妳喜歡咬著我的手
I still remember you liked to nip at my hand
然後給我妳嘴裡的球
and then give me the ball in your mouth
要我陪妳玩丟丟
asking me to play catch with you
妳喜歡我摸摸妳的小耳朵
You liked it when I touched your little ear
窩在我的身旁
and you liked to snuggle up to me
沒有煩憂
With no worries
在夢裡遨遊
you roamed through your dreams
好狗狗　好狗狗
Good doggie , good doggie
謝謝妳陪媽咪這麼久
Thank you for accompanying mommy for so long
妳並沒有離開我
You most certainly have not left me
是搬到天堂生活
You just moved to heaven to live
薔薔　妳要記得我
Qiang qiang, you need to remember me
妳不要走丟
Do not get lost
快快找到天使
Hurry up and find your angel
在天堂給我(們)保佑
and bless me from heaven
薔薔　不要忘了我
Qiang qiang, do not forget me
還有親愛的阿姨叔叔和妳的朋友
And all the dear aunties, uncles, and your friends
妳永遠活在記憶中
You will live forever in our memories
薔薔　謝謝妳
Qiang qiang, thank you

My pug is in a calendar

My pug, Axel is in a calendar!!! This is the 2008 calendar by OwnedByPugs.com. A portion of the proceeds from the sales of this calendar will go to the Compassionate Pug Rescue in South Florida, USA.

The e-mail I received this morning

Axel is in the November top page along with other adorable pugs. Click here to view all the pages in this calendar.

2008 Owned By Pugs Calendar - November

The picture I submitted:

Woo hoo...Axel is in a calendar!! I know it's not a big deal but like any other parents, we will gloat at the slightest achievement of our kids.

Blood Ties

In between juggling my work tasks for 2 projects, I managed to catch up via MSN with a dear friend of mine whose dad was recently admitted to the hospital. Her dad fainted at home due to low sodium level and was hospitalised. He is doing fine and slowly recuperating now. She shared with me the sequence of events (also written in her blog) and how she felt when she received the call about her dad...the kind of panic, worry and fear that she had to go through.

I could totally relate to how she felt... the kind of panic, worry and fear.... as my family faced the same thing 2 years ago. My dad fainted while having a karaoke session (yes...don't laugh!) with his friends. He had a minor stroke. I could still remember the mixed emotions I felt when driving back to my hometown which was 1.5 hours away. Anyway my dad got through that and although still weak, he is fine. Click here to read the whole ordeal that I posted in my old blog.

You see, that's the thing. Family will always be family.

No matter you are near or far from your family members, when unfortunate event befalls them, you will feel it.
No matter you spend a lot or little time with them, when bad things happen to them, you will feel it.
No matter you are in good terms or in bad terms with them, when unlucky things happen to them, you will feel it.

Guess that's why it's called "Blood Ties".

Is ignorance a bliss?

As I was flipping through the papers at the pantry today, a colleague commented that there were so many bad news. I guess she was referring to the death of Lim Goh Tong, or fondly known as Uncle Lim. Uncle Lim was the 4th richest man in Malaysia. He built his empire by starting Genting Highlands, the only casino resort (well, at least the only legal one) in Malaysia.

Anyway about the bad news... that's how newspapers sell. I remember taking a Mass Comm paper during my undergraduate years and learned that no one wants to read about good news. It's the bad ones that usually garner more interests. Well of course gossips too, but those would be a different type of papers altogether.

I guess that's why I seem to get a bit depressed after reading the papers. Almost everyday...no let me rephrase, it is EVERYDAY that there would be news on murders, rapes (men, women, kids!), con jobs, robberies, burglaries, gangsterisms, corruptions etc. So many bad news for the papers to sell!!

All these made me wonder on how the country has become. Is there no more law here? Or has law been tainted? Oh..and there were also those cases where the people "up there" gave us the senseless justifications, or twisted and turned those issues to an unrecognisable mess to cover up the whole context of truth. Divert your attention a little bit and you will forget about what the actual gist is. How stupid can we be?

Looking back to when I was younger, the country seemed to be so much better. At least I did not fear so much about my own safety or to be so dissatisfied on how the country was governed. Then again during that time, I didn't read any newspapers or explore other sources (such as blogs) to enable me see all sides of the stories made believed as bed of roses.

I ask myself, have things always been like this?... or was it my ignorance that made me think that things were good?

Is ignorance a bliss?

The grass is greener

"Honey, look! The grass is greener on the other side!"

Crazy!

I am so mad!!! The traffic is really crazy!! It is 8.30pm now and I am stuck in the office because the traffic is so so terrible out there. It's 8.30pm, helllooooooo!! I do not want to leave now and get stuck in the senseless jam. With this kind of traffic, it can easily take more than an hour to reach home.

Such a big contrast as compared to last week when many people were still on their Hari Raya holiday.

Sometimes I think work frustrations don't really come from work itself. They come from the stress encountered during daily commute to work, and from work. It's just so crazy!!!

I want to be cuddled

My pug loves to be cuddled. Whenever I lie down on my couch, Axel would come over and "demand" to go up the couch and be cuddled. He would either start to jump onto the couch or he would sit in front of me and just stare.

When I felt like being a good daddy, I would take him up and cuddle him... i.e. when he's still smelling nice and clean. Axel would fall asleep in my arms as I doze off.

Today as we were doing that, I saw his cute face and my camera was at arm's length, so I couldn't resist taking some upclose pictures. Isn't he cute??

Pug Harrassed

Bad daddy harrassing Axel with the vacuum cleaner.

External Motivation

So what do you do when you know you should be doing something but you keep avoiding it?

Well... that is when motivation can play a part.

Motivation can be internal or external. Sometimes it's hard to cultivate internal motivation, so that is when external motivation comes in. Hopefully this external influence will be able to create a little spark that will fire up the internal motivation. Make sense?

You see, I haven't been going to the gym as often as I would like to. I think I have only been going twice in a month recently. Such a waste of membership money. Just couldn't get myself to go... there would always be excuses playing in my mind justifying - flu la, cough la, neck pain la, late night la. The internal motivation was definitely not there. I had to seek for external inspiration... So I got myself a new pair of sport shoes from "Why Pay More" in Midvalley just now.


I know, I know... it is not Nike. It is not even the latest model from Reebok. It is possibly a hundred years old to be sold at such a low price in "Why Pay More" store. However a shoe is still a shoe.... they still serve the same original purpose..i.e to cover your feet.

Besides that, this model (Reebok Zenon Runner) has quite a number of interesting features:

• Lightweight
• Featuring the IMEVA midsole for lightweight cushioning
• Diamond lug outsole for excellent traction on all surfaces
• 2 layer mesh upper for breathability and durability

Together with the discount as the sales period is still on, I got this for only RM79. RM79 for a pair of Reebok! Not bad at all... Oh, and it's not fake, okay???

Now I am all fueled up to try out my new pair of shoes in the gym! Hope not long after, I will get a body like this (I will continue to dream):

See what a little external motivation can do?

Tag - 5 Things

I was tagged by homemaker! I have no blardy idea what the game is all about and when I asked homemaker on what I was supposed to do, she was like "I thought you are the longest blogger among us"... made me felt blardy stupid.

Anyway, we live and learn. Apparently blog tagging is a game where a blogger tags another 5 bloggers they know along with 5 things of particular topic/topics. In turn, those who got tagged will continue the game by tagging another 5 bloggers they know (those already tagged by your tagger does not count) and hopefully it will keep spreading... you know like viruses or cancer cells.

Homemaker has been very demanding and insisted that I should continue the tag. Such a pushy mommy but I love her (as a friend, excuse me!) all the same.... ;-p

So here's my tag (and I have modified a topic so that it's more universal)...

5 things found in my room:
I'm listing only decent things here cos my blog is supposed to be of "G (General Audience)" rating.
1) Creative Zen V Plus mp3 player
2) Ikea "Lack" Side Table
3) 1 litre water bottle which is 1 quarter full
4) Some "Mobile World" magazines
5) Axel's (my pug) hair on the floor, side table, bed... everywhere

5 things I’ve always wanted to do:
1) To move out of Malaysia. Really hate seeing how it has progressed..mm.. or rather regressed.
2) If no.1 cannot be fulfilled...to earn enough so that I can get a landed property. I am sick of having to smuggle Axel in and out of my apartment.
3) To continue my Japanese classes. Can barely remember what I have learned last time.
4) To resurrect my fish tank.
5) To travel to Europe.

5 things found in my bag:
I don't really bring a bag everywhere I go. So I am going to list down things in my gym bag.
1) My new underwear and a change of clothes
2) My toiletries
3) My headphone
4) A lucky charm bought from "World of Fengshui". This is supposed to protect me from harm. I remember buying this with JM. She bought me one and I bought her one.
5) Some coins

5 things found in my wallet:
1) My IC and driving licence
2) Credit Cards
3) A torn bit of a RM1 note from 25th Feb 1990. My hometown mates and I went for a meal and went dutch. The change we got was RM1 and we decided to split that by tearing the note and each of us keeping a part of it. Don't think they still have theirs though.
4) A RM1 note folded to a love shape given to me by an ex.
5) Some receipts

5 things I’m currently into:
1) Blogging definitely.
2) Reading other people's blogs
3) TV series (Heroes, Desperate Housewives, Ugly Betty, Private Practice, ANTM....)
4) Gadgets... have my eyes on HTC Touch Dual.
5) Being a hermit

5 beautiful parent/s to tag:
Parent/s with kids and/or furkids included in no particular order:
1) Shifting Sand
2) Random Thoughts
3) Moments Within
4) Shayang Ummi
5) Babe in the City - KL

Causing a Commotion

As many of my colleagues were still on leaves for the Hari Raya, the office was terribly quiet today.

As usual when tea-time came, I decided to go to the pantry to make myself a drink - green tea to be exact. So I reached for my mug and was about to walk out of my cubicle when I glanced into my mug and discovered a lizard there!

*Not the actual culprit*

I really really hate reptiles and upon seeing that horrendous thing all curled up at one corner of my mug, I lost total control. I screamed "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" so loudly and threw my mug away from me. Didn't expect that putting a picture of drag queens in my previous post would actually turn me into one!

"AHHHHHHHH!!!"

Thank goodness my mug landed on my table and didn't get broken.

"The actual mug"

Many of my colleagues came to see what happened and I was so embarrassed to cause such a commotion, but I guess they appreciated the distraction. One of them actually helped to get rid of the lizard.

I will have to live with the embarrassment and my colleagues' teasings for a while... but I am sure I will be able to move on one day. ;-p

2 lessons I learned today:

1. Always wash your mug before you go back. I think the Milo residue left in my mug attracted the lizard.
2. Always remember to hold on to every drop of your masculinity(or what is left of it) even in unexpected circumstances.

Such a drag

It's such a drag returning to work after a long holiday. Gosh... the next one seems so far away.... :-(

Drag queens from the movie: Pricilla - Queen of the Desert

Itchy Itchy Fatty

Brought Axel to the vet to check the itchiness on his right eye due to some dry skin. The vet whom we consulted was a young guy, Dr. Yap who was on locum. Apparently Axel was allergic to something that caused the skin problem and also his paws' pads to be red. No wonder he has been licking his paws so much! The vet ran some test from the samples taken from the affected areas to determine whether they were mange. Thank goodness they were not.

He prescribed an eye ointment for the dry skin around Axel's eye, and a medicated shampoo to soak Axel's paws.

Dr. Yap also said that Axel was very fat. Out of the score of 0 to 10, 0 being very thin and 10 being very fat; he said he would give Axel a 9! I thought he exaggerated a little bit but well, he's the doctor.

So I guess I would need to give Axel less food and treats; and more exercise.

Poor baby must be very confused on why I didn't give him any treats when he pee'ed in the toilet today.

Guilty as charged!

Woke up this morning around 7.30am to feed Axel. Then I left Axel to roam free and went back to sleep until 10.00am.

When I got up again and walked to the living room, I saw a familiar yellow patch behind my couch. On nearer inspection, it was Axel's way of saying "This is my territory. All other dogs please stay away". The thing is, there is no other dog in my household!...well not unless you wanna call me a bitch!

So I looked at him and screamed "WHY YOU PEE PEE HEREEEEEEEEEEE??!!!". Axel dashed into his kennel (He has this delusion that I can't get him when he is in his kennel) and gave me his "guilty as charged" and "please forgive me" looks.

He got grounded in his kennel for a while before I allowed him to come out again. Naughty boy!

His recent constant marking of territory really made me consider of neutering him. Should I turn my son into a eunuch??

Funny Signs at C&C, Pattaya

I was going through my old pictures and came across those taken during my trip to Pattaya early this year.

There was this cool restaurant that I visited and its name was "Cabbages & Condoms (C&C)".

There were a lot of funny signs around this restaurant. Some of them were:

Pome... Pome WHAT?!!

I came across a weird fruit today. Initially I thought it was a pink guava but when my friend cut it open and offered to me, I was like "What's this?". My friend mumbled a name but it couldn't register in my mind. It sounded like "Pome" something. So I asked "Pome.... WHAT?!". My friend mumbled the answer again and it sounded like "Pome-grenade". "Oh...I never heard of this fruit before". He then said... it's called "Buah Delima" in Malay. Nope...never heard of that either.

It's really easy to cut the fruit. My friend just scored the skin with a knife and then broke it open. The inside looked rather gross though... like some tumour growth... yucks.

The correct spelling for this fruit is "Pomegranate" and it is native to the region from Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iran to the Himalayas in northern India. However it is cultivated and naturalized in several other countries, Malaysia being one of them.

The part that you eat is its seed casings (called the aril). I found it rather tedious though. You need to separate the aril from the skin, then put it in your mouth and try to extract the seed from the aril with your tongue. It tasted sweet but before I could savor it, the taste was gone as the aril was so damn little. My friend told me to take in a handful of them .... then I had to do some tongue exercise to get those seeds out. With so much of hardwork, this fruit better have a lot of nutrients!

Together we make a difference

My blog posting on "Give ... and help save lives" caught the attention of someone in FromHungerToHope.com. He featured me in his latest post titled "The power of a bookmark in Malaysia".

Thanks Nick for the honour...

We may think our contributions are small... but together, they do make a big difference.

A Cup of Tea

- a Zen story

Nan-in, a Japanese master during the Meiji era (1868-1912), received a university professor who came to inquire about Zen.

Nan-in served tea. He poured his visitor's cup full, and then kept on pouring.

The professor watched the overflow until he no longer could restrain himself. "It is overfull. No more will go in!"

"Like this cup," Nan-in said, "you are full of your own opinions and speculations. How can I show you Zen unless you first empty your cup?"

Give... and help save lives

I feel that most of the time, I forgot to count my own blessings. I often complained about how my current life is. Come to think of it, my life is not really that bad. It's true I don't have a luxurious house to live in, ... I don't drive an expensive car, ... I don't have branded stuff to flaunt .... but as far as I could remember, I never starved a single day of my life. Even if there was such a day, it was very much my own choice.

Not everyone is given this choice. One child dies of hunger every four seconds in the world. Hunger and malnutrition are still the number one risk to health worldwide. We have seen all these from the news, documentaries and prints.. but we couldn't relate to them as we have never been in that situation.

It's very much like the case when we could not finish our meal and someone would attempt to send us down the guilty trip by reminding us about the starving people out there. I don't think most of us actually took that trip, right?

Anyhow, there is something that we can do to help out. Recently KFC and Pizza Hut have joined their hands with World Food Programme for the Hunger Relief Campaign. Globally, the campaign is from 14th Oct to 21st Oct. However for Malaysia, it is held from 2nd Oct to 31st Oct to coincide with the Ramadhan month.

You can do your part by purchasing the bookmarks (RM1 each) and/or postcards (RM5 for a pack of 5) in any KFC or Pizza Hut outlets. All proceeds will go to the World Food Programme.

I played a small part today. What about you? "Give... and help save lives".

The best portion of a good man's life -
his little, nameless, unremembered
acts of kindness and love.
~William Wordsworth

Small Hand Holding Big Hand

I love this song. It never fails to lift me ... and I need it especially on a Monday morning! Fish Leong is the best!!!

The song is originated from a japanese cartoon. The title is "小手拉大手" which when direct translated becomes "Small hand holding big hand".



Pinyin lyrics

Hai ji de na chang ying yue hui de yan huo
Hai ji de na ge liang liang de shen qiu
Hai ji de ren chao ba ni tui xiang le wo
You le yuan yong ji de zheng shi shi hou

Yi ke ye wan chien che bu shui de den hou
Yi chi ba wan chuen she zhe de xiang sou
You yi ci re ji li yu chun de kun huo
Ying wei ni de wei xiao huan hua cheng feng

*
Ni da da de yong gan bao hu zhe wo
Wo xiao xiao de guan huai ye ye bu xiu
Gan xie wo men yi qi zou le na me jiu
You zai yi ci hui dao liang liang shen qiu

Ge ni wo de shou
Xiang wen rou ye shou
Ba zhi you jiao gei cao yuan de liang kuo
Wo men xiao shou la da shou
Yi qi xiao you
Jin tian bie xiang tai duo

Ni shi wo de meng
Xiang bei fang de feng
Chui zhe zheng nan fang nuan yang yang de ai qiu
Wo men xiao shou la da shou
Jin tian jia you xiang zuo tian hui hui shou

Repeat from beginning until *

Gei ni wo de shou
Xiang wen rou ye shou
Wo men yi zhi jiu zhe yang xiang qian zou
Wo men xiao shou la da shou
Yi qi xiao you
Jin tian bie xiang tai duo

Ni shi wo de meng
Xiang bei fang de feng
Chui zhe nan fang nuan yang yang de ai qiu
Wo men xiao shou la da shou
Jin tian jia you xiang zuo tian hui hui shou

La la la..

Ge ni wo de shou
Xiang wen rou ye shou
Wo men yi zhi jiu zhe yang xiang qian zou
Wo men xiao shou la da shou
Yi qi xiao you
Jin tian bie xiang tai duo

Lalalalala Xiang bei fang de feng
Chui zhe nan fang nuan yang yang de ai qiu
Wo men xiao shou la da shou
Jin tian jia you xiang zuo tian hui hui shou

Wo men xiao shou la da shou
Jin tian wei wo jia you
She bu de hui hui shou

The Wild Side

Today I got in touch with my wild side. ... I went to Zoo Negara la.

I can't recall the last time I visited our local Zoo. I think it must be 5-6 years ago! I think that's the thing with local attractions. We often take them for granted and rather spend the time and money visiting the same attractions in other countries.

However I have to agree with why people have such mentality. Our local attractions just could not compete! I am not sure whether there are many tourists who go to our Zoo, but during my visit there today, I would have to say that 90% of them were locals.

Anyway, Zoo Negara is a major zoological park in Malaysia located on a 120 acres of land in Ulu Klang, near Taman Melawati on the north-east of Kuala Lumpur. It was officially opened on 14th November 1963. The park is managed by a non-governmental organization known as the Malaysian Zoological Society.

The admission fee for adult was RM15/person. Children will be charged at RM6/person. Senior citizens are admitted free of charge but they will need to show their identification papers.

Once paid, you will be given a wristband that you need to wear around your.... wrist (Duh!).

You can get the Zoo's map once you get inside. There was another brochure mentioning about the different sections of the Zoo but it was entirely in Malay. I couldn't find an english version and was convinced that the lack of it depicted how many tourists they have there.

(Click to enlarge)

For train ride with tour guide, you would need to pay an extra RM25 but I would advise against it. I was looking at the elephants and the train passed by. I could hear the tour guide announcing to the people on the train that on their right were the elephants. Period... DUH!!! Anybody can do that!!

The whole Zoo looked rather old and not very well maintained. It's 44 years old after all. The Zoo was sectioned as below:

• Giraffes & Elephants
• Bird House (didn't go there cos we were afraid of bird flu :-p)
• Tigers & Lions
• Reptile House
• Mammal Kingdom
• Ape Centre
• Savannah Walk
• Bears
• Children's World (like a petting Zoo thingy)
• Multi-Animal Show
• Aquarium (didn't go there cos the path leading to it was damn dusty)

Although the place looked rather worn out, the most important thing was that the animals looked healthy and well cared for.

Following are some of their pictures:

There were some gifts shops for those who like to get some souvenirs. Like all tourist attractions' gifts shops, the things are usually over priced.

There was a fast food restaurant and some snack cafes for those who would like to grab a bite.

It took us 2 hours to complete the whole tour. My verdict - it was not really bad although it could be better in terms on maintenance. However I think as Malaysians, we should support our local attractions. Perhaps then, they will get enough fund to make the place better.

Hmm...which will be my next local attraction to visit? "Eye on Malaysia"? National Museum? We shall see....