BBQ

LOL this is a rare occasion that I could come online in the day, currently leeching bandwidth :p
Don't think we're gotta have any connection in the house for a very long time, rang up telcom yesterday. All this while we'd been pointing fingers at the wrong party in regards to the delay in us being hooked up to the cyberworld. Poor chap with the ISP company, really sorry, now I know its not your fault.
Apparently our area ran outta slots for phone line/ cable whatever the rubbish excuse was, and the telcom company has our order put on waiting list, yet to be processed by the planning department. After being pushed for a time frame, she advised me to call back next week to check if our order is being approved,..... ...... ......
Next week would be the fourth week since we tendered the application,... ... ............................. *sigh*

Anyho, it seemed that one of our neighbours were lucky enough to get themselves a line recently *wonder which lucky fella*. I'm a sucker, I'm a leech, whatever you choose to call it.
Since my good friend has switched on his/ her router, here's my chance to upload the pictures taken last Saturday at Ad's BBQ. A handful of hobby photographer turned up, Martin's wife brought her D40, and Sazzle brought her .... *sorry can't rem the make and model*, and I brought along my D200. Lee and An din't bring their cameras, lol if not the BBQ would have turned into a massive photo outing.

*PS: An, I've used the liquify you taught me for the second last photo, its amazing lol.*

Words (物語)

適當的物語能使人開心，
傷人的物語也能使人難過。

好不容易把心情調理好，
這幾天都有不如意的事。
雨天，泡了杯咖啡，
聼著音樂。
好不容易，心情才舒緩下來。
好不容易才把心里的納悶掃掉。
不料老牛一通電話，卻輕易地把我打回原型。

我試著說些開心的話題，
沒用。
我試著說些輕鬆的話題，
也沒用。

我盡力，不料卻被他的一句“由不得你”給打敗。
那頭死牛怪我，説是我的語氣不好才讓他的心情更糟。
*嘆氣*
我怒了，
算我的好心被狗吃了吧。

解釋，越圖越黑。
他不會用討好的物語，我不介意。
直率是他的優點，也是他的死穴。
可能是在一起久了，覺得沒必要扭扭捏捏。
也这樣，經常說些沒經過大腦的話激怒老娘。

幸好我們倆的感情不如常人，
斗斗嘴，不一會就和好。
哈，老娘的悶氣還沒消咧。
笨牛剛打電話來訴苦，他悶慌了。
原本想聊天卻遭我臭駡。

老娘不發標還儅我是病貓。
沒啦，只是訓了訓他幾句。
大事化小，小事化無。

不過老牛，拜托你以后說話之前請先用用大腦。
不讓我的命會短幾年哦。

Technology

Offended

Dear acquaintance has offended me. I kept my distance, and yet shit like this happens, despite not having any face to face contact.
As all dear FRIENDS who knows me, I'm pretty defensive of my love ones. But if they did something bad, I would not hesitate to point that out. Defensive and blindly defending are two different things.

When my loved ones did nothing wrong and got accused,... that makes me mad, VERY mad.
Yes dear acquaintance lead a high class lifestyle, high class partner, and of course owns a pedigree pet, and us on the opposite end of the spectrum. They can label us as cheap, low class what ever they wish, I couldn't care less, I live on my own conscience. But what happened today just left me swearing the whole evening, not to mention bitchy as well.

Cow mentioned to acquaintance about one of the residence in the neighbourhood giving Yumi side glances whenever she passes our house. The immediate response from the latter was, "What did you expect? Your dog's a stray!!" (F**King C**T) What's wrong with keeping a stray? What's wrong with giving a homeless dog a second chance? You can't even teach your freaking pedigree cat to poo in the bloodly litter box when Yumi toilet trained herself without even needing any prompting from the owners. Did you imagine her with boils on the butt, fur matted, full of fleas and ticks? I'm curious what sorta picture he's painted in his expensive mind. Yes, its not difficult to tell that I'm angry. Coz there were comments made about me in the past, which I just laugh at and got over with. But those comment he made about Yumi today somehow just triggered the button. My bitch auto-mode button.

I'll be seeing dear acquaintance soon, no I won't swear at him. I'll still greet him with a smile, a very fake smile. I play my part as Cow's partner, not wanting to make things difficult since they see each other everyday. After all its just another acquaintance. Not at all worthy as a friend. I treasure my friends, I love and adore my friends. Acquaintance, they disappear fast. And this one is going soon.

Misconceptions

From time to time there would be girlfriends who comment on my so-called life that they assumed I'm living. From time to time there would be people who question Cow if I ever get bored doing NOTHING at home. From time to time my parents would ask if I'm just lazing around being a good for nothing.

Misconceptions, I'm not a tai tai (lady of leisure) with programs like manicure and saloon appointments. The last time I had my nails properly done was five years ago and the last time I went for a snip was months ago.

Misconceptions, I do not do nothing at home. No doubt the chores are manageable and Yumi's easy to take care. With any spare time in hand, I'd rather make myself useful. Be it home improvement, crafts, hobbies, I dislike being useless, or put it in a better way, I dislike emptiness. I'm a do-er, sitting still doing nothing is a torture.

Misconceptions, mum, I agree I don't cook, but everything else even though I'm a master of no skills but at least I'm a Jack. I attempt, through failures I learn. I'm not excellent in anything, but that doesn't make me good for nothing.

Through this entry I'd like people I know out there to realise that not all homemakers are tai tais. Neither do we have to be dull housewives. Filling in forms, under the occupation category, have you ever notice that the term homemaker pops up there as well? Yes, that's a job as well.

Homemakers, another Maria. That's what I am at the moment. The only difference is that I've the power to do what as and when I wish, say no when I'm PMSing, demand off days when I need to unwind. I'm my own master. I take time off to reflect, to improve. I would much prefer to not be labelled as a tai tai if I may coz I'm not.

Its easy to assume, its easy to envy, no matter how many times I've explained people hears what they wanna hear. So this entry is nothing but another rant lol. Just another passing thought *hesterical laugh*.

PS: Dan, if ya reading this post, you'd have probably clicked on the lil cross on the top right hand corner of your browser (I hope not). Think I'm a size 8. Thanks a MIL. *Hugs*

Anyone from Oz?

Dan, bro, where are you?

Calling all from Oz. Can anyone help me get this top?
Need it for an upcoming event. But sadly its only available in stores in Kiwi Land.

Dan, if you are even reading this post, *Grin* you know my size. Well from when you last saw be before you left, just minus off a bit of fats, and that's my current size. (I believe I'm an S)
Please *on my knees* help me get this top? I need it for December in sg. I'll do a bank transfer to you afterwards.

Here's the store locator for the shop. [Link]

Feng Shui

Pea has been asking for more pictures of the house, can't seem to get the mood to pick up the camera.
Ever since we moved in, Cow and I had been low on energy. He's working overtime everyday, and this Saturday's gotta be burnt as well. As for me, bigger place means more chores. Sigh, and for the past few days we haven't been sleeping well either. Some "blame" it conveniently on his xbox, but despite him explaining that he hasn't been able to game since his "sex-box" died two weeks ago, to them they just want to hear what they want to hear. So few hours later the same line of, "Cow, you shouldn't be gaming so much" came back again. As I've mentioned in my previous post on friends and acquaintance, they are the latter. It's a waste of my time to write anymore about them. So back to the subject.

Still can't seem to get used to the new place yet, the neighbours are not as friendly as the previous lot, oh more noise,... and moi don't like noise.
The house, well the landlady is a devoted fengshui believer, and the deco isn't really my cup of tea. Entering the house is just like walking down the alley in Chinatown. I prefer simplicity, clean, space and lots of light. This place is the complete opposite of that. There's no windows in the living room that we can open up and welcome the first beam of sunlight. The deco does look expensive but too fengshui for me. Talisman on doors, Chinese New Year well wishing banners on the wall, oh and two small lil statues on the window beam from the study which looks like some lion-duck mutants. Thank God she removed the "idols" from the alter before she left.

The only place I do feel comfortable in is the study, still simple enough to me. Or maybe coz I din't have to look else where apart from my laptop screen lol.
Guess I need more time to settle than Cow and Yumi, they seemed to like the place more than I do.

Chocolate or Strawberry?

Orange please.
Still remember the cheesy Pocky adverts I grew up with, pretty Japanese gals who can't speak English trying to sound as if they do. Back then there's only chocolate or strawberry flavour to choose between.
Now holy cow, there's green tea, banana, almond, and now orange.

[Wiki: Pocky can be found in dozens of varieties. Such as chocolate, strawberry, and almond. Some of the more unusual flavors include the seasonal flavors of honey (spring) and kiwifruit mango (summer). There is also the bittersweet version of chocolate Pocky called Men's Pocky. There are also regional flavors of Pocky such as grape (Nagano), yūbari melon (Hokkaidō), giant mikan (tangerine, sold in the Kyūshū region), powdered tea azuki bean (Kyoto), Kobe wine (Kobe). There are also such flavors as banana, coffee, caramel, marble royal milk tea, melon, milk, honey and milk, cream cheese, berry, sweet potato, coconut, crush (crunchy cracker pieces in chocolate), pineapple, pumpkin, and hazelnut. Even more flavours include kurogoma (black sesame), kinako (soy bean flour), marron, and green tea.]

Sixth Sense

Just like any other day, Yumi's pawing the door asking to be walked. The moment the door opened, she rushed to the front gate, the usually quiet canine then started barking like that is no tomorrow.

I'm puzzled, well there's not a single soul in sight, neither was there any felines around. Oh there's this cleaner who's walking along the drain picking up rubbish, but that won't trigger Yumi's barking, the most she'd do is whine for attention. No amount of hashing seemed to be able to stop her.

I gave up, leashed and dragged her out for her walk. Walked outta the house to find another chap sitting at the end of the road, nothing special to me. But Yumi differs.
Under the influence of her yelps, the neighbourhood canines joined in the fun. Before I know it, there's now four dogs barking like hell, madness.
It was only when we went round the corner of the row of houses that she managed to calm down.

After her business, we made our way home. Went past where that chap was sitting, Yumi's sniffing the area liken a drug sniffing hound.
My eyes scanning the area and settled in the drain area where a stack of cards was scattered. All cards seemed to belong to the same person, some sorta identification cards since they are all photos on it.
Can't help but relate that to Yumi's barking a while back. Could that chap to up to no good? Could he have stolen someone's wallet and discarded the cards there destroying the evidence? Could Yum have sensed trouble and tried to warn me? LOL or could be it simply that the chap hasn't shower for weeks and Yumi picked up the scent?

Maybe its just be playing detectives, or Yumi might really have some sorta sixth sense. If so then she'd be able to predict that she's gotta be showered today. Muahahhahaaaa

I Wished I Had but I Din't

I Wished I Had (1)
The landlady dropped by this early evening to collect her post as well as to pass me a spare set of keys.
Our lil mascot Yumi happily greeted her at the door. Dear landlady then revealed that she's a dog lover herself with two Shih-Tzus and a golden retriever. As all who came to know Yumi, her bloodline puzzles them. A rottie lookalike who has the build of a .... toy breed? Yes she ultimately asked the questions that I've answered too many times, she's a mutt. And I'm proud to say that she is a mutt. With people who purchases dogs to "show off", mutt is a forbidden word. Her expression changed and the swiftly so did the topic.
I wished I had gone into the subject of people being superficial using everything they have to show off their wealth, including the breed of dogs they have. But trying to keep a good relationship with the landlady is a priority since this is just the beginning of our stay, I swallowed my words.

I Wished I had (2)
Yumi sat by the gate, indicating her need to do her business. Fine, grabbed my keys, her leash and a poopie bag and off we went. She's glad to have a breather while I on the other hand taking time off the chores.
Seeing that there's kids at the playground, I dragged her away from that area.
At this point her lil friend Bryan/ Brandon appeared, along side with some familiar faces, all so excited to see pickle. With their pleas of her making a guest appearance at the playground, and she's on leash anyway, just swing by to say hello to the rest of the kids.
As her lil friends eagerly played with her, a white car stopped next to the area (I'm Venus, therefore most cars to me would be classified according to colours). A lady popped her head out and commented that I should know better that dogs are not allowed in the playground area, and apparently that that's a sign that said so. To be fair, she sounds pretty friendly and did end that sentence with a smile.
I wished I had told her that her so called sign is written for locals,.... don't expect a foreigner to understand. If you want all to do so, please kindly write in English as well. But then I thought, with the ministry of education here debating whether they should remove English as a teaching media, and even with that in use at the moment, majority of their English is still weak, the extra signs would only be for minorities.
And plus if I'd to keep my mouth shut, most would think that I'm a local anyway.
I wished I had gone into theories with her, but figured its just a waste of my time, and she isn't exactly hostile. I smiled, apologized and walked off.

Show & Tell

Ran outta dog food, owners dragged their feet down to the petshop to fetch some while the starving canine waits at home. As for those of you who knows Cow, he eats dog food.... previously he treats himself to Bubble's kibbles, bacon stripes, peanut butter dog biscuits, cesar wet food,.. etc so not he's not sparing Yumi's food.

Here's my show and tell:
1) Cow opened the pack of dog food, impressed with the zip lock that came with the pack. He gave the pack a sniff and commented that it does smell a bit like roasted chicken, as shown on the front of the packaging. Proceed to grab his first kibble.

2) Grabbing the kibble as the canine participated anxiously waiting for her food.

3) One for the canine, one for Cow.

4) After munching a handful of dog food, Yumi sensed trouble. Cow's finishing her food and ignoring his popiah. She attempts to beg Cow to stop eating her kibbles and start eating his own food. That din't work well.

Hearing the crunch from Cow's munches, I gave my verdict to the new dog food from his comments. Its fresh, smells great and does taste like chicken instead of some synthetic polymer like most commercial off-the-shelf kibbles. And as stated they uses tomatoes as filler instead of corn, uses barley and brown rice, oh not forgetting berries as well. Good, I'm sticking to this brand for Yumi.

Happy Moo Day

It's Moo's birthday, almost impossible to get a cake without him knowing, there's no confectionery around ours (sigh).

Went to the supermarket last night, made him wait outside while I hurried in to grab some stuff.

Ingredients:
- Nutella (can't find the orginal flavour, had to settle with hazelnut)
- A choco sponge cake (Sara Lee ran outta choco ones)
- Whip cream
- Candles

After an hour in the kitchen, I present you with my Nutella chocolate hazelnut cake lol with two layers of Nutella spread.
I know it looks more like a flop, the whip cream slide before it could freeze (popped into the freezer). Sprinkled a bit of Milo powder on to make distract the eyes from the sliding cream.

The cake looks smaller than it should have, all thanks to Yumi. She sneaked up to the cake just as I turned my back to wash the knives, at least she seemed happy with it and she's still alive hours after stealing a bite of the cake.
Sigh, kept telling her that chocolate's bad for her,... she just won't listen!!!

Happy Moo Day to my dear dear COW.

Thank God Yumi's here

Not only does my lil pickle gave me her unconditional love, but she has also saved the day.

It's too stuffy in the house, left the door open for some air ventilation. A lil later, her usual weird noises echoes from the porch to the hallway (her noises consists of whimpering, cries, howls, occasionally some whines that sounds like meows).

Went out to check on her, to my astonishment I found a young dark skin chap squatting on our wall,.... and that is pissing me off. That's a *BEEP* doorbell, does he have to resolve to climbing the wall? Isn't that considered *BEEP* trespassing?

Trying to keep my cool, I started questioning him of his presence. He can't speak nor understand English, neither do I understand his language. Only words he could form was "N**dia" (landlady's first name) and "son". I've seen a picture of the landlady's son, he looked chinese to me, and educated so should at least understand basic English. Seeing that that's obviously communication problem, he turned to his friend on a lil cheap scooter shaking his head.
Mumble something, and still trying to explain to me in his own language.

All this while our neighbour's listening in next door. He questioned the chap, and throughout the whole conversation the poor gentleman could only make out ONE word (that shows that the chap has got serious language problem, even his own race can't seem to understand him). That one word was "Maid". Trying very hard to not yell at him, I broke my sentence down word by word "N**dia... rent... house.... to .... me.... N**dia... not... here.... Maid.... not... here..... they stay in .... XXXXX!!!"

After all my effort, he still dare to ask if he can come in... OVER MY DEAD BODY!!!! For all I know you might be some thief/ robber/ or even a *BEEP* rapist!!!!!

If Yumi wasn't crawling on the wall trying desperately to reach him, he might have just jumped over without me knowing....
To be honest, Yumi was trying to get to him for a pat on the head more likely but seeing a dog jumping trying to reach him just somehow looks threatening, and plus his kind isn't suppose to be near dogs anyway, its against their religion.

Ten minutes spent on shooing him away, as he walked towards their vehicle, I called for bodyguard,.... just as the word "Yumi" came out, he turned towards the gate again..... I gave him my famous evil stare and screamed, "I'm calling my dog!!!!!!!!" He was embarrassed, well if that happens to me I would too, he left.

Thank God Yumi's here, she has certainly saved my day, only thing I wished was for her to grow a lil bigger,.... yah she's still a puppy and if she's to remain at this size,.... she's gotta look way too friendly!!!!!!!!!! Please Yumi, just grow a lil bit more, and pleaseeeeee don't be that friendly either.... If a thief enters the door, I hope you'd at least chew off one of his leg than offer him a cup of tea!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Games I play with Yumi

just to clip her nails....

Hide-n-Seek
Game rule(s): Canine tries to lie in a position where her paws would be hidden under her body so that her nails would be out of reach from the clippers.





MasterMind
Game rule(s): Owner tries to find the right button to stroke her to sleep.







Hungry Hippo
Game rule(s): Grab the first paw I can lay my hands on.







Staring Game (mostly seen in Korean soap operas)
Game rule(s): Stare at your opponent without blinking, the first one to closes the eyes loses. Pickle gets uneasy when you stare at her, she'd either distract you with her licks or turn her head and pretend to nap (which is what I wanted). Pretending to sleep most of the time would lead to actual sleeping. Once the Z monster does its work, things would be so much easier, at least till she realised what I was up to.

Snake-n-Ladder
Game rule(s): Creeping up to her (the goal) slowly without getting her attention.
Once reaching the target, gently clipping how many nails I can before the light sleeper wakes up.






Pick-up-Stix (sort of)
Game rule(s): Owner has to figure out the right angle to approach the stix (in this case, the paw) without alarming the victim. Picking up the stix (paw) in the wrong angle would lead to noticable movement which would wake the canine.




Sigh, I hate trimming her nails. Whichever game we play, I'm always the loser.

Catching ups/ Settling/ Interrogation

Spent an hour on the phone with Salsa, it was nice to hear her voice again. Doing some catching up since I din't manage to meet up with her during my last trip home. Really looking forward to them (Salsa & Anodise) visiting in December. It's gotta be a busy month, GP's finally tying the knot and I'm heading back for his big day, Pea's visiting shortly after then Salsa and Ano.

==============================================

Back here in our new dwelling, things are settling down, despite the occasional shock of finding dead roaches in unexpected places. Just the other day, Cow woke up to find one lying in the living room, before he could clear the body,.... Yumi got to it one step earlier. By the time I arrived at the scene,... roach legs were everywhere, not to mentioned fang holes in its tummy,..... For the rest of the day, I'd forbidden the disgusting canine from licking me. Gross I tell ya,... GROSS!

Lazed in bed till mid-day, haven't felt rested for so many weeks, woke up with a nasty migraine. Yumi's wound on her paw's looking better after a few application of the med we got from the vet. Even with the wound, her spirit hasn't been dampened, she's still as bubbly as usual as though nothing has ever happened.

While on the phone with Salsa, she asked if Yuki's with us. Sigh, wonder if she's still roaming and waiting at the other house. Hope she's doing well.
===============================================

Yesterday while having a fag at the porch, Yumi's first lil friend appeared. Think his name is Bryan, Brandon or something like that, age around 10. He spent half an hour at the gate playing with her. And after we became acquainted, he insisted coming in to play with my lil pickle..... With his one leg climbing over our wall, I gave him a stern warning that she's not good with kids even though she loves them and the attention they shower on her.
Then came a list of questions from this curious lil boy:

Boy: Do you have kids?
Moi: No.
Boy: Why not?
Moi: Coz I don't like kids.
(Boy backed off a lil, sensing that my reply might have scared him)
Moi: No dear, not that I don't like kids, just don't like to have kids of my own. (Cold sweat)

Boy: Why don't you like kids of your own?
Moi: Coz I find them troublesome (SHIT!!!! I'm thinking aloud again *slapping myself*)
Moi: No no, what I meant was that I don't have time for them.
(Ya Right you liar!!!! You have all the time in the world!)

The interrogation stopped after the boy's sister appeared, thank god!!!

Oh and for those of you who asked for pix of the new house, sorry that has to wait, was too busy with errands for the past few days, will try to take some in the next couple of days. Meanwhile, here's a look at the study which is joint to the bedroom.

Evacuation

After five trips back and forth, we've finally moved all our possession over to the new place.

Spent nine hours yesterday unpacking, its finally began to sink in that this will be our new place (hopefully for the coming year ahead).
Exhausted from the chores, Cow was upset claiming I should have taken a nap in between. I wished I could, but seeing the mess in the living room was just simply too much of an eye sore. Well at least I can ease off abit today and do a bit of R & R.
Oblivious of the effort I was putting in, our lil pickle's adapting quite well to the new place, apart from all the neighbourhood dogs barking at her during walks (it freaks her out that they appeared somehow unfriendly compared to Yuki and her sister who patrolled our old place). Other than that, she's pretty curious, more kids and INSECTS in the neighbourhood for her to "admire". With the porch's all tiled, she allowed to laze in the sun without me worrying about the holes she might dig or the dirt she might attract.
*Caffeine**More caffeine*
It's pouring cats and dogs as I write, the sound of rain splattering on the roof is just so soothing that I might just join the pooch for an afternoon nap. Just have to wait for the caffeine to wear off.

Emo

Saturday, Cow's working overtime again. Got a call from landlady's sister making a last attempt to persuade us to stay. Why din't the landlady call personally? Maybe coz the rent goes straight into the pocket of her sister? Well less allowance for her, and she just spent RM 300 to perm her hair thinking that that's a grand coming her way.
================================================================

昨晚 Yuki又在门口徘徊，心又开始酸了。摸了摸它的头，小家伙的尾巴高兴地摇个不停。它不屈不挠地在门口等了那么多晚，我佩服得甘拜下风。它的意志力有时连人都比不上。

下午，Yumi 吵着上厕所，一踏出门，主人已经开始喊热了。这时脑海里突然想起Yuki， 不知道它是否还躲在路角默默地等着。
带Yumi饶了一圈还是没见Yuki的身影。可能是天气太热，躲起来避暑吧。
没见到小家伙，不知道是该开心或失望。一担望着它的眼睛，便能看到它在深坑地勤求我们收留它。它的要求并不高，摸一摸它那黑溜溜的小头它就高兴得不得了。
但我是有心无力，Yuki和Yumi我还能勉强应付，但Yuki的妹妹形影不离地贴在姐姐的身边，做姐姐的也不忍心瞥她在一旁。

许多人都不认同我对狗儿的热爱，觉得不就是畜生吗？
可能是我单方面的执着吧，但我深信狗儿有时还比人更像人。上帝创造的亚当是单纯又善良的，如经人类已丑化得不堪，单纯和善良也唯有能在狗儿的身上才看得见。不像人类，它们毫无心机，也不用物语来讨好或伤害。它们不会说谎也不会欺骗。人类丑陋的那一面可能是看的太多了吧，也或许是这样才触动那么多伤感。
打雷，看来快要下雨了，不知道小家伙有没有落脚之处。心又凉了。
==========================================================

牽著小不點去散步，那熟惜的黑影終于出現了，緊跟在后是她那淘氣但又弱小的妹妹。
Yuki的妹妹身體欠佳，毛也大部分已脫落，但她還是依然那麽活潑。
小妹妹不了解爲何姐姐得到厚寵而自己卻被冷落。

回到家，鐵門一開，狡猾的Yuki 一不留神便溜了進來。算了，隨她。看她也累了，渴了。給了她碗水，她樂了。
十分鈡后，黑影悄悄地從鐵門縫中消失。該是擔心妹妹吧。
見到那兩姐妹感情如此深厚，心開始安了。