This is a rant.

I don't understand. I don't understand how Singaporeans with all our affluence and education, are intolerant, inconsiderate and treats life 'below us' so flippantly, so disposable.

I am upset that people thinks that as long as a living being ceased to be of benefit to the society, it is alright to kill them off, as long as it is done humanely. First of all, to deliberately cause death to another being just because it serves no purpose is NOT humane no matter what method is employed. Second of all, what values are we teaching our young? That is alright to humanely 'off' us when we are old, useless and a burden???

I hope 30 years on, I won't become another death statistic just because I am old and useless to society. Not that younger Singaporean will care then.

I am upset that we think we can treat our domestic helpers and foreign workers with snobbery. They are looked down upon, shouted at, invisible to us all when all this time we know jolly well we can't live without them. Not that we care. They are disposable items in our books.

But don't forget, our grandparents and great grandparents were once the Amahs, Ahmads, coolies. They used to do backbreaking work under the hot sun. Just because we are privileged now, doesn't mean we should forget where we came from. Where is our humility?

The debate on the HDB's ban on cats goes to show how intolerant Singaporeans can be. So dogs bark and cats caterwaul. Humans are guilty of bigger crimes. We litter, scream, shout, laugh, sing, play out loud without consideration for our neighbours. But we generally tolerate these nonsense. Why? Is it because we are humans and therefore our lives are valuable and important and animals' are not? Or is it because animals are smaller & therefore we can speak against them but humans are bigger & therefore to save ourselves from a whallop we swallow the inconvenience in silence?

Just because we have a bigger brain doesn't make us better. Animals live on this planet longer than we have. And I bet they will be around after we humanely kill each other off.

I question our education. I bet most of us don't even understand the purpose of education. You may disagree with me but the way I see it, education is not about scoring good grades and making into the university and getting a well paid job. Education is about developing yourself, your mind and your character, to become a better person to serve the society.

A society with intelligent people but without kindness and compassion is not well served.

Yes, I am in bad mood. I'm sick & miserable right now. And I am probably not making any sense here. Hell.

Inspiring

From Sports Illustrated, by Rick Reilly

I try to be a good father. But compared with Dick Hoyt, I suck.

85 times he's pushed his disabled son, Rick, 26.2 miles in Marathons. Eight times he's not only pushed him 26.2 miles in a wheelchair but also towed him 2.4 miles in a dinghy while swimming and pedaled him 112 miles in a seat on the handlebars--all in the same day.

Dick's also pulled him cross-country skiing, taken him on his back mountain climbing and once hauled him across the US on a bike. Makes taking your son bowling look a little lame, right?

And what has Rick done for his father? Not much - except save his life.

This love story began in Winchester, Mass., 43 years ago, when Rick was strangled by the umbilical cord during birth, leaving him brain-damaged and unable to control his limbs.

"He'll be a vegetable the rest of his life'', Dick says doctors told him and his wife, Judy, when Rick was nine months old. "Put him in an Institution."

But the Hoyts weren't buying it. They noticed the way Rick's eyes followed them around the room. When Rick was 11 they took him to the Engineering Department at Tufts University and asked if there was anything to help the boy communicate.

"No way", Dick says he was told. "There's nothing going on in his brain."

"Tell him a joke", Dick countered. They did. Rick laughed. Turns out a lot was going on in his brain.

Rigged up with a computer that allowed him to control the cursor by touching a switch with the side of his head, Rick was finally able to communicate. First words? "Go Bruins!"

And after a high school classmate was paralyzed in an accident and the school organized a charity run for him, Rick pecked out, "Dad, I want to do that."

Yeah, right. How was Dick, a self-described "porker" who never ran more than a mile at a time, going to push his son five miles? Still, he tried. "Then it was me who was handicapped," Dick says. "I was sore for two weeks."

That day changed Rick's life. "Dad," he typed, "when we were running, it felt like I wasn't disabled anymore!" And that sentence changed Dick's life. He became obsessed with giving Rick that feeling as often as he could. He got into such hard-belly shape that he and Rick were ready to try the 1979 Boston Marathon.

"No way," Dick was told by a race official. The Hoyts weren't quite a single runner, and they weren't quite a wheelchair competitor. For a few Years Dick and Rick just joined the massive field and ran anyway. Then they found a way to get into the race officially:

In 1983 they ran another Marathon so fast they made the qualifying time for Boston the following year. Then somebody said, "Hey, Dick, why not a triathlon?"

How's a guy who never learned to swim and hadn't ridden a bike since he was six going to haul his 110-pound kid through a triathlon? Still, Dick tried. Now they've done 212 triathlons, including four grueling 15-hour Ironmans in Hawaii. It must be a buzzkill to be a 25-year-old stud getting passed by an old guy towing a grown man in a dinghy, don't you think?

Hey, Dick, why not see how you'd do on your own? "No way," he says. Dick does it purely for "the awesome feeling" he gets seeing Rick with a cantaloupe smile as they run, swim and ride together.

This year, at ages 65 and 43, Dick and Rick finished their 24th Boston Marathon, in 5,083rd place out of more than 20,000 starters. Their best time?: Two hours, 40 minutes in 1992 - only 35 minutes off the world record, which, in case you don't keep track of these things, happens to be held by a guy who was not pushing another man in a wheelchair at the time.

"No question about it," Rick types. "My Dad is the Father of the Century." And Dick got something else out of all this too.

Two years ago he had a mild heart attack during a race. Doctors found that one of his arteries was 95% clogged. "If you hadn't been in such great shape," one doctor told him, "you probably would've died 15 years ago." So, in a way, Dick and Rick saved each other's life.

Rick, who has his own apartment (he gets home care) and works in Boston, and Dick, retired from the military and living in Holland, Mass., always find ways to be together. They give speeches around the country and compete in some backbreaking race every weekend, including this Father's Day.

That night, Rick will buy his Dad dinner, but the thing he really wants to give him is a gift he can never buy.

"The thing I'd most like,'' Rick types, "is that my dad sit in the chair and I push him once."

TODAY's Voices

Coverage on the 'cats in HDB' debate.
Read the letters here.

Found blood in Wawa's urine this evening. Vegancat said it is FLUTD & recommended wet food with salmon & lots of water.

I think Beauty has it as well. Caught her urinating outside the litterbox twice over the last two nights.

So no more dry food for Chaos, only wet ones for now. Poor Ruby. She's gonna be hungry. She's not much of a wet food cat. She loves dry food despite being toothless.

Fast Food Nation

Gives a good insight into the fast food industry and meat packing industries as well.

After this, you probably will think twice before sinking your teeth into that Big Mac or cut into a beef steak or chicken chop.

So if you are a die-hard meat eater, this book is probably not for you.

Had another conversation with this acquaintance of mine about her kitten.

She insists that kitten is not really hers. It was her expat flatmate that took the kitten home & therefore the kitten should be the flatmate's. She just happens to live there & therefore happens to play with it.

However, she does sometimes buy the cat food because the 'owner' is a scattered brain. Just the other day, she was telling me they fed the cat bread because they ran out of catfood. I ended giving her the reserve I had stashed for Peanut & Sesame & some cans of tuna (originally meant for Tua Tao).

I asked her again, have they or has she plan for the future of the kitten? Still not vaccinated nor sterilised. No cat food in the flat. This arrangement is unacceptable. I told her if she is unable to care for the kitten, please bring it to my office. One more cat here is not going to be big difference to us.

Alex is down with a very bad case of flu. He's a mess right now. He had been sneezing most of the night.

Suspected so. He was pretty down last week, losing interest in play, food & even free cuddles! Have put him on Vibravet & extra Vit C & monitor his condition closely. Looks like the trip to the groomers this Saturday will have to be postponed.

Picture's very out of focus - this is what happens when I operate without caffiene ....

Bathe Time

The kittens got their weekly bathe today. The Auntie uses baby wipes & they got a rub down from their eyes, face, all the way to their little backsides. She was very thorough.

I have to give it to her. Auntie really has her ways with the kids. They didn't put up any fights whatsoever.

She used to bathe the cats with water & Dettol until I found out & gave her baby wipes instead. For her, Dettol is the cure for everything external. I had to use the word 'poison' to stop her from using Dettol ever again on cats.

First was Sesame.
Then came Peanut & Auntie finally captured on photo!

Grumps finally on YouTube!

Have you ever finished a day feeling rotten? I mean most days, I would finish work feeling good. Tired but good & sometimes accomplished. But not today. I am ashamed of myself, to be honest.

I had a late lunch today in Maxwell. As I was heading back to my office, at the cross road junction I saw an hunched back old man. He looks like a rag-and-bone, collecting soda cans from the rubbish bin. And he looks a little mentally-challenged to me. He shuffled very slowly to the traffic light, carrying 2 large bags of empty cans.

I was waiting to cross to another side of the road. Because he shuffled so slowly, he missed his green man & had to wait for the next one. In that moment when I saw him, a voice inside my head said 'help him, talk to him.' But my feet didn't move towards him. Instead, I turn to cross my side of the road.

During the walk back, I silently cursed myself. Why didn't I help him? I wasn't rushing for time. In fact, I had time to spare.

Then a thought struck me. I was embarrassed to be seen helping him. I started thinking of past encounters where I could have stepped in to help but didn't and it was pretty consistent. I was embarrassed & I did not want to be the odd one standing out. I want to belong, to be popular, to be able to blend into the group.

This afternoon I saw ugly me and I'm not proud of me.

Dim Sum's Fisher

Fisher's family has finally sent me photos of him. This is the first I have seen him since he was adopted a year ago.

He is now called Nicky. According to his mom Shira, Nicky loves to look out the window after his meal. And he loves his snacks and it is the only 'bribe' he accepts.

But Nicky is smaller than the other house cat Zoe. From this photo I can only guess that petite & leggy are their family trademarks.

Even the beautiful can be 'ugly' sometimes :-)

She was angry at Alex for taking up her 'Beauty' time with mommy ... Doesn't matter that she already had a full 15 minutes of mommy's undivided attention before Alex appeared. It is still his fault.

HDB's anti-cat policy is antiquated

Simple & to the point.

ST Forum
19 January 2007

I AGREE wholeheartedly with Miss Elaine Neo Yan Ling's comment that cats make good pets in flats ('Don't ban cats in flats, HDB'; ST Online Forum, Jan17).

Over the years, I've written many times to the Housing Board to request that the policy on pets be updated to allow for cats to be kept. But each time the reply is the same:

'Cats are not allowed to be kept in HDB flats as they are nomadic in nature and difficult to keep confined within the flats. Due to the nomadic nature of cats, the nuisances caused by cats, such as the shedding of fur, defecating and urinating in public areas, noise disturbance, and so on, would affect the environment and neighbourliness in our housing estates. In view of this, HDB has a policy of not allowing cats to be kept in HDB flats.'

I have sent the HDB information on new breeds of cats that are suitable for apartment living, and have even disputed some of the dog breeds which have been approved as suitable pets for apartment living, with supported facts from pet review sites.

But each time, it has always been the standard reply from HDB.

HDB's policy on pets is antiquated and should be reviewed and updated based on the latest information regarding dog and cat breeds available now.

The Government is constantly telling Singaporeans that in order to progress, they must constantly review and update themselves according to the latest trends, but somehow I don't see government statutory boards following the same call.

David Tan Hee Tuck
Hong Kong

"Human beings also kill animals not just for food. They take the animals' skin to make shoes and hats and clothes. And even that is not enough. They take these animals' bones to make necklaces or buttons or earrings. In short, they kill many, many animals in order to sell the animal parts for money. Because of these desires and this strong animal consciousness, human beings fight with each other, and destroy nature. They do not value life. So now this whole world has many problems; problems with the water, problems with the air, problems with the earth and food. Many new problems appear every day. These problems do not happen by accident. Human beings make each and every one of these problems. Dogs, cats, or lions, or snakes - no animal makes as many problems for this world as human beings do. Humans do not understand their true nature, so they use their thinking and desire to create so much suffering for this world. That is why some people say that human beings are the number one bad animal in this world. So human beings must soon wake up and find their original seeds, their original nature."

~ Zen Master Seung Sahn
The Compass of Zen

Ruby Getting Along :-)

Lighter Moments

Troop of One Hundred

Xiao Hei Enjoying Sun

Tua Tao's Fresh Sores

A new sore on Tua Tao's back. A few more small ones on his sides which he won't let me take pictures of.

The Auntie suspects he bites himself because his new skin itches. But it seems unlikely to me. The spot where the sore is (on this picture) is an unlikely spot where he can bite himself. I could be wrong. Tua Tao could be an acrobatic cat for all I know.

I have asked Auntie to cut back on the cod liver oil supplements to thrice a week & add lysine to all daily feed.

Meanwhile, the kittens are venturing into my end of the street.

"We are all here on this planet, as it were, as tourists. None of us can live here forever. The longest we might live is a hundred years. So while we are here we should try to have a good heart and to make something positive and useful of our lives. Whether we live just a few years or a whole century, it would be truly regrettable and sad if we were to spend that time aggravating the problems that afflict other people, animals, and the environment. The most important thing is to be a good human being."

Junior's Mark

Jr dashed out of the flat this evening when I opened the door. I picked him up & was about the carry him back when my neighbour's daughter-in-law came up the stairs. The boy clawed his way out of my arms to dash back home.

Ouch.

Vegetarian Evolution: A Case of West Meets East

By Anna Mundow for Boston Globe
January 14, 2007

Tristram Stuart, a graduate of Cambridge University, has written for Indian newspapers, edited a book on Himalayan nomads, and been a project manager in Kosovo. "The Bloodless Revolution: A Cultural History of Vegetarianism From 1600 to Modern Times" (Norton, $29.95), his first book, is an astonishing examination of mankind's changing perception of its place in the natural world and of what it means to be human.

Stuart spoke from his home in London.

Q What was "the bloodless revolution"?

A It became a perennial battle as envisaged by vegetarians, particularly in the 17th and 18th centuries, for justice to both humans and animals. This was particularly imagined by late-18th-century revolutionary vegetarians in the French Revolution who saw their fight as reaching back to the 17th-century radicalism of the Cromwellian revolution.

Q And Eastern philosophy influenced those early radicals?

A That was a revelation . I knew about the enthusiasm for Indian culture at the end of the 18th century, but what surprised me was the influence 100 years earlier, when Europeans first traveled to India in significant numbers and wrote travel books that became bestsellers . These travelers were fascinated by vegetarians they encountered, particularly in western India. As a result of those texts, vegetarianism as witnessed in India became a major subject of debate for philosophers and scientists, who discussed the moral and nutritional implications.

Q In that sense, is the history of vegetarianism also the history of philosophy?

A Absolutely. Of course the term "vegetarianism" was only coined in 1842, but the ideas that composed it -- the objection to killing animals or the belief that meat was bad for the human body -- go back through history. From the nutritionists who said that meat "furs the vessels," to the philosophers who said it's wrong to kill animals, to the religious believers who said that God made Adam and Eve to live in harmony with all the creatures in paradise. You can't separate any of those strands; they're all linked.

Q What was the heyday of vegetarianism?

A There were three heydays. The mid 17th century during the Cromwellian revolution, when dissenters protested against the elite, which was represented by the conspicuous consumption of meat. The second was during the Enlightenment, when nutritionists and anatomists began really to examine the human body and to argue that we were herbivorous by nature. Then at the beginning of the 19th century, radical thought, scientific inquiry, and the interest in India fused into one movement.

Q When did the idea of "the natural" as the fixed essence of our being arise?

A It was an Enlightenment idea that harked back to ancient Greece and probably beyond. Certainly it became a fixation that took many different forms. In the 17th century, biblical philosophy regarded paradise and the original state of the earth as nature. By the 18th century, that idea became more secularized as people strove to revive a utopian "state of nature" cleansed of the corruptions of society and civilization.

Q Tell me about Tyson's chimpanzee.

A Well, that was an absolute watershed in Western science, when the first ape was dissected by Edward Tyson in 1699. His drawings were extremely accurate and were still being consulted in Darwin's time. The experiment triggered a debate about whether this animal was herbivorous and, if so, were humans, who were almost identical, also herbivorous.

Q Do you have a favorite vegetarian?

A Yes, Thomas Tryon . He grew up in the Cromwellian revolution and in 1680 began reading about India, where millions of people were following what he regarded as the original law of God: Do not kill your fellow creatures. He extended that in so many ways that we can recognize now: lamenting deforestation in America; becoming antislavery well before his time; worrying about the pollution of rivers affecting fish and poisoning humans, about soil erosion and cash-cropping in Barbados, where he lived for a while. He is an astonishing character, yet there's no biography of him and virtually no research. I discovered a number of books which had been lost or not identified as his just sitting in library archives.

Q If Tryon's your favorite, I suppose Hitler is everyone's least favorite?

A That's something that haunts the vegetarian movement. What I try to tackle when describing Hitler's vegetarian ideology is the idea that because Hitler was vegetarian, vegetarianism has something inherently fascist about it: that argument is obviously false. So you get vegetarians who deny that Hitler had any vegetarian views, when the fact that he was vegetarian is no more relevant than the fact that Stalin ate meat. Gandhi, for example, had many of the same dietary ideas as Hitler, but his political views could hardly have been more different.

It's fascinating, by the way, that Gandhi was brought up vegetarian but was not convinced of vegetarianism as a philosophy until he came to England. Before that he rebelled against it. He took back to India the arguments for [it] that had originally come from there to Europe.

Anna Mundow is a correspondent for the Irish Times. She can be reached via e-mail at ama1668@hotmail.com.

The kittens catch the opportunity to sun themselves
Ah Hua doing the same

I spot a few fresh sores on Tua Tao's back but he has become a distant with me again. He ran away before I could whip out my camera. :(

Maybe he is just a practical cat. Now that the holidays are over & Auntie has resume the feeding duties, I'm no longer of value to him ;)

A New Make Shift

It has been raining long & hard the past couple of days. The Auntie worries that the current make shift we have is not big enough for the trio.

So she made this. Inside is a A4 paper carton box that sits on top of a large ceramic tile & then she lined the box with small piece of carpet. For the finishing touches, she covers it with the garbage bag. It is big enough for the kittens to snuggle up together & it keeps the cold wind out.

Genius! I say.

Tua Tao - King of His Castle

Tua Tao has been hiding in this little make-shift shelter since yesterday.

He seemed to be happy to be in his new 'home' & is, I believe, a little possessive of it. But he still shares with home with the little ones.

He hissed at me a couple of times yesterday & this morning when I stick my hand in for him to smell & when I removed his stale foodbowl. But he remained calm & quiet when I spoke to him. He appeared to be listening & understanding me (rather that's what I like to think he is doing!)

I am happy that he now has the confidence to protect his territory & the kittens instead of running off to hide.

His skin is clear now. He looks like a new cat & he has put on a little weight. :-)

Some People Ignorant of Wildlife Around Them

I love this! It is true is usually our unfounded fears that cause innocent animal lives to be lost.

Straits Times Interactive
ST Forum, 12 January 2007

THE Sunday Times article on Jan 7, 'Bee attack: Don't fight back, just run', is balanced journalism - educative and fair. This contrasts with previous fear-mongering reports on 'killer bees' which miscast unaggressive local species as their dreaded Africanised cousins in the Americas.

Competing literacies leave many 'bio-illiterate'. Recent giveaways include a Channel News Asia presenter who ascribed the film, Gorillas In The Mist, about Diane Fossey, the late mountain gorilla specialist, to Jane Goodall, the chimpanzee expert.

A local article referred to chimpanzees, which are apes, as monkeys. Another writer feared that monkeys on one of the Southern Island might throw stones - they don't, but apes might.

Another writer mislabelled the whale shark - a fish - as a marine mammal. Years ago, a reporter sensationalised the harmless, plankton-feeding whale shark as a potential maneater.

Some youngsters mistake the ubiquitous monitor lizard, which is much smaller and not life threatening, for the rarely seen crocodile. This may explain signs (still there?) at MacRitchie Reservoir that differentiate these animals pictorially - to obviate panic?

In the Dec 31 Sunday Times story, 'Korean study mamas', one of them complained: 'Singapore is so clean, so why are there lizards crawling on the walls of our apartment? We are really scared of them.' Why must non-humans always be filthy and threatening by default?

House lizards (geckos) don't smell, whereas - unwashed - we and our pets reek and exchange bacteria. That creatures exist to attack us is self-flattering. Gecko droppings show their pest-control role. Cleaning up after them after initially being startled when they panic at our intrusion. Admire their adaptation to our environment - don't fear or despise them.

American author Mark Twain said: 'The more I see of people, the more I like my dog'. We have no monopoly on human traits. Some wild dolphins, summoned by drums, herded fish into tribal fishermen's nets for mutual benefit.

Lacking muscles to access honey, the honey guide bird uses body language to lead animals or humans towards a beehive to share the spoils. Kamuniak, a wild lioness in Kenya, adopts several oryx calves for company instead of eating them which baffled zoologists no end.

Animals don't deserve short shrift. Bio-literacising ourselves via documentaries, and so on will outgrow a distrust of - overwhelmingly less dangerous - non-humans. Don't we owe our own species honesty, humility, edification and justice too?

Anthony Lee Mui Yu

Home Sweet Home

Sesame is home! Auntie & I waited all day in anticipation of his return. He almost couldn't make it back today due to the heavy downpour here. Luckily the rain stopped in time & the darling boy manages to reunite with Peanut. He sprinted out of the carrier to Peanut. It was an adorable sight.

Now our darling spots a tipped ear. The picture's a little small - had to crop Vincent's & my feet out of the picture. :-)

Pity that Auntie has left for the day. She will be so happy to see him tomorrow morning.

Conversation overheard on the MRT to work today

Mother 1: "My daughter has to audition for CCA (co-curricular activity) today. I told her to try everything & then she can pick & choose which my hubby & I is the best."

Mother 2: "Oh, I don't that. I told my daughter to audition for classical chinese music & choir. I hope she can be the next Sun Yen Tzi (Stephanie Sun)."

At this point, I hid behind my TODAY, biting my lip in hopes that I don't laugh out loud.

I didn't know students have to audition for CCAs these days. What is so great about CCAs anyway?

I remember I dreaded the ECA (that's what it was called in the hey-days). I procrastinated until the deadline was up & got a warning & then proceeded sign up for a club with the least members which turned out to be the brass band. I had to lug my trumpet home. I became the butt of the family's joke until I started playing the brass. I became the family's pain-in-the-you-know-where.

And what happens to what the kids wanted? It sounded like the CCA is more the mothers than the kids. Those poor kids, living with the pressure to fulfil their mothers' dreams!

My parents never harboured any dreams that I'll be the next Jeremy Monteiro. Well, they crushed that hope after I blew my first note.

Which Superhero Are You?

Lean, mascular & feminine

Honest & a defender of the innocent

Saw this on M's blog & decided to give it go. Hey, what have I got to lose?

F-u-n-n-y

Find out which superhero you are - click here.

I called Vincent today to check on how Sesame is doing post-operation.

But before I could say anything, Vincent's first words were "Sesame cried & cried when I took him back from the vet. He cried the whole night. Very loud some more!"

Oh dear ... So I asked him to bring Sesame back tomorrow afternoon instead. I had wanted Sesame to board with Vincent until Friday but from the looks of it, it wouldn't be fair to Vincent or his neighbours ...

Anyway, we miss him so. :)

Vincent came by this afternoon & took Sesame away. As he was carted off to the vet, he let out a tiny whimper. For a split second, I almost shouted “Stop! Leave my baby alone!!” But of course I didn’t. I stood firm.

After tomorrow, Sesame will become a young lad, albeit an impotent one & sports a cool tipped ear. :-)

Cat Strangled with Nylon String

The Straits Times Interactive
8 January 2007

THE Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) is appealing for witnesses who might have seen the culprits who hanged a cat with a blue nylon string.

Residents at Block 245, Simei Street 5 called the police after they saw the dead cat hanging from the staircase railing between the sixth and seventh floor.

The incident happened on Dec 29, and it was the second time in a week that a cat had been tortured.

On Christmas Eve, a cat was found bleeding from the mouth and nose on the second floor of Block 171, Yishun Ring Road.

The SPCA was informed and the injured cat was taken to a veterinarian to be put to sleep. Said the SPCA's executive officer, Ms Deirdre Moss: 'It was in extreme pain and suffering from respiratory distress.'

The SPCA is appealing for witnesses and is offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for harming the cats.

Anyone with information can call the SPCA at 6287-5355 during office hours.

Seng Chew & Twinkle

Never heard of her but I love the fact that she sees the human side of her cat Twinkle & treats her like one.

"TWINKLE, a stray cat who's now nine months old, has provided me and my three flatmates much entertainment and many scares since she entered our household half a year ago.

Probably the most horrifying thing she ever did was to eat a lizard. It was as though she was very proud of her catch, and came to show off what she had done, with the lizard's tail and legs still sticking out of her mouth.

Being girls, we all ran into the nearest room and screamed. None of us dared go near her for the rest of the day.

She has a mischievous streak and loves to play tricks. When we have to wake up early in the morning, she'll plant a sink scrub in the corridor leading to the toilet.

Being groggy from sleep, no one usually notices the trap in the dark until it is stepped on. As it is a rough-textured scrub, it can be quite painful.

Twinkle will hide in a corner and jump out when her prank has been successfully carried out. She'll then take the scrub with her, and plant it back for the next victim.

She's also extremely agile. Once, she couldn't be found, and after looking everywhere, we heard a faint mewing sound.

It was quite scary, like a scene from a horror flick, hearing the sound but not knowing the source of it.

We then realised the mews were coming from a drawer and Twinkle was hiding in it.

Now we have to be very careful when opening drawers and cupboards because she's so quick and moves so quietly that we never know if she's climbed into one.

She's got her soft side, too. When she was younger, she learnt how to jump by aiming at an object and trying to reach it.

If she failed, my flatmates and I would laugh at her because of how cute she looked. But then she'd be very embarrassed and run away to hide.

Also, during our girl talks, she would pester us to include her in the sessions by mewing very loudly outside the room until we let her in.

Twinkle, like me, is a bit of a singer. When I play fast songs, she'll enter the room and mew along to the music, and leave once it ends.

Perhaps her love of music has to do with us singing her lullabies when she was still a kitten. My flatmates and I would replace the lyrics with 'meows' instead.

Sometimes I think we're a bit ridiculous for treating Twinkle as if she were human. But with her endearing personality, it's really hard not to."

Sing Chew, 25, was the runner-up in last season's Project Superstar. Her debut album, From Taipei To Beijing, is out in stores.

Source: The Sunday Times

Dim Sum’s Babies

I visited two of Dim Sum’s babies this morning. The last time I visited was about 8 months ago, when Dim Sum was still alive.

Diyana (the babies’ mother) adopted Fitzgerald & Fargo in November2005. Then they were only a month old curious & precocious. She renames them Koko (former Fitz) & Kiki (former Fargo).

All of Dim Sum's babies 1 month old

Now they blossomed into 2 beautiful & well-behaved cats. Well, at least during the hour I was there.

Koko now at 1 year 2 months

Kiki now at 1 year 2 months

They remind me very much of Dim Sum – tall, leggy, slim & quiet.

The Day Tua Tao Initiates Contact

This is the video which captured Tua Tao's first contact with me. I forgot to upload earlier. See how he weaves in & out with Sesame.

If you could only see my smiling face ...

:-P

Make Yourself Comfortable

Whoever who said that, didn't anticipate our cats would really make themselves comfortable with our stuff!

Ruby has the habit of scrunching up the table runner under her before she snoozes

& Carma makes my bag her bed ...

I took a mini-break from work this afternoon & went out to play with the kittens. The Auntie was there so we chatted briefly. She happily pointed to Tua Tao & said “He is yan-tau (handsome). So white now.” I smiled & nodded. She continued, “cod liver oil very good but very smelly.” I laughed. Yes, Tua Tao is handsome. Pity I did not have my camera with me.

I informed her that Vincent (pet transport guy) will collect Sesame next Monday evening for sterilization. He will return the boy on Thursday evening. She was nodded “good, good.”

She told me she saw a kitten (about a month old) outside the SGH last Saturday but it is no longer there. The kitten is a black & white with a crooked tail. “Very cute,” she said.

I explained to her there are a few possible scenarios. The kitten could have wandered off or rescued or … Anyway, I said if she does see the kitten again, please bring it here where it is safer.

As the sky turned turning grey, she looked wistfully at our makeshift shelter for the trio & said, “I worry. Don’t know if this is enough for them.” I can only reply, “This will have to do Auntie. This is best we can provide for them.”

We looked at each other, nodded & walked separately back to our offices.

A few of the Buddha’s quotes that I am going to try live by everyday.

“Contentment is the greatest wealth.”

“It is good from time to time to think about your own faults.
It is good from time to time to think about the faults of others.
It is good from time to time to think about your own virtue.
It is good from time to time to think about the virtue of others.”

“Do not wish pain on another out of either anger or rivalry.”

“Just as a mother protects her own child even at the risk of her own life, so too, one should have unbounded love for all beings in the world.”

“Those who keep thinking ‘He abused me!” “He struck me!” “He oppressed me!” “He robbed me!” never still their hatred. But those who let go of such thoughts will. For in this world hatred is never still by more hatred. It is love that stills hatred. This is an eternal truth.”

Aussie Cat Swipes Own Credit Card

MESSIAH Campbell was considered a good enough credit risk to be given a card with a $4200 limit - which was surprising, considering he's a cat.

His Melbourne owner Katherine Campbell wanted to test the limits of her bank's identity screening process and applied for the Visa credit card on Messiah's behalf.

She was amazed when it was approved.

Read the article here & the bank's apology here.

Ruby & Wawa (rated RA by the KMM Censorship Board)

Ruby - a ragdoll with humans but a terror with the Chaos especially Wawa these days.

A Great Start to 2007

Yes it is, at least for Tua Tao.

He was the first to greet me this morning. He came sprinting to me when I called out his name. Following close behind him were the kittens.

The Auntie is right. Tua Tao is almost healed now.

No more scabs on his face
Fine hairs can be seen on his back Only a few scabs left. His skin is no longer raw.

This cat that everyone call ugly has proven them wrong. He is a fine looking lad now. :-)

An Unlikely Friendship

The trio adopted a baby rat. It is very shy rat but I saw it nestled behind the trio’s makeshift shelter, nibbling on a kibble.

Is the beginning of an unlikely friendship? Hopefully the kittens’ instinct don’t kick in & start to view rat as their food.

Unfortunately I can't take a picture of baby rat. My camera’s battery went flat. :-(