Search for Buttercup.... the wait.

I want a pug. I’ve always wanted a pug. And I want to name my pug Buttercup.

I’ve been saying this, very annoyingly, like a broken record for MONTHS, if not years now. But have I done anything about it? Nooooooooot reaaaaaaaaally…

Until recently. I decided that I really, truly want a pug.

I scoured the net, I called a few breeders. Prices varied from RM800 – RM1600 per puppy.

*Gulp*

But hey, I’ve always wanted a pug! But then I thought, heck, if I’m gonna pay good hard earned money, I want a BLACK pug!

And they are rare.

All the breeders said “Sorry miss, they are very rare in Malaysia”. So I did what I do best.

I procrastinated. Days turned into weeks, and still no pug.

Until 3 days ago.

Mucking through petfinders.com I saw a pug for adoption. She was recently rescued from the Selayang pound and had just undergone surgery to remove stone crystal build up in her bladder. She was 4 years old, had been abandoned, cut open and sewn up again and from the 2 kinda murky photos posted up, she was heart wrenchingly ADORABLE!!!!.

I checked the comments, someone had requested to adopt her before me.

My heart sank but I put in my request anyways. You never know right?

Then I call her fosterer, only to be told that another lady had called much earlier and was viewing the pug on Friday, sorry, we have other dogs for adoption if you’re interested.

“No, thank you” I reply.

And head hung low, I go about my day.

2 hours later, another fosterer calls me. Turns out the pug’s treatment, surgery and care was given in a veterinarian’s clinic in Klang, a stone’s throw from where I live! So solely because I lived in Klang, my request trumped Ms Sunway's who called earlier. It made more sense to let me adopt the pug (who needed constant care because of her surgery) since I’m closer to the vet, and the fosterer (who lived 5 mins away from me) could help with her care.

WHOOOOOOOPIEEEEE!!!!!! The pug’s MINE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

“She’s old.
She’s been abandoned.
She’s had surgery.
She needs constant care.
She’s ONLY to be kept indoors.

She needs expensive prescription dog food.
She needs regular eye drops.
She needs constant companionship.
She needs loving.”

But I wasn’t listening anymore. She’s MINE! Nevermind that she’s not a black pug! That adorable little face on that compact little body is MINE! MINE! MINE! To love, to pamper, to spoil! I can’t wait!

But wait I must.

She’s only coming to Klang from Bkt Jalil tomorrow (Saturday).

Till then, I’m a bag of jumping beans… I’m excited beyond words.

My parents have been absolute champions about this. My dad’s going to spoil her rotten, that I can guarantee, and my mom’s bustling about the house, creating a cosy little corner for the little one.

We’re waiting for you Buttercup!

Little Hubert...

We almost missed him J and I,
For he’s so small, he escaped our eye
We had turned our backs and almost exited
Yet, tucked away in a jar he waited

J said “Hey wouldn’t it be nice?
To have him for pizzazz and spice”;
At once a twinkle in my eye did gleam
“He’d fit right in my car!” I screamed!

I coaxed a little and in minutes three;
He bought me Hubert, I beamed with glee,
My little seahorse, shall play the field
In his new home, on my windshield



.

Bluff-bluff…

I called Ming the other day, to get her opinion on something…

Me :
“Ok…. Hypothetically right…. If I….”

Ming :
“WAIT!!!!!!!! I just spent the past 2 hours baby- talking to my sons. Please…. Nothing more than 5 letters when you speak to me now… my brain hasn’t re-adjusted…”

Me :
“Hmmm…..”

*ponders*

“Ok… bluff-bluff right…. If I decided to…”

I didn’t really get to ask her for her opinion that day. Cause she burst out into hysterical laughter!!!!

What?

What’s wrong with “bluff-bluff”?

Didn’t we ALL use it when we were kids playing games of pretence?

Kid # 1:
“Bluff-bluff we are Eskimos living in the North pole. So it’s bluff-bluff very cold. This blanket is our bluff-bluff igloo. Now you must bluff-bluff go hunt for polar bears.”

Kid # 2 :
“Then you must bluff-bluff start a fire. (Reaches for an orange t-shirt). Ok. Bluff-bluff this t-shirt is the fire.”

Said kids will then pretend to shiver like it’s 300° below and crouch around the “fire”.


You get the drift?

Ming didn’t. Cause apparently, around HER neck of the woods, kids didn’t say “bluff-bluff”, they used “Say-say”…. So:-

Kid # 1:
“Say-say we are Eskimos living in the North pole. So it’s say-say very cold. Say-Say this blanket is our igloo. Now you must go hunt for say-say polar bears.”

Kid # 2 :
“Then you must say-say start a fire. (Reaches for an orange t-shirt). Ok. Say-say this t-shirt is the fire.”

Said kids will then pretend to shiver like it’s 300° below and crouch around the “fire”.


Hmmm….. I thought…. INTERESTING….

So we decided to analyze it.

We deduced :-

1. When saying “say-say”, the kids were really mimicking “Let’s say” which is commonly used by adults to hypothesize. Kids being kids, had listened to the adults and had simplified “let’s say” to the babytalk version of it. Hence “say-say”.

We both agreed this was very clever indeed for 3.30pm on a weekday afternoon and gave ourselves a pat on the back.

Then, we tested her “Say-say is really ‘Let’s say’” theory on my “bluff-bluff”.

We deduced :-

2. Didn’t work. Cause try as we might, we couldn’t imagine what “bluff-bluff” was mimicking. We tried to crack our heads to think of a phrase, commonly used to hypothesize, that “bluff-bluff” could have come from?

We tried and tried, and came up with nothing.


Then Ming, in a flash of brilliance shouted “EUREKA!”

Before I could let her know that “Eureka” doesn’t sound anything like “bluff-bluff” she said :-

“It’s HOKKIEN!!!!”

Me :
“Huh? Isn’t "bluff-bluff" English?

Ming :-
“NO! It’s direct translation from HOKKIEN!!!! Think about it!”

So I thunk about it…

AND BURST OUT LAUGHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ladies and gentlemen, “bluff-bluff” is direct translation of “kay-kay” which is Hokkien speak for… well…. “bluff-bluff”.

*Sigh*

Only in Klang….. Only in Klang.

.

Bangkok...

I’ve never been to Bangkok. So when Rosie asked me if I wanted to join her and N this June to go see this city of angels, I said YES!!!!

J couldn’t make it, so not wanting to be a third wheel to Rosie’s romantic Thailand getaway, I needed a travel buddy, and I needed one quick.

So I asked Eric. (He’s the only one I know who wasn’t either planning a wedding, about to give birth, or who just blew a small fortune on a couple of lv’s and a luxury watch, or who was saving up leave and money for a holiday later in the year. AND, the fact that I absolutely LOVE traveling with the big guy helps too. HEAPS!!!)

And in 3 minutes, he said “Ok. The dates look good. The prices even better. LET’S GO!!!!!"

And then……….. the gushing started…..

Eric :
“Ooooh and we can go visit my uncle there!" *gush gush*
(interspersed with giggles [and this is on messenger mind you]
*gush*

While he was giving me some details of his uncle’s latest squeeze, I booked the tickets.

Eric :
"...He’s so cute…. (something about licking….)"

Me :
"You wanna eat on the flight?"

Eric :
*pause*
(I could almost hear those gears changing…. His mind was obviously in another land, where he need not necessarily be eating.. you know.. food)

"Up to you lah!"

"Oh! And imagine all those bars we have to hit….. and the shopping"
*continues to gush*

Me :
"I’m getting us travel insurance also ok."

Eric :
"… all that eye candy, And did I mention the abs on them?"

*blink*

"Oh… okay"

Me :
"AARRRRGGGHHH!!!!! *&^@%#$@%^& website HUNG ON ME!!!!"

Eric :
"… back to those abs…… so pretty!!!!!"

3 attempts later, we had tickets and travel insurance and extra check in luggage ;) Rosie and N booked us the accommodation and all in all, it’s costing us RM630 nett each for all that :D

I foresee a fun filled food and shopping experience! Chatuchak! Platinum mall! Lots of trinkets I’ll probably NEVER use, lot’s of Chang beer, Sam Song and Thailand’s very own Mekhong (Spirit of Thailand), technically fruit juice (so no calories!)… well, they DO start off with sugar cane….. and rice… and….. *my turn to gush*…

Holy Cow!!!

Literally.

Ming and I walked out of McDonald’s to be met by a growing crowd mulling about the Mc’D’s delivery motorcycles. Photographers and journalists in their tell-tale vests were hanging about there…. Young men in light blue vests from the state;s ruling party were waiting excitedly too….

We got out of there with no incident, spying many a bored faced uniformed FRU personnel waiting under a tree here, under the shade there…. I got up to my office on the 9th floor, and promptly ran to the window.

The group had grown to approximately 100 in number. And as if on cue, the banners appeared, and the group started shouting slogans and marching… Nothing really out of place, just YET anorther demonstration... only THIS one was led by…. a cow.

I’m not kidding.

They were a throng of about 100 men, all in their prime (18 – 45 years), sporting slogan filled t-shirts and party flavoured tops, marched, shouting their support for their beloved head of state, all orchestrated to move in one fast paced concerto, conducted by….. a cow.

The cow, which was the focus of many a photographer’s flashbulb, was undoubtedly the star of this show, she was displayed, at the back of a little lorry, which for half an hour earlier this afternoon, was her centre stage on oscar night.

They photographed her, placed banners near and around her, and made her lead the crowd, in her lorry, at the head of the procession.

They marched towards my office building. And excitedly, I wished hoped and prayed they’d lead her into the lobby. That’ll be a sight… but the lorry veered off towards the parking lot, and the crowed marched on towards the lobby downstairs.

As I type this, I can hear men’s voices shouting (into their hand held hailers) :-

“Tan Sri…. I LOVE YOU! x 3”. Loving group these men are….

“Hidup Tan Sri…..” x 3,582. Prophetic too…

I applaud them for their dedication. To be able to get a group of grown men, to meet and steak out, and herd themselves towards a common and well loved cause, nevermind who (or in this case, what) led the procession…. is nothing short of an amazing feat of bull headed determination, beefy dedication and selfless-ness.


.

25 random things meme

I was tagged by Ema fren on facebook, and like many others who find the facebook forum a bit too public, I’m posting my 25 meme post here.

The meme was to list 25 random things about yourself, and to subsequently tag 25 people to do the same, including the person who tagged you. So here goes :-

1. I love singing and usually entertain myself to a solo concert in the car. Much to the amusement of the other road users around me.

2. I love luxuriously long hot showers.

3. I want a pug. And I want to name it Buttercup, be it a boy or girl.

4. I love eating smelly things. By that I mean, naturally pungent food. Durians, cheese.. yummmm!

5. I will stop eating my bah kut teh and/or mee hoon kueh once I run out of cili padis. For this reason, I ALWAYS have to ask for more chilly at the restaurants, and I have my own cili padi plants at home.

6. I daydream, skive and talk to myself a lot.

7. I am long winded. What can be succinctly expressed in 5 words, I will invariably choose to say in 40.

8. I read classics. For 2 reasons. I started reading them years and years ago when I was a student with very little to spare and classics were the cheapest books around PLUS they made very good value for money too…. Small print, no pictures and they were so thick! All for RM4.95 (at that time). Now I read them simply cause they sooth me. With everything happening around the world and in my life today, the pages in these classics have no gory violence, terrorism, rude language and such. It’s refreshingly amusing to read about how one is practically betrothed to another if one is promised more than 2 dances at a ball. (Now you believe item 7 above?)

9. In the past 3 years, I have learnt more about the person that I am and hope to be than in the 30 years preceeding that.

10. I prefer bread and noodles over rice.

11. I am a morning person. I like the promise of a great day the morning brings, and I love, love, LOVE drizzly mornings, with the smell of Mummy’s loh shi fun wafting up from the kitchen.

12. My unfavouritest time of the day is dusk. Just as the final half hour of sunlight ebbs from the sky. It feels like my heart’s sinking with the sun. I don’t know why I get so down, and sometimes, it’s simply unbearable.

13. I believe in giving credit where it’s due. Sometimes to the abashed blushes of the person receiving it.

14. I say a little prayer for the patient and his/her family every time I see an ambulance on the road.

15. I have a hero. He inspired me to do well in life and make something of myself, to stand out. Dr. Tony H.L. Leong, my ophthalmologist who treated me during my very very impressionable teenage years. (Dr. Leong, I hope this doesn’t scare you, if by the remotest chance you happen to be reading this). He was sincerely kind and generous and caring to me when he really had no reason to. For that, I am humbled and hope to be able to be as kind and generous to someone, as he was to me.

16. I swallowed mercury from a thermometer as a young child. To the relief of my parents and doctor, the problem resolved itself errrr ‘naturally’. Although my mum still blames the mercury for my sometimes bizarre behaviour… which leads us nicely to item 17…

17. I do things that are (what my mom, sis, anyone around me find) kinda weird (so they say). I kiss myself (on the hand) from time to time, I kiss my car from time to time, and when I was growing up, I had a list of 7 husbands (all famous movie stars and the likes). Nothing serious…am still very much unmarried.

18. I am predominantly right handed but write, draw, use chopsticks and do delicate things like carving or lip lining with my left hand, leading many to think I am left handed.

19. My brother and I are mirrors. (ok, we KINDA look alike) but we mirror each other in the sense that he’s predominantly left handed, but writes and uses chopsticks with his right hand.

20. I am a world of contradiction, and have been known to change my mind at the last minute (sometimes more than once), much to the irritation and consternation of the people around me. SORRY!!!! (Please see item 16).

21. I like cheong sams. Nevermind my lifetime quest of losing weight.

22. I like cooking and I love baking, but have been told, time and again that I can’t. But I stubbornly refuse to accept the fact that I will never, ever by ANY stretch of the imagination be Nigella. *sigh*

23. I am a procrastinator on certain things and am unforgivably impatient on others. (Please see item 20 and oh, what the heck, item 16 too!).

24. I wish I had smaller feet. Even just by 1 size. Because I have large feet, growing up, it was like finding a needle in the haystack every time I found a pair of girly footwear, hence I had very, very few. Now that there are larger sizes and more imported brands of footwear available here, I sometimes go overboard with buying shoes, kinda to make up for lost time I guess.

25. I believe in karma and in being just, patient (God knows I try), forgiving (this too!) and compassionate in my search for happiness (do I sound dalai lama-ish of what!?!). I am trying, and I am learning…


For the 5 of you who read my blog, consider yourself tagged. I wanna know something about you too. So Buck, OT, Angie, Marc and JP, I am looking forward to reading your 25 random things.

Only during CNY….

It was a serious occasion. We were visiting a friend in the hospital.

5 minutes into the visit, she whips out her deck of cards. The one she carries with her in her handbag, throughout CNY….

She looked at me, we both looked at the patient…

Well she LOOKED alright, the sedatives WERE wearing off, she DID have an appetite…and it was CNY!!!!

And the hospital bed made the perfect table.

For black jack.

Played in hushed tones….

We were decent. We didn’t yell or call enthusiastically for the “PICTURE!”, we WILLED it, eyes scrunched, a gentle “picture” whispered….

I made some money that day. The patient broke even, the others lost :D

What?!? It WAS during CNY, and the patient SEEMED okay….. PLUS, the nurse didn’t stop us…..

*Gong Xi Fa Chai everyone !!!!!*


.