Youth

As part of this week's Photo Friday. Why the meme diarrhoea? I would tell you if I knew. Perhaps just part of the package that comes with spending ridiculous hours on the computer. Or just an excuse to post photos of my favourite baby in the world.

This is Ben, my nephew (or my cousin's son) -- the first of his generation. :) This was taken last October, and I'm pretty sure he's outgrown that T-shirt (which my sister and I bought for him in August of last year from Perth).

He's clapping his hands because we were singing "Happy Birthday" to one of my cousins. Last week, he finally had a birthday of his own to celebrate. :)

He gets around so quickly on his own now, on fours; he knows to point to his toes whenever anyone says "toes"; he's stopped grabbing random boobs. It's hard to believe that it was a whole year ago that he was born. (And I will stop now before I start crying.)

P.S. Photo Friday is also up for a Bloggie Award. :)

Unconscious mutterings

I used to do this when I was at D-X, but have not since moving to Blogger. It's one of those things that's fun for me and no one else. ;) Unless they do it too, of course. But since Patricia is offering a $14 Amazon gift certificate this week... I think everyone should just unconsciously mutter. :)

1. Coroner: C.S.I.
   
2. Mystify: Apple
   
3. Corroborate: Mixing tank
   
4. Misinterpret: Communicate
   
5. Humo(u)rless: Sighs
   
6. Calculus: Theorems
   
7. Eye for an eye: Whole world goes blind
   
8. CPR: Carbon monoxide
   
9. Stitched: Lilo
   
10. Facility: Lab
    

-- Unconscious Mutterings, Week of 30 January, 2005

Plush microbes!

You know you've upped your geek quotient when you want plush microbes for Valentine's Day. :p

But seriously, how cute?! ... NO??

Okay, it's just me then.

Lyme Regis revisited

"We all write poems; it is simply that poets are the ones who write in words."

-- The French Lieutenant's Woman by John Fowles

Save the Three Cups Hotel. :)

A tribute

... To the kueh bangkit that was too quickly no more.





I worked my way through to that very last one (which, incidentally, looks like a rooster, don't you think?) all in the course of watching an hour-long webcast. It's an illness, I know.

Playing games

Rocky and I have this game that we play.

He has the habit of sleeping right smack in the middle of my bed, and rather than push him off when I make the bed in the morning (or whenever it is that I wake up), I go about it like he's not there, draping the folded blanket across the bed and on top of him.

Then we sit and wait. We play our game of Who Gets Scared First.

I count to 20, and if he gets out from under the blanket before that, I win; if he stays there by the time I'm done, I rescue him from fear that he'll suffocate, and he wins.

It's something that we've been doing for as long as either of us can remember. I'm still not sick of it, although I think he could be; he almost always wins these days.

The best thing about this game is that even though I suck at it, I still love playing it every single day.

Singlish

Our sociology lecture (on culture shock)...

Dr. A: "By a show of hands, how many of you are not originally from Singapore?"

(About 20 hands go up.)

Dr. A (approaching a student): "Young lady, where are you from?"

Student: "India."

Dr. A: "And you have been here... how long?"

Student: "Three years."

Dr. A: "What was the thing that shocked you most when you first came to Singapore?"

Student: "The language."

Dr. A: "Oh, you don't speak English?"

Student: "I speak English; I just don't speak Singlish."

Culture

Our biochem engineering tutorial...

Dr. L: "So, from the information that is given, can anyone tell me anything about the cell culture?"

(Some murmurs, but no one responds.)

Dr. L: "Anyone? No one can tell me anything about the culture? Does it celebrate Chinese New Year? Or Hari Raya?"

Class: "!!!!!"

Science joke. Funny.

***





I got my Nudie fix today! :) Thanks to A L.

But I probably won't be buying it often. $4.20 is ridiculous. Even for a Nudie.

This and that

A bit of a false alarm today. Before our lecture started, I rummaged my bag for my handphone -- as I always do -- to switch it to "Silent" mode. When I couldn't find it, I asked XL to ring my number.

XL: "Hello? Um, who is this? Oh... oh, what's that? You found the handphone in the ladies'? You're outside LT 4? Okay, thank you, we'll be there!"

(She hangs up.)

Me: "Argh! I left it on the ledge when I went to pee!"

XL: "Why would you put your handphone on the ledge?!"

Me: "Because I was afraid that if I left it in my jeans pocket, that when I sat down, it would drop out and get..."

XL (glaring at me): "LOST?!"

***

Mr Miyagi's post reminded me of my JC days. It's been a while since my last game of touch, and these days the scrapes on my knees are no longer from dried grass, but from blunt razors.

Makes me miss Gilbert.

Opinions

When you don't want to be disruptive during a lecture, but have to express some opinion (differences) of the lecturer, you scribble on lecture notes. The key to writing notes is brevity. It's amazing how whole conversations can be carried out this way. (Mine in italics.)

Gay.

Married!

Closet.

Presumptuous.

Five minutes later...

Swimmer.

Stalker.

Goggle tan-lines!

Sunglasses.

Chat & chickens

HW was sitting at the station next to me in the computer lab...

HW (peering at my screen): "Aiyah, you never open your MSN [messenger]..."

Me: "So? Why?"

HW: "Then we can chat mah."

Me: "?????"

***

Me: "Why is the huge 'rooster' at Chinatown sitting on (golden) eggs? He helping to hatch them?"

Z: "S.N.A.C., can?"

Me: "Sn-what?!"

Z: "S.N.A.C. lah! Sensitive New Age Chicken! Wahahahaha!"

Me: "..."

***

So, which would you give up? Your sanity, or your friends?

I heart J West

Yay, I got my vouchers! Six, to be exact. Last day tomorrow! You read that expiry date right. I have until Thursday to buy six pairs of shoes (one voucher per purchase). Five actually; I bought one on the spot. They're having 20% off storewide too, and they let you use the $15 voucher on top of that. (Well, actually, it's more like they let you have the 20% discount on top of the $15 voucher.)

I've been a big fan of J West shoes for ages, especially their clogs. I finally have an excuse to buy them. Although, not today. I had to get decent covered shoes for the long hours that I'll be spending in the lab this sem. I went through three pairs before I finally found one that had my size (A L will sympathise with this :p).

If anyone wants vouchers (since I'm not really going to buy five pairs of shoes from J West by Thursday -- probably not even in my lifetime), let me know and I'll send them over. First come, first served. No kidding. :)

(I just used that many words talking about shoes? Ooookay.)

Milk vs Milk

KR was late for our biochem engineering lecture, so he borrowed my lecture notes to copy during the break...

KR (furrows his eyebrows while reading what I wrote, turns to me): "Wait, this must not be correct. What do you mean 'milk the patent'? Do you mean to say the patent of the milk?"

Me: "No. I mean 'milk the patent.'"

KR looked at me, more puzzled than ever.

Me: "I MEAN, you squeeze all the profits you can before the patent expires. MILK. THE. PATENT."

KR: "Ahhh! Sorry -- I was hungry."

Me: "..."

Note(s) to self

• Do not take sociology and philosophy modules in the same semester.
• (Especially not when embarking on final year project.)
• Do not presume to complete readings one hour before lecture time.
• Do not presume to understand readings when in a rush.
• Do not expect a "15-minute nap" to last anything less than two full hours.
  
• Do not fall out of chair from fear at the mere mention of "MATLAB."
• Scrape self from floor afterwards.
• Do not consume more than eight Panadol tablets in a day.

Journalism

Her: "Have you heard of anything else happening during orientation games? Other than taupok, pillaring, urine bombs, salted cookies?"

Me: "Nope."

Her: "None? Which secondary school were you from? What about then? Did you guys do anything outrageous or scandalous?"

Me: "Nope. As a matter of fact, we were really quite *guai."

Her: "Oh. Okay then. If you know of anyone who has anything..."

Me: "I'll let you know."

I'm not ecstatic about this brand of journalism. If you want to tell the whole story, tell them what I said about being guai. There are actually clean and fun ways to get to know people. (While we're at that, let's do away with the ketchup and starch, please!)

Let's not give parents the impression that all teenage activities are health hazards.

Name has been withheld to protect said journalist. Don't know why. I'll think of an excuse later.

*guai = obedient

Ricky Martin

Private joke. You really don't want to know.

Sweets

To be (supposed) adults and still squeal when our lecturers try to buy our affection with tidbits is embarrassing. "I figured you guys would appreciate something to munch on," he beamed. "I want this to be as informal as possible." So sweet (pun intended)! :)

Laptop schmaftop

My aunt burst into my room this morning, screaming: "Wake up! Wake up! There are people peeping at you through your window!"

I stirred a little, trying to take in what she'd just said. I don't know why I was so nonchalant about possibly being leered at.

I think subconsciously I remembered that it was more chilly than usual the night before, and I'd put on a jacket, in addition to my usual T-shirt and shorts. I also had the blanket pulled up to my face. So I suppose I wasn't too bothered about people stealing glances at my... ears.

"Who are they?" I mumbled, barely making out the scaffolds through my window.

"They're here to fix the laptop," was all I remember her saying, before I drifted back to sleep. Didn't make sense; didn't care.

Turns out they were here to fix the rooftop, which explains the scaffolds (that still permeate my vision when I look out the window).

Biopsy

My mom came in last night and planted a kiss on the side of my head. "Goodnight," she said.

"G'night," I mumbled, never taking my eyes off the computer screen.

***

I looked at my mom's biopsy report in my hands earlier tonight, relieved beyond words at the terms "no malignancy" and "no carcinomas" staring at me.

And I realised how much we take for granted the people that matter most to us. I wanted to jump into her arms and cry. I can't even bear to imagine what would happen if the biopsy turned out otherwise.

I'm sorry, Mom. I will try harder. For you. Just because you've never ever given me anything less than best.

Thank God for second chances.

Do not

One way to not solicit for donations is to run at full speed towards a girl, with both hands outstretched at chest level.

Singapore 2 - Indonesia 1

Singapore wins the Tiger Cup (despite a lot of bad refereeing) by an aggregate score of 5-2. :)



And I got my free T-shirt too, as did this boy. I think he might've been better off with an XS, though. :p

J West's annual shoe exchange

"For this year, J West’s annual shoe exchange program, which has always been to help the unfortunate (in 2004, 10,000 pairs were collected, sorted and re-distributed to the poor), it will be re-tweaked to help the victims of the Tidal Waves.

"Into its 3rd year, the J West Shoe Exchange Project, together with the Salvation Army, hopes to appeal to the public to donate their old shoes in working condition. For each shoe donated, J West will reciprocate with an S$15 voucher.

"J West will then sort out the shoes (high heels and stilettos are not appropriate in this particular instance) before re-conditioning, sorting into sizes and packing into boxes be sent to the countries concerned for re-distribution.

"Apart from this, the management of J West will also donate 10% of their earnings during this period.

"This exercise starts Friday, Jan 7th to Monday, Jan 24th, 2005 during the trading hours of 11am to 9.00pm daily.

"The venues are the J West boutiques at Centrepoint, #03-01, Raffles City, #02-37, Scotts Shopping Centre, #02-16/17, and the Malebox boutique at Pacific Plaza, #02-09."

-- "J West's annual shoe exchange to benefit Tidal Waves Fund"

Sounds good, yes? It does to me. I'll rummage through my shoe cupboard first thing tomorrow... evening. :)

Happy Birthday, Ben!

"Thomas the Train" cake! :)

Bookmarks

Bookmarks I bought for some classmates at "The Better Toy Store"...




From AhHuay AhHuay Pte Ltd, apparently. =\ Very glam.

Pictures

My day in pictures. Because I'm too tired from working all day, and shopping all night -- even if it was just window-shopping.



Has it been that long since I visited the upper tiers of the shopping complex? Ngee Ann City has this quaint little toy store, with wooden puzzles and toys that I so love. I think there's another one like it at Raffles City, but this one's a lot bigger! It's called "The Better Toy Store," for those of you who are interested. :)





Close-up of a wooden carrot. They had wood everything! It was a like a little wooden grocer's corner. (No, I don't know what's up with the strange green hue.)




It's a rat poking out of a cheese wedge; I know the photo didn't turn out that well, but that's how it is with camera phones. So adorable.




Another surprise! A crafts shop! There used to be one at Orchard Point before they revamped it, but ever since then I never quite knew where to get those spiffy rubber stamps, apart from the limited selection at Spotlight.




How could I resist? I think this might be my new profile picture for Blogger and MSN. :)




That's Mark Waite on the left, of Moulmein High fame. I know you can't tell, but I wasn't about to hold up my camera to his face, so you'll just have to take my word for it.




The Dunlopillo on display, which apparently, "can be used as a pencil holder, lah!"




Waiting for food...




Dumpling noodles -- most inexpensive dish on the menu, which is very fine by me. :p




Tang yuan for dessert! (We had fried dumplings in between, but I was too busy eating to take a picture of that.)




Finally, little Chloe, whose acquaintance we made in the ladies'. She wanted to take a picture with us. So cute! :) She called us "chieh-chieh" too, which was a nice change from being called "auntie."


It does something to my heart -- I can't put in words -- that by Tuesday, all my friends who'd come back for the holidays would've left to start the new semester again. It's a cruel ritual that we've been doing over and over the past three years. We're all over the place: the UK, US, Australia... only this time, come July, some of them would've graduated, and they'll be back for good.

And yet, it doesn't make me miss them any less.

Until July, girls and boys.

My first time

Who would've expected something that sounds so tacky to taste so good? Yummm! :)

Science got it wrong

"Scientists have found the remains of a dinosaur in a fossilised mammal's stomach, a discovery that overturns decades of scientific belief about the relationship between dinosaurs and mammals."

-- "Scientists may have got it wrong about dinosaurs"

What's that? Wrong? Again? Hmmm.

Singapore vs Indonesia

Will you be there, too? :p

Nudie

I spotted a Nudie van today! Could it be? Nudie in Singapore?!

Gmail

Gmail has gone a little mad; they've just handed me yet another wad of invitations. (Why do people use the word "invites" like it's a noun?)

I don't know anyone else who wants a Gmail account that I haven't already given, so if you want one, just let me know. :)

Smalltown Poets

:) Thank God for presents so belated that you can pretend that they are "for no reason" presents, which are really the best kinds of presents!

Sociology

My Sociology textbook.

Geek-ville

Two days into the new semester, and I feel inspired already.

I rarely ever feel inspired, with matters concerning academia. Sounds sad, I know, but it really isn't. I mean, I feel many other things -- ambitious, driven, among other things. This sem just feels unusually inspiring. Which, I think, is a good thing.

Now all I need is to get my two thick-as-tree-trunks Engineering textbooks, and I'm all set for geek-ville.

Recipes

Dr. L: "As you can see, the discoveries of these drugs have made the respective companies giants in the pharmaceutical industry..."

XL (excitedly): "Wah!!! We go and make, lah!"

Me: "..."

Because a recipe for making penicillin can be figured out just as easily as a recipe for making blueberry muffins.

Blogs in tutorials

"... [S]tudents taking up the philosophy course on Reason and Persuasion attend tutorials with a difference.

"Every fortnight, they have the usual face-to-face sessions with their tutors. But every other week, they attend tutorials online, by contributing to a discussion in a weblog set up by their course lecturer, Assistant Professor John Holbo."

-- "Blogs used in NUS tutorials," Sandra Davie, The Straits Times (Links mine)

(Free) registration required.

[Edit: Article here.]

Weekend

It was just one of those disagreements that left me broken. Like when a parent gets into an argument with a child, and the child -- in anger -- runs off and does all the things that he's been disallowed to do, as if -- for that moment -- his parent didn't exist. He plays with fire, rides his bicycle on the road, and swims off into the deep end.

The child wrestles himself out of his parent's grasp, leaving his parent clutching air desperately.

No one wins; the child puts himself in all sorts of danger, the parent is left worried sick, and everyone is mad.

Just that the roles have been reversed and I feel like the parent, with my dad as a child.

"Listen to the doctor!" I wanted to scream. But the lump in my throat made it impossible to speak.

***

Earlier in the evening, as I was having dinner, I spotted a "Special Offer" sign at the corner of my eye.

I hadn't spoken to Dad since the incident, but seeing that sign just reminded of my dad, hard at work.

Always working. For what? For us. For me.

And the tears came.

No matter what happens -- in spite of how mad he has made me -- I've made him mad more.

And, as Trisha Yearwood so tenderly put it, he'll always love me more.

Now, if I only knew how to fix this.

***

Meanwhile, the first day of school goes on.



As if nothing happened.

Donations V

You've heard of people donating high heel shoes, but did you know they also donated:



... Moisturising cream (because it is a priority for tsunami victims to keep hydrated)?




... Samurai suits?




... PAP uniforms (but at least it's functional)?

Cake

Happy Birthday, XL! :)

Heart and mind

"To love is to admire with the heart; to admire is to love with the mind."

-- Théophile Gautier

Tissue paper

So Singapore now has one hand on the Tiger Cup trophy, having beaten Indonesia 3-1 in the first leg. Who's up for going to watch them at the National Stadium come January 16? :)

The accounts from that infamous semi-final home match against Myanmar, which you may already have heard, are really quite hilarious.

Apparently, during the course of the match, the fans from both sides were jeering at each other really loudly. The only time any one set of fans quietened down was when the announcer boomed through the speakers: "The winners of the Lucky Draw are..."

Guess which set of fans were dead silent.

And while the fans (and players) from Myanmar threw their T-shirts, and that water bottle, at us, Singaporean fans held on tightly to their free gifts -- throwing instead their empty nasi lemak wrappers and tissue paper. Ooh, vicious.

Singaporean behaviour: love them, or laugh at them. ;)

Chocolate

Warm Chocolate Cake from Bakerzin at Paragon. Great for me chocoholics, what with the oozing chocolate in the middle (although one was not quite enough for me). ;)

My head

Earlier in the day, I bent over to pick up a pen that I'd drop on the floor, and my glasses fell -- right out of my face.

Everything had come to a momentary standstill; one of the few defining moments in a person's life: my head... shrank?

Straight from the heart

"... [We] wondered why able young Singaporeans were leaving the country after studying overseas, while Nigerian counterparts were passionate to return to their country to implement social change. Several persons promptly proposed that the way to bring Singaporeans home lay in making Singapore a more attractive and competitive place...

"To my mind, the point was sorely missed, for Nigerians were going home with ideals for social justice and for the love of their country, however unattractive it was. Surely then, the anecdotal evidence showed something about the state of our hearts rather than that of our country."

-- "Critical thinking straight from the heart," Tan Seow Hon, The Straits Times (Italics mine)

(Free) registration required.

On bidding

HW: "谁叫我们处身在这个所谓的顶尖大学?"

Offer us a module, don't offer us a module; just make up your minds.

Married

K: "I can't stand her! She's so spoilt!"

Me: "She's okay, lah. Come on, be nice. After all, she's like, your future sister-in-law..."

K: "Eee, I just don't like her."

Me: "She's okay. Really. I mean, sure, sometimes she can be a little..."

K: "Wait, what did you say?"

Me: "About what? That she's okay?"

K: "Before that. What about her being my sister-in-law?"

Me: "Um, yes? You're dating her sister, so if you two get married, doesn't that make her..."

K: "MARRIED?! I'm not... 30!"

Me: "Well, you're dating! Excuse me for thinking that there's some possibility of that happening!"

K: "MARRIED?!"

Me: "Can you say commitment-phobe?"

K: "MARRIED?!"

Sem VI

Bidding for modules has been the theme of the week (starting last Friday). There were lots of scrambling, frantic e-mailing, and desperate phone calls to the admin office to get some things sorted out and cleared up. Days of waking up at 9 AM and checking my e-mail every five minutes until office hours ended at 5 PM were not fun, to say the least. At the peak of my frustration, I really wanted to scream, or -- at the very least -- blog, about it. But it seemed almost blasphemous to complain about module-bidding in the light of what's been happening in other parts of the world.

So here I am, after the madness, to tell you that all is very good. These are the modules -- if there are no major hitches in the next couple of days -- that I will be taking, come the start of the sem on Monday, with modular credits in parentheses:

• CN4118 -- Research Project in Chemical Engineering (8)
• CN4208 -- Biochemical Engineering (3)
• GEM1004 -- Reason & Persuasion (4)
• SC1101E -- Making Sense of Society (4)

Believe me when I say that I came close to having only two modules this sem. (For some reason, I can stay online all day bidding -- whilst doing many other things, like flipping through blogs and playing Neopets -- but when bidding closes and I only have to wait about an hour to know the results, I will always log off and switch off my computer. Go figure.)

In any case, these were my first-choice modules, and for reasons that I know not, I have them all; God is very good. :)

Sure, the philosophy module might drive me a little mad; the research project may mean hours of exposure to poisonous chemicals... but I'm actually looking forward to the sem to start. Insanity, I know.

Pumpkin soup

Campbell's Velish Butternut Pumpkin Soup. A yummy alternative to instant noodles as a late-night snack, for us nocturnal creatures. I'm not sure if it's really "100% natural," but it tastes great. Easy too; just pop it in the microwave! Gets 4/5 thumbs up from me.

Plans

"Any plans for the day?" says Dad, looking up.

"Not really," I say, and take a sip of tea.

Any plans for the rest of my life? Not really.

-- Confessions of a Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella

The morning after

I cannot get the smell of durian out of my fingers from last night. Quite honestly, without the fruit to actually eat, the smell isn't that great -- especially not the "morning after" smell.

No fun

The much-anticipated episode of Top Fun turned out to be nothing more than a publicity stunt to get ratings up. Figures. One hour of my time wasted on bad television.

Escape

I fell asleep while watching Ocean's Eleven on Channel 5, and woke up to Singapore vs Myanmar. We could have done without the ugly scenes in extra time, but I thought that justice was well-served with the sending-offs, considering how Myanmar got away scot-free with those ridiculous tackles in the first leg; they should have had at least two players sent off then -- especially that stamping of Noh Alam Shah in the second half. I'm hoping (together with the rest of the country, no doubt) that we will meet Malaysia in the finals -- and beat them, of course.

Counted down to the new year in church, then we picked HW up for supper. I'd only wanted an ice-cream, because I'd eaten quite a bit before Watchnight service, but ended up eating almost a whole cheese and egg prata too. Photos non-existent because food was too good.

What was meant to be "supper" stretched into a whole night's worth of listening to old songs (think Gao-Ling-Feng old) and reminiscing of days past. Finally got home at half-past six in the morning, turned on computer, and blogged (which explains why that entry sounds like it was written by a 12-year-old).

It's just started to rain again. And it's cold too. The wailing of cats outside sounds all too human. And all I can think of is, someone out there, trapped beneath the rubble, barely alive -- having waited a week to be rescued, but hearing only the sound of the wind, and not even having the comfort of warmth -- and then I can no longer think straight. It makes me wince. I just want to not think of it -- of him, or her. Which explains this entry.

Book review -- Confessions of a Shopaholic

I should say something. I should say, "Janice, I don't fancy Tom. He's too tall and his breath smells." But how on earth can I say that?

"Well, do give him my love," I hear myself saying instead.

"I certainly will," she says, and pauses. "Does he have your London number?"

Aarrgh!

"I think so," I lie, smiling brightly. "And he can always get me here if he wants." Now everything I say sounds like some saucy double entendre. I can just imagine how this conversation will be reported back to Tom. "She was asking all about your starter home. And she asked you to call her!"

Life would be a lot easier if conversations were rewindable and erasable, like videos. Or if you could instruct people to disregard what you just said, like in a courtroom. Please strike from the record all references to starter homes and limed oak kitchens.

-- Confessions of a Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella

Against my better judgement, I picked up Sophie Kinsella's Confessions of a Shopaholic, and thoroughly enjoyed it. (Can you tell I've been catching up on Popular Fiction?) It was very Bridget Jones-ey; very Brit, mostly thought-speech. But whilst I fell asleep watching Bridget Jones prance around on the screen, I found myself entirely glued to Rebecca Bloomwood and her many adventures. (May be time for me to pick up Bridget Jones' Diary -- the book.) I think that, in the end, the fact that it had any semblance of a plot at all was what surprised me the most.

There's a reason why Chick Lit is Chick Lit. I imagine guys would be bored out of their minds if they actually knew all of the thoughts that go through our head during the course of the day, just as I imagine I would be, if privy to every nanosecond of theirs. Everything in moderation, baby.

But it makes for good, light reading, in one sitting -- I laughed out loud a couple of times. Fun to pick out all the "I totally know what that feels like!" moments too. I can't quite believe that I just discovered this. Highly addictive.

(Please don't turn it into a movie.)

Next Christmas

This year's Christmas tree, which we finally took down yesterday. How come it takes a whole day to put it up, but only 30 minutes to take it down? Until next year, tree.

Continental ulcers

HW: "I have two ulcers in my mouth, wanna see?"

Me: "No."

HW: "There's a USA, leh."

Me: "Huh?"

HW: "Yah, got north and south..."

Me: "HUH?!"

HW: "One at the top, one at the bottom... Like North and South America lor!"

Me: "..."

I will never understand what goes on in that head of his.

My baby

Well, turns out I didn't find the reindeer horns, but I am only too glad to post pictures of my baby. I couldn't tell you what breed he is even if I wanted to, but I can tell you that this is a dog that loves to snuggle, lick my face in the morning, and dig around in my bed as if there were hidden treasure.

Rocky was abandoned when he was four years old, and he still shows signs of insecurity. He'd walk a couple of steps, and turn back to make sure we're still there, worry written all over his face. We didn't train him to do this. We didn't train him to do anything, actually. For whatever reason, though, he knew that peeing in the room was bad, and that all his pooping should be done outside of the house.

Rocky eats would eat everything but fruit; once, when I tried to take away a hot dog bun that he'd found while on a walk, he swallowed it whole, and proceeded to cough what appeared to be his lungs out -- it scared me so much that I cried -- and I honestly thought that I was going to lose him then.

Rocky is all of 15 years. His senses have dulled; we have to point out to him the birds that are pecking food from his bowl before he perks up in realisation and chases after them, barking his head off. He feels silly about it afterwards. He now has hair coming out of his ears, where they didn't before. He also has a huge lump the size of his head (not visible in this photo) which tests have shown to be benign; it's still scary.

Rocky sleep-wags and sleep-runs, and despite my attempts to get him to watch Days of Our Lives with me, he falls asleep with uncanny haste each time. I haven't given up the hope of getting him to stay awake for one whole episode. ;)