Dance like no one's watching

Side gate seperating Horlicks & Pinky’s backyard from No Man’s Land.

The side of my house and the backyard have been sectioned off into 4 different areas so the different rabbits can roam freely within their territories. Muah Chee & Peanut stay in the 1st section, which is at the start of the side yard. There’s a fence that seperates their territory from the frontyard. This is to prevent them from running into the frontyard ‘cos that’s where all the cars are parked… don’t want no squashed rabbits!

Between MC & Peanut’s territory is a waist-high side gate (it’s one of those child-safety gates to prevent kids from falling down staircases) and on the other side of the gate is Coffee’s territory. We don’t let Coffee & MC come into contact ‘cos Coffee has this masochistic tedency of wanting to wrestle with MC, only to get pinned to the floor by the bigger MC. (This is not to say that MC stays injury free… Coffee often scratches & yanks out MC’s fur, before MC pins him down to the floor in self-defence.)

So Coffee’s territory is Section2. Usually, we let Peanut into Coffee’s territory to keep him company. They’re great friends really. And MC sleeps most of the day so he’s fine alone. In the evenings, my dad will usually tell Peanut to “go MC there” and she’ll obediently run to the door and wait for my dad to let her into MC’s territory. Then she’ll hop around with MC or go back into their shared cage to rest. She’s the most politically neutral bunny i have.

On the other side of Coffee’s territory is Section3, a.k.a. No Man’s Land. (Or rather No Bunnies Land). This small area doesn’t belong to anybunny. This is ‘cos the fence that separates Coffee’s territory and this No Man’s Land is pretty low and if Horlicks gets into this area, she sometimes jumps over the fence, into Coffee’s territory and the WWF championship kicks off in my side yard.

Seperating the No Man’s Land and Section4 (which is actually the entire backyard) is a proper gate. This gate was installed by my dad so that when my former maid (we don’t have a maid now) was doing the laundry in the backyard, she wouldn’t have to worry about being taken by surprise by any intruder that climbs into my house. (Sounds paranoid but my house has been called Alcatraz before…)

Horlicks & Pinky stay in the backyard (i.e. Section4). Very lucky bunnies ‘cos they have the biggest area to roam around, race, and play in. This afternoon, a now almost fully recovered Pinky managed to sneak into No Man’s Land when my dad opened the side gate to enter the backyard. My dad wanted to retrieve Pinky from No Man’s Land but Horlicks was watching the side gate, biding her time till it opened so that she could sneak out as well. Unable to get Horlicks away from the side gate, my dad had no choice but to leave Pinky in No Man’s Land.

Poor Pinky. He was stranded there for a few hours i think!! ‘Cos by the time my dad informed me that Pinky was out there alone, it was 8:20pm and when i went to let him in, the poor boy dashed to Horlicks’ cage! I think he was controlling his pee for a very long time… and in his exuberance upon seeing the litter tray, he peed just outside the cage instead. Sigh. Didn’t have the heart to smack him.

Little Pinky was also starving. He chomped down all the leftover grains in Horlicks’ food tray at amazing speed. U would have thought we don’t feed him enough! I carried Pinky and locked him back into his own cage and the little boy didn’t protest by biting on the grilles this time. He was too happy to see the fresh pellets & hay in his own cage. (MC & Peanut share this huge 3ft cage, then Coffee has his own 2.5ft cage, Pinky stays in a 2ft cage, and Horlicks has her own 2.5ft cage.)

Anyway, i’m just very grateful that Pinky is back to normal. When he was sick, i actually laid hands on him and prayed for his recovery ok! I sayang little Pinky the most so i always get extremely worried when there’s anything wrong with him. So praise the Lord! Pinky’s good again. 🙂

Pinky went on a hunger strike today. He didn’t want to eat his pellets during breakfast so before i left for work, i tried to feed him some carrot shreds. He ate 7 short shreds of carrot.

My dad said he didn’t really touch his lunch either.

Dinner was slightly better… he ate some pellets (according to my dad) and so my dad topped up his food tray with pellets & thin strips of celery in case he got hungry during the night.

After i got home, i let Pinky out of his cage & he ran around a bit. Horlicks was locked in her cage and there were strands of hay sticking out of it. Pinky ate some strands, and stuck his mouth through the grilles of the cage to pull more out! Heh… that little thief. Think he ate about 4 strands?

Finally, before i locked him back into his own cage, i placed 10 strands of hay there. Hope he eats them all!!

Oh and i don’t think Pinky is angry with me. He jumped onto my lap twice when i was sitting on the small plastic chair in the yard. He also didn’t struggle when i carried him in my arms.

The funniest part was this… i was worried that Pinky wasn’t drinking water. So i placed the water dish in front of him when he ran over to the drain area. Tapping on the water tray, i told Pinky to “drink water” and the good little boy took a few sips. I asked him to drink more water but he refused and ran away, back into his cage… and guess what? He went to pee immediately! Haha… i think he was trying to tell me that he drank water today. Heh. Smart boy!

I prayed for Pinky again. Prayed that God will heal him and restore his appetite. Would you pray for Pinky too?

—————————————-

I took a photo just now of all the food in Pinky’s cage. He has a whole buffet spread – pellets, biscuit bits, chopped celery, alfafa hay & timothy hay…. and those are Pinky’s hind legs in the photo… not food…

—————————————-

1:32am. I went to check on Pinky. Took another photo for comparison. I think Pinky ate a little bit of the celery, as well as the timothy hay.

Pinky hates me now. 🙁 Pinky has been having a slight cold since last Sunday. At first, i thought he was better so i cancelled this morning’s appointment with the vet. However, after reaching home just now, i saw that he still had this white gooey mucus and was still sneezing a little so i brought him down to the vet.

Not sure why but Pinky was quite scared by the car ride this time. Maybe it was ‘cos this stupid Mercedes cut into our lane suddenly and Cirrus was forced to step on the brakes… the sudden deceleration caused Pinky to skid & knock his head against the side of the carrier. Poor Pinky…

When we got to the vet, (it was the same allergic vet but he didn’t sneeze this time), Pinky was rather frightened and didn’t dare to come out of the carrier. So the vet examined him in the carrier and gave him an antibiotics jab in his right backside. Pinky really freaked out… he trembled with fear when the needle went in. Poor poor Pinky.

While the vet was preparing the medicine, i told Pinky to be brave and not to be scared of the dogs barking. I told to pretend that they were our neighbours’ dogs. I also told Pinky that he has to get used to coming to the vet ‘cos he’ll be here again in 2 months time… the vet laughed.

When we went back to the waiting area for the receptionist to do the billing, Pinky looked very freaked out. I tried to pat him and he actually shied away from my hand. Cirrus said, “Pinky doesn’t like you anymore.” Sob sob. I feel so sad. My favourite bunny doesn’t like me anymore.

After we got home, Pinky refused to eat anything. Maybe his butt still hurts from the jab. Muah Chee & Coffee refused to eat too when they were in pain. I promised Pinky that i’ll give him some biscuits once the pet shop delivered all the food & bedding i ordered.

At about 10:05pm, the delivery arrived and i immediately took the biscuit treat to Pinky. He ate like 1¾ biscuits and went to lie down again. Oh dear… the usually jumpy boy didn’t even attempt to charge out of his cage. He must really hate me…. waaaaah! His dinner was also untouched. 🙁

Sigh… now i don’t know if it was a wrong decision to bring him to the vet. I told the vet that i actually cancelled an earlier appointment ‘cos Pinky seemed to be getting better… but the vet said “better safe than sorry”. Apparently the cold (or more accurately the infection) that Pinky got the last time tends to be recurring. So he said better to put Pinky on antibiotics before his condition gets worse.

So for the next 10-14 days, Pinky will have to take 0.3ml of this antibiotics that has been diluted with syrup. I hope the little boy cooperates and eats his medicine.

Argh… my nose is dripping. Think i caught a cold too. (No, it’s not from Pinky. Human colds & rabbit colds are quite different and not inter-spread-able). I’ll set my alarm clock for 1am to check on Pinky later… that little boy always makes me so worried about him.

——————————————-

12:10am. Pinky seems to be recovering from the injection alright. Went down to take a peek at him and he was quite active again. Didn’t eat much of his dinner but he finished the balance of the biscuit i left in his food tray. He kept biting his cage to be let out so i let him out for a short run about the yard. He didn’t let me carry him on the first try but gave in when i picked him up the 2nd time. Sigh… that naughty boy. I think he’ll be fine. I prayed that God will heal him. I’m sure He can…Jehovah Ropheka… what’s a little sick bunny to an almighty God right?

Meanwhile… i need to look for medicine for my tummy… diarrhoea + cold… hope it’s not stomach flu!!

I’ve been posting quite a bit of photos of Pinky & Horlicks (‘cos she’s always with Pinky) but there hasn’t been much updates on the other rabbits. Was transferring all the photos i took from my hp to my pc when i saw a couple of cute photos of the others too. Here they are.

MC cleaning his face while Peanut tries to hide. Camera shy.

Peanut and her best friend, Coffee.

Coffee looks good now that his fur’s longer.

Coffee bending down for a pat after you tell him, “pat pat!”.

MC trying to poop.

MC, “Oi, cannot come out if u keep staring lah.”

Wow… it’s been 1 year since this blog was born. Once again, it’s UptownGal’s birthday festival week. Last year was a sad case… was forced to work on my birthday. So to make up for it, i took 3 days off this year! 😛

The celebrations started last Thursday and the main highlight of UTG Birthday Festival 2006 was the trip to Sentosa. Not much to talk about… who doesn’t know Sentosa right? So let’s just let the photos do the talking. If you look close enough, u’ll find me somewhere in one of the photos…hehe…

The open concept toilet at Rasa Sentosa. (There’re louvered doors to close it up.)

The view from my hotel room balcony.

Siloso Beach

Mr. Turtle when he’s not shooting “Finding Nemo”. (He said he got tired of looking for that kid.)

Nemo.. still hiding…

The Giant Japanese Spider Crab that inspired my dinner.

Some sharks give birth to eggs! Click here to read more!

A really big eagle ray! (Found its name at the underwater world website!)

Jaws, after retirement… (white-tip reef shark)

My dinner – the claw of a *get this* 2.4KG crab!! BTW, the address of the stall is Blk 232 AMK Ave 3 – Mellben Seafood or something like that…

—————————————————-

Oops… sorry, forgot to upload this video i took of the jellyfish at Underwater World, as well as this video of the pink dolphin… all photos & videos taken using my nifty Nokia 6280. Muahahah…

Couldn’t decide to post the English or Chinese version of this song online… in the end, i found a bilingual version of the song… but for the English portion of the song, only the chorus is sung. The lyrics are below…

HOME (National Day 1998) sung by Kit Chan

Whenever I am feeling low

I look around me and I know

There’s a place that will stay within me

Wherever I may choose to go

I will always recall the city

Know every street and shore

Sail down the river which brings us life

Winding through my Singapore

Chorus:

This is Home, truly

Where I know I must be

Where my dreams wait for me

Where that river always flows

This is home, surely

As my senses tell me

This is where I won’t be alone

For this is where I know it’s home

When there are troubles to go through

We’ll find a way to start anew

There is comfort in the knowledge

That homes about its people too

So we’ll build our dreams together

Just like we’ve done before

Just like the river which brings us life

There’ll always be Singapore

Chorus(repeat 2X)

This is Home, truly

Where I know I must be

Where my dreams wait for me

Where that river always flows

This is home, surely

As my senses tell me

This is where I won’t be alone

For this is where I know it’s home

(For this is where I know, I’m HOME)

每一次我感到徬徨
不自禁就会回头望
我知道心中有个地方
一定会有一盏灯

照亮每一颗黑暗的心房
指引未来方向
沿着生命河流向前航
就能登陆理想

我的家收藏
我的欢喜悲伤
只要点燃希望
梦就会自由飞翔

我的家给我
一双坚定翅膀
我的梦不论在何方
一生的爱唯有家(世世代代温暖的家)

再也不会感到徬徨
不会再失意回头望
我要用心中一点烛光
燃放千万户辉煌

要让繁华的城市更灿烂
世界和平共享
全凭生命河流来导航
一起登陆理想

Sunday April 23, 2006 The Star

 

‘Stupid’ remarks stir up hornet’s nest

 

By SEAH CHIANG NEE

 

SINGAPOREANS are affluent, educated, but are they really survival smart?

 

In a world of harsher living, this question that never dies has again

grabbed the public focus here with a general election less than two weeks

away.

 

At the core of the debate: Without natural resources, the Singaporean

increasingly has to depend on his own guile, not only a good education, to

survive; has he got it?

 

It’s not a new debate. In the past decade, the Education Ministry has

changed the education system to teach independent thinking and

entrepreneurship to correct some fundamental defects in the average

worker.

 

The average Singaporean is good at academic studies and works hard, but

falls short on individual initiative and streetwise qualities, relying too

much on the government for help.

 

Revisiting the debate is controversial Taiwan lawmaker Li Ao, who recently

ranked Singaporeans rather lower in natural intelligence to the people in

Taiwan and Hong Kong.

 

“Taiwanese are scoundrels, but lovable, Hong Kong people are craftier,

(Chinese mainlanders are unfathomable) and Singaporeans are stupider,” he

said, adding that it is partially due to genetics. The original migrants

who came here from China were of “poor stock”.

 

Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew once told Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping that

the ethnic Chinese in Singapore were descendants of illiterate coolies and

farmers from southern Fujian.

 

This had made them less able than the people of Hong Kong or Taiwan, whose

ancestors were mainly businessman or technocrats.

 

Singaporeans could function well only as a group, not as individuals, Li

told a Chinese newspaper. They would never be non-conformist or stand out

above the crowd.

 

“If you ask me, other than Lee Kuan Yew, his son Hsien Loong, politicians

aside, I can only think of a cute girl, (pop star) Stephanie Sun, there

aren’t many other outstanding people. The impression that I get (of normal

Singaporeans) is stupid”.

 

Singapore’s system, Li said, stemmed from the ancient Chinese political

philosophy of legalism, which emphasised on the rule of law.

“Singaporeans do not break rules, but they also do not stand out,” he said

in Mandarin.

 

He said Lee Kuan Yew had wanted to build a British-style democracy but

because the people were not up to scratch, they only knew how to toe the

line.

 

His report card on Singapore has shaken up the people at a time when

election fever is rising, indirectly touching on a campaign issue ?

government control on society.

 

Predictably, Singaporeans have reacted angrily to the terms “stupid” and

“poor genes”, dismissing them as a popularity stunt that takes no account

of their successful, modern achievements. This “genetic weakness” doesn’t

aptly describe today’s diverse, more mature and worldly-wise generation.

 

But some critics say there is some truth in what Li said, but insist that

the fault lies not in genes, but in years of political and social

conditioning by a top-down government.

 

One writer however, said: “A better word to describe the Singaporean is

naïve, which comes about because of a paternalistic and rather efficient

government. Everything is so structured and laid-out that the people do

not need to fight for a living, blunting their ability to compete. They’re

lulled into thinking the outside world also behave like Singapore.”

 

Businessmen from Taiwan and Hong Kong are more alert to opportunities, as

well as cheats, compared to even the capable Singaporeans, whose

preoccupation is getting a high salary.

 

They know where to take the short cuts when faced with a problem;

Singaporeans will just sit and wait for better days.

 

Under the Lee Kuan Yew leadership, the collective good comes before the

individual, so the republic’s success is a “collective creation”, Li added.

The individual is often lost on his own.

 

It has led some critics to ask whether the Singaporean has an original

viewpoint of his own beyond what the government says.

 

“I won’t say we are stupid. We are just not daring and street-smart,”

commented a Singaporean studying abroad. In his university, other Asian

students would walk up to the microphone and talk about some cause, not

“,0] ); //–> the Singaporeans, he said.

 

Li Ao is not alone in his views. Singaporean columnist Wong Lung Hsiang

said it reflected what he heard in China that “Taiwanese are shameless,

Hong Kongers are heartless, Singaporeans are ignorant”.

 

In Greater China, law-abiding Singaporeans have long been seen as gullible

..

 

In a commentary in November last year, Wong advised Singaporeans to

treasure their own system at home, “but when you are away, you should know

how to adapt to others”.

 

What Chinese Singaporeans have inherited from their grandparents is

peasant culture, explained “peasant judge” online.

 

“Peasants don’t care for much else except a bowl of rice on the table, a

roof over their heads, and the chance to go out to the rice fields to do

the daily back-breaking chores day in day out.”

 

Politics, too, is affected. Almost everyone goes to the polls with his

rice-bowl in mind.

 

It occupies the citizen’s mind a lot more than his counterparts in other

countries, who are more passionate about issues like justice and equality.

 

“Just imagine, well-informed Singaporeans advocating a one-party rule,

saying it is good for the future. If this is not stupidity, what is?’

asked redbean.

 

This could be a recipe for future trouble should a foreign predator one

day use this character weakness to take over the country.

All he needs to do to retain the people’s compliance is by keeping their

stomach full and their mind empty.

 

——————————–

 

I briefly read through this article before but i didn’t think it was worth commenting on. When the above was forwarded via email to me, i was going to just write a short reply to my friend… but then i decided… heck, i might as well post my reply online:-

 

Of ‘cos there are some Singaporeans who are overly dependent on the government and blame the government for all their woes. But there is an even greater number of people in other countries that depend wholly on government handouts & social welfare for their day to day expenses, living as tramps on the streets, under bridges, etc. If the typical blue-collar Singaporean is concerned solely about bread & butter issues, at least he’s taking personal responsibility in ensuring that he’s not living off the generosity of others. I say aye to that rather than people who are streetsmart – and live on the streets.

 

And if individualism is heavily promoted and adhered to by society, as it is in certain countries (esp. the one that takes “freedom of speech” as a sacred entitlement), what comes out of it? What kind of scandals and destruction have those countries caused?

I would say that Singapore has a very well-balanced system of democracy + socialism. We are a social democratic country and this system has worked well for us.

 

I’ll rather have a one-party parliament that’s focused on bringing Singapore into the next lap of economic competition, than a parliament whose politicians’ main activity is wrestling. (Sure, at least citizens of those countries will never fall asleep watching parliament on TV).

 

I’ll rather have a country where the police pre-empts/steps in to prevent/break up any sort of illegal public demonstrations, than a country that sends tankers to bulldoze its citizens.

 

I’ll rather have a country where citizens enjoy racial harmony & religious tolerance, than countries that clam down on religious freedom and where i can get shot for the colour of my skin.

 

In fact, i’m thankful even for the fact that my country allows me to post this blog entry without government imposed restrictions on what sites i can or cannot go.

 

Are Singaporeans stupid? I’ll let the quality of life i live here in Singapore speak for itself.

 

P/S Who the heck is redbean?? (highlighted in red above, pun unintended.)

I came into my bedroom just now and saw a baby lizard on the floor. Instead of taking cover close to the walls or cupboards, this baby lizard was right smack in the middle of open space. “Drats!” I thought. I only just drowned a baby lizard about a month ago and here was another fella asking to be drowned??

So i told the lizard that it had better get out of my bedroom “or else…” I then took a section of the newspapers & started fanning it in the direction of the door. Amazing, the lizard moved in the direction of the newspaper!!

Painstakingly, i shoo-ed the baby lizard towards my door, and out of my room. When it paused at the opening of the doorway, i told it, “come on now, go out baby!”. I could sense its reluctance so i used the newspaper & threatened to smack it. That did the trick and the little lizard ran out of my room.

This lizard good right? I think it communicates better than some people i work with! Sigh…

Just did a personality test at www.personaldna.com & i am an “attentive analyst”.

My results:

About You

• Your attention to detail, confidence, sense of order, and focus on functionality combine to make you an ANALYST.

• You are very curious about how things work, delving into the mechanics behind things.

• Along those lines, how well something works is usually more important to you than what it looks like.

• You find beauty and wonder mainly in concrete, functional, earthly things.

• You are very aware of your own abilities, and you believe that you will find the best way of doing things.

• Accordingly, problems do not intimidate you, as you believe in yourself.

• You trust yourself to find solutions within the boundaries of your knowledge.

• You don’t spend a lot of time imagining how things could be different—you’re well-grounded in the here-and-now.

• Your independent streak allows you to make decisions efficiently and to trust your instincts

• You prefer to have time to plan for things, feeling better with a schedule than with keeping plans up in the air until the last minute.

• You have a strong sense of style and value your personal presentation – friends may even seek your style advice from time to time.

• Generally, you believe that you control your life, and that external forces only play a limited role in determining what happens to you.

How you relate to others

• Because you like spending time with others, understand their feelings, and often know what is best for them, you are ATTENTIVE.

• Some people are merely concerned about others, but you take action, helping people when you have the opportunity.

• Although you care about others, you are hesitant to trust them to act in the best way on their own.

• You don’t let your concerns with people go unnoticed: if someone has hurt your feelings, that person will hear about it.

• People energize and excite you—you are able to have fun and be yourself when you’re around others.

• You also learn a lot about yourself by talking things out with people, even if you don’t always share things that are important to you.

• You have a strong sense of right and wrong, and you’re not hesitant to express yourself.

• Understanding the dynamics of a situation is an important skill that you have, and you often intervene to clarify things for others.

• Your independent streak allows you to make decisions efficiently and to trust your instincts

• You prefer to have time to plan for things, feeling better with a schedule than with keeping plans up in the air until the last minute.

• You have a strong sense of style and value your personal presentation – friends may even seek your style advice from time to time.

• Generally, you believe that you control your life, and that external forces only play a limited role in determining what happens to you.