Dance like no one's watching

I think drivers in Singapore are car snobs.  Whenever I drive the Kia Rio, I get harassed, tailgated, etc.  When I drive my dad’s Passat R36, however, no one bothers me.  If I signal to change lanes, I don’t get cars speeding up to block me.  What’s with that man!  I’m still me you know?  My driving style doesn’t change much regardless of the car I’m in.  Grr.  Car snobs!

The latest drama I’ve been following is 下一站，幸福. Got to say that my opinion of Vanness Wu really changed. Haha. Never knew he can actually act. Found him a lot less irritating than ha was in Meteor Garden. Actually, I didn’t find him irritating at all!

Anyway, I’m half way through the drama. Been fast forwarding through quite a few parts so I can get to the exciting parts faster, which is quite rare cos I usually like sitting through every part of a drama so as to immerse myself in the story. Hehe.

Can’t wait to watch the second half. Shall stop fast forwarding cos while I can’t wait to see the ending, I’m also always sad when a good story ends

Boohoo! The long Chinese New Year weekend ends today. Seems to have disappeared super fast cos we were travelling to JB back and forth. Really don’t feel like going back to work tomorrow!! 🙁

Oh well, here’s wishing everyone a happy year of the rabbit!!!

Horlicks did a dental surgery last Friday to file down her teeth.  The vet suspected that was the cause of her only being able to eat pellets last week (she refused to eat veg & hay since the Fri before last).  She seems to be doing slightly better this past week – she now eats pellets and fresh vegetables but she simply refuses to eat hay anymore, even when she’s hungry.  Like last night – she was licking her empty bowl – think she was trying to tell me she’s hungry.  So I tried to feed her hay.  She grabbed the hay with her mouth, then threw it back at me.  Thrice.  I then took some softer bits of hay, put them in a tray & gave them to her.  No better.  She tried to grab the tray & fling it away too.

In the end, I felt sorry for her so I gave her a tiny tiny portion of pellets, which she took really long to eat… about 3x longer than her speed prior to her eating problems. 

Sigh.  Someone told me that the lifespan of lops are about 6 – 8 years.  Horlicks is roughly 5 years 8 months… is this a sign of old age?  The beginning of the end? 

Horlicks was also less energetic last night and preferred to be alone than to fuss over Pinky as usual.  Pinky, was walloping the hay.  During the 30min I spent with Horlicks, Pinky helped himself to 4 servings of hay. 

My dad asked the pet shop to send some samples of this more expensive and supposedly more fragrant hay (1 bag costs $40 compared to the normal variety of hay at $16 per bag).  We really don’t mind spending the money. As my dad says, bunnies don’t have very long life spans… if they’re happy, why not right?  Who doesn’t want to be cared for and pampered in their old age?

What would you do if you struck a million dollars in Toto?  (I’m talking about Singapore dollars here.. not Rupiah or something).  I’ve decided I’m going to rent a push cart and sell handphone & tablet accessories (screen protectors, covers, pouches, hard cases and the like).  I’ve observed that the handphone accessories push cart on the 4th floor of Tampines Mall has fantastic business but I know how I can do better – I’ll rent a space just outside the forever-packed-like-sardines Singtel Hello! Shop on level 2 and sell my accessories there!  Muahahah.  That should ensure I snare all new handphone buyers.  *Evil laughter*…

So if you’re the owner of the push cart on the 4th floor, watch out!  You’re going to be out of business once I strike Toto.

I just got a call from Fetsi who introduced herself as a supervisor with Nokia Care.

Fetsi: Hi Miss.  I received your e-mail regarding the Channel News Asia app.  I understand that we have advised you 2 possible fixes, i.e. to wait for the next available software update or to download the app from Ovi store.  I would like to check if you have tried and if it works?

Me: Was my e-mail not clear enough? 

*Silence*

Me: I repeat.  Was my e-mail not clear enough?

Fetsi: Sorry Miss.  But did the fix work?

Me: Wasn’t it clear enough in my e-mail whether it worked or not?

Fetsi: I must apologise.  I got your case number but didn’t see all the e-mails.

Me: Then why are you calling me if you don’t know what’s going on?

Fetsi: (Apologises profusely).  I will raise this with 3rd level support and get back to you soon.

*Rolls eyes*.

16 Jan 2011, Sunday, was Pinky’s 5th birthday – but terrible terrible me actually forgot about it!  The irony is I remembered last week.. but somehow, there were just too many things going on this weekend and it slipped my mind!

I visited the bunnies at my parents’ place before dinner this evening but spent most of the time brushing Horlicks’ fur.  I noticed she had quite a bit of dead fur that needed brushing out so I spent at least 15min brushing her fur, including the tangled fur surrounding her bald bottom.  Think I got half of the tangled fur out?

Pinky was a little jealous that the attention wasn’t on him.  The guy’s been so used to being fussed over since he was a baby.  He tried to get attention by stuffing himself next to Horlicks but I still gave most of my attention to his mommy.

Sigh.  Poor boy.  Thinking of buying him an apple as a birthday treat.  Hehe.  Definitely a more healthful option than buying those sweet treats from pet shops!

Here’re some photos of Pinky from when he was a baby till now.  I think he’s the handsomest bunny ever!

Pinky & his sibling Fatty who died at a week old.  Pinky’s the one on top.  Fatty was much bigger in size at birth.. but somehow he just couldn’t absorb the nutrients from Horlicks’ milk and suffered a fit on day 7 & died.  There was a 3rd baby – but it didn’t survive the first night.  *Sniff.

Fatty’s on the left.  Looking at his skin, I suspect Fatty would’ve looked like Muah Chee – single colour (beige/brown).  Pinky was named thus ‘cos he was soooo pink!  The brown spots on his body is now where the brown fur is.  The pink parts, the white fur.

This was a pic of Pinky taken on 24 Jan 2011.  It was quite a struggle for him to grow.  He was soooo tiny!

Here’s a pic of Pinky stretching subconsciously when he was asleep.  See how tiny he was – smaller than my hand!

Pinky crawling on me.  Started opening his eyes a little more after 3 weeks.

Pinky after a bath.

He slowly got to be more than a handful!

Pinky used to sleep on my lap.  Hehe.

He really hated this t-shirt…

And then the ears started to droop…

Horlicks & Pinky – like mother like son!!

Pinky feeding.

Patting Pinky to sleep.

Pinky see…

Pinky do!

Pinky was a pretty alert bunny too.

He was a keen reader.

Pinky loves hanging out with Horlicks.

Follows everything she does – including jumping on top of cages.

Pinky meeting his dad, Muah Chee.  We had to separate them ‘cos Horlicks was very protective of Pinky when he was born and would attack any rabbits that went near him, including Muah Chee!  Muah Chee, however, always doted on Pinky.  Never once did Muah Chee bully Pinky.

Greedy Pinky trying to reach the food pellets!

Pinky snuggling up to his daddy in Jan 2008.

Quite sad.  Don’t have many photos of Pinky and his daddy ‘cos MC passed away in Mar 2008.

MC was quite overweight then but he nonetheless tried to keep up with Pinky.

Pinky’s last family photo.  I took this before I went Australia for a holiday.  MC died when I was in Melbourne.

Though Pinky’s fur colours are the same as Horlicks, I always felt his features were more like MC’s – rounder face, longer ears.

Fast forward a little.  Here’s Pinky in 2010.  He & Horlicks pushed over a container of pellets to that they could enjoy it straight off the floor.  Tsk tsk.

Pinky – on the living room table!

Pinky in 2011… stuffing his face.  Haha.

This must be the best Taiji move I’ve seen coming from a technical support centre.  Can’t solve it – delay it.  Check out their latest reply to my issue.

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Ref#1-11411140618

Thank you for emailing Nokia Careline.

Since the application you are referring to is pre-installed, we suggest that you try to wait for the upcoming software version for your device to have it re-installed.

We apologize for the inconvenienced caused.

You may like to visit our website at www.nokia.com.sg for more information and support for your Nokia device. If you have further enquiries, please write to us again or contact Nokia Careline at 6822 8888. We operate between the hours of 8:00am and 8:00pm, seven days a week.

Kind regards,

Joyce T.
Nokia Careline

Do you know you can now update your phone software at your own convenience? Visit www.nokia.com.sg/support to check if your phone model is supported and download the "Nokia Software Updater".

[THREAD ID:1-58PWCG9]

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Readers, please join me in applauding Nokia Careline for their great customer service and deflection of problems they don’t know how to handle.

*Clap clap clap*

Weird thought. I had a drippy nose this morning. Then the dripping stopped and my ears got blocked instead. Given that the ear, nose and throat canals are connected, does this mean the mucus is causing my ears to be stuffed up? ? Haha. Gross. :p

After 4 long years, I made it down to salsa today.  Went for the Jitterbugs’ social.  I was really really happy that I got to see Vandalin, Z and CL.  Also got to know 2 new friends through AL… though I was a little insulted by what one of them said.

I know I know,  I was the one who said I haven’t danced for 4 years.  But that doesn’t mean I can’t dance right?  Not knowing my background, he said to me, “This song is a little fast.  A bit too fast for your level.  Maybe we dance the next one”.

Wah lau.  I was lost for words man.  My level?  Hello… allow me to blow my own trumpet.  I’ve a foundation in ballet, did some basic funk & modern dance in uni, and have been on a salsa performance team previously including a performance at the US West Coast Salsa Congress.  What do you know about “my level” dude!!

After I heard that, I immediately turned to Vandalin and asked if he could dance that “fast song” with me. (Actually I wouldn’t even consider the song fast… it was just a moderate pace.  Mr “Not My Level” ought to try the songs from my competition piece or some of our past performances if he wants to know what’s fast!).

That said, assessing my own level of salsa now, I realised my main struggle today was with being quick enough in the transfer of weight.  There were a few times when I struggled with a particular move because I didn’t bounce back / transfer my weight fast enough.  Not to worry, I’m sure I’ll get it back the next time.

I’m still most comfortable doing spins (actually, I LOVE doing spins and was quite disappointed not all the guys I danced with know how to lead spins – yes, that includes you Mr “Not My Level”).  I also realised that most of the gals on the dance floor weren’t doing spins right.  Most were using 1 leg to pivot & the other leg to “push” when they should really be putting both feet together, lock their arms and allow the guy to spin them.  That’s the best and steadiest way of doing spins.

As usual, I felt like dying after the first 3 songs.  Totally out of breath.  And my calves cramped on the 4th song though I managed to finish the dance.  That, I also blame Mr “Not My Level” because I had to keep “jamming brakes” while dancing with him.  Well, I usually don’t criticise guys who are still learning because everyone needs time to learn the proper technique but right after dancing with him, I danced my 5th dance with Z and boy was it a breeze!!

So my conclusion is, if a guy is able to lead  well, it’s effortless for the gal to follow, and even do more complicated moves with ease.

Okok.  I know I sound like I’m damn pissed and am never going to dance with Mr “Not My Level” ever again but that’s not the case lah.  I was slighted (and thus am whining) but when I told Vandalin & Z what he said, we all had a good laugh about it. 

I think I danced about 10 songs in all.  My second wind came after the 5th dance.. and from then on, I stopped panting after every song.  Haha.

Z asked me what made me decided to go salsa tonight.  No particular reason leh.  Just itching to dance lor.  Plus getting to see a few of my old friends made me really happy.  PIty SB wasn’t out tonight – I would’ve liked to dance with him to (my 2 favourite leads are Z & SB. )

I think I’ll try to go again in 2 weeks.  It would be ideal if I could go salsa on alternate weeks  I think it makes for good exercise.  Dancing 10 songs of average 4-5min each is as good as doing a 40min cardio workout! 

Ok.  Time to go hang up my laundry then sleep.  Got to be in church at 9:30am tomorrow!!