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Luncheon of the Boating Party

I have always liked this painting by Renoir.

Kim's Angpow

Kimi, my small wuffer, paid dearly for her mistake yesterday.

Having been invited to a laksa party, my happy little wuffer promptly squatted on my friend's grass, and proceeded to do her business atop an anthill. The ants, not appreciating Kim's efforts of spring-cleaning their habitat with ammonia, stung her backside, thus giving her a big, red CNY angpow to wear on her rump.

The sore turned into a boil, and the mummy's very first task this morning was to squeeze pus out of the boil. Had to take her to her groomer's to shave the patch of fur round the sore, and get the area cleaned thoroughly and disinfected. Now I have to check out her wound and spray disinfectant every couple of hours.

Yucky job!

Celebrity Wuffers!

My wuffers are celebrities today. Kim's photo got published, but not my Schu's. I must now make sure fame does not go into their heads. Will definitely keep them away from the pitfalls of celebrity status, and make them steer clear of alcohol and drugs. Hehehe!

Christmas Come and Gone

The much-awaited first day of Christmas has come and gone in a haze of colours and festivities. So far, no partridge in a pear tree has appeared on my doorstep, not even a partridge in a pie, which will definitely be more welcomed than any pear trees! But I did receive some lovely presents in the form of a genuine double-strand pearl bracelet from my 6 year old student ( who incidentally won it -- the grand prize -- from a charity dinner with lucky draw sponsored by Vanessa Diamonds ), and also a bottle of Arden's Red Door, plus a big fat Metrojaya gift voucher to name a few. My wallet has also definitely been considerably flattened after this glorious season of giving. It is indeed nice to give ( gives you a warm feeling on your insides which has got absolutely nothing to do with drinking too much wine! ), but far be it for me to deny that it's also lovely to be at the the receiving end!

Santarina Kimi had a lovely time going to parties and posing for photographs like a celebrity. She basked in the oohs and aahs and had a great time. Schumi received lots of presents and had loads to eat. I think both of them put on weight round the tummy. Oh all right, the three of us!

Christmas Countdown

Christmas is in the air. You can feel it, touch it, and even taste it. Even those of us immersed in the deepest of slumbers wake up to the fact that the jolliest of festive seasons is peeking around the corner with the jingles from shopping malls, and gorgeous trees in practically every shop we enter. Soon, our wallets will flatten, and our credit cards will start to smoke from overuse. Our waistlines expand, together with our dress sizes.

And so, the countdown begins............

Beauty

So beautiful. And yet beauty is beheld but for a fleeting moment. We might grasp frantically at it, but it slips through our fingers. Like the flower with dew drops, so fresh and pure, we once had our moment. The one moment when our physical beauty shines, at the zenith of our youth. The flower of tomorrow will fade, but its beauty is forever preserved by the lense of the camera.

Red Dusk

Snapped this photo during a brief respite from continuous heavy rain. Nature was trying to paint various tones from one single shade into its canvas last week. The result : a breathtaking red dusk.

Batik Painting

I learnt something new yesterday. Batik painting. It was interesting and enjoyable, especially when it comes to mixing the powdered pigments to obtain different shades.

I have always thought that batik painting was very difficult. To be done only by those who received special training since their younger days. A traditional craft that's passed on from generation to generation.

I was wrong. That's the problem with us. What we do not know, we deem it too difficult to even try. In other words : Can't be bothered. But if we show some interest, put in a little effort, then we'll realise that it can easily be done. Like almost everything, it just takes a little know-how, and a lot of patience.

Painful Pleasure

Painful pleasure.

This is how I, a self-professed gourmet, describe my hobby.

A scrumptious treat for the eyes only.

Dependence ~ A poem

D ~ Daily tasks
E ~ Emotional shadow overcast
P ~ Pathetically padlocked
E ~ Entwined
N ~ Needlessly and ceaselessly
D ~ Dangling on a stronger human rock.
E ~ Eternally
N ~ Never makes decisions
C ~ Crumbles under burdens
E ~ Empty and lost.

Dependence. A word that signifies living a life without the will or capability to function as a solo act. Helplessness empowers the weak. By putting on an act of distress, normal chores and difficult situations are ironed out by those who love and care for them. The act gradually becomes a habit. And the habit is known as dependence.

Pondering on Perfection

Perfection
Comes encased
In an illusion
Hiding the decays
And the facets
Of imperfection.

Like a mirror
With two faces
The good glitters
And the bad
Lurks and reflects
In dark recesses.

A banal farce
Of human nature
The affectations
Used to bolster
The image
For the greater.

Celebrating 'Us'

We had a small celebration today. It is not a special day. Nobody's birthday, nobody's anniversary. We just celebrated. In short, you could say we celebrated 'being us'.

Children love themselves with a pure, unadulterated love, wholly unmarred by fake modesty or the fear of offending their peers. They live only for themselves.

Teenagers, with their innocent self-importance, put themselves before others, but are often criticized as having an attitude problem.

As we go through life, our 'I love myself' motto gradually diminishes. We start to put the needs of others before us, often at the expense of ourselves. As the pressure of not being able to cater to all and sundry grows, the feeling of inadequateness creeps in. We begin to look upon ourselves as hopeless beings. Our true feelings are suppressed while we work even harder to 'do our best' for others. The perilious journey into the world of doormats thus begins. Our identities, once treasured, slip away without our knowledge. Our self-assertion, self-confidence and self-love flounders with uncertainty.

At times, we need to remind ourselves that we do not need to please everybody. No one has the right to call us self-indulgent if we pamper ourselves once in a while. We are individuals, and we function as our own person. Nobody can treat us as doormats unless we give them the license to do so.

And so, with a cake that says 'Here's to us, cheers', and lots of jests and happy laughter, we celebrated 'us'.

Three Words

One wrong move. Just three words. Uttered with resignation and frustration. Often tinged with the futility of regret.

To be followed by three more words.

I should have........
I should have been wiser. I should have seen it coming. I should have known. I should have thought about it.

Usually linked to three fatal words.

It's too late.......
Too late to love. Too late to recoup losses. Too late to reconcile. Too late to undo.

Just three words, entrapping people by sucking them into a dark vortex known as depression.

Light

When things do not go our way,
When we are tossed
By winds that lead our hopes astray
Remember....
Light is never far away.

Lost

I am lost
Amid an ocean of faces
Where my vision
Becomes hazy glimpses.
Familiar shapes and colours
Mixed in a blender
Oddly distorted
Blown up and bloated.
Every step looks ominous
And the paths
that used to be harmless
Is now fraught
With challenges.

I move slowly
Tread purposefully
With a squint
Of concentration.
My world
So bright and cheery
Has suddenly turned
Uncertain and blurry.
Amid helpful suggestions
Chortles and giggles
I finally admit
Life cannot be grappled
Without my spectacles!

Limbs

A woman lost three fingers in a freak accident yesterday. She is a fellow resident in my apartment block. Her fingers had rested on a door frame when a sudden gust of strong wind blew the door shut. It slammed right onto her fingers, crushing all three at once. She was sent to the hospital, and the fingers were amputated. In just a few minutes, she lost part of herself.

Through life, we have contributed our fair share of grumblings about backaches, sore shoulders, arthritis, and even gout. True, it's hard to be optimistic and laugh the pains and aches away when the affected part inflicts misery on us. But in our sufferings, we seldom stop to think that........at least we still have the fingers for arthritis to attack, or that we still have a foot for us to sprain!

Perhaps now is a good time to start appreciating the various parts of our bodies that we've long taken for granted. We are lucky that the danger of stepping onto landmines and losing our legs in a blink of an eye is minimal. We could start by being more self-reliant, put our limbs to good use, and in the process, get some exercise as well. Walk the short distance to the kitchen for a glass of water instead of hollering for the hired help.

And every night, if we climb into our warm beds as whole as we have been in the morning, we should be thankful that we've made it safely through another day.

Nature's Art

A splash of colour
On a celestial canvas
Nature's work of art.

Tragedy? Comedy?

A tragedy. A comedy. All but separated by a fine line.

A beautiful romance, a tragic triangle. A Shakespearean tragedy that befalls the lives of the young and beautiful. We sympathise with them, we worry for them. We wonder how their entanglements will end. Whenever they need an understanding ear to listen to their distress, or a shoulder to cry on, we are ready to offer ours. We are keen to help them lighten their burden, albeit only by the simple act of listening. Their moans mingle with ours. Their tragedy has an impact on the people around them.

A romance, a triangle. In the form of an aged Romeo and Juliet. A tragedy? Nay. How often have we laughed at their antics? Gossiped about the outcome? Yes, we wondered how it would end, but more often in mirth. The blush on wrinkled cheeks is not to be compared with the blush on alabaster cheeks. The understanding ear and the shoulder are still offered, but with a snigger not straying far. We could barely supress a shudder and a giggle at the terms of endearment that fall from their lips.

Thus, the tragedy becomes a comedy.

Dawn

Dawn approaches
Gently on tiptoe
Illuminates the sky
With a rosy glow.

Shadows flee
Darkness disperse
From Apollo's chariot
Sunlight emerge.

Arise, sleepers
From your slumbers
A new day dawns
A new page awaits us.