Jackie

Jackie would have been 15 this year. She passed away in Jul 2011. I am not someone who put photo around, but I have four, five of Jackie's photo in my room. Once in a while, I would take it out and rub her forehead, and it seems like I am still about to smell her special puppy smell. 

I got Jackie when I was in my early twenties. I had just ended my first relationship, and needless to say it was the end of the world for me. I worked but it was difficult to eat; I was around, but I was drifting too. I was just waiting for the time to pass so that the wound to heal. Perhaps my colleague knew the one thing to heal my broken heart was a puppy, and she brought me to a pet shop one night after work. 

She was right. I fell in love with Jackie the minute I saw her. 

There were litters of jack russell around, mostly white with spots of brown. Jackie was alone in a cage by herself. I asked for the reason and was told she was too tiny and could not fight her way to the food. Hence need to be separated so that she could be fed properly. 

The shop assistant passed me two puppies, one was Jackie and another was a white coat with brown spots puppy. The later was about a size bigger than Jackie. The minute I set both of them on the floor, the "whitie" went off on her own happily while Jackie hung pretty close to me. 

I brought Jackie home that night. 

Mom and dad weren't too hot about having a dog in a flat. But they did not raise too much of a protest given it was my down time :>

So there was a reason for the unfortunate breakup; we got Jackie!

I never had a pre conception as to what type of dog I would like to have, but I am a big-dog person. I like to be able to ride my dog, and able play rough when I want to without hurting my dog. We had big dogs since we were young, those days when we still lived in the kampong. So it was true love with Jackie, though she was tiny. She fitted nicely into my palms when I first got her. When she was still small, we used to put her into a big plastic bag and hung her up by the door knob when we were mopping the floor. She would sticked her head out once in a while, other than that, she would be curled up, napping till we are done. 

Jackie brought us a lot of joy over the 13 years that she was with us. She was usually the first one to greet me when I was back from my night shift. She was also the first to wake in the morning. Dad trained her pretty well, she knew how to find her way to the toilet for her big and small businesses. She did the same when she visited our auntie with her. It was amazing how she did that, given that we never really showed her where the toilet was. When she was about a year old, she would carry the toys that she brought out to play back to where it was.

See how tiny she was, the ball of wool was used as a comparison. 

When the grandchildren came, her jumpiness mellowed. Perhaps she knew that she was upgraded in status, and she needed to help to watch over the kids. Jackie seemed to get along best with the youngest. Whenever the little guy sat next to her, she would lick him slightly on the hand and allow him to stroke her head. 

The last two months of Jackie's life was really painful for everyone. Her stomach started to bloat one day after she lost control of her bowel. For the next couple of days, she could not really eat nor could she shit. 

We brought her to the vet at Mount Pleasant. I knew there was some issues with the vet at Mount Pleasant many years ago, but I speak for ourselves. I love the vet and the nurses there. I could feel they love animal genuinely. I had been to quite a couple of vets before we finally settled at Mount Pleasant. I could never felt any love for Jackie from the previous vets. I was comfortable with Mount Pleasant, and had always brought Jackie to Mount Pleasant ever since we found them. 

The vet did an x-ray and could not really tell what was wrong. She said the best way would be to open her up so that they could fix her on the spot if they could do so upon opening her up. They said they could run other tests as well, but instead of poking Jackie all round, and also to reduce the cost, it would be better to open her up. 

The operation went well. But her diagnosis was bad. Jackie had cancer, and the vet told us it was amazing how she could handle the pain. The vet provided the option of putting her to sleep during the operation. Yes, they were that good - they called before the operation and they called during the operation. But I was selfish, I could not let her go without the good bye. The vet stitched her up, and I went down after work to see her. 

Jackie was groggy but she was awake when I reached. She tried to stand when she saw me, and wagged her tail hard... I stayed with her for about 45 minutes and stroked her to sleep before I went off. The doctor could only put her on steroid and pain killer to ease her swollen body, but she warned Jackie would not last long. 

The next two months was a lot of care. I placed Jackie in my room, and I would help to rest her, and re tucked her middle of the night so that she would be more comfortable. My sister did plenty too, and so did our parents. Everyone just wanted to let Jackie be as comfortable as possible. 

Finally one day, I accidentally saw Jackie trembling in pain. I knew she needed to go, and we had to bring her back to Mount Pleasant. I would never want to let go of her, but she was suffering. The vet asked, "If it is you at your 90s, and you are suffering, do you want to stay or go? "

That was a crying day for the family. Even my dad shed some tears. After all, Jackie was family. 

I love dog and I think most of our family members do too. There is connection between the dog and us. I swore to not have a dog as a pet after Jackie; the parting was just too painful. But who would swore off family? So I do see dogs in my life again. 

Jackie, we love you. 

Cherish

That day hubby was asking where was the first ring he gave me. 

I was surprised he asked. Hubby is a good man but sometimes he appears to be beyond caring for such stuff. But I love the question :) 

This is an especially challenging year, given we had perhaps spent the most time apart ever since we got together seriously and faithfully as a couple. We did not take our annual trip this year, an affair that we both look forward, even if it is to somewhere near like Bangkok. It is not about how far we go or how many boarding passes we collect; it is the time spend together in a foreign land that makes the trip forward looking. 

For us, December is a period to be thankful that we spend yet another good year together. Of course, the year seldom passes without the quarrels, the shouting matches, the banging of the doors (ya, we bang doors too), and the cold wars. We are just a pair of normal couple. 

I used to think we got into the relationship knowing we would need to travel and could not see each other daily, hence we should be alright moving forward with the not-so-long-distance marriage. After all, we are only about 45 minutes apart by flight and 4.5 hours apart by car. But a couple needs time to get accustom to each other's living habits; that was truly something that I have never taken into consideration. 

I used to be able to spend about close to a month in Malaysia before I need to head back to Singapore for work. If I get to spend a week in Malaysia now, it is like a luxury. Nowadays, just when we get in tune with each other's habit, I would need to be back in Singapore...It is tough, but I think we are slowly getting the hang of it. 

Sometime ago, I read a blog post shared through FB by a friend. It was a wonderful article shared by a man who divorced after 16 years of marriage. He shared advice that he wished he had received so to keep the marriage intact. Of course, I think it applies to both the husband and the wife.

When in doubt, always choose love. 

My New Guy

Woohoo! Hubby got me an early birthday present!

We remember our wedding anniversaries (yes, it is plural), but we do not really celebrate in a big way. If we are in the same place, we would have a nice meal together, but no present. We do not celebrate V-Day, Christmas or New Year for the same matter. 

That is why birthday is big time important to me. Because I must have, and demand, a present from hubby, and more so after we are married. I know I am mean, but I want my present. It doesn't have to be expensive; it just need to be there so that I can be over-the-roof-happy for one day out of the 365 days. After a couple of lessons, I learnt to give bright, clear hint so that hubby knows what I fancy. 

So this is what hubby got for me, ta-da!

A new camera lens for my EOS 650D! 

I went for an introduction class at Canon Imaging Academy a couple of months ago, almost a year after I got 650D. The class was good; it helped to clear a lot of floating questions and let me use my camera a lot more efficiently and creatively. After the class, I asked the instructor for recommendation of inexpensive lens for a beginner, he recommended Canon EF 50mm F1.8 II to try as a prime lens. 

Check out the photos that I took with the new lens:

It is always nice to shoot citronella because they always smell so fresh!

See the ants? That was what I was aiming for, haha!

I love the creamy bokeh background in the first photo!

I realise I love shooting flowers and plants because they are mostly still and that gives me time to compose my shoot. I am trying to improve on my photography skill and I think prime lens would make me work harder by not allowing me to zoom in and out without moving around too much to compose the shoot. So this is my practising and homework lens :) 

I also wanted a prime lens also because eventually I want to learn how to do videography with my 650D. I am still so amazed with the camera's ability in low light environment! Probably I can finally make my low budget movie? Haha!

The present has made me very happy for days, and it would in the coming months and years :)

Thanks dear!

Happy Birthday to Hubby

We tried but we did not always get to spend our birthdays together much as we would love to. Geographically and sometimes for reasons that I do not even recall, this is how things are. This year, I made plans early to spend 28 Feb in Malaysia. 

We had yet decided where to go for the hubby's birthday and before we decided on where to go, the hubby told me he was given a complimentary hotel stay at First World Hotel @ Genting. Hence, that was how we decided on the birthday location. Not our first choice, but we are not that fussy and as long as we get to spend time together with minimal packing, we are pretty much thankful.

We reached Genting Highlands in about an hour leisure drive. I am not a cold weather hugger, and I am always thankful for the warm tropic weather (though I would love lesser humidity), but the weather had been extremely hot recently, hence I found myself looking forward to the trip. Before this trip, I had only been to Genting Highlands once for a company retreat, and it was not the best experience. I found myself trying to catch my breath and was only better the following day. The hubby said if I still find myself in similar situation for this trip, he would be more than happy to drive us home. And this trip was great! I felt nothing of what I felt previously and after collecting our room key, we freshened up and made our way to the cable car!

The cable car ride was also my first in Genting. The ride started a bit bumpy, but nothing to frighten us out of our mind. As the ride moved, we were surrounded by a sea of thick fog, and it started to drizzle slightly. A couple of minutes later, the sky brighten up. It is pretty amazing how the entire resort and cable car system are constructed in the mountainous area.

The entire ride took about 12 minutes or so. We disembarked and walked around the station a bit. Nothing impressive, we saw one, two shops retailing some local stuff, perhaps meant for some of the foreign tourists. We took the ride up in less than 10 min, haha!

There was nothing much to do on the ride up, since it was a repeat of the scenes, so I forced the hubby into selfie session, haha! Both of us are pretty camera-shy and we took tons of photo before we were happy with one :)

We did some shopping and ate plenty of food once we were back at the top. It was pretty much of a leisure walk. We sort of just went with the flow and checked out the surrounding hotels.

Saw some pretty flowers outside one of the hotels and spent some time taking photos there.

It was pretty chilling, but I gotten a couple of Uniqlo Heattec clothings and, mine, I have to say I was really impressed! Even for hottish night, I would usually keep my room temperature around 25 to 26 degree celsius with blanket wrapped around me. Anything below 25 degree celsius is usually a challenge to me, not to mention 20 degree celsius. All I had on was a tunic and leggings, both Heattec items. These Heattec items are definitely highly recommended!

We went back to the room to freshen up again and went out for dinner. Nothing spectacular for dinner, we went around walking some more to look for a nice place to sit down. Saw this pub within the mall with a live band and so we went in.

The birthday boy enjoying some draught and nuts :)

Before we bought this current house, we used to enjoy a night out during the weekends, pampering ourselves with some good food and spent some time alone, chatting about our thoughts, our plans, and our future. We had not done that much since we bought the current house; very much of an exchange of money situation. The expenses are not suffocating but we are more cautious with how the money is spent. So nights like this at pub are times that we treasure.

We spent the night relaxing and next day, we started our downhill drive after breakfast. Instead of heading straight home, we decided to drive to Sepang. We heard so much about Sepang and wanted to see how much it resembled Gold Coast. The drive took us almost three hours... And we were rewarded with beautiful skies!

We drove towards this resort called Golden Palm Tree Resort & Spa. It has a stretch of sea villas that branch out into the sea looking like a palm tree; very beautiful.

Stretch of villas on the right. We are guessing this would look a lot nicer when the tide is in. 

The place looks very much like a village 
with the locals trying to make a living with some touristy businesses. 

The birthday was spent on the hill, at the beach and on the road. What we appreciated the most was the time we spent together.

Shoot Life

Taken with iPhone Instagram

A simple afternoon.

Sipping off from grandpa's spoon. 

A gesture that is full of love. 

Long Distance Marriage

This morning, I woke up early at 630, took a shower and made my way to the hospital for a check up. It was arranged last minute mainly for peace of mind. Time like this made me wish hubby is around; just for reassurance. 

Even before we were together, I always knew being together at the same time, same place at all times is not very likely to happen for us. Somehow, this did not deter us and much as I wish we are constantly together, there are times when I am grateful for the distance as well. 

We have learnt to treasure the time together, and yes, we do have our share of squabbles, but those are usually resolve pretty quickly. I love and look forward to the daily call(s) with hubby; simple but homely conversations. We do not do long talks, just simple stuff to make sure each other is well, and usually for me to update him of my day. 

When we said our vows, we have made the promise to be there for each other for better, or for worse, for richer, or for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and honour and to cherish unconditionally, forsaking all others and to be faithful for each other. 

We should have added in - for the shorter or the longer distance!

Mural of "Love"

Our wedding anniversary is fast approaching! And look what I am sharing to celebrate our love *smile*

This is a wedding present from two not-so-new friends :) They are a lovely couple; passionate about arts, music and dance. When I first saw this in their Facebook, I love the colourful but subtle presentation with a black background. Guess my joy when they brought this piece of art to our wedding!

Unfortunately, this piece of art is still being probed against the wall in the living room. I simply refuses to hang it up on the wall because I do not want to turn it into a home for the creepy lizards! We are searching for nice solid shelf for it to sit on, and I believe the search would not be long.

Check out the little poem that they wrote for us :)