Holidays and babies...

One of the reasons I wanted to be a teacher in the first place was because of the holidays. And for the first time in the three years that I've been a teacher, I'm enjoying my first school holidays, like the children. I've given up my Year 6 tuition classes this year because Jimmy was supposed to book our honeymoon for December. Well, today is the last day of November and our honeymoon is still not booked yet. Well, actually I don't know if we are going for a honeymoon at all. Everything is so expensive these days and we are still in debt from moving into the house and all.

So anyway, my Father In Law is very eager to have grandchildren. Actually, he has been telling me that ever since Jimmy and I first started dating. Yup. We were just dating into our second month and my FIL told me that he longed to see Jimmy settled down and with kids. Scary, right? He backed off about us getting married and have children for a while but he's back at it again. I am so afraid of being alone with him for more than five minutes these days because he would definitely go back to that topic about wanting grandchildren...Sigh...why can't some people understand that it isn't that we don't want to have children but "takde rezeki lagi"?

I was saved from having another "I want to have grandkids pronto" conversation by a phone call that I normally would not take. Haha...I told Jimmy not to leave me alone with the father but he had to use the toilet. Dayumm.... I feel bad that I am "afraid" of my FIL now but I don't know how else to tell him that we are not pregnant not because we don't want it. *Frustrated*

Holidays are here again and I'm turning into an aunty. Cleaning and cleaning and cleaning from morning to afternoon. Gotta think of something else to do. Haha.... In the meantime, let me share with you some creative answers/notes written by my ex-students:

They keep thinking bout $hit...

This fellow really needs glasses...



Of Husbands and Dogs

One of my favourite pre-wedding photos. I love the dress!

Time passes really fast. I have been so busy over the past few months that I barely had time to do much other than work, travel and sleep. And when I say travel, it is travelling from home to work and vice versa. :(

Married life is not as I imagined it would be. I don't know if other newly-weds feel the same way. My more experienced colleagues told me to 'train' my husband from the very beginning (haha...while I laughed that they sounded as though they were asking me to train a dog, I regret a little for not heeding their advice). :P

Train the husband to do what? To share the housework. While I am not the best housekeeper ( I admit I'm lousy...and glad that Jimmy doesn't complain that I don't cook, sweep and mop the house every day as I have heard from my colleagues), but I wouldn't mind if I had Jimmy trained to help with what little I do around the house. Hehe...

My efforts to 'train' him after two months of marriage failed miserably. Telling him to take out the trash one day, ended up with me taking a bag of rotting trash out days later. The garden that he had insisted to keep was left unkempt and I had to weed it alone (in anger). Luckily, I insisted on not doing anything with the aquarium that he had wanted. So now, the poor fishies are living in an aquarium of water that has not been changed since a couple of months ago.

However, it's a great thing that he enjoys cooking. Since we also have a rather well-equipped kitchen, he has been experimenting and making rather delicious meals for me. Although I must say that I would have a heck of a cleaning work to do after that because he uses almost all the pots and plates and bowls to prepare a meal. :)

Mashed potato and omelette to go with our roasted chicken

Roasted chicken with garlic and thyme

Malaysian style breakfast

6-course lunch that he prepared for my family before the wedding. My father gave him tips to improve his cooking. LOL

So, if someone asks me, "How's life, married woman?", I guess my answer is "It's like living with an untrained love-able puppy who cooks." Hahahaha...woof!

Life after marriage

Photography by William Leong.

Has it really been almost 2 months now that I have become Mrs. Tan? My tea ceremony was conducted almost a month ago now. So, what has changed since changing my marital status from single to married? Nothing much except that I have now moved into our own house. That also means that I need to wake up really early in the morning and travel about 38 km to school. That's 38 km for one way. Yeah...I know it's a norm for many people. But I was staying a mere 5 minutes' walk away from my school for 3 years! Imagine the change! :)

Other than that, having our own house means a lot of cleaning. I was very enthusiastic about the cleaning up until I moved all my things from my rented room over. All the things are still in boxes tucked away in the maid's room. Hahaha...Jimmy has been great as in he doesn't complain about the many boxes hidden in the maid's room. He also understands that I have trouble adjusting to the fewer sleeping hours and the terrible mood swings that I have because of that.

I wonder how long I need to get used to travelling and then still find the energy to clean up the house AND do my school work. Thank God I live near my parents so my mom has been helping me out with the cleaning up at least once a week! Hahahaha...Mum's the best!

My mom and dad are the best! :)

ROM 120611

I'm officially someone's Mrs. now. It's funny how Madam Tee instead of Ms. Tee makes me feel so old. Of course, I have not asked the students to change how they call me for fear that I would forget to acknowledge them when they call me. Hehe... Some of the pupils, however, have noticed the ring on my finger and the few photos on my Facebook account that they tried to call me Mrs. Tee just to see my reactions (and perhaps to see if I would tell them if I were recently married). Haha...smart kids.

So, I didn't lose any weight at all despite my attempts to do so before my pre-wedding photoshoot in less than a week. But then again, why worry about weight? Brides who are happy are always beautiful, right? :)

Outside the temple

Jimmy said that I spoiled the photo because Mr. Braun Buffel was visible. Hahahaha...that's my purse, by the way. :P

What started as regular dinners with family friends ended with a union of two of the three families. :)

I actually like this photo....hahaha...see our new and nice-looking shoes?

One done, erm...how many to go?

It is a blessing in disguise as I am bigger than the average girl. It is because of that, the range of bridal clothes available to me was slashed to about 45% from the hundreds of clothes in that shop. And I took almost 4 and a half hours to choose 8 dresses for my pre-wedding photos, the tea ceremony and the reception. I remember my sister who starved herself skinny didn't take as long. It's probably because everything looked nice on her, so it was easier. Also, she was very particular about the type of dress she wanted. But my beloved mother and sisters gave useful comments for my dresses and chose dresses that would flatter my curves rather than work against them. Love you, jie jies and mama!

Jimmy, on the other hand, was very eager to try on his coats. He didn't give much comment on the dresses because 3 girls against 1 guy. Haha...and when it was finally his turn to try on his coat, it took him only 5 minutes. Haha...too bad la...weddings are owned by girls'. :P

So now, I've ticked the wedding dresses off my list. What else? Hmm....

...

...

...

You know, I'm sure there are more to do about the wedding. Haha...Let me just go and enjoy my school holiday first. :P

Getting wha?

Following the Chinese Hokkien custom that when there is any death in the family, any celebrations must be done within a hundred days or wait for 3 years. Hence, my wedding has to be rescheduled to take place within the hundred days. Truth is, I had actually wanted to wait for the three years but it is not fair for certain parties; so, everything has to be done in lightning speed.

From expecting to be married at the end of the year or sometime next year, I got the date from the Feng shui Master for Sepember this year, and now, I'm suddenly going to be registered in June and have the Chinese ceremony in July. Wow...It is hard to digest. :)

So, what have I done so far for my wedding? Erm...I did start a diet. And then I lost control and almost gained back all the weight I'd lost. Jimmy and I have started the renovation works to our house with almost no input from me as I do not care much for designs, compared to practicality.

Everyone around me has been asking me if I am stressed out. Truth is, I think the reality hasn't sunk in. Hahaha...I think I will feel the stress when I try on wedding dresses that don't fit well the day after tomorrow. -.-"

In the meantime, let's just chill. =)

29 April 2011

It was supposed to be a day full of joy. I was going to try on my wedding gown. My sister from Singapore flew home to go bridal shopping with me the next day.

I couldn't sleep the night before. I thought it was out of excitement.

I normally do not check my phone at school but as I was leaving my class after 2 hours of teaching, I heard my phone ring as a message came in. I walked to my place and took out my phone. It was Jimmy telling me that he was unable to go see me try on wedding gowns because he had an urgent meeting that afternoon. Bummer.

There was another message from my sister from Singapore: Grandma passed away 15 minutes ago.

My grandmother half-raised me up, if you could put it that way. My mother became a housewife shortly after I was born but I remembered playing with my grandmother a lot. I was her companion and she was mine for the first 5 or 6 years of my life. Then, we drifted apart as I went on to school.

Although we were never very close, I was perhaps one of the only other person in my house who would still chat with her from time to time. Everybody else in my family was too busy. I was just thinking that I should at least try to watch tv with her in her room for an hour or two the next weekend I was home (she was bed-ridden after suffering from a stroke last August or September).

It is all too late now. I regret not spending more time with her. I regret not letting her know that I care for her. I regret not letting her know that she had always been a good grandmother to me.

From her death, I have learnt a very valuable lesson: we need to spend time with our loved ones right now. There may never be another "tomorrow".

Rest in peace, Ah Ma. Til we meet again some day...

Volunteer work

Wow, SGD100 for an hour of tuition? And I thought the Malaysian rate of an average of RM60 an hour was ridiculously high! So, parents who earn a modest income cannot afford to have too many children who are slow learners!

___________________________________________________________________

I've decided to take the plunge. I've always wanted to do it but I have a phobia to commitments, I didn't know where to start and was busy with my currently-postponed Masters programme.

I started with guiding my nephew who was in Year 3 last year. I went to his house every weekend to guide him in his BM and occasionally, English. His parents were very appreciative until I was too busy towards the end of the year that I could not guide him every week and he got a very bad result in BM. Then, the kind gesture that I thought I was extending backfired because my brother blamed my inconsistency for the bad result. Ouch!

I still feel that I am only partly to be blamed because I kept emphasizing that I was only guiding and not giving him tuition. Nevertheless, when my sister-in-law subtly hinted that I should continue with the guidance in Tatabahasa this year, while enrolling her son in a Penulisan tuition, I pretended that I did not know what she meant. You know, you can never teach your own child or relative's child. The familiarity will make it difficult for the child to listen to you and for you to scold the child.

So anyway, I have been feeling the pressure lately because the Express class that I am teaching this year is most probably going to get very bad results for English. Actually, I think it must be my problem. I don't know how to make them write well. I've been slogging like a cow, marking piles and piles of the written work every week without results (while the other teachers just looked on and sniggered that I brought it upon myself that my table is always full of books). By this time last year, the Express class was already showing improvement in their writing. This class, on the other hand, is still struggling to give me 6 correct sentences out of 10. I'm at my wit's end, trying to figure out how to at least push the Bs to Cs and a few of the Bs to As.

I can't do much to help the kids because many stay very far away and can't stay back. So, I managed to catch hold of two kids and give them GUIDANCE after school hours. I have to do it discreetly because I don't want other teachers to know that I am not accepting money for the time I put in. I teach them in school and during school tuition, so how am I suppose to accept more money for guiding them? It's my fault that they can't understand my teaching, don't you agree?

Cross my fingers that these two will score an A in their UPSR and enjoy English after some extra guidance. Haha...can never bring myself to call what I do with the kids "tuition". :)

Tuition or to shun?

How much would you pay for your children's tuition? Do you send your children for all the subjects? Do you send them for the tuition because they need help in the subject or because everybody else is sending their children for tuition?

These are the questions that have been going through my mind since last Friday. Some parents took the opportunity at the meeting to ask if I give private tuition. Truth is, I don't believe in the way tuitions are conducted in most of the tuition centres/ by teachers. The aim-for-A concept that is followed is easy money for many teachers, especially when it comes to English.

My parents told me once that I should be giving tuition rather than spending my time doing nothing and that I should pick only the better pupils. Once the children get really good results, more children will come to me for tuition. Well, let's just say that the reason I wanted to be a teacher was not because of the easy money. Nope, nor is it because I want to shape the future generation. Haha...I am not that noble. It is mainly because of the holidays and the free time that a teacher has compared to other occupations. And, ok, partly because I want to help (not shape) some kids like how my teachers inspired me to enjoy English and school.

I digress. So like I was saying, some parents asked if I gave private tuition and told me sad stories like how they cannot help their own children in their schoolwork and haven't been able to find teachers to help the children. One particular boy's mother told me almost in tears that she doesn't know BM and English and can't help much in other subjects. She has been sending her child to tuition centres diligently since Primary One and the end result is that her son's class teacher bluntly told her that unless she sends him to a one-to-one tuition, all the money is wasted. Yup, this boy cannot understand BM nor English and can hardly write in Mandarin. Well, I do want to help but I cannot be volunteering because it would, as they say in Hokkien, "pak pai hang jeng" which means that I am spoiling the market.

So for this reason I have been asking around the fees charged by some teachers for a one-to-one tuition for English and BM. And the price that some of my colleagues discreetly revealed was astronomical. Haha...Gosh...really? Parents fork out so much money for their children yet most of these children do not know how hard it is to earn that amount of money and rather spend the time at the tuition playing and not learning much. And many parents just send their children to tuition blindly without considering that their children really just can't absorb much after one whole day of non-stop tuition. And truly, if a child is able to just pay attention to the teachers in school, most wouldn't need to go for  tuition anyway.

Hmm...what is your take?

Meet the Parents

Today was Parents' Day at my school. That means parents have to come and meet the teachers to get their children's report card and find out their children's progress in school for the past 4 months. It is a much dreaded day for some children and parents, and I can assure you that teachers feel the same way.

The first year when I had to meet the parents, I listed down the names of the children who were problematic. All 40 of them were problematic students (attitude problem, don't do homework, disruptive in class, don't pay attention etc). At the end of the session, I was so depressed that I cried all the half hour it took me to drive home because some of the parents were almost as bad as the students and defended their children's bad behaviour.

The second year of meeting the parents, I had learnt my lesson. I requested to meet only a few problematic children's parents and some who are angels in the class. To the parents of the angels of the class, I sang my praises and boost the children's confidence and made the parents (and myself) very happy. For the few problematic children, well, I don't remember much of what went on but I was accused of keeping a child's failed karangan paper for reasons only the child and his mother could think of. Ooh, and a parent of a child who never did her homework told me that she is very strict with her child at home (to which she asked her daughter to sit down and the daughter just ignored her)! Talk about the child being afraid of her. She must be living in a world of her own!

This year's meet the parents session went on better than I expected. I still had the mixture of angels and demons but more of the demons this time. I learnt that parents normally come with the worst expectations and were normally ready to defend their children's behaviour. So, this year, I told the parents with a smile that their child behaves really well/ participates in discussions/ has a basic mastery of the English language BUT I am worried because...

And all was well for me. No parent accused me of anything. No parent defended their children's behaviour. A parent or two told me a bit about their family problem. Sigh...I wish I could protect their children from it but I couldn't. Poor kids who are starved for attention and are creating trouble in the class in order to get the attention that they need. SIGH...

I got a headache at the end of the session. Some children did not turn up. A child cried. A few children almost cried. A few parents told me that they have family problems. A few parents told me that they do not know how to coach their children that's why their children have problems with their homework. Most parents told me that they normally check on  their children's progress but was too busy these few weeks, hence the backlog in homework.  Anyway, whatever the reason for their children's bad behaviour, I got the permission from most of the parents to punish the child in any way I think fit so that their child could be better. Muahahahaha....nah, I'm not a monster. Caning is one of the last resorts for me. I'd make them stay back in school first. Hehe...How else can I help these little monsters, I wonder?

Back in Malaysia

There is a slight disadvantage of going to Krabi: there is only one flight to and from Krabi a day. So, we left Krabi on our third day there at noon. We didn't do much, just walked around the Ao Nang beach and shopping in 7-Eleven. Yup, Mr. Jimmy fell in love with the 7E there and was visiting it every day. Haha!

Everything was back to normal, with me in cloud nine as I recounted Jimmy's proposal again and again to disbelieving audience. :) We had a plan to get married at the end of the year but Jimmy had to first ask my father for my hand in marriage ala traditional culture. Once that was done, we had to give our birth time to a Feng Shui master who would calculate the best time to get married.

A message came in on 7th April from the Feng Shui master telling us that the best date to get married is on the 11th September. *Panic* That is less than half a year away!! That night, Jimmy quickly set out a working schedule. We've got lots to do before September: decide on a venue for the reception, get the pre-wedding photos taken, get someone to renovate the house and most importantly, LOSE WEIGHT!!

How are we to do all that in a span of 5 months? Luckily, the Home Fair was on at PWTC that weekend. So we went to have a look at the furniture to just get an idea of how much it would cost us to renovate and prepare our house just enough to be able to invite guests in on the wedding day. Well, you can say that we almost had a heart attack just looking at the price of even the basic necessities.

Outside the fair, there was a wedding fair for Malays. Just for fun, we went in and we were stuck listening to a very persuading group of salesgirls. In the end, we came out RM 200 poorer because they told us to give a deposit so that we can still enjoy all the perks thrown in during the fair. Hmm...I suppose our wits do become dimmer when we have so much to think about. Hahaha...normally, Jimmy wouldn't be so easy to persuade. Me? I'm the typical water fish who would believe anything that any sales person says. LOL

Sigh...it has been almost a month since we have known the prosperous date, and we have managed to tick off a few things to do in our list:

1. venue

2. pre-wedding package (nope, not the one that we signed up for in the fair) :)

Wish us luck! :)

Day 2 Krabi

It is best for one to know that it is always never enough to go travelling out of a country for only 3 days and 2 nights. There are a lot of extreme sports to do in Krabi and we could only choose to go one that is not easy to find in Malaysia, so snorkelling is out of the question.

First, we had breakfast that was delivered to the table outside our room. Lousy food but the thought that it was sent over was out of ordinary.

Lousy American Breakfast sent to our room

At 8:30 Malaysian time, we went on a half hour journey to reach Bor Thor for Sea Cave Kayaking. It was tiring but worth every minute of it. Jimmy was extremely tired after the trip because he was rowing like a mad man throughout while I relaxed in front and took photographs. LOL

Beautiful view as we were coming out of a cave





Jimmy was super tired



After that, we went to a rather dirty river for a dip. Didn't take any photos there because it was really just a dirty river (although the water flows from underground).

Then, we went for an elephant jungle trekking ride. It was the most AMAZING experience ever. And it will definitely be my first and last experience! The female elephant which took us around was really nice but imagine you are about 2 storey-high up with only one rope tied across the bench you are sitting on. Not too bad, heh? And then your elephant actually had to climb up steep slopes and GO DOWN! Gosh, I was chanting Namo Amitabha almost throughout the ride! And worse was that it was raining, so the muddy trail seemed even less safe! We were dangling about 60degrees facing the ground twice when the elephant came down some slopes! After that ride, Jimmy and I thanked the elephant for getting us safely back! Hahaha...well, that's what you get for choosing something that you won't get anywhere else in the world! :)

Rewarding the elephant that got us safely up and down the muddy trail

I think if we ever go to Krabi again, we will just try to be safe and go for the white-water rafting package. :)

Krabi Day One

Once we touched down in Krabi, fellow passengers started congratulating us. It was too bad that Jimmy was too nervous that he did not ask someone to take photographs or video of the situation. Nevertheless, it will always be ingrained in my memory. :)

On the way to the taxi, when the both of us had calmed down, Jimmy started to recount the things that he had memorized prior to the proposal (something along the lines of "we have been together for more than two years now and would you give me the honour of being my wife"). And then I complained that he had actually thrown the box at me. Hehehe...

Once we reached the hotel, the receptionists were whispering to each other. When we entered the room, it was decorated as shown in the previous post, in case the bouquet couldn't be sent on board. That was when Jimmy went down on one knee and proposed in Mandarin. Awww...



Another angle of the deco on the bed.



After a short rest, we went to hunt for food near the hotel that we stayed at. We had the most delicious Seafood Tom Yam that we had in our short trip to Thailand in a nearby Dutch restaurant (the area that we stayed in catered mostly to Caucasians).



The very good Tom Yam and so-so Green Curry



After that, we wanted to explore the Ao Nang beach which is about 15 minutes' walk. The place was previously partially destroyed by the 2001 tsunami. They have rebuilt it and the place looks really good now. Along the way, these two lazy fat bums decided to rent a scooter (eventhough neither of us have a license although Jimmy used to ride a motorcycle in his Uni days). The scooter rental was only 200 baht for 24 hours! Cheap!



At Ao Nang beach



Thank goodness for this scooter!



At night, as we were walking along the touristy area, a couple from the Air Asia flight recognised Jimmy. Haha...and the lady was like, isn't he the fella who proposed on the airplane? :)

The night was still young, so I went to have cheap manicure and pedicure done. At around 8, we decided to have seafood for dinner. We chose a restaurant which looked quite good. The food and service were disappointing. The only thing good was its ambience and the dessert.



Mango with glutinous rice and coconut milk.



Love is in Air Asia

"Ladies and gentlemen, there is a special announcement." The voice of the head steward on the flight to Krabi woke me and other passengers from our naps. We must be nearing our destination now. Hmm..Jimmy was not at his seat.

"Love is in the air," the steward, Mr. Afif, continued. "We have a special proposal here from Mr. Jimmy to his girlfriend, Ms. Jiawen."

Oh. My. God.



There was a round of applause as Jimmy walked towards me (from behind the head steward) with a bouquet of flowers and a ring in his hand. I couldn't believe it! Jimmy, who is the most un-romantic guy I've ever dated, was proposing to me in front of so many people?! People craned their necks to see who the lucky girl was as Jimmy quickly sat next to me giggling nervously.



The bouquet of flowers and ring Jimmy gave me on the plane



I couldn't believe it. My hands shook as I opened the box with the diamond ring inside. Jimmy took it and slipped it into my ring finger (he forgot to ask the all-important question). There was another round of applause as the head steward congratulated the "future Mr. and Mrs. Tan".



He slipped the ring into my finger before asking the Question.





So, that is making a long story short. LOL...

Jimmy's plan started a few weeks earlier with him asking Air Asia's help to bring up the bouquet of flowers that he got from Mid Valley (and was sent to LCCT in a taxi). At first, his request was rejected. Then, a Mr. Jonathan from the Customer Care picked up his case and agreed to help.

On the day when we were supposed to leave for Krabi, Jimmy got a phone call from his boss and numerous calls which he did not pick up. I did not think much of it as it was a Thursday. When we reached the airport, Jimmy's parents decided to park the car and wait with us. I did not think much of it also as I thought the parents wanted to have lunch with us. Jimmy went off to look for a clean toilet as he told me he had a stomachache. We waited for half an hour and I got angry because we had to check in soon.

After we had checked in, Jimmy claimed that his sub-contractor had come to LCCT to meet him as he had some urgent documents for him to sign. I believed him as his phone did not stop ringing the entire morning. So, that was how he had managed to pass the bouquet of flowers to Mr. Jonathan, who brought it into the plane, without alerting me. :)

Jimmy's original plan was for Mr. Afif to hide the bouquet of flowers in his cart and push it to us as we were nearing Krabi but he did not have a chance to tell him that before we boarded the plane. When Mr. Afif approached Jimmy and asked if he had ordered a meal, Jimmy answered "no", to which Mr. Afif tried another tactic and said that there must had been a mistake and insisted Jimmy to follow him to the front. As Jimmy realised what was going on, he became extremely nervous. Looking at the almost full plane, he forgot all his plans and all the things that he was supposed to say to me. So, when Mr. Afif asked Jimmy how he wanted him to help, Jimmy was totally blank. That was why Mr. Afif took it upon himself to announce the proposal and Jimmy forgot to ask me the question. :)

Well, it would have been a big YES anyway. But it was truly a memorable proposal. THANK YOU AIR ASIA, especially to Mr. Jonathan (from Customer Care) and Mr. Mohd. Afif (the head steward on the AK 804 flight to Krabi on 17th March 2011).

Special arrangements made by Jimmy at the hotel for Proposal Plan B.

 P/S: Jimmy went down on one knee and popped the question when we reached the hotel afterwards.  :)

Do you have any proposal stories to share? :)

Demoted

I am officially playing second fiddle to my 6 month old niece. My father declared it the other day when he asked if I wanted to join my mom and him for a holiday with their friends. I was happy for a while until he said that since The Precious couldn't join them because she was teething, he called me, the second Precious. -_____-"

At 2 months old. This was what she liked to do. =)

At about 4 months old, puts everything into her mouth. Even mommy's T-shirt.

Who you calling Botak Head?

Showing off her ability to turn at 5 months old.

Actually, I don't mind. She is the cutest thing! Hehe...

The day I almost lost Baby

Baby lost her right eye last week. It happened so fast that I didn't even realise it until the maid told me. She has been reluctant to move these 2 weeks. She is now totally blind due to cataracts to both her eyes. I've read that cataracts aren't removable on dogs. If anyone knows otherwise, please let me know.

When I called out to her on Sunday morning, she wagged her tail and came out of hiding, banging her head and body against walls. And when I looked at her, I started crying because she seemed to be on her last legs. She hadn't been eating well because she couldn't find her food or water, I think. The maid told me that Baby had been falling into the drains and did not want to come out.

While I was weeping while patting Baby, Jimmy noticed that there were a lot of flies around her. When he bent down, he saw gaping holes at her neck area and they were bleeding. My first thought was that some dog must have bitten her. I called the vet but he was in surgery and his assistant told me to call again the next day.

Monday morning came and I was preparing myself for the worst. Baby is 13 years old this year, which is equivalent to 91 dog years. I don't want her to suffer. When I reached home, the maid complained that Baby was very grumpy because she couldn't see and she would snap at the maid whenever the maid tried to get her out of drains or under the car. But the maid had already bathed Baby and got her ready to go to the vet's. By this time, Baby's wound was dripping blood and she smelled of rotten meat.

The journey to the vet's was easy as Baby sat quietly and with my hand protectively on her head. She didn't seem to mind not being able to see at that time. When I reached the vet's, he took a look at her and asked if I had time to take care of an old dog like her because many more ailments are bound to come. As much as I prepared myself for the worst, I burst into tears.

I told the doctor to look at Baby's wound first and treat that before saying anything else. It turned out that Baby had a maggot infection. It started with a small scratch wound that attracted flies to lay eggs in it. The vet tried  to pull a maggot out to show me, but Baby whined in pain so he stopped. I had two options: put Baby to sleep or put her under anaesthesia so that the vet could treat the maggot infection with the risk that she might suffer a heart attack or never wake from the anesthesia.

I called my mother and she suggested that I put her down. Why let her suffer, she asked? I was crying uncontrollably by then. I really don't want her to suffer. Jimmy shouted at me for wanting to give up on Baby so easily. I wasn't giving up on her. I cared for her too much that I can't see her suffer in old age. The vet left me alone to think about it for about an hour. A second call from Jimmy made me realise that I really couldn't give up on her so easily. She came with me to the vet happily because she trusted me. She was sitting on the surgery table comfortably because she was leaning against me and because she knew I was there. How could I put her to sleep just because I think she was suffering? She surely didn't look as though she was suffering! Uncomfortable, yes. Unable to adapt because she is newly blind, yes. But she was not suffering.

I took the chance that she might suffer from a heart attack. It's God's will if she died on the surgery table. The doctor put her under anaesthesia and she suffered from spasms for about a minute. I thought I had lost her then. But, everything was well. After a 45 minute surgery, the 20 over maggots that were about 1cm each was taken out and the wound cleared.

(Googled for image)

Baby was knocked out for about 6 hours in total. When I left that night, she couldn't move her body yet but she was blinking and wagging her tail when I touched her. Thank God for Jimmy for talking me out of making the worst decision ever!

I know in my heart that there might come a day in the near future that I might have to make the decision again. But I'm grateful for the days, weeks and months that Baby still has with us.

Love is in the air

Wow...time truly flies. Before we know it, February is coming to an end. Everything seemed to have happened in a whirlwind after the Chinese New Year.

This Valentine's Day brought a surprise to me. Well, a day after the Valentine's to be exact. Jimmy actually took the initiative to take me to a romantic candle light dinner! He booked the place for 730 p.m. and after a day of strolling in Mid Valley, we went to the restaurant. Too many people booked or the person whom Jimmy called was irresponsible; no table was reserved for us. Luckily, we were early, so there were still tables for us.

After placing our order, we sat in the romantic ambience. We overheard the people at the next table saying that the service is very slow, which is fine by most of the lovebirds there. So, we sat and waited and waited. And waited. And waited. Jimmy was in a good mood because he was looking for information on his phone. I was getting more and more impatient. A couple who came later than us had already got all their food...stupid me thought that they had ordered only the main course while we had order set meal, so maybe that was the reason. We got our entree after half an hour of waiting. What finally got me angry was that the table next to us who came at least an hour after us got their main course before us. I mentioned it to the waiter and the waiter said that the food was on the way. Wow, does it take an hour for the restaurant to cook the food? By this time, Jimmy had come out of his trance and was angry too. The romantic mood was ruined.

Finally, we got our main course after twenty minutes. Jimmy had wanted to leave and I was so angry that I actually didn't touch the food even though I was hungry. And if you had noticed, I didn't mention about getting our appetizer.

After wolfing down the pitifully small main course in silence, because both of us were irritated, I told the waiter to serve our appetizer and dessert together. Yay...that finally got their attention. They've made a blunder with our order and they haven't served us our appetizer! The captain apologised and said that the dessert can be served in a short time.

The restaurant gave us 2 complimentary cakes to make up for their inefficient service. Too bad, that will be the first and the last time I'll ever go there. Since they have apologised, I will not bad-mouth the restaurant in this blog. Haha...but if anyone recommends a romantic restaurant in the Jalan Dewan Bahasa area, be prepared! We reached at 7, ordered at 725, got our entree at  8 plus, got our main course at 845, got our appetizer at around 920, finished our dessert at 940 or so, got our complimentary cakes at 945 and left the place at almost 10. Haha....Or maybe it's just my luck. :)

Candle light dinner

Flowers that Jimmy got for me in Cameron Highlands because roses are CHEAP there. HOPELESS!

My laptop still works!

Phew...it has been two months plus since my last post. And today, I finally sat in front of the laptop and turned it on. A lot of work has got to be done by tonight (after I update myself with the going-ons at Facebook, other people's blogs and finish reading my e-mail).

The past two months have been rather relaxed. Spending time with my family has been great, and I appreciate the time with my parents even more now. My grandmother who is 92 suffered from a mild stroke two months ago. It is sad to see a proud woman like her being treated like a toddler because she can no longer move around. Sigh...live the day as though there is no tomorrow. I need to spend as much time with my family as possible. That's my resolution.

Taking our parents out on a trip to Cameron Highlands. Major sponsors: sister and bro-in-law. My role? Menyibuk-ing. :P