Frisky the stray cat

After releasing Dharma, we walked near the shop @ our void deck and found Frisky. The shopkeeper Uncle said the medicine is not really helping as Frisky is still losing her fur but still eats a lot. Mum and Uncle said it may be old age. I gave Frisky a gentle pat and stroke before we went home.

Back home, whenever mum and I hear some mynah chirping, we wonder if it's Dharma calling out for us or food. Mum said Dharma may have flown off somewhere else.

Palm tree

Mum asked me to take a picture of the pretty palm tree fruits and flowers :)

Goodbye, Dharma

Last evening when I was out for tennis lesson (which was postponed in the end due to cloudy sky and drizzle, so my friends and I had dinner instead), Dharma made further flying attempts. It flew to the back of the TV in the living room and Dad was worried that it would get electrocuted with all the wires behind and managed to fish Dharma out. When my parents were having their dinner, Dharma flew onto Dad's lap and gave Dad a shock. After feeding Dharma around 8pm, my parents covered the top of Dharma's house, so that it couldn't fly out. I reach home before 11pm and Dharma quickly flew to my shoulder when I removed the cover. I fed it before I put it back to its house. I put Dharma and its house in my bedroom (as I had done since the day I brought it home). It somehow knew it was time to sleep and didn't make much noise.

This morning, I can sense the restlessness in Dharma when I put it and its house in the balcony. After I fed it for the last time, Dharma flew on top of my head. Mum and I decided to bring Dharma down to the small park just in front of our block. It was around 9am. I gently placed Dharma in a paper bag. Mum and I took the lift (we stay on the 11th floor) and at the park, we walked towards some nice looking trees. I opened the paper bag and Dharma flew to my shoulder. I placed it on my hand and it flew onto my head. I put Dharma on my pointer finger again and after looking around for a short while, it flew towards this tree a few metres away. Mum and I couldn't find it on any of the branches. Dharma must have realised that he is not only able to fly from the balcony to the other rooms or see the world from my shoulder or head but the sky is the limit.

We saw a smaller mynah flying with 2 other adult mynahs and wonder if that was Dharma flying with them. I feel a little sad but I'm glad that my baby prefers freedom to captivity. We hope Dharma could make new friends and survive well in the big world out there. Take care, Dharma!

Learning to fly

Dharma has gained more confidence in flying out of its house and perching on top of it. If I were to go near Dharma, it will jump onto my hand and fly to my shoulder. Twice, Dharma has flown from its house in the balcony to the top of my head and I was sitting about 2-3 metres away working on my laptop. Earlier when mum was vaccuuming the floor, Dharma got a scare and we think it vomited while flying into the kitchen because we saw spots of the food I hand fed it earlier and found him near the rubbish bin.

Mum said Dharma must have thought I'm its mum or recognise me or my voice because Dharma would just head for me instead of Mum or sis when practising its flights. My only worry is whether Dharma could survive in the world outside because it still can't eat or drink on its own and it is timid. Maybe tomorrow morning or on Sat, I shall bring Dharma down to the small park downstair and see how it reacts.

Dharma is starting to like perching on top of its house :)

Mum's banana butter cake

I am now enjoying a small piece of Mum's yummy banana butter cake. She baked it this morning as the small bananas which Dad bought a few days agoa were turning soft.

Time flies!

It's already the 3rd day of my 5-day mc. Dharma has showed off a bit of its flying ability a few times today. It half jumped and flew from my hand to my shoulder and chirped loudly in my ear. It was quite a funny experience and I was only worried that Dharma would poo on me as it has done so several times on my hands. haha. Just now, it flew and landed on top of its house. However, Dharma still wants to be hand fed and doesn't know or want to peck the food and swallow them down on its own.

This was the lunch mum and I had earlier. Mum prepared the ingredients and I only came in the later part to gently stir the ingredients when mum put in the cream of mushroom sauce and KFC's chilli sauce. I took this shoot of the pasta in frying pan before I scooped them into 2 plates :)

Does Dharma look more grown up?

Dharma has been eating more and also drinking more water. I have been occupying my time @ home feeding Dharma, playing with it.

The maggi instant porridge is so salty that after having that for lunch yesterday, I decided to eat normal food. Yesterday I ate a soft cheese bun for afternoon tea. Dinner was mum's fried rice (not oily or too salty). I just make sure I chew the food on my right side as my lower left gum is still swollen and there is a bit of bleeding at times.

This morning I had my usual 2 slices of bread with wheatgerm and pork floss and a cup of soy milk and half an orange. Lunch was mum's yummy porridge with mixed vegetable and diced chicken sausages. Tonight, mum is cooking teochew porridge with steamed fish and pork.

Transforming problems into wisdom

I attended a talk by Venerable Tenzin Palmo on the evening of 1 Jun 2005 at Bright Hill Temple. I took down the following salient points, most of which are relevant for all people regardless of religion:

• To focus on gaining happiness for ourself will result in suffering. To focus on gaining happiness for others will result in happiness forourselves.
• Learn to master our mind, open our heart and be ethical. Be aware that everyone other than ourselves wishes for happiness. We should treat others as we treat ourselves.
• Develop patience and compassion. It takes tremendous courage not to retaliate or wish to retaliate when the other party is angry or wishes us harm. We should see such situations as opportunities to purify our mind. Strong emotions such as anger, if conquered, will bring about wisdom. If we could see our emotions with clarity (their causes and effects), we could transform them into powerful positive energy.
• We can be anything we want. We don't have to label ourselves (eg. I'm such a loser). We should strive to use each day to benefit others and ourselves. Every moment and every person we interact with is an opportunity for us to purify our mind. Use negative events to develop the state of the mind.
• Renounce some of the habits that are of no use in our lives.
• Learn how to be present and deal with "now", rather than be trapped in the past or future. What is important at this moment is to make choices and give happiness to as many people as possible. Each of us has a responsibility to bring sanity to the unruly world and spread it to other people. We live inside our mind and are not the master of our mind and feelings. We must learn to master our mind and feelings, so that we can use our life to be brave, drop negativity and open our heart.
• If we can be the master of our mind, we will be the master of everything and nothing can touch us. Be kind and start to look inside our mind instead of being swept by our mind/feelings. True happiness comes from inside us when our mind is secure and we are secure.
• Wisdom is seeing things as they really are without judgement, without commentaries, likes/dislikes.
• We are lazy to change ourselves because we think we can't change and therefore we undercut our ability. We must be determined and strong and encourage ourselves.
• We can die anytime. Time is precious, so we shouldn't waste our lives. If I'm going to die, what is important? What can I do, so that I won't die with regrets? Live life in a way that benefits others and ourselves.
• Wealth is not the problem. It is the clinging to wealth that is the problem.
• Use your family and others around you to practise patience and compassion. At the beginning of the day, make the determination to live the dharma and benefit others. At the end of the day, assess, encourage ourselves, improve ourselves. Have the aspiration and try to make the right decision.

I think the parts in blue are very meaningful messages. It's very hard to implement some of them. It's normal for us to react in anger when someone hurts us. All of us are afraid of death. It sounds very altruistic and seems impossible to practise the above. However, I do feel good about myself and happy with Frisky and Dharma in my life. Mum has been pampering me by cooking some Maggi instant porridge and squeezing fresh orange juice after my wisdom tooth surgery today. I thanked her for mothering me and she said she treats me so because of how I have treated her. I tell myself I must try not to retaliate the next time my parents make me angry or say hurtful things because once I give in to anger and flare up @ them, it will only make things worse and not better. It's hard to do but I will try.

Another point made in the talk is that no amount of material goods like clothes and shoes is going to make us happy forever. This is something we all know but we like to pamper ourselves sometimes. I shall try to remember to spend my money more meaningfully the next time I go shopping. I have not bought anything from the Great Singapore Sale, so maybe this is a good start :)

Wisdom teeth

This morning @ 9am, I had my upper left wisdom tooth extracted normally. My lower left wisdom tooth which was near the nerve was considered a risky case, so the dentist got her specialist husband to do the surgery. A bit unnerving initially because I have always disliked visits to the dentist. My teeth and gum would feel sensitive after all the polishing. However, the couple were professional and nice and they worked together to drill and pull out the stubborn parts of my lower tooth. My left cheek swelled a little when I left the clinic and also $660 poorer.

I was a bit worried that I will fall into the 1% of people who would have the nerve affected after such surgery and lose any feeling on my left cheek, lips. Luckily everything seems normal, with only a bit of bleeding. My left gums and cheek feel only a bit sore and it's not as painful as I thought it will be. However, I keep craving for food that I don't think I should eat. Like potato chips and some sinful cake. Hee. Now I can understand why my cousin rushed to eat his favorite McDonald meal when he recovered from the removal of 4 wisdom teeth.

Dharma looks a little more grown up today but it is still like a baby and wants us to stroke it or it will want to cuddle close to our hands or body when we let it out for a while.

Dharma sleeping in a funny position :)

Dharma with a wide-eyed look :)

A baby in the house

Dharma would chirp loudly for food and attention every hour or when we walk near it.

It is so adorable. Now it can spread open its wings to balance and walks on its "feet" and sits comfortably. on its own on the wooden stick. Perhaps it will learn to fly soon. Our worry is she may do so at night when we are sleeping and may disturb the neighbouring hamsters. We would have to put a plaster cover with many holes on it as a precaution.

I bought a Hobo shampoo for cats and kitten from Pet Lovers @ Junction 8 this morning and passed it to the shopkeeper auntie and asked her to use it instead of dettol on Frisky.

Dharma

Last night I bought some unpolished rice powder, Kaytee's hand feeding formula and Heinz for Baby Fruity Pear, so that we could feed Blackie with these and other fruits and concoction. I saw Frisky and stroked her a while before asking the shopkeeper Uncle if they bath Frisky and use Dettol. He said they do and thinks Dettol is safe. I told him I would buy a cat shampoo, so that they could use it for Frisky.

This morning we fed Blackie with Kaytee formula mixed with Mum's concoction of cooked minced pork and egg white and rice before we gave Blackie a shower and dried its feathers with towel and hair dryer. Sis thinks Blackie as a name doesn't sound nice. We want a name suitable for both sexes, so in the end, I decided on Dharma. It seems Dharma has many meanings according to http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=dharma and I saw in another website, it simply explains dharma as protection. I associate this name from the comedy "Dharma & Greg" and a name of my sis' friend (a guy).

Dharma looked so fluffed up and good looking beside sis' knee :)

Dharma was sitting on my palm with its legs on my foot. It went on to prune its feather and actually fell asleep.



Mum actually sawed off a small part of a bamboo stick to fit into Dharma's house. Isn't she great? I kept telling her she's my idol :)

Dharma looked so comfortable in the renovated house :) It has become used to us and would chirp/scream for us almost every hour when it wants to be fed or just some warm hands to cuddle it.

I took some pictures of Ebon resting inside his toilet too. He still looks so adorable with his bald patches :)

Blackie

I was so clumsy yesterday. First when I was getting into the cab with my friends from our office to Kallang Tennis Centre, I dropped the box with Mynah in it as the raffia string wasn't tied securely. My friend asked if Mynah had died from shock when we settled in the cab. Luckily, it was a little stunned when I quickly opened up the cover and stroked it. When we were learning tennis, I was quite lousy at hitting the balls with my racket (bad ball sense) and somehow, my ball hit Mynah's box. It looked alright when I checked but must have gotten a shock on the impact of the ball. I felt kind of bad but was glad that I didn't kill Mynah.

After tennis ended @ 9am, we had dinner @ mountbatten hawker centre till 10.30pm. We were catching up with a friend about her new job. I bought a piece of payaya and tried to hand feed Mynah while the rest were talking but it didn't want that.

When I reached home around 11.30pm, sis and mum were still awake when we went home. I held Mynah and it was quite a nice feeling when her feet were griping my fingers and I supported her body while mum gently pried open her beak and forced feed her the mashed up oatmeal and cooked rice and warm water concoction that I prepared. Mynah swallowed them. Mum called Mynah Blackie :), so Blackie it will be. This was Blackie after supper.

We prepared a red basin lined with newspapers, newspaper strips and some hamster hay/grass and it looked like a huge nest.I put Blackie and basin under my bed and it must be feeling quite comfortable and safe that it tucked her head on her back between its wings I slept @ 1.30am and occasionally, I could hear it chirping softly and flapping its wings.

This morning before I left home, she was making noises and opening her mouth wide, indicating she was hungry. Sis whistled and it seemed to be answering back. Too bad I can't whistle. I held her again while mum fed her and Blackie would push its head to force the dropper into her throat. Just like what we see in documentary where the mother's beak will be deep inside the baby's throat when feeding. Mum and sis said Blackie is so adorable. I know Mum likes Blackie even though she said I give her additional work to do. This weekend I will be @ home except for buddhism class on Sun morning. At least for next week, I will be on 5 day's MC for wisdom tooth and could take care of Blackie too. Hope I won't be in too much pain or discomfort.

I called mum a while ago and she said she just fed Blackie with some cooked minced pork and egg white because it was calling out for food again and opening its beak real wide. Blackie was very alert and kept looking around and @ mum when she peeps @ it. I find the scene funny just imagining it :)I must find out how to sex Blackie.

I have not seen Frisky yesterday and this morning. I shall ask Uncle about her after work today.

Starting off my day

I have been eating this breakfast set I prepared myself yesterday and the day before. I would normally spread 2 slices of bread with margarine and heavily sprinkle it with toasted wheatgerm. We started buying the wheatgerm (high in folic acid) for our robosrovski hamster who gave birth to a number of babies and later wheatgerm became part of all our hamsters' diet and my breakfast too :) Parents just bought some pork floss so I added to my bread too. Mum also made her special dessert - barley, beancurd skin, ginko nuts, peanuts. It's yummy and not too sweet. I also had a handful of blueberries (which was on sale @ $3plus @ Fairplus supermarket).

This morning, I ate my bread with wheatgerm and porkfloss plus a cup of soya bean and a small apple. I tried to feed Mynah with mashed apple with soya bean milk but it rejected my attempts. I also can't start my day without reading the Straits Times. Hee.

Mynah

My friend called me this morning when I was still waiting for my bus to go to work. She found a young mynah lying on the ground near our office building. When I reached office, we managed to catch hold of the mynah and placed it in a small box. People must be wondering why 2 young ladies were on their knees groping for something in the bushes.

We weren't sure if Mynah has broken wings or legs. I called SPCA and the lady said it would be a great help if we could bring the mynah down to SPCA. We tried to feed it honeyed water but it only sipped a bit from the stirrer. Initially I used disposable gloves to hold the mynah but after a while I just use my bare hands. It is nice to feel a warm body with my hands than through a plastic barrier.

My colleague said I should join some animal rescue unit. Haha. Another friend said she wishes such things are viable in Singapore because most probably we can't survive ourselves.

During lunch time, 3 colleagues and I brought Mynah to SPCA and Deidre Moss was there and told us to be prepared that Mynah will most likely be put down if vet assessed she has broken limbs. We were lucky that the vet was in and we were there when the vet examined Mynah. No broken wings or legs. The vet deduced that Mynah has fallen out of the nest when she has not grown all her feathers (some still quite fluffy) and not able to fly. Our option will be to care for us until she can fly. We decided to bring Mynah back with us as SPCA would still put her down as there is no one to take care of her or any facility to house her. Deidre wished us good luck in taking care of Mynah and encouraged us to join SPCA. She said membership fee is going to increase soon and SPCA needs such young people like us to help out.

We went to Novena Square for quick lunch and also visited Pets Kampong. There is no bird cage, so we bought some small bird seeds. I doubt Mynah can eat it yet. I shall bring Mynah in the cupboard box with me to tennis lesson and home later. Next Mon I will be going for my wisdom tooth surgery and will be on 5 days' MC and could take care of her @ home.

I called home to tell my mum or dad, so that they would be mentally prepared. Dad was the one to pick up my call and his response was like "What! Another animal!" Hahaha. But after a while, he calmed down and I thought I could feel his smile on the other side of the line.

Now Mynah seems to have calmed down. We tore up small strips of newspaper and lined them around Mynah so that it is like a nest and helps to keep it warm. I forgot to ask the vet about its sex. My friend said we could name it Honey :) Anyway, I just talked to mum and she seemed alright about me bringing Mynah home and said we should release it when it can fly.

Dettol is harmful for Frisky

Me: Parents and shopkeeper uncle think that there is no point bringing Frisky to the vet again since she is still eating well and it may cost some more money for skin biopsy. I'm also not sure if i will bring her to Dr Ling 2 weeks later. If not, I will just sayang her everytime I see her.
Friend: I can understand if you are not up to the biopsy, because it will be very costly and the improvement may not be great. As in, after treating her, because she is a stray she will get ill again easily. I think if you really want to treat her, you also might want to consider bringing her home to be your cat to be tenderly looked after by yourself. But of course, easier said than done lah.
Me: Yeah, parents will not be able to accept a cat @ home (Afterthought: 5 hamsters @ home too) and I'm also not home most of the time to take care of her. By the way, is it alright to use water with a little dettol to bathe the cat? Because I think that's what the shopkeeper's wife used to bath Frisky with.
Friend: I do not think dettol is a good idea, it will make her lose fur! Instead, get a shampoo especially for cats. It's not expensive so more worthwhile investment than dettol for frisky.
Me: Okie, I will check with uncle whether they bath her regularly and what they use. If they bath her regularly, I could buy cat shampoo and pass to them. If not, I may have to consider bathing Frisky myself :)
Friend: I think there was once I bathed my rabbit with a bit of dettol and he lost his fur. After that it was no more dettol!

Lesson learnt: Dettol is for human's use and not suitable for animals! We also use shampoo especially for hamsters when we need to clean my hamsters too.

Talking about dogs and cats

I earlier received an email from ASD. A lady who adopted a stray dog 2 months ago and got her neighbour to care for it, is returning the dog to SPCA because the dog is not allowed in a HDB flat. She is appealing through ASD for fosterers or adopters as the dog would be put down by SPCA 3 days later if there are no takers. ASD has proposed to let the dog stay @ a boarding facility instead of SPCA or request HDB for a few weeks' grace period to rehome the dog.

I forwarded to 2 friends and this is how the email conversation between me and a friend went:
Friend: It is very sad but though I never scold anyone for keeping a big dog in a flat, I have to warn them and they have to understand the consequences. Even for my cat, we have been living in fear every day. What to do? Irresponsible people cause laws to be passed on responsible people. Tell me it isn't so.
Me: Yeah, I agree. I think it's ridiculous that cats can't be kept in hdb flat. Is there a good reason?
Friend: Because people (u know who lah) let their cats roam around and these cats go and scratch cars, mate with other cats, cause noise pollution, scratch people, beg, urinate and poop on their neighbours porches.
Me: I don't think anybody in my block or nearby blocks has cats. Think we only have stray cats. i have never heard of anyone complained about their cars being scratched by cats.
Friend: You know, somehow there are very few cat lovers in Singapore although in the states it's the number one pet.
Me: Yeah, I already know some friends who can't stand the sight of cats. Most people think dogs make the best pet. I think cats are nice too :)

The end of eating spree?

Yesterday was our director last day with us. He is now the HOD of a department in our statutory board. In my 5 years here, he has given me guidance in my work and has helped me to look at issues from various perspectives. We have all learned a lot from him and I bet some of us have already missed him today.

One of our colleagues bought a chocolate cake from Goodwood Park that tastes similar to Ferraro Roche and we had a small farewell party yesterday late afternoon. We chatted for a while before our director made his round of saying goodbyes to other people and we returned to our work.

Yesterday evening was also the time for my 4 friends (ex-colleagues, lunchmates and colleague) to give me a belated birthday treat @ Thanying Restaurant @ Amara Hotel. One of our friends, J just went for a new Q-wave lasik operation @ Camden Medical Centre. Her power is about 1,300 degrees per eye and she did her right eye first. After hearing about her experience, I was unsure whether I would go for one too. Firstly, I'm not sure if I could control my eye muscle for 15 to 30 sec to focus ahead and not be distracted by green moving light and the thought of having my cornea slices is a little creepy. Anyway, one would have to go for a pre-op assessment to see if the cornea is thick enough, etc and whether the candidate is pyschologically ready.

Back to yesterday's dinner :) We had seafood tomyam soup (mild), chick green curry, deep fried garoupa with sauce, morning glory (aka spicy kallang), egg omelette with crabmeat, belachan rice and plain rice. With the exception of the egg dish, the rest of the dishes were yummy. I don't know how much the whole meal cost, since it was a treat but I think it's reasonable.

J was also describing to us a nice lunch buffet she had @ The Line @ Shangrila Hotel recently. It was a treat by her director and cost more than $40 but it was worth it with fresh sashimi, pasta dishes, desserts, chocolate fountain to dip in your marshmallows or strawberries and you can insert bits of gummies or cookie into ice cream by doing so on a cold slab of ice or marble. It sounds so yummy that all of us were thinking of visiting that place soon!

J, P and I wanted to proceed to Spinelli @ Amara Shopping Centre for drinks/desserts but it was already closed @ 8.30pm. We then went to Element Restaurant/Cafe @ Amara Hotel. J and I were torn between getting a $8 dessert buffet or just sharing 2 pieces of cakes ($3.50). In the end, I persuaded J that we should just skip the buffet as we just had a heavy dinner. We ordered a chocolate truffle cake and an American cheesecake to share among 3 of us. The truffle was good. The cheesecake was normal and not as good as the waitress claimed to be. I had camomile tea, P hot chocolate and J a decaf coffee.

It was nice to catch up with my friends. Nice food always adds a nice touch. After talking to J, I feel a little inspired again to learn something - either pick up my piano again or learn a new musical instrument :)