What the Modern Woman Wants

This excellent essay is from a 15 year old Singaporean girl who wrote the essay for the Commonwealth Essay Competition. Chief examiner Charles Kemp called her piece a 'powerfully moving and ironical critique of modern restlessness and its potentially cruel consequences'.The writing is fluent and assured, with excellent use of dialogue.

What the Modern Woman Wants
By Amanda Chong Wei-Zhen

The old woman sat in the backseat of the magenta convertible as it careened down the highway, clutching tightly to the plastic bag on her lap, afraid it may be kidnapped by the wind. She was not used to such speed, with trembling hands she pulled the seatbelt tighter but was careful not to touch the patent leather seats with her callused fingers, her daughter had warned her not to dirty it, 'Fingerprints show very clearly on white, Ma.'

Her daughter, Bee Choo, was driving and talking on her sleek silver mobile phone using big words the old woman could barely understand. 'Finance' 'Liquidation' 'Assets' 'Investments'... Her voice was crisp and important and had an unfamiliar lilt to it. Her Bee Choo sounded like one of those foreign girls on television. She was speaking in an American accent.

The old lady clucked her tongue in disapproval. 'I absolutely cannot have this. We have to sell!' Her daughter exclaimed agitatedly as she stepped on the accelerator; her perfectly manicured fingernails gripping onto the steering wheel in irritation.

'I can't DEAL with this anymore!' she yelled as she clicked the phone shut and hurled it angrily toward the backseat. The mobile phone hit the old woman on the forehead and nestled soundlessly into her lap. She calmly picked it up and handed it to her daughter.

'Sorry, Ma,' she said, losing the American pretence and switching to Mandarin. 'I have a big client in America. There have been a lot of problems.' The old lady nodded knowingly. Her daughter was big and important.

Bee Choo stared at her mother from the rear view window, wondering what she was thinking. Her mother's wrinkled countenance always carried the same cryptic look.

The phone began to ring again, an artificially cheerful digital tune, which broke the awkward silence. 'Hello, Beatrice! Yes, this is Elaine.' Elaine. The old woman cringed. I didn't name her Elaine. She remembered her daughter telling her, how an English name was very important for 'networking', Chinese ones being easily forgotten.

'Oh no, I can't see you for lunch today. I have to take the ancient relic to the temple for her weird daily prayer ritual.'

Ancient Relic. The old woman understood perfectly it was referring to her. Her daughter always assumed that her mother's silence meant she did not comprehend.

'Yes, I know! My car seats will be reeking of joss sticks!' The old woman pursed her lips tightly, her hands gripping her plastic bag in defence. The car curved smoothly into the temple courtyard. It looked almost garish next to the dull sheen of the ageing temple's roof. The old woman got out of the back seat, and made her unhurried way to the main hall.

Her daughter stepped out of the car in her business suit and stilettos and reapplied her lipstick as she made her brisk way to her mother's side.

'Ma, I'll wait outside. I have an important phone call to make,' she said, not bothering to hide her disgust at the pungent fumes of incense.

The old lady hobbled into the temple hall and lit a joss stick, she knelt down solemnly and whispered her now familiar daily prayer to the Gods.

Thank you God of the Sky, you have given my daughter luck all these years. Everything I prayed for, you have given her. She has everything a young woman in this world could possibly want. She has a big house with a swimming pool, a maid to help her, as she is too clumsy to sew or cook.

Her love life has been blessed; she is engaged to a rich and handsome angmoh man. Her company is now the top financial firm and even men listen to what she says. She lives the perfect life. You have given her everything except happiness. I ask that the gods be merciful to her even if she has lost her roots while reaping the harvest of success.

What you see is not true, she is a filial daughter to me. She gives me a room in her big house and provides well for me. She is rude to me only because I affect her happiness. A young woman does not want to be hindered by her old mother. It is my fault.

The old lady prayed so hard that tears welled up in her eyes. Finally, with her head bowed in reverence she planted the half-burnt joss stick into an urn of smouldering ashes.

She bowed once more. The old woman had been praying for her daughter for thirty-two years. When her stomach was round like a melon, she came to the temple and prayed that it was a son.

Then the time was ripe and the baby slipped out of her womb, bawling and adorable with fat thighs and pink cheeks, but unmistakably, a girl. Her husband had kicked and punched her for producing a useless baby who could not work or carry the family name.

Still, the woman returned to the temple with her new-born girl tied to her waist in a sarong and prayed that her daughter would grow up and have everything she ever wanted. Her husband left her and she prayed that her daughter would never have to depend on a man.

She prayed every day that her daughter would be a great woman, the woman that she, meek and uneducated, could never become. A woman with "neng kan"; the ability to do anything she set her mind to. A woman who commanded respect in the hearts of men. When she opened her mouth to speak, precious pearls would fall out and men would listen.

She will not be like me, the woman prayed as she watched her daughter grow up and drift away from her, speaking a language she scarcely understood. She watched her daughter transform from a quiet girl, to one who openly defied her, calling her "lao tu"; old-fashioned. She wanted her mother to be 'modern', a word so new there was no Chinese word for it.

Now her daughter was too clever for her and the old woman wondered why she had prayed like that. The gods had been faithful to her persistent prayer, but the wealth and success that poured forth so richly had buried the girl's roots and now she stood, faceless, with no identity, bound to the soil of her ancestors by only a string of origami banknotes.

Her daughter had forgotten her mother's values. Her wants were so ephemeral; that of a modern woman. Power, Wealth, access to the best fashion boutiques, and yet her daughter had not found true happiness. The old woman knew that you could find happiness with much less. When her daughter left the earth everything she had would count for nothing. People would look to her legacy and say that she was a great woman, but she would be forgotten once the wind blows over, like the ashes of burnt paper convertibles and mansions.

The old woman wished she could go back and erase all her big hopes and prayers for her daughter; now she had only one want: That her daughter be happy. She looked out of the temple gate. She saw her daughter speaking on the phone, her brow furrowed with anger and worry. Being at the top is not good, the woman thought, there is only one way to go from there - down.

The old woman carefully unfolded the plastic bag and spread out a packet of beehoon in front of the altar. Her daughter often mocked her for worshipping porcelain Gods. How could she pray to them so faithfully and expect pieces of ceramic to fly to her aid? But her daughter had her own gods too, idols of wealth, success and power that she was enslaved to and worshipped every day of her life.

Every day was a quest for the idols, and the idols she worshipped counted for nothing in eternity. All the wants her daughter had would slowly suck the life out of her and leave her, an empty soulless shell at the altar.

The old lady watched her joss stick. The dull heat had left a teetering grey stem that was on the danger of collapsing. Modern woman nowadays, the old lady sighed in resignation, as she bowed to the east one final time to end her ritual. Modern woman nowadays want so much that they lose their souls and wonder why they cannot find it.

Her joss stick disintegrated into a soft grey powder. She met her daughter outside the temple, the same look of worry and frustration was etched on her daughter's face. An empty expression, as if she was ploughing through the soil of her wants looking for the one thing that would sow the seeds of happiness.

They climbed into the convertible in silence and her daughter drove along the highway, this time not as fast as she had done before.

'Ma,' Bee Choo finally said. 'I don't know how to put this. Mark and I have been talking about it and we plan to move out of the big house. The property market is good now, and we managed to get a buyer willing to pay seven million for it. We decided we'd prefer a cosier penthouse apartment instead. We found a perfect one in Orchard Road. Once we move in to our apartment we plan to get rid of the maid, so we can have more space to ourselves...'

The old woman nodded knowingly. Bee Choo swallowed hard. 'We'd get someone to come in to do the housework and we can eat out - but once the maid is gone, there won't be anyone to look after you. You will be awfully lonely at home and, besides that, the apartment is rather small. There won't be space. We thought about it for a long time, and we decided the best thing for you is if you moved to a Home. There's one near Hougang - it's a Christian home, a very nice one.'

The old woman did not raise an eyebrow. 'I've been there, the matron is willing to take you in. It's beautiful with gardens and lots of old people to keep you company! I hardly have time for you, you'd be happier there.'

'You'd be happier there, really.' Her daughter repeated as if to affirm herself. This time the old woman had no plastic bag of food offerings to cling tightly to; she bit her lip and fastened her seat belt, as if it would protect her from a daughter who did not want her anymore. She sunk deep into the leather seat, letting her shoulders sag, and her fingers trace the white seat.

'Ma?' her daughter asked, searching the rear view window for her mother. 'Is everything okay?'

What had to be done, had to be done. 'Yes,' she said firmly, louder than she intended, 'if it will make you happy,' she added more quietly.

'It's for you, Ma! You'll be happier there. You can move there tomorrow, I already got the maid to pack your things.' Elaine said triumphantly, mentally ticking yet another item off her agenda.

'I knew everything would be fine.'

Elaine smiled widely; she felt liberated. Perhaps getting rid of her mother would make her happier. She had thought about it. It seemed the only hindrance in her pursuit of happiness. She was happy now. She had everything a modern woman ever wanted; Money, Status, Career, Love,Power and now, Freedom, without her mother and her old-fashioned ways to weigh her down...

Yes, she was free. Her phone buzzed urgently, she picked it up and read the message, still beaming from ear to ear. 'Stocks 10% increase!'

Yes, things were definitely beginning to look up for her... And while searching for the meaning of life in the luminance of her hand phone screen, the old woman in the backseat became invisible, and she did not see the tears.

Weekend At Malacca – Saturday Part 1

Last Saturday (27th October 2007), I went to Malacca with my 2 nieces (Ade and Eve) to visit their sister, who is working there. Ange is currently renting a house and will be moving soon to rent a room with her colleague, so before she does that, we decided to make a trip down because in future, it would be difficult for us to stay at her place.

We departed from KL around 11:30am after a breakfast of Pan Mee near my place. Then we went back to my house for a washroom visit before departing on the journey. Ade said she will NOT stop for any wee wee breaks on the way until we reach Malacca !

We reached Ange’s house around 1:30pm in the afternoon, and unloaded all our stuff from the car. Ade then parked her car at the porch, because we’d be travelling around in Ange’s car instead. Ange was hustling us out of the house because she was HUNGRY ! Boy, was she in a foul mood. We had a lot of “cat mee” from her that day and the next ! Hahaha…. So out we went in search of food.

Our first stop was for Taiwan Pork Ribs noodles. We ordered Beef Noodles, Pork Chop noodles and Pork Ribs noodles. The pork noodles were ok, but the beef noodles was tasty. However, the pork ribs and pork chops are very fresh because they are fried only when ordered. They have a branch in PJ as well, so we may be visiting there soon.

Beef noodles

Pork chop noodles

Frying the pork ribs and pork chops

We told Ange that we wanted to have ikan bakar for dinner, followed by a trip to Malacca Zoo for night safari, then back to town for satay celup. But she REFUSED our request for Malacca Zoo night safari, saying that it was far, and that it could not be better than Singapore Zooe’s night safari. Ade also wanted to visit the Crocodile Farm, which was also banned by Ange. Sigh…

After the late lunch, we stopped at Tan Kim Hock where I bought some snacks and durian cake for mom and my colleagues. After that, we went to Jonkers’ Street to jalan-jalan and also to have dessert. We went to the Jonkers’ Street Dessert and ordered 2 bowls of cendol and 2 bowls of ABC. Deeeeeelicious ! I also bought a cute little carry case there.

Around 4:00pm, we left Jonker Street and went to Mahkota Parade. We needed a nice cool place to shop around while waiting for dinner time. 1st thing we did was a pit-stop at the ladies. Then Ange said she wanted to go to MPH to look for a book. In the end, she bought a Cleo magazine and I bought 2 books ! Sigh….. bookshops are my bane !

We went to Parkson for a while, then decided to have some snacks before dinner, so to McDonalds we went. Ade ordered 2 sundae cones, 6 pieces nuggets and 1 large coke for all of us to share. After that we walked around Mahkota Parade for a bit longer before leaving for dinner.

Weekend At Malacca – Saturday Part 2

Ange said she will take us to a place near a river for our seafood dinner. Her Malacca friends took her there once, and she found the seafood fresh, tasty and affordable. The restaurant is actually beside Sg. Duyung, although I seriously doubt that any duyung (dolphin) can survive in the murky brown water !


We ordered a jug of teh limau ais at the recommendation of the waiter, who said that the coconut water on that day doesn’t taste so good. Then Ange and Ade went to choose their seafood.

They ordered cockles, fried large prawns, razor clams fried with ginger and siakap fish cooked the “Heaven & Hell” way, meaning ½ grilled with sambal, the other ½ steamed in banana leaves. I also took a packet of their nasi lemak (it was very small) to try the sambal cili and to share with my nieces.

The fish, cockles and prawns were yummy and fresh. But the razor clams, I think Chinese’s way of cooking taste much better. The cockles and fish goes very well with their cili. We also ordered a piece of otak-otak each. All of these washed down with the teh ais limau. *Buuurrrpppp* *satisfied look*

My only advice is that if you do go there, make sure to carry with you either Tiger Balm or Mopiko or any mosquito repellent. While you make a meal out of the seafood, they make a meal out of you !

Weekend At Malacca – Saturday Part 3

Our night is not over yet. We still wanted to go to Malacca Zoo for night safari but our dictator tour guide Ange refuse to go. She said if we wanted to go, she can drive us home, then we can take her car and go. Sigh….. What a tyrant. Hehehe

So she took us back to Jonker Street, where she said there is a night market on Saturday, but we told her we don’t want to go pasar malam. KL also have mah … hehehe. So we went to Tesco Malacca because she needed to buy some drinking water. We walked about in Tesco and aside from the water, we also bought Shandy, Famous Amos and a packet of Mamee Funkees.

Then she remembered that there is a nice putu piring which she liked. The putu piring is made by a Chinese Apek and his wife, and it was really tasty, with lots of coconut shreds inside. Probably the taste was enhanced by the nice gula melaka. We had a piece each.

Because we wanted to try satay celup, we found ourselves outside Capitol Satay, queing for our seats at 10:00pm. There were lots of people and while waiting, we saw a table outside with about 5-6 person. They asked for the bill, and when the girl came to calculate, she had a whole bunch of sticks in her hand ! There must have been about 70-80 sticks in there.

We waited for about 30 minutes before we got a table. Ange, Ade and Eve went to choose what to eat while I waited for the table to be cleared. For our satay celup, we had a mixture of sotong, meat balls, kangkung, prawns, foo chuk, etc.


We then ordered 3 coconuts and a can of 100 plus.

Firstly, they put a “pail” of satay sauce in the middle of the table. Then after a while, a girl came with 2 huge scoops of nuts and proceeded to mix them into the satay sauce. When the sauce began to boil, we started to put in the sticks.



Truth be told, the satay sauce has mixture of spices in them, which I don’t really fancy, but I don’t mind eating. I may visit again in the future, just for fun but it will not be in my “Must Have” list. However, both Ade and Eve didn’t like it. After the satay celup, we decided to call it the day and went back home to shower and sleep. Our makan spree is to continue the following day.

Weekend trip to Malacca

Just came back from Malacca today after a weekend there. I went to Malacca with my nieces and stayed with my eldest niece, who is working there. We reached Malacca on Saturday around 2pm, and from then onwards, it was a makan spree !

Yep, we ate from afternoon till supper , then began again today from afternoon onwards until dinner. No breakfast coz we all woke up around 10:30am, so jumped straight to lunch. Basically, these were our eating itinerary :

27th October 2007
* Beef noodles and pork ribs noodles
* Cendol and ABC at Jonker Street
* McDonalds sundae and nuggets
* Seafood dinner with nasi lemak at Sg. Duyung
* Putu piring
* Satay celup

28th October 2007
* Nyonya food
* Sabah, Pahang, Kelantan & Perak coffee with Malteses cheesecake
* Birds' nest drinks
* Pork organs soup with fried mee sua noodles, rojak buah, fried oysters, char kuey teow and satay

I have the photos of the food taken, will blog and show them later.

My Leng Chai Is BACK !

Yes ! Yes ! Yes ! My leng chai is back with me now ! Although he cost me RM115.67, it was worth it. Many told me to just change him, but I can't ! I won't ! Not my leng chai !

Hehehehe......... We'll be going to Malacca for the weekend, and he shall help me to take many beauuuuutiful photos... YES !

O.... for the uninitiated, my leng chai is my Sony Ericsson K750i..... haha.

Popeye Is Back Home !

Yep, my Popeye is back home on Sunday. It was raining cats and dogs (no pun intended !) when he arrived in the van. He was so excited that his tail was wagging non-stop the whole time, but there was no time to greet and pat him.

Mom quickly sent him back to the kennel and returned the leash to the driver. However, Popeye was not letting us off the hook so easily. He was howling loudly, probably shouting as to why we didn't go and see him, and let him sniff at us.

So I had to go out to the kennels, to see him, pat his head, etc etc. And he didn't stop howling until mom did the same. Talk about being pampered ! I pop my head next door to see how Gable was doing, and guess what, he must have thought he saw a ghost !

He was sitting in the furthest corner of the kennel, and he was shivering ! Hahahaha..... what a stupid dog ! The more Popeye howled, the more he shivered !

For the past few days, Popeye has started scratching himself again, and at certain places, the skin is turning red again. Mom just gave him a bath again yesterday. Just don't understand why is it that when he was at the vet he can actually get so much better, but back home he scratches so much again. Sigh.....

Hopefully this time round with more baths, he'll get better and better. And I think Gable's getting jealous of all the attention Popeye is getting, coz when he is let out, at times he will just stand in front of Popeye's kennel and bark at him. Naughty leh.....

Right or Left ?

The Right Brain vs Left Brain test ...

Do you see the dancer turning clockwise or anti-clockwise? (click on it to see)

If clockwise, then you use more of the right side of the brain and vice versa. Most of us would see the dancer turning anti-clockwise though you can try to focus and change the direction; see if you can do it.

LEFT BRAIN FUNCTIONS
uses logic
detail oriented
facts rule
words and language
present and past
math and science
can comprehend
knowing
acknowledges
order/pattern perception
knows object name
reality based
forms strategies
practical
safe

RIGHT BRAIN FUNCTIONS
uses feeling
"big picture" oriented
imagination rules
symbols and images
present and future
philosophy & religion
can "get it" (i.e. meaning)
believes
appreciates
spatial perception
knows object function
fantasy based
presents possibilities
impetuous
risk taking

Source : http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,22556281-661,00.html

Poor ole Fungeline

Today we went to Chili's for dinner
But clearly we made a grave error
Their service was in total disorder
And they even missed out an order

Although the food was quite tasty without a doubt
Refilling drinks was another matter
We had to wave hands around and call out
For us to catch the attention of the waiter

Poor old Angeline said she became Fungeline
(She said it’s Fungus & Angeline)
She wanted to enjoy the Chocolate Molten Cake
But all it did was gave her a heart ache

First they told her the kitchen had no power
So the dessert cannot be delivered
Then the power came back and the crises was over
But her Chocolate Molten Cake was still not served

Half an hour later the dessert was delivered to our table
But spoons were nowhere to be found
Fungeline stuck out her tongue, mimicking Gable
She wanted to eat it like a hound

Luckily spoons were finally found for us
So she got to enjoy it properly
She filled up the feedback card with gust
Hopefully their service will improve greatly

Tis Not A Good Month

1. Popeye got sick
2. Bluetooth sent for repairs
3. Mobile phone camera not working
4. Almost became jobless
5. I got food poisoning

Sigh................................... Must subscribe to Law Of Attraction

EVERYTHING SHALL BECOME WELL AGAIN

Sore Petpet

I am down with food poisoning ! Dunno what I ate yesterday that gave me this problem, but boy, it was hard to bear ! My tummy started felling bloated yesterday around 9pm, and I thought it was because I overate, so I told mom to let me lie quietly in bed.

It was a restless night, and by 4am this morning, I had my first visit to the loo. Basically I had diarrhea and it was all "watery". Before I went to see the doctor at 9am in the morning, I had already visited the loo 4 times ! Not only that, I was also having a fever and was feeling nauseous.

The doctor confirms it is food poisoning and said that there was a lot of "wind" in my stomach. He said I should eat either toast bread, meehoon soup or porridge only. No tea, no coffee, no milo, no chillies, no fried stuff. But I am to drink 1.5l of 100 plus today and tomorrow. He also gave me a whole bunch of medicine to take. Almost fainted when I saw the pills !

So I went home, and my breakfast was basically 1/2 a piece of toast bread. Yeah, unbelievable. After that I went to sleep for a while, coz I was too tired. By noon, mom woke me up again and asked me to take some porridge. I took about 1/2 a bowl of porridge. How big was the bowl ? The normal rice bowl. Torture time came for me to take the pills. I took about 1 hour to down all the pills, then went to sleep.

I always wondered whether patients are being deliberately tortured to take pills that are sooooo big. Why can't pills be made into stronger but smaller sizes ? Or have some nice flavours like orange, lime, bacon, chicken, etc instead of being only bitter ? At least then when you're sick and have to take pills, you will enjoy them.

Anyway, I slept until about 8pm, then woke up and had another bowl of porridge. Yep, full rice bowl this time. But it was a bit too much, and I had some leftovers. Again, I had to slowly pace myself while taking the pills. Yes, took me another hour.

I was still purging, and all in all, today I visited the loo 9 times. Now, my tummy already feels like its building up, and I think in another 1/2 hour, I'd have to visit it again. All these visits are making my petpet sore !

The doctor gave me 2 days MC, so hopefully I shall be much better tomorrow, and be more cheerful.

Awoooooooo !!!!!

Today we went to see Popeye at the vet. As the helper took us into the room where Popeye was kept, facing the entrance was a black Doberman. Wah, he really looked smart ! Then I was taken aback because a German Shephard was looking at us as though she wanted to eat us, and was barking. The helper said "Michelle ! No !" and it really stopped. Although it no longer barked at us, it was still looking at us with distrust.

Then I saw Popeye in his cage. Opposite him was a lovely Golden Retriever. No wonder sis said he was the ugliest dog there ! Hahaha. He was laying quietly in the cage, that is, until he saw us. He quickly got up and started barking and whining at us !

He was soooooooooooooooooooooo very excited, wagging his tail non-stop. And he use his paws to grab my hand into the cage so that he can smell at it, gnaw at it and push his head against my palm. He went "AAAAAWWOOOOOOOOOOOOO, OUUUUUUUU, WOOOOOOOOOOO !"

After a while, we said goodbye to him and told him to be a good boy. He continued to bark and whine. Even after we had left the room and went to buy some treats for Gable, he continued to howl for a good 5 minutes ! Probably he's wondering why we were abandoning him again. Hahahaha.

Well, he's looking much better now, and will probably be able to come home in another week or so. But for now, he'd have to stay a while longer. Hahaha. Hopefully can go see him during the weekdays next week, although it's a bit doubtful.

Phone-less & Bluetooth-less

Sigh...........

I sent my i-Tech back for a check because although the battery is supposed to last up to 4-5 days, mine always goes dead in 2-3 days. Also, it tends to disconnect itself from my phone at times, even when I am using it !

So I have to leave it at the service centre for about 10 days before I can collect it back.

Also, I sent my leng chai to the service centre. Apparently the camera saving issue is probably due to the motherboard ! And to think that I actually treat it so carefully, it still gets hardware problem ! I'm probably gonna treat it more like dirt when I get it back later !

As of now, I have to use back my old Siemens phone for now. My leng chai will have to stay at the service centre for about 3 days and since it's already out of warranty, I will have to pay to get it checked !

Sigh............................................

My Leng Chai Is Sick !

My leng chai is sick !

Already a few times I tried taking photos with it, but the photos do not get saved into the phone memory or memory card, even though it says "Saving".

Today was worse because after taking a photo, it will go back into normal phone mode, and the photo is nowhere to be seen.

I took it to the Sony Ericsson service centre in Mid Valley Gardens, but apparently they were only opened for 5 days, so their equipments are not ready yet. I will have to take my phone to either Amcorp Mall or KLCC for them to check the problem.

Unfortunately, the guy deduced that it is most probably an issue with the camera, and in order to change it will cost me RM200+ ! MONEY MONEY MONEY !

I'll have to get it checked first before deciding, and with the warranty over............

Popeye, Here I Come

Tomorrow I will be going to visit Popeye for the first time since his "admission" to the vet. I called the doc yesterday and was told that his wound is healing well, and that his eyes and ears are getting better.

Either he'd be glad to see me (meaning he'd be whining while wagging his tail) or he'd be angry coz he though we abandoned him (means ignoring me !). Haha, let's see what happens tomorrow.

But I'm glad that he's getting better and hopefully he'd be back home soon. I think Gable's a bit lost without him !

Popeye's Save For Now !

Mom made the decision yesterday to put Popeye "to sleep" but we had to make a trip to the clinic to sign the consent form. It's for them to cover their backs so that they won't be blamed later if the owner denies giving the consent.

So I tried to rush home after work, but I only reach my house around 6:20pm, and there is no way I can make it to the clinic by 7pm, knowing that Puchong is so jammed up after office hours. Therefore, I told mom that we'd have to ask sis to go sign the form tomorrow on our behalf.

This morning, sis told me that she'll probably keep Popeye there for at least another week to allow the doc to treat him coz when she saw him yesterday afternoon, he was not scratching himself at all. In fact, he was a good boy, sitting quietly in the cage !

Then the Dr. also called late morning today, saying that she has calculated the cost of treating Popeye, to about RM400, but she would like to know whether she can change my mind about euthanizing him, coz she said that his eyes and ears are much better now, and he was not scratching or biting himself at all.

When sis went to the vet, she told them to keep Popeye there for a while, so thanks to my sis, Popeye is still alive and kicking, but still have to stay there for the time being. They will be treating his eyes and ears problem, and will be giving him twice weekly baths with Malasep (I think it's spelt like this) for now.

They will also start treating his skin issues with medicine. Will probably only get to see him this Saturday coz there's no way I can make it from office to Puchong before 7pm. Hope he'll be looking much better, but sis did say that he was the ugliest dog in the clinic !

Kurang Satu Kaki Lunch

Hmmm....... with all the restructuring going on in my company, finally one of my lunch partner will be transferred to Amcorp from tomorrow onwards. It will be much more difficult for us to meet and gossip about the latest shows on TV, discuss about what will happen in Drive Of Life, etc...

And we won't be able to talk about where to go for lunch d...........

SIIIIIGGGHHHHHH....................................................

All the best to you, Carrine.

To Do Or Not To Do, That Is The Question

I think I can understand the quandary Sherlock Holmes was in, when he said that. I am now in the same predicament. My dog, Popeye was sent to the vet last Thursday because mom discovered a few holes in the side of his body. He has been having this really chronic skin disease since he was about 2 or 3 years old, and it's just getting worse.

The holes are actually maggot wounds, and mom wanted him to be humanely euthanized (put to sleep) because it's become a real chore for her to take care of Popeye. When the van came to get him, he was so frightened and didn't want to get into the van. The driver had to pull him up the van forcefully. I felt really sad because we were sending him to his death, although it would probably also be a relieve for him because then he wouldn't have to scratch and bite himself 24x7.

Anyhow, I called the vet that evening. A Dr. Sunita told me that they had already cleaned the maggot wounds. Mom kept pestering me to tell them to put him to sleep. When I told the Dr., she said that she doesn't have the heart to do it, and that she thinks his skin problems are treatable, although it will be long term and may cost a lot.

I told her about all the diets / soaps / creams / ointments / spray / medicine we've tried over the years but it didn't work. Plus he was already 8 years old. She said she will take a look at his skin problem the following day and give me the diagnosis.

But mom was adamant at putting him to sleep, because she was also afraid that his skin disease may infect Gable and also his eyes and ears seemed to be having problems as well. So I was resolved to call her on Friday and told her to euthanize Popeye. But the Dr. insists that we should continue treatment, and also said that we could try Z-Lid, a type of hypo-allergenic kibble that costs RM200 per 8kg bag ! It's the best in the market for dogs with really sensitive allergies.

She said the other alternative would be to leave Popeye at the clinic for a month so that they can try to treat him and hopefully there'll be improvements later. I said that I will call later to see what to do with Popeye, meanwhile they can continue to treat him.

Saturday came and left, and we still didn't have a decision. Mom was wavering between being really adamant at putting him down, and then suddenly saying maybe should keep him at the clinic for 2 weeks. I still dunno what to do.

On Sunday, I called the clinic again, and Dr. Ding answered. He said that the maggot wounds are much better now, and when I asked him about euthanizing Popeye, he said that his eating fine, and should not be euthanized. He also don't have the heart to do it. He suggests starting the medication to treat his skin problem, and that it was not contagious, so there should be no problem for Gable.

So I told him to keep Popeye there for a while, and that I won't have the time to see him that day, and that I will call on Monday to check up on his status. That's my quandary now.... to do or not to do...... Should he be euthanized or brought home for another chance ? How how how ?