Archive for 'Creatures'
For a while there, we actually had mascots
Posted on November 14, 2008, by soph, under Career, Creatures.
Yesterday, MA brought these tiny hamsters to the office. They were going to be our mascots and we were going to name them “hot” and “HELLO!”. Actually, we did. A bunch of them went out during lunch to buy a proper hamster cage and wood shavings because the hamsters were living in a mini plastic aquarium among newspaper cuttings. I briefly considered naming them Dolce and Gabbana. Sean kept calling them rats.
“They’re rodents,” I said.
“They’re rats,” he said.
“Rodents.”
“Same family.”
“So are a kitten and a lion,” interjected R.
The girls couldn’t find a cheap hamster cage, so they improvised and bought a bird cage instead. They filled the bottom with wood shavings, put water and hamster food into the feeding containers, installed a yellow running wheel and even put up a ladder and second floor. I think the hamsters really liked their new home.
We also found out one is male and one is female. Uh oh.
When I got into work this morning, the hamsters were looking a lot happier than they did 24 hours earlier. Even their fur didn’t seem quite as straggly. But everyone else looked a little glum. Turns out our boss had realised the hamsters were here to stay and had put his foot down. The critters had to go.
And that was the end of our mascots.
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Jessie wants to be a vet
Posted on October 16, 2008, by soph, under Creatures, Family.
My youngest sister Jessie is currently studying in Melbourne to become a vet. She’s loved animals for as long as I can remember, even though she doesn’t seem to have much luck with them.
Since beginning her course, part of which involves placement work in farms, she’s fallen off a horse, been kicked by another and attacked by chickens or some such.
But it’s not all hard work. She’s also milked a cow - “You attach a machine and it milks the cow for you”; and castrated sheep - “You put these rings around [their balls] and they just fall off, hahaha!”
Anyway, she recently did a stint at a horse farm out in the countryside and she sent me these pictures. I’m not a big animal person, least of all when it comes to horses, but even I had to admit these creatures were beautiful.
According to her, the top one is called Schloss and the brown one with the gorgeous coat is called Bravo.
Jessie also recently got started on her 100 list and I was surprised to find many of her items matched mine. People always tell me how different me and my sisters are, and I guess I never really thought about what we have in common. She’s coming back to KL in December and I’m really excited to see her again. I guess what I’m trying to say is, I kinda miss her.
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Kitty and Marley & Me
Posted on September 25, 2008, by soph, under Creatures, Reading and Writing.
R took this photo of her boyfriend’s cat checking out my Marley & Me. I loved the book but kitty doesn’t look too impressed. The novel has been adapted into a Hollywood movie starring Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston. And a golden retriever, obviously. Check out the website for the book here.
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I’m looking for Tommy
Posted on September 15, 2008, by soph, under Creatures.
As some of you know, Y and I had a cat when we were in Australia. We had to give him up for adoption when we moved back to Malaysia and I still get sad whenever we mention him because I’m convinced that Tommy thinks we didn’t love him anymore and that’s why we gave him away.
Last night, I decided to try and track Tommy down to see how he’s doing. The lady who had helped to find him a home had given us the name, clinic and phone number of the vet that had found Tommy’s new owners, so I got the vet’s email off his website and emailed him. I don’t know if he remembers Tommy, or the new owners, or if the new owners are even contactable via email or anything, but I really hope I can find Tommy again. He probably isn’t called that anymore.
And then I got a little emotional and cried. Just a little bit.
Every now and then, Y talks about getting another pet. But I always say no. My excuses are plenty, if valid. We can’t have a pet because we don’t have time for one; we can’t have a pet because it would require too much extra work; we can’t have a pet because I’m not going to clean up after it day and night; we can’t have a pet because it would destroy our furniture.
When I’m being honest, I add: we can’t have a pet because we can’t commit to one for the next 12-15 years and I hate giving away pets. They always know it’s because we don’t want them anymore, or so I tell myself. In fact, I made Y promise we would never give Tommy away when we first got him. Then we gave him away.
But what I never say is: we can’t have a pet because I don’t want to fall in love with it so much that it would break my heart when we lose it. Because the price of emotional investment is just too high.
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Yet another animal adventure
Posted on July 12, 2008, by soph, under Creatures.
We were doing the same ol’ at work on Thursday morning when there was a massive bump against the window. We pulled up the blinds and figured it must have been a bird that flew into the glass. Then we saw it - a Myna lying on its back in one corner of the window ledge. It was alive, but looked like it wouldn’t be for much longer.
MA climbed out onto the ledge to bring the bird in because we didn’t know what to do. We couldn’t leave it there to die either - the crows might eat it. So we put it in a box and put it on the table - it was a fair-sized one, bigger than my hand - and watched its little chest thump really quickly. Blood was trickling down the side of one beak and I wondered if it was going to die on us. So we did what any group of people with not a scientific bone in our body would do: we called the doctor!
It’s a good thing Doc (boss of us Potatoes) is really a medic. Not that he was trained to treat birds. We all looked to him expectantly, and he suggested we leave the bird outside. Yes, to die. If it was indeed going to die.
“What do you want me to do? Do a CT scan? Intubate it?”
Err… guess not. So he found a bigger box and tipped the bird upside down into it. It landed with a thud. Our jaws fell open. And the bird stood! Doc took the box outside, put it under a huge leaf for shade, and tried to scare away circling crows. Mr. Myna was still alive, after all.
Later on, when he went back out to check on it, it was gone. The blood mustn’t have been that serious. And it turns out, Doc did save the bird. CL wonders if it’ll come back to visit us someday.
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An unexpected visitor
Posted on June 20, 2008, by soph, under Creatures.
We thought it was a lizard, or worse, a mouse. But not even mice make such high-pitched squeaking sounds. Besides, how did a mouse get into a box full of press kits and folders anyway?
We thought it was a cicada - it was small and black and perched at the bottom of the box. But it also had ears!
And that was when we realised…
It was a baby bat.
How it got into R’s press kit collection we do not know. The more interesting question begs: how long had it been staying in the box?
We waited for evening before releasing it outside the office. We hoped it would find Mama bat, wherever she was.
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Needed: a home for stray kittens
Posted on June 19, 2008, by soph, under Creatures.
Please adopt one if you can. Full details at cyber-red.blogspot.
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Invaded!
Posted on April 17, 2008, by soph, under Creatures, It's a Girl's Life.
I suppose it was only a matter of time, but knowing it’s going to happen eventually doesn’t make it any easier when it does happen. After three and a half blissful months, my home has finally been invaded by its first lizard.
I hate lizards, and this unwelcome houseguest not only appears to have taken up residence behind my shoe cupboard(!), it won’t leave no matter what I do! Even when I leave the front door wide open some four inches away. It simply scurries back behind the cupboard till the next time it surprises me when I walk in the front door.
Then…
I found another one! This time in my kitchen. Two lizards in a week! It was almost too much to handle, and my only consolation was these two were some of the smaller specimens I’ve seen and therefore don’t evoke quite the same level of terror in me. Still, small lizards grow up to become big lizards, and then I really will have a problem.
I know I’m living in Malaysia, and house lizards are as common as people who don’t use indicators when they drive, and it’s not like I’ve never seen lizards in any of the previous houses I’ve stayed in… but somehow, it seems a lot freakier when it’s in a house only two people live in. Jeepers, now I sound like the freak.
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Despondent
Posted on November 23, 2007, by soph, under Creatures, Uncategorized.
After the tennis-fueled high and higher of the past four days, I have crashed rudely back into routine. It’s been so hectic I haven’t played a Scrabulous move in four days!
I have much to say/show, but that will have to wait. For now, I was amazed to read about this:
Jellyfish attack wipes out Irish salmon farm
I have an unfortunate history with jellyfish. They like me. In fact, they’ve liked me four times since I was nine. You would think I’d have developed some kind of immunity towards them by now, but I still panic if I see a jellyfish when I’m in the water. This from a girl who wants to go scuba-diving.
Anyway, I cannot imagine what 26 square km (and 35 feet deep!) of jellyfish looks like. I’m totally not dying to find out. Literally.
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feline talk
Posted on June 28, 2007, by soph, under Creatures.
This is the second day in a row that I’m really sleepy. I’m inclined to blame it on the weather or the fact that I’m bored (I’m not slacking; there’s nothing to do!), but I have had to conclude that it’s the air. Because… my colleagues are sleepy too!
It’s a very cat-loving environment here. My boss has six cats, my editor has one, my sales manager has four. Oh, and she has a dog too! The sales manager, I mean. She bought four cats last year, but two of the poor kittens died of a medicine overdose (it’s the vet’s fault). The third ran away two days ago but it came back this morning! And yesterday, she bought another kitten!
Okay, it’s not all her. She shares the cats with her boyfriend, who might actually love cats even more than she does! She also has a dog, whom I have yet to make its acquaintance, but I have had the pleasure of meeting cat number four - Ugly.
Yes, that’s its name. It’s not ugly - on the contrary it’s absolutely darling with a super grumpy face. And it’s so affectionate. Apparently it’s blossomed with age. With all this feline talk going on, no wonder I’m missing Tommy. Well, that and the fact that his picture is both my work desktop and home laptop wallpaper.
