A Mind of My Own

I’ve always wanted to own a pet. However, parents being parents, absolutely refused to get me one by stating that pets die and it’ll be heartbreaking. I thought it’s to teach children about death and the acceptance of death? Maybe my parents feel differently but animals like cats and dogs have been known for being therapeutic just by being there.

I had the fortune of having a guinea pig after my friend mentioned that they are easier and more responsive to hugs and pets than hamsters. I loved him. His instant responses to someone passing by and wheeking out of food was definitely endearing.

In the past, my parents prefer rearing goldfishes, just feed and change water regularly. I was bored to tears. Goldfishes don’t do tricks and they aren’t the easiest to train either. I prefer pets that are trainable. Like guinea pigs and dogs. Hamsters have the worse attention span since they scurry away before you can even pet them.

Perhaps there is something about furry stuff that makes me all warm and fuzzy. I like cats but they don’t do tricks because they have too much of a lord’s air than wanting to please anyone. Dogs love to please while guinea pigs tend to do the tricks because of the expected treats.

The only thing that I dislike about owning any pets is that the prices for the pet food and other pet related stuff are at exhorbitant prices. There is no way you can even use cheap stuff because they are rather sensitive once domesticated.

When I was a child, my parents never told me bedtime stories. It’s not an Asian culture, it seems. Although some parents here are now starting a trend. I got this pair of free movie tickets courtesy of InCinemas and a heads up from Feeling Lucky Today?.

Bedtime Stories is about  Skeeter Bronson who had worked hard in upgraded Sunny Visa Hotel for years hoping that he would be in charge of it one day just like Mr Nottingham had promised his father when he bought over the old Sunny Vista.

However, when he was passed over for the position of a manager, he was devastated. Soon after, he was in charge of taking the night shift of looking after his niece and nephew. When certain things happened in real life, he started to think of ways to make use of the stories that the children said to help himself. However, in life, things don’t always go as planned.

There are some things in movies that I often notice and for this movie, I noticed Bugsy more. That said, I wanted to know if Bugsy was mostly animated or real. Some scenes were real as they could be trained (PDF), guinea pigs are more trainable than hamsters.

If you think guinea pigs have huge eyes, think again. Guinea pigs can’t have huge eyes. Not as huge as Bugsy’s anyway. While the food fed to Bugsy were funny to see in the movie, in real life, the guinea pigs will die eating such food, so do read up on how to take care of your guinea pigs. Children may pester parents for rearing guinea pigs.

Guinea pigs are not toys. They have shorter life spans than dogs too. They may be cute but they are still timid creatures when it’s their first time with humans. I reared one before.

10 Promises to My Dog is a family movie that teaches about a dog’s unconditional love and support to his owner. Socks, the Golden Retriever, wandered into Akari’s house as a young puppy when she was 14 years old. His presence in the family brought about some relief when Akari’s mother passed away due to an illness.

I like this touching movie because of its simple message. Animals have only us for companionship when they are our pets. Be it dogs, cats or guinea pigs. They depend on us for food as they can’t hunt on their own. They remember what was done to them even if they can talk.

Dogs have a lifespan of 10 to 15 years and neglecting them over the years or even abusing them will make them be afraid of you and even hate you. Don’t forget, dogs are natural hunters and their sharp teeth do hurt. 10 Promises teaches about Socks being a therapy dog; there is a few scenes about how he does it simply by being there and playing the “See There” game.

I feel this is a touching movie as it reminds me of my lost pet. The tears refused to stop! I feel that it is a pity that people adopt just any pet thinking it’s cute or “KAWAII” and then abandon them on the streets after a few years. When a pet has been domesticated for a few years, the hunting skills don’t just magically appear so that they will survive in the cold streets.

Just like if you have been used to being served with food at home without cooking, you can’t just magically cook a great meal when you are living on your own, do you?

There have been too many things going on. I’m quite confused as to where I should be starting. It’s hazy and yet I have so many things to do. Such as finding ways to earn money without resorting to working in an office. Unfortunately, Singapore isn’t really a good place to start. Or any other country for that matter.

Image via Wikipedia

I still need a day job. Unless I can work 4 hours a week. It will be a dream come true. I haven’t gotten over Latte’s demise yet. It is a traumatic experience if you witness your beloved pet grasping his last breath in front of you despite all the efforts to save him. It was really unfortunate that Latte died as a virgin.

I haven’t been sleeping well since. Some of you may scoff at the idea of losing sleep over some guinea pig. However, any pet owner will be upset at the lost of their pets because they have been spending time bonding together and gotten to love each other. Imagine living together with your Labrador for 15 years. It passed away due to sickness or old age. You have been walking around the neighbourhood every day and the loss has changed the routine. How does that feel?

I have been thinking about life. It’s so short that I just want to spend more time with my family rather than spending so much time at work earning more money but it’s useless when you can’t be there when your family needs you.

I have been thinking of starting my own business but it isn’t going to be easy since I have absolutely no idea where to begin. I do know there is someone who wishes to help. That’s so sweet. At this moment, I would like to think about the business type and strategies before jumping into the bandwagon.

It’s always a juggle trying to find a date and time slot that is suitable for everyone to meet up. This group is a trying one because I have to go through countless number of SMS and calls just to get a date. Emails don’t get any response. How many are we trying to get a dinner date for? Four. You read right, 4.

The latest attempts include me forgetting to start the ball rolling because of my involvement with Latte and his cage. He may be getting a girlfriend once I get him neutered. Ouch. Other involvements such as the Bird Park visit and my camera’s death also came into play.

Anyway, back to my attempts at organising the simple dinner. I asked LP and gave a series of dates but the reply was, “That day cannot”. So, which day can? An answer finally came. I asked AY for the same date. The reply was positive. All these happened on MSN taking about 2 hours, including toilet breaks and returning the passes for the Zoo and Bird Park. Next, SH messaged me and said that particular day that I had chosen was not a good day. I saw the message too late.

I had to change dates. I have less weekday evenings since my stint in tuition. So, armed with these limitations, I re-checked my schedule to see which dates would be ok. Tentatively, I’ve finally settled on a date that is 2 weeks away from now. Four schedules and the nearest date is that date. I only hope SH is free on that day.