Fish Brain

When I go near the aquarium, the fishes that I am petsitting at the moment will swim towards me. When I put my hand above the aquarium, they will swim to the surface.

I think they know I am bringing them food. I wonder if fish has brain. I wonder if the fish can be conditioned like what Ivan Pavlov had done to his dog.

I like to play this trick with the fishies every morning, sometimes a few times in the morning, and I love watching them swimming so fast towards me. Early evening also works. I guess those are the time when they are hungry. So cute.

I am gonna miss them when they go home.

Photos to share

A friend sent me these photos from wherever he was during his vacation. They are really beautiful and picturesque and I wanna share them with you. Enjoy!

The below 3 scenic photos are taken in Carne Golf Course, Belmullet County, Mayo, Ireland...




And it's winter wonderful at his home...

Thanks for the photos. Really happy to receive them :)

Sick image for V day.

Valentine's day came and gone now. Hearts are no longer in display in stores. Thank goodness.

Till now, some people are still sad or upset for not receiving anything from someone that they have expected to send them a gift or roses, or worse come to worst, at least a wish over an sms.

Some are simply glad that V day is over and they won't have to face it for next one year.

Some are still reminiscing over the wonderful V day they have celebrated.

Some totally not bothered with V-day or any other day such as Christmas or Birthdays.

And me, still blogging about V-day?

Mine went well. Got an ecard, a card, a present, ate call-in pizza with B, had a lovely tiramisu with a lovely friend and lotsa wishes on emails, mostly spams from one specific friend - Kate... arghh! And still waiting for 200 kisses someone owed me. Bwahaha. Sweet!

Oh well, back to why I am blabbing about V-day? I saw an album cover that strike me dumb. Not in awe but got me thinking what the heck is this. I thought the album cover is sick? You definitely won't want this present on V day. So be grateful even if you received nothing.

See and judge for yourself. Sick. Ee yuck!

An unexpected unfortunate news

While I was in Hangzhou, I received an sms from a friend telling me that he had received an weird email from a mutual friend of ours and he had a feeling she is not ok. I couldn't do much as I do not know head or tail of this. I could not access my email to see if she had emailed me the same. I wanted to sms her to see if she is ok but maybe she did not want me to know. It is too expensive to call too. In short, I did not do anything but replied my friend's sms by telling him that I hope that she is gonna be ok.

Today when I am back to office, where I am back to my normal life, with computer and internet, I did my usual routine, checking and reading friends' blogs. I read her blog and suddenly I remembered that sms I received and I understand why she was not ok.

My heart is so saddened when I read from her blog that her friend has passed away during a diving weekend trip in Jarak before the Valentine's day. Although I do not know him at all, but I feel really sad. Looking at his photos, all with smiles, made me even sadder. It made me wonder too, what actually happened.

I called my friend and she is obviously still very saddened by the incident and I am someone who is absolutely not tactful and always saying something stupid, decided that I could only tell her how sorry I am.

If Miki-C had not had her wedding dinner on that weekend, I would have joined them in that diving trip. I guess it would be very traumatic for me if I have to experience this.

I told Miki-C and she too was saddened although she too, do not know him. Well, I guess as the last respect, I shall not refer him as him, but his name is Mr Laurence Thong.

When I imagine if this were to happen to me or my friends during our diving trip, I get really scared and sad. It is fine if I die, but the anguish I could cause to my fellow divers, that I would not want to happen. But if anything to happen to my dear friends or fellow divers, what and how do I tell his/her loved ones?

To Mr Laurence Thong, a stranger, now gone to be with our dear Lord, someone that I knew today from blogs, I am very sure you are now safe and happy with our dear heavenly Father and I pray to Him to keep you by His side eternally.

To my friend, Asther, take care. I will keep you in my prayers that our dear God gives you serenity and strength in this difficult moment.

To many, such incident reminds us to cherish life, our loved ones and God ever more and they are not to be taken for granted. I too, believe this is very true.

Delayed flight and waiting

It's 5 in the morning and I am in Changi Airport waiting to board my flight to Shanghai. The flight was delayed 4 hours. Darn!

Earlier in the bus from KL to Singapore, there was a burnt smell and they have to stopped the bus on the highway to fix it. I watched 2 movies in the bus - Ray and Troy.

Right now, I am sleepy and I am tired. I am cold too, right here in the airport and I don't know how I am gonna manage winter for the next few days. Mental images of the beach and swaying coconut trees are very welcoming.

Ok, time's up. I gotta go. They provide 15 mins of Internet access here free in the boarding gate.

My worries

I am worried...

...that the fishes that I am petsitting will die of hunger while I am gone

...I am spending way too much money


But life is meant to be enjoyed, ain't that true.

C'est la vie!

A V-day wish for you

Happy Valentine's Day to You!

May you be blessed and showered with lotsa love, joy, care, peace and happiness every second of your life.

Meme on 4 tagged by Stargazer

Stargazer tagged me with this meme. Just can't say no to her. So here, read on the secrets of my life :)

4 Jobs I've Had In My Life

* Sales Assistant in Mission Music, a really small music store in Melaka.
* Restaurant crew in Pizza Hut Melaka
* Clerical staff of Hong Kong Bank in Lebuh Ampang
* Promoter of Pampers and Whisper sanitary pads in Fajar Supermarket, Melaka
(Jobs I have done which have enriched my youth)

4 Movies I Could Watch Over & Over

* American History X (Edward Norton is brilliant!)
* Fight Club (just because of Brad Pitt and Edward Norton's brilliant acting again and schizo film, my type)
* Amelie (cute, funny, beautifully edited, a poetry)
* Shawshank Redemption (I just love this movie)


4 TV Shows I Love(d) To Watch

* The Shield
* Gray's Anatomy
* CSI
* Star Trek TNG
(There are more and more... I am tv series addict. Listing only 4 do no justice for me)


4 Places Where I've Lived

* Melaka
* Penang
* Kuala Lumpur
* Selangor
(Oh well, Selangor and KL are about the same place)


4 Places I've Been On Vacation To

* Paris
* Sweden
* Australia
* Indonesia


4 Places I Would Rather Be

* Bora-Bora Island
* Some serene Greek island
* Barcelona, Spain
* In bed, cuddling/snuggling next to my special someone (no need bed, anywhere else comfy works for me too)


4 Of My Favourite Foods

* Mee Hoon Kueh
* Chap Chai Melaka Nyonya Style
* Cous cous & Mediterranean curry
* Yee Sang


4 Websites I Visit Daily

* Google
* Potpourri of Insanity
* Astrology dot com
* Apple startpage (I just can't seem to change this default startpage of my Safari browser :( !)


4 Beautiful People Worth Tagging

* Ghostwriter
* Delphinus/Kaiserin (Yes, again, sorry)
* Chinoz (Dunno your blog, dear... so please help me with this meme :P )
* Anti-Fanny (you know who you are... lol!)

TGIF *YAY*

Podcasting

After listening and laughing so hard to several episodes of The Ricky Gervais Show over a friend's iPod which he downloaded from some Podcast, I decided to find out what this Podcast fad is all about.

Miki-C's Narrrling is into Podcast too. That's why he own an iPod nano.

There is a Podcast icon in my iTunes application...which I never click on before.

So, I got really curious.

I start searching the directory of Podcast in my iTunes and I went "Whoa!" There is a whole load of cool stuff from all kind of topics to be downloaded and listened to. Kinda like a library in voice or visual. Almost anything you want, you can find something in Podcast. However, not much local stuff, tho.

Now I am addicted to Podcast. I have been listening some stupid shit, but they are fun.

I have these in my Podcasts in iTunes:-
* Betty in the Sky with a Suitcase! - Travel experiences narrated by Betty, an air stewardess
* Greys Anatomy Official Podcast - Weekly Interviews and Insights to the TV serieswith Greys Anatomy's crews
* iTunes New Music Tuesday - Roxy introducing the new music entries in iTunes each week
* Jason Mraz podcast channel - The singer himself on podcast, kinda like his voice blog. Quite entertaining.
* Keith and The Girl - Just a guy and a girl talking talking shite for an hour.
* Lonely Planet Travelcasts - So that I can listen about places I never been before
* The FrenchPodClass - To complement my F language class :P
* The Radio Adventures of Dr. Floyd - This family friendly new twist on "old time radio" features the adventures and exploits of the World's Most Brilliant Scientist, Dr. Floyd!

and of course...

* The Ricky Gervais Show - I just love how Ricky and Steve poke fun on Karl Pilkington who is simply hillarious.

I will continue to search for cool stuff to download. If you are into Podcast, mind sharing some of the stuff you are listening to?

Petsitting

I was assigned a huge responsibility :P LOL! I am petsitting 3 gold fishies and 1 angel fish for a friend who is going for a long vacation. I was thrilled yet worried. I just hate it if anything bad would happen to the fishies. You know how fragile they can be. No wonder we have that phrase - "Nyawa-nyawa ikan". I think I would cry if they die or anything. Choi! Choi! Touch wood.

These fishies were sent to me in a red pail, the one you use to fill up water to mop the floor. It come with a air pump, thank goodness. So for two days, these fishies were staying in this red pail. As I watched them, I could feel that the pail is definitely not condusive for these poor fishies who used to live a really huge nice tank. I think these fishies are depressed. Imagine this, all they can see is red all around! And the water in the pail went cloudier and I can barely see them. I thought to myself that I really need to do something about it.

I went over to Pets Wonderland in Mid Valley to check out cheap fish tank, at least they can live a little more comfortably. Stuff there were expensive and the fish tanks section was too near to the lizards area and my skin was crawling. So, I left empty handed.

As I was driving home, I passed by a small pet shop in Desa Pandan, which was almost closing coz it was late. I was the last customer, well, they don't have a choice, coz I went right into the shop while the roller shutter metal door is halfway down. Anyway, the uncle in the pet shop was really funny and friendly and he entertained all my silly questions about keeping fishes.

The last time I ever kept a fish was when I was 8 or 9. They are those cheap small fishes, which cost about 20 sen for 3 fishes back then. I used to buy them and keep them in Horlicks jar. Oh well, they never lasted and die quite quickly. Ikan betuk can last a bit longer but they are not pretty fishes, just plain greyish-brownish in colour.

Back to me in the pet shop. Finally I bought a not so small glass tank, a water filter for the air pump, anti-chlorine medication, three packets of rocks or pebbles in three different sizes (S,M,L), a small clay hut, a fake coconut tree and a live aquarium plant. All for RM90 only. I was taught how to prepare the tank and to keep the fishes healthy and alive by the uncle in the shop.

So, I rushed home and did what I've been told. In less than an hour, the fishies got a new home. I was proud. Angel fish is really scared and shy, otherwise, I really think they are happier here than in the red pail.



And I got back up plan, just in case, if I don't want to keep any fishes after these 4 fishies return to their owner, I can sell my tank and all to a friend, second hand :P

Gone now, for good.

I asked for a favour from a friend. He gladly helped. I gave the permission. I wanted to do that. I thought I will be ok. It is the right thing to do.

But hell no.

In fact it seemed like a part of me has been ripped off my body. I felt a sharp pain in my heart. I felt a pang of emptiness. I felt I lost something precious and important. I was hit by a huge surge of sadness. I felt weak all over. My head is spinning. I am confused.

Out of sudden, my tears just fall, uncontrollaby.

I wanted to ask him to stop and return them all to me, just like before.

But it was too late. All gone. Erased.

Been saving a couple of the memories since April last year. They have been very precious to me, keeping me happy whenever I see them.

Now, I have nothing left.

I feel so sad.

But it is for the better.

It is a new life now.

I have been hanging on to a next-to-never for too long.