cast away....

Mike got a call from our latin studio yesterday asking if we were interested to audition for a tv advert! Haha! My first reaction when I heard abt it was “Wha..?” Hehe. They were apparently looking for a few ballroom couples. So for the fun of it, Mike and I went for the casting session. According to Mike, he was supposed to wear a suit while I was required to wear a two-piece with a ballroom-type skirt. We were told to be at the studio at 5pm.

So not knowing what to expect, I don on a black skirt and red top and went to pick Mike up who was dressed in a white shirt and black trousers. A nagging feeling told me that I should take along a sweater and thank God I did! Cos when we got to the studio, we realized that we were so over-dressed. *gasp* Everybody else was so dressed down. *Yikes* It seems that we were not required to dress up yet till 8pm when the casting crew turn up. How utterly embarrassing. *blush*

So anyway, we were taught a short routine of quick rhythm. It was actually quite fun. The routine consisted of a basic rhythm step, followed by a promenade position, then two turns and three pivots, and back to basic. Certainly brought back some fond memories of all those standard ballroom lessons we had. *grin*

There were 6 couples altogether. We were required to dance in a circle around the studio doing the same routine. One couple kept fumbling as the guy could not catch up with his steps. Anyway, came 8.30pm, the ‘casting crew’ turned up and that comprise ONE young chap with a camcorder and a digital camera. Hmm….certainly not what I’d expected. And so it started. We did a few routines as the chap took clips from various angles. Then he required photos of each couple plus mugshots of each person! Ugh! How I hate close-up pictures!! Oh well….

I have a feeling that it would be highly unlikely that we’d be called back for the actual shooting although Mike is quite positive abt it for some reason. Hehe. I felt that all the couples were so unsynchronized during the dance. And it didn’t help that the guy who could not get his steps right stopped twice during the routines. Overall I thot that the casting was conducted in such a casual fashion that it seemed rather unprofessional. Perhaps that’s how it’s done over here? Oh well….since it’s my first, I really have no comparison. Hehe. We shall see if we get any calls…heh! Not that it pays much - pittance I was told actually. But it would be a fun experience. Hehe.

beware wat u say abt 'em Nazis

Countries with laws against Holocaust denial:
- Austria
- Belgium
- Czech Republic
- France
- Germany
- Israel
- Lithuania
- Poland
- Romania
- Slovakia
- Switzerland

*still baffled*

MSN rocks!

It works! Woohoo... Hehe...

subscribing to update alerts

Let's see if this MSN Alerts works. The last one on Bloglines didn't work as easy or friendly. So hope this one works better! *fingers crossed* Apparently this MSN Alerts allows you to receive the notifications even on your MSN Messenger - now that's cool! Hehe. Altho I'm not sure but u prolly have to be a MSN user for that to work? Hmm... Ok, let's see...

denying Holocaust

I'm certainly not pro of the Nazis. In fact, I think the Holocaust was abominable. But this is like...wow!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4734648.stm

Freedom of speech...wha?

little bluebird

I have the need to vent…vent…vent…! Aarrrggghhh…

Up until now Sixth Sense has still not reverted on Tristan’s cert and it’s reached a point where it’s become more than unreasonable and irresponsible of them. I called up MKA to get details of Tristan based on his microchip no. Managed to get some details, incl. the breeder’s name and contact no. So called the breeder up and found out that he had held back Tristan’s cert becos the middle person who worked for Sixth Sense and bought Tristan off the breeder had not settled some outstanding amounts with the breeder! What an irresponsible idiot! So I called up Sixth Sense to complain abt the matter and the lady was shocked by the situation. But in the first place, she’s also at fault as she could have bloody well found this out if she had done her homework to investigate the matter when I first asked for the cert from her 3 farkin months ago! Biatch!!

Anyway, I insisted that she sorts out the matter with the breeder immediately and get me the cert by hook or by crook. She claimed that she’s also able to appeal to MKA to get the pups registered. All empty promises at the mo….till she gets her ass workin’ on it! Aarrgghh!! Btw, the name of that irresponsible middle fucker person is E Choong – do not ever trust him if u were to cross path with him!! Hmmph!!

On a brighter note…at least now I know that Tristan does have a cert with MKA and finally I found out his birth date and registered name. His birthday is on 17 Jan 2005 and his registered name is Menghengken Bluebird! Wtf! The first name is apparently the breeder’s kennel name. So his real name is Bluebird. Ugh! Now this is a classic case of identity crisis! *Tsk…tsk…* Then again Trinity's registered name ain't that glamorous either - Sherithans Chi Chi! *Eesh* Whassup with these breeders?! *Tcherk*

My darlin’ Bluebird is looking rather handsome lately. I bought them a new formulae kibbles with nutrients good for their fur and I must say that it worked on Tristan. His fur is silkier than ever. *grin* Unfortunately, I can’t say the same for Trinity – sigh….her fur has always been less silky and shiny. But what a wonderful mom she is. The little ones are doing real well and have grown quite a bit since their birth. I’m so proud of her! *beam*

meet the T's

Tristan and Trinity's little ones:

Toffee - the 1st all black male (and I don't mean Afro! Heh!);
Trigger - boy no. 2 with two white spots on his chest;
Truffles - the single rose;
Tinkles - boy no. 4 with a single white spot on his chest;
Tubby - the last but not least boy in the family - biggest of all and has a white stripe on his chest (altho Trigger seems to be catching up with him on size - must be a big milk-drinker. Hehe).

Awww....so cute! Hehe.

miracle of birth

I'm a grandma! *beam* Wow! It was such an awesome sight. The first one came, then the second, then another and another...and just when I thot it was over, yet another came to life. It was really amazing. Here's a recount:

15 Feb: Got home from work at abt 5.45pm. Cleaned the house and gave the doggies a bath. Trin seemed a bit restless and kept going under the couch. Then fed them food but Trin didn't finish her food. Thot it might have been the dislike for garlic - wanted to try to see if she would eat some chopped garlic. Anyway, left it at that and went ahead for my latin class.

After dinner, got home and Trin still was a bit fidgety. Tried to feed her more food (without the garlic) but she still didn't finish the food. Approx. 10.45pm, she went up to the toilet and didn't come down. Thot that she had gone to pee pee and went up to check since she made some noise. There was a pool of liquid outside the toilet and I lamented on why she had peed outside the toilet. But the liquid was clear and felt slimy. I realised that her water bag had burst! *yikes* She was in labour!!

After half an hour, nothing happened but she seemed restless again and was aggressive towards Tristan. When I felt her tummy, I could feel that a bulge was 'dropping' lower towards the end. Marie popped by to see how she was doing and as soon as she got there, the first pup was born at 11.50pm. It was a sight to behold. It came out in a translucent pouch. Marie tore open the pouch and wiped the pup dry with a towel. Trin licked the baby all over and consumed the pouch plus the placenta bag that was attached to the pouch. It was a boy - all black! *grin*

16 Feb: Mike and his sis came by too to witness the birth. After nearly 2 hours, there was still no sign of the 2nd pup. It was getting late, so the 3 of them left. But not long after, at 1.40am, pup no. 2 made its way out into the world. And this time I personally helped Trin with the birth. What an experience! It was another boy - black with 2 tiny white spots on his chest! *grin*

At 2.06 am, the 3rd pup was born. This time, it was a girl! *yippee* And the 4th pup came out at 2.27am - it was yet another boy - there was a tiny white spot on his chest! *coolio*

I was sure that there could be no more. The pups clung on to Trin, suckling her nipples. They all seem quite playful and appear healthy. Trin was exhausted and went to sleep with the pups by her side. I too snoozed a bit. Then abt an hour later, I woke up to see Trin licking dry a 5th pup. OMG - there was yet another one. It was 3.20am and it was a boy - he had a white stripe on his chest! How fantastic!! Five cute lil' puppies.

I must admit the pups look like lil' black rats. Hehe. They're so tiny - smaller than a palm. But it was a really wonderful experience watching their birth. I believe that Trin must've waited for my return to birth the babies. So far, she and the babies are doing fine. I hope and pray that all of them survive. They seem playful - must be Tristan's genes. Haha. It would be great if the pups take after their dad's looks but have their mom's temperament. Hehe.

Trin is v.hostile towards the father of her children. It must be her natural defensive instinct to protect her babies. Strangely however that she doesn't show such aggression towards humans, even when we move the pups.

They need to be with their mom for at least 2 months to ensure they get enuf nutrients from her milk. It would be really sad when the time comes to let them go. *sob* I daren't think of it now.

I wish to name the puppies. *grin* I have a few names in mind but still deciding. And I still haven't decided whether to keep one of them. It would have to be the girl if I do. Hmm...

My grandpups:

cupid in love

Cupid was the god of love in Roman mythology. The name Cupid is a variation of Cupido ("desire"), and this god was also known by the name Amor ("love"). It was commonly believed that Cupid was the son of Venus - the Roman goddess of love. The ancient Romans often depicted Cupid as winged child or baby who carried a bow and quiver full of arrows. Cupid was known as Eros in Greek mythology.

However, there is one other significant variation in myth about the birth of Eros. According to some sources, Eros was the son of the goddess Aphrodite (occasionally, it is claimed that he is the child of both Aphrodite and Ares).

The spell-binding love story of Psyche and Eros

According to the story told in the Metamorphoses of Apuleius, Psyche was the youngest daughter of a king (incidentally, she had two older sisters). Psyche was so stunningly beautiful that her appearance rivaled that of a goddess. Indeed, the simple people of her county were so in awe of Psyche's grace and beauty that they stopped worshipping Aphrodite (the real goddess) and paid their honors instead to the daughter of a king. In her defense, it should be noted that Psyche was a modest girl, and she resisted this improper attention. However, the damage had been done - Aphrodite took notice of this insult of being overthrown in popularity by a mere mortal, so the goddess decided to punish her rival. And her punishment was swift and severe. Aphrodite commanded her son Eros to do her dirty work in this situation, and insisted that Eros use his powers as the god of desire to make Psyche fall in love with the most terrible and grotesque thing on earth.

As fate would have it, Eros fell victim to Psyche's beauty himself. He simply could not resist her charms. However, loving the mortal girl meant disobeying his powerful mother and making Aphrodite angry - and no one wants to anger a goddess. But Love will find a way...

Eros thought of a cunning plan to win Psyche for himself while keeping his mother Aphrodite ignorant of his actions. The god of love and desire arranged to have Psyche brought to a desolate area. Here, the innocent girl was told, she would become the bride of an evil being. Psyche waited for her doom dressed in a wedding gown. In time, Zephyrus led her gently into a valley in which a majestic and grand palace dominated the landscape. The girl was awed by the magical palace, but she soon found that this place was her new home.

Clever Eros then came to Psyche when she had gone to bed that night. The bedroom was dark - too dark to see anything - when the god of love entered. Eros used the darkness to his advantage in order to conceal his identity from the girl. He whispered in Psyche's ear that he was her husband and that she must not under any circumstances look upon him or seek to know who he was.

Psyche enjoyed her life with her unseen husband, but for one minor detail - she came to feel isolated and homesick. She begged to see her sisters. Although Eros did not want to comply, he could not deny his beloved anything. So Psyche's sisters were invited to the palace. Once there, they saw the grand lifestyle of their younger sister and quickly became jealous of Psyche's good fortune. Together the pair of sisters persuaded Psyche that her husband was dangerous and that she must rid herself of him immediately. And Psyche, innocent and trusting girl that she was, believed the horrible stories told by her sisters.

When she next went to bed, Psyche took with her a lamp, which she lit when she was assured her husband was asleep. When Psyche gazed upon the god, however, she was stunned by the grace and perfection of his divine features - he was definitely no monster! In her surprise she let a drop of oil fall from the lamp, and this woke Eros. Realizing what had happened, Eros immediately departed.

Psyche was beside herself with grief. She was now alone and abandoned by her husband. She searched for her lost love, but could not find him anywhere. In desperation Psyche asked the goddesses Dementer and Hera for assistance, but neither goddess was willing to risk the wrath of Aphrodite. So finally, left with no other options, Psyche went to see Aphrodite herself.

Aphrodite decided to punish the girl a bit more. Psyche - the daughter of a king - was made into a slave by the goddess of love. And indeed, Aphrodite added insult to injury by requiring Psyche to perform tasks that seemed impossible. For example, Psyche had to sort, grain by grain, an entire room full of seeds in the span of a single day. This task might well have been impossible if it had not been for the help of some industrious ants - with their assistance, Psyche achieved her goal.
One other fiendishly devious task assigned by Aphrodite was that Psyche must fetch a jar that contained beauty from Persephone. Now, Persephone was the Queen of the Underworld, which meant that (at least part of the year) she lived and ruled in the gloomy realm of the dead. Naturally, Psyche despaired of accomplishing this goal. But in the end, she was given instructions on how to descend to the Underworld while still alive and approach Persephone.

In the meantime, Eros suffered from the separation from his beloved as well. He finally went to Zeus to beg for mercy. Zeus listened to the story that Eros told, and decided to grant the god of love's wish - that the couple should be reunited and joined in marriage. And this is exactly what happened. In the end, Eros and Psyche were allowed to be together and Aphrodite gave up her anger in order to welcome her new daughter in law into the family.

St Valentine

There are varying opinions as to the origin of Valentine's Day. Some experts state that it originated from St. Valentine, a Roman who was martyred for refusing to give up Christianity. He died on February 14, 269 A.D., the same day that had been devoted to love lotteries. Legend also says that St. Valentine left a farewell note for the jailer's daughter, who had become his friend, and signed it "From Your Valentine". Other aspects of the story say that Saint Valentine served as a priest at the temple during the reign of Emperor Claudius. Claudius then had Valentine jailed for defying him. In 496 A.D. Pope Gelasius set aside February 14 to honour St. Valentine.

One of the many versions:

Valentine's Day started in the time of the Roman Empire. In ancient Rome, February 14th was a holiday to honour Juno. Juno was the Queen of the Roman Gods and Goddesses. The Romans also knew her as the Goddess of women and marriage. The following day, February 15th, began the Feast of Lupercalia.

The lives of young boys and girls were strictly separate. However, one of the customs of the young people was name drawing. On the eve of the festival of Lupercalia the names of Roman girls were written on slips of paper and placed into jars. Each young man would draw a girl's name from the jar and would then be partners for the duration of the festival with the girl whom he chose. Sometimes the pairing of the children lasted an entire year, and often, they would fall in love and would later marry.

Under the rule of Emperor Claudius II Rome was involved in many bloody and unpopular campaigns. Claudius the Cruel was having a difficult time getting soldiers to join his military leagues. He believed that the reason was that roman men did not want to leave their loves or families. As a result, Claudius cancelled all marriages and engagements in Rome. The good Saint Valentine was a priest at Rome in the days of Claudius II. He and Saint Marius aided the Christian martyrs and secretly married couples, and for this kind deed Saint Valentine was apprehended and dragged before the Prefect of Rome, who condemned him to be beaten to death with clubs and to have his head cut off. He suffered martyrdom on the 14th day of February, about the year 270. At that time it was the custom in Rome, a very ancient custom, indeed, to celebrate in the month of February the Lupercalia, feasts in honour of a heathen god. On these occasions, amidst a variety of pagan ceremonies, the names of young women were placed in a box, from which they were drawn by the men as chance directed.

The pastors of the early Christian Church in Rome endeavoured to do away with the pagan element in these feasts by substituting the names of saints for those of maidens. And as the Lupercalia began about the middle of February, the pastors appear to have chosen Saint Valentine's Day for the celebration of this new feaSt. So it seems that the custom of young men choosing maidens for valentines, or saints as patrons for the coming year, arose in this way.

countdown: 10 workin' days left

It's getting closer! Whoppee...

Happee V Day!

...to those struck by cupid's arrows;
...to beloved friends dearest to moi's heart;
...to singles out there still searching for that special one...

final trimester

Brought Trinity to the vet (finally) to get an ultrasound scan of her belly. The vet said that the ultrasound scan does not give an accurate viewing of the number of puppies growing inside but merely provides an approximation. I could never make out the images on an ultrasound but after looking v.hard for sometime, we manage to catch the image of at least 3 moving foetuses. *Whee...*

She's due to deliver in abt 2 weeks. OMG! So so soon. I worry:
1. that she goes into labour while I'm at work and not able to help her or determine if she's in danger.
2. cos the vet had cautioned that at least one puppy may not make it thru - it's the law of nature as the last pup would normally not be able to receive all the nutrition from its mother and hence, would have trouble surviving. *boohoo*
3. that that weak pup will be consumed by Trin. *yikes* Apparently, a natural maternal animal instinct as the mother senses that her pup will not survive. *eesh*

Oh dear...dear...

the lions' blessings

The company had its annual lion dance celebration this morning, to usher in properity for the company, the boss and the staff. There were 2 'lions' and they pranced around the entire building, visiting each work station to 'bless' good tidings for all. Consequently, I think my luck has changed. Yes, I can feel it. Bring on the mahjong. Haha.

It was quite interesting watching the dance. It's not the first I've seen but it's the first time seeing it so upclose. The lions started a dance at the front of the building. Then they proceeded into the building. Prior to that, every workstation had been prepared with an orange and a red packet. The lions would 'gobble' up the orange and red packet, and leave behind an opened orange. We were supposed to eat up that orange for luck purposes. Then the lions went outside again and performed another dance ritual. One of the lions climbed a pole to reach and 'eat' a bunch of chinese cabbage that was hanging from another pole. Then a platter of fruits consisting a pomelo, pineapple, some oranges and banana, was placed in the middle. The lions 'gobbled' the fruits and laid on the ground apparently 'resting'. When they were done 'resting', they stood up to reveal a formation of opened fruits. They ended the dance and the boss rewarded the troupe with red packets. Not sure what each movement had signified but it was definitely interesting to watch. Check this out for some insights: http://www.chcp.org/lion.html

After the lion dance, we had lunch at Bangsar Seafood Village. More gorging. Oh gawd. Lunch was not bad but def not great for the waistline. Then, in line with past traditions, the boss declared the afternoon off. Coolio. Hehe.

woof woof

This year’s CNY celebration started off slow and fairly mellow but picked up quite a few notches towards the end. Left for ‘kampung’ in the early wee hours of CNY eve, straight after the usual Fri salsa session. Thankfully a friend had offered to drive so I could snooze with my pooches in the back. I must confess that I’m no good for nite driving – I tend to get sleepy and have trouble keeping my eyes open…how horrific! It was a good call to start the journey at those wee hours cos the roads were blissfully traffic-jam-free.

Back in Melaka, all I did was pigging and snoozing. OMG – I don’t remember eating and sleeping so much for the longest time. The latter was kinda a good thing – resting to recover all the lack of sleep that had accumulated over the weeks before. But the combination with the former was not a good thing – I had started to feel fat. Ok I think some ppl would want to shoot me for saying that. But I truly felt the waistline expanding. Ugh!

Then the ‘prosperity sessions’ started. It began with a session with the aunts. Luck unfortunately wasn’t too fantastic. And worse still, it followed me back to KL. I think I had only been a teeny bit lucky once and that was also only becos I ‘rode’ on someone else’s cards. I was pretty sure that if I had played them myself, it would’ve been a lost cause. Sigh…

Oh but this year I had learned to play mahjong properly, ie. involving counting the points, hence, there was a need for good strategy. It’s so fun! *beam* With just a few days left for the CNY celeb, I can’t wait to play more mahjong! Hehe.

Blogspot vs Fwendster Bwog

Truth be told, I don’t quite like this blogsite. *frown* It took me ages to get it in order – cos modifications on the layout can only be done using programming language - how unfriendly, judging that I’m no ‘techie’, let alone a programmer! Astonishingly, I did manage to figure out some of the programming language. Hehe.

Then lately it went bonkers on me on my office pc. Not sure if it was just on my pc screen but the layout suddenly went haywire and I don’t know how or why. Strangely, it still looks ok on my notebook and on other people’s pc’s. Weird.

More strangely is that I’ve received some complaints that NOW they no longer receive email notifications when I update my blog (hmm…and the whole point of moving out of Fwendster was to avoid flooding your mailboxes…hehe.). I’m sure there’s a way to insert a notification alert thingie on here too...by subscription hopefully...but I dunno how. Help anybody?

Also it seems that some can’t even access to this blog. Apparently, sites with anything to do with the word ‘blog’ are banned in certain countries, eg. China – imagine that! It seems that China ‘controls’ quite a lot of the content on the net. So much for democracy heh! It baffles me how they could do that. I mean the net is so vast and it’s really impossible to have total ‘control’ over all its contents. I gez they control whatever they get hold of.

Back to bickering abt blogspot. Hmm….oh well…maybe it just takes a bit of getting used to. We’ll just give it a shot, ay.