Mid Autumn festival

~*~*Mid Autumn Festival*~*~

Been wanting to post this entry earlier, but since Sweetie passed away, i didnt feel it was appropriate to do so at the time.

I feel funny coming to work, and not being able to go check on Sweetie.

I hope she rests in peace in kitty heaven. I pray that her mum is alright and well too.

Yes, i know it's time to move on... I'm slowly getting used to the fact that she's no longer here.

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Moving on...I'm gonna post this entry to liven my mood up a little.

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Friday - 06102006 - in celebration of the 15th day of the 8th month of the year 2006 (lunar calendar)

Top left: Me getting ready to go to grandma's house to celebrate mid autumn festival. I was really excited, i even bought a tanglung (lantern) from a nearby grocery store at work.

Top right: Me and sis (Caryn) lighting our lanterns. It's so cool to relive our childhood!

My dad was such a good sport. He helped us to hang the lanterns by the a/c unit. How cool's that?! =)

Dad, me and sis (Claudine) with the colourful tanglungs.

My dad and mum. Aren't they loving?

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I'm a lil disappointed with the handiwork of the tanglungs nowadays. I remember back when i was a little girl, i used to admire the floral designs drawn on the lanterns. The details from this batch of lanterns were very lousy and so barely visible that you'll have to use a magnifying glass to see what was being scrawled on the lantern. tsk tsk..

One for the family.

One big happy family :)

I cherish this picture very much.

I realise that as I'm getting older, the ppl around me are getting older too (duh). I used to think that my parents nor my grandparents never aged. But everytime i look at their pictures, i see their hair getting a little more gray.

Papa and Gong-gong. The 2 most influential men in my life.

Lil cousin, sis and Poh-poh.

This is my fave part – lighting up candles and lanterns. There is no age discrimination whatsoever. =)

Meimei doin the “superman” pose. Ah boy was too shy to pose together eventhough the superman lantern actually belongs to him.

I dun remember seeing these kinda lanterns when I was a kid. Powerpuff girl? Superman? Cute character from Professor IQ?

Grandma worships the lady on the moon with these paraphernalia : mooncakes, pomelo, mini yam, fruits, Chinese tea, candles & joss sticks .

Was kinda disappointed as the moon wasn't visible at all that night. This is the night when the moon is supposed to be at its fullest and brightest. Thanks to the haze, there was no moon.

in loving memories of Sweetie

~*In loving memories of Sweetie*~

:(

I dunno where to start as I'm still in a daze from what happened.

As usual, Christine and i went to the emergency stairwell to feed Sweetie and her mum. But this morning, we were a little too late. When we reached the area where she normally resides, we saw that her box wasn't there anymore, and all the food and drink containers were empty. And we couldnt see Sweetie nor her mum. My first reaction was that someone might have thrown the cats out.

Upon closer investigation, the guard told us that our kitty has passed away. The cleaner told him earlier that the lil kitty has passed away in the box and that she has already removed her body. =(

And the mother was nowhere to be found. Christine and i reckon that she has probably left the place...it brings back sad memories now. i just dunno what to say nor feel. i'm so upset..in fact, i blame myself for not doing enough. why didnt i bring the cats to the vet to have a proper check up? why didnt i do that?

Poor Sweetie, she was so cute, adorable and clever. And we've even found a home for her...

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My dear Sweetie,

Though my time with you was only a short 1 week, I just wanna let you know that you have a very special place in my heart.

You have shown me so much, how something so small and frail could be so strong...

Just when i have fallen in love with you, you were taken away from me. I hope that you now rest in a better place. A place where there's only happiness and you need not suffer from sickness and pain anymore.

Sweetie, wherever you are, please know that i care about you and i miss you very much.

With lotsa love,
me

Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus

~*Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus*~

Got this very hilarious email from my colleague. It discerns the differences about man and woman.

Thought i'd share with you for your light-friday-reading pleasure.

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Woman as explained by a Radio Operator

Man : Operates with one switch..on and off whenever necessary

Woman: Too damn complicated. You gotta really learn and study to know which switch to hit. And although you thought you've mastered the keys, malfunctions may occur and the whole system may go haywire.

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Woman as explained by a military tactitian

Man: You assign them a task, they go Straight to the point. Mission is accomplished in the shortest time possible.

Woman: Normally deviates from the actual action plan. Give her ample time if you need her to complete a task.

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Woman as explained by a physicist

i dun agree with the fact that woman = problems. We women find men = troubles too.

Fact: It's the opposite attracts issue and it would take a long time for us to evolve and understand each other.

That's why Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus is still selling like hot-cakes.

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Woman as explained by a Chemist

Yeah, we have affinities towards rocks like diamonds and other precious stones - namely ruby, sapphires (pink especially), amethyst, etc, .

We very much enjoy the fact that we would have accumulated heaps of such stones over the years as our personal value evolve with time.

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Woman as explained by a Mathematician

haha! i have no freaking idea if this is true. Gotta ask my mum and grandma for their opinions.

Kitty cats

~*~*~*Kitty cats*~*~*~

We're getting more and more positive responses to our lil pet project =). It feels so good to know that there are so many caring ppl out there...

Words have been getting around that Christine and i go do our bouts of cat feeding at certain times during the day.

So excited coz more and more ppl are getting involved in our lil pet project.

Another colleague, Sook Wee has been bringing food (rice + fish, rice + chicken) to feed the cats.

And Sharifah, colleague from another dept, mentioned that she'd like to adopt the cats.

So today, we all together-gether went to feed the kitty cats...

And the lil kitten was so affectionate. As we all do not know if it's a she/he, Christine named the kitten "Sweetie".

So Sweetie was like looking at us talk, and huddled close to our feet. Very affectionate and sweet.

Here are the pix i promised...it's not that clear though. Took it using my phone..*sorry*

Sweetie likes to hide curled up here, by the edge of the stairs..which frightens me (it's at least 2 floors high). I fear that Sweetie might fall down. When i first found the kittens, they were all hiding here.

Sorry couldnt get a nice shot of the mummy. She's a pretty girl too. Sharifah is contemplating to adopt both the mother and the kitten. Bless that woman.

Morning feeding session

Christine stroking Sweetie

During our second trip today, we found Sweetie huddled in a corner. The mother cat wasn't around. So i guess Sweetie is trying to protect itself by hiding in the corner. Smart kitty!

Christine with Sweetie..such a sweet gesture! Sweetie loves to get close to us.

Sweetie indulging in Whiskas

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I cant wait till Sweetie is stronger. She/he's so frail and scrawny. It breaks my heart to know that Sweetie is so under-nourished. My intention is to ensure that both Sweetie and mother will not have to starve anymore.

Cant wait till Sharifah can take both of them home. She will only be taking them in until she's moved into her new home.

Oops..

~*~*~*Oops*~*~*~

Sorry it took me so long to rectify the problem with my piccies in the Adventures in UK
post. :p. Just wanna let you know that it's already been re-posted.

So here you go... Just click here


Enjoy. =)

Pet project

~*~*~*Pet project*~*~*~

In my new workplace, i've been allocated a parking space on the ground floor of the building.

However, all staff who park on the ground floor were required to park in Basement 2 (B2) last Thursday due to the fact that we had a huge event going on. All parkings on ground floor have been reserved for the event sponsors to park.

So, last thursday, i happily parked in B2 and not knowing whether to take the lift up or to take the stairs (cos not familiar mah), i took the nearest exit, which i found out was the stairs.

Whilst walking up, i smelled an unpleasant odour ...and then i heard meow-ing sounds.. and to my amazement, i found little kittens hiding themselves (or trying to) by holding on to the railings and curling themselves into tiny little balls.

i was pretty worried that they'll fall down the stairs (as it's pretty steep, not to mention them clinging onto the railing being a rather suicidal act) as they're so very tiny and frail...

And then i saw the mother cat, and she looked like she was prepared to attack should i lay my hands on the kittens and try doing anything funny..

As I was rushing to get to the office cos I was involved in the event and I wanted to ensure everything was in order, i left the place in a hurry. I didn't think too much about the cats anymore as i was too bogged down with work.

Also, i saw that some nice souls have actually given them food and water. That nice person(s) (most like cleaners) also made a box with a hole (so that the kittens can have easy access in and outta the box) laid with towels.


So the next day, my colleague Christine, whose workstation is near the stairs said she heard meow-ing sounds and i related the incident to her. We then decided to feed the cats.

We went to 7-11 and bought these :

We started feeding the kitties on Friday. I was pretty upset as there's only 1 kitten left, i'm not sure what happened to the other 3. I thought i saw at least 3/4 kittens the day before. i just hope that someone nice has adopted them. i cant bear knowing that they might have gone into the carpark and god knows what could have happened to these little defenseless thing.

Bought some potato bread and fed them sommore cat food on friday evening as i was worried that they'll have no food during the weekend.

Come Monday, both Christine and myself were eager to check on the cats. We were pretty upset when we realised that the door to the stairs on the ground floor was locked. So, we took another route to the basement. But to our disappointment, we couldnt open the door from the basement into where the cats are. When we asked the security guard, he said that becoz that exit is an emergency exit, the management has decided to lock it for security purposes.

Christine and i were both very mad. Why lock the emergency exit? Can they do that? OMG, can the mother cat come out and scour for food? What if she's gone out and has no way of getting in? Oh damn damn damn!!!

We told the guard our concerns and he reverted us to his boss. Thank God that man is very understanding and nice. He himself has no idea who locked the place. Damn...

So he unlocked the door for us..and we were relieved to see that both mother and kitty are okay.
It's good to see that they've eaten most of the bread and that they are well.

It's Wed today and the mummy is now pretty comfortable with us feeding her and the kitty. I've started stroking and craddling the two of them. Whilst we were talking, Christine was telling me that the lil kitty was looking up at me. That was so so cute :)..I'm gonna take their piccies tomorrow and post it here..

Moon cake craze...

~*~*Moon cake craze*~*~

It's all about the packaging these days, isn't it?

I remember most vividly that mooncakes back then usually came packed in red boxes, with a picture of two mooncakes, a moon, and some Chinese characters greeting the occasion.

This is about as traditional a packaging as you can get in the market nowadays. With the quest for all things cute/creative/classy to suit different people with different needs, there is a strong demand for packaging with a difference.

And I was exposed to these kind of lanterns when i was a kid

Now we have these kinda lanterns...

Powerpuff girl? Superman? ?? I remember we only had a choice of different type of animals to choose from (fish, rabbit, dragon, squirrel, etc). Now, kids can choose their fave cartoon characters as lanterns.

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Look around you, everything is so bloody commercialised...

Now almost every single bakery or self-deserving Chinese restaurant sells mooncakes or produce their own in-house mooncake for sale.

Just look at all these available mooncakes for sale…it’s absolutely crazy out there!!

Traditionally, only Chinese restaurants sell mooncakes.

Tai Thong

Hei Yuet Thong

Hei Yuet Thong

Kam Lun Tai

Kam Lun Tai

Now, even the infamous hoteliers sell mooncakes. And they're like so atas..RM20 for a piece of mooncake.

I like mooncakes from Mandarin Oriental, not too sweet. Melts in the mouth too.

Equatorial Hotel

Hilton

This box i damn like.

It's even crazier in HK..i remember seeing hello kitty, little twin star, forever friends mooncakes when i was in Sogo (Causeway bay) few years back...

I LoVE Hello Kitty!!!!

Now you can buy mooncakes from bakeries as well...

Baker's Cottage

King's Confectionary

And i heard that even Bread Story has its own line of mooncakes.

for coffee lovers..

If you don't like the conventional mooncakes out there...try Starbucks' tiramisu mooncake, good stuff!

..i didn’t quite like the greentea mooncake from Starbucks, it didnt taste that authentic.

And for ice-cream lovers...

there's nothing as heavenly as haagen dazs mooncake

Something fancy for the kids?

How about Tare panda mooncakes?

Or jelly mooncakes?You can even order mooncakes online and have it delivered to your loved ones...

There are so many packages to choose from..you can team your mooncakes with roses, lilies, orchids and whatnots, wines and... even a teddy bear!!

hrmm, i think it kinda takes away the fun of mooncake tasting and shopping. I'll still do it the traditional way.


Happy mooncake Mid Autumn festival everyone!