siaoyin's Xanga

Work and Cookie

Sun, 08 Jul 2007 15:14:18 GMT

Hey all,
Sorry for the lack of updates, working life killed my social life and the free time I get seemed to precious to blog. It's been 2 weeks already and boy, do i miss my student life. All I wanna do after I get home is watch tv and sleep. People at my work place are too hardworking, going in at 8am and leaving at around 7 pm. They even work till 4pm on Sat. As for me, I try to seem hardworking la..but I quickly flee whenever I can and usually reach home around 7pm.

The 1st week, I had to observe them implement lean management to 1 of the production lines...I had to stay till 9 pm..Wah, I literally could just fall asleep standing up. I now understand why Andrew and Andy don't seem to wanna talk much after work. I still cannot get use to sleeping early so I don't get enough sleep during the week and by Sat, I'm like a walking zombie.

This is my office at 8.15 am...I know..I can't believe I can get there so early myself.

I did hope to get to know some interesting people at work...but my colleagues are all older and the few younger ones are very quiet and keep to themselves most of the time. Oh well~at least Siao Khee is still following me to work now while waiting for her job applications in SG to go through. We have to share a desk and fight over who gets to surf the net :(

I'm very excited about Nike sending down their designers and fit models down from Europe end of this month. I think I will look forward to work more then. But so far work is ok, I get to learn different things all the time and since I am not committed, there is no pressure. I also get to see new designs for next year, but too bad I'm not a sporty kinda person, see already also don't wear.

As for the dog-Cookie, he is as obnoxious as ever, everyday barking the house down. He got a new haircut...which is okla...cannot complain. At least he now feels cooler. The weather has been horrible last week...The whole of Penang was covered in haze, thanks to the tree burnings in Indonesia...again.

Ooh, today my dad had enough of Cookie thinking he's the boss of the house and decided to let Ben & Michelle into the house to scare Cookie a bit. How to know..the boy managed to piss Michelle off within the first 3 seconds and she bit his ear and refused to let go....wahahhahaha. We had to break them apart, and this Cookie thinking he very brave started scolding and screaming his head off when I carried him away, like he still wanna go back n fight. Please lor, Michelle is like twice his size...this dog really no brains a bit. So project "Get Cookie, Ben & Michelle to be Friends" has failed once again. My dad had to shoo them out after not even a minute.

Later, I discovered that Michelle actually drew blood....poor Cookie had a few puncture marks on his ear.
sorry for the blurred pic :P
I wanna feel sorry for him, but then again he really brought it on himself la. I think Michelle really cannot stand him now, she never bite until so serious before. Uh oh!! So, we're thinking of getting the dog trainer/groomer who's my mom's friend to come try get Cookie to make friends with Ben & Michelle soon.

See la...dogs giving me so much trouble....*grumble grumble...*mutter mutter...

I got a job!

Tue, 19 Jun 2007 19:05:08 GMT

I have finally stopped moping around at home and started going out a lot more..which also explains my lack of updates.

I finally got a temporary job as a Management Trainee in my cousin's garment factory. I start next week and my working hours are 8.30- 4.45 Mon-Fri and 8.30-1pm on Sat...boohoohoo..I have to work Saturdays, which is like my fav day of the week. It also takes me 1 hour to drive to work as the factory is all the way on mainland- Butterworth. Yay..can't wait!!!(u can tell i'm being sarcastic right?)

I'm feeling very nervous about starting...since u knowla..working for family...and there are certain expectations. Oh well...this is just for a coupla months until Andy comes back and we decide where to go from there. The job will be good learning experience...so i hope everything goes well.

On other dog news, Cookie and Lady are getting along fine now. They are so cute. In the car they expect me to be their car seat. So I would sit there with Cookie cradled in the right arm, Lady in my left arm and their butts overlapping in the middle. Lady likes to be cheeky and sometimes deliberately face the same direction as Cookie. He would get pissed and growl at her...then she purposely lie on top of him summore...:D

Oh..Ben and Michelle are good friends again now...they forgot all about the fight the next day. I still look at my hands and grumble...

Dog fights and battle wounds.

Tue, 19 Jun 2007 18:46:27 GMT

Last week, Ben and Michelle had a huge fight with each other....and I got bitten. :(
It all started with Michelle digging through the trash and hogging this bag of chicken bones she found. Cookie smelt CHICKEN and snapped at her through the partition. Ben wanted some as well, but Michelle snapped at him. Poor Ben, always kena bully by Michelle.

My sister hollered at my maid to grab the chicken bones away...coz they might choke on them. (Cooked chicken bones are dangerous as they are small and brittle and can lodge in dogs' throats) I distracted them with doggy snacks. Michelle got really angry when my maid took the bag away, and dunno why Ben got pissed as well. I think underneath his cute silly exterior lies a huge mountain of fury. They both just started biting at each other...sinking their teeth at each others necks and basically whatever they could latch on. They were both so furious!!

I was horrified..I mean I've seen them fight before but never this ferociously and for so long. It must have been for more than 5 long minutes of biting and shoving each other on the ground, knocking over plants and breaking the pots. I decided to do something about it after seeing each of them drawing blood all over. I have seriously never seen animals fight so fiercely in real life before and was so scared they were gonna kill each other or at least seriously injure each other. I went out and started hitting them with newspapers, (I was panicking and at a lost..wanted to throw water at them..but could not find any water to throw)

They still bite and shoved and mauled and growled and snapped at each other everywhere. I couldn't even pull them apart, their teeth were latched onto each other's flesh and they refused to let go. When I finally could pull one apart, the other would take the opportunity to attack again. Man...I got scratched and bitten...the worse was when dunno which dog sank its fangs right into my fourth finger which resulted in a huge gaping hole...by then I was visibly traumatised. They simply refused to stop fighting. (If u are wondering what the small dogs are doing at this point, they are barking furiously at the side, adding to the commotion. Cookie wanted to charge as well...stupid anot..had to put him in his cage.)

To make matters worse, my sister and my maid were just looking horrified at the side...dumbfounded!

Finally my sister came to her senses....(luckily my mom came back) and we managed to pry them apart...although Michelle still refused to let go of Ben's back. I think after fighting for so long they were tired. Ok..at this time, my hands were stained with blood, both mine and the dogs....man was I still in shock..actually felt like puking.

I had to clean their wounds with antiseptic lotion summore..luckily all were superficial wounds. Michelle got it worse, the flesh around her neck were raw. She had a wound on her cheek, and more on her legs. Ben, being bigger and stronger than her just had minor wounds everywhere. After washing and treating their wounds then I could tend to me and boy...was I pissed!

I had over 12 fang marks on my hands, a finger that is as swollen as a sausage and bruises on my legs.(Ok..my wounds look worse in real life than the pics) Summore I had to get a freakin tetanus shot after that made my other arm feel like a punching bag. I was not a happy girl that day.....

Now my bruises have turned green along with my sausage finger...I just look like I have gangrene.

Warning!

Wed, 13 Jun 2007 17:13:39 GMT

Behold, the face of deception and all things evil!

Cookie is really giving me a handful nowadays. I think its coz he knows he is cute and that his "cuteness" will get him out of trouble. I have always been convinced that he's more cunning than he looks. Even in Melbourne when he will exploit his cuteness to the max, esp in front of Andy. Everyone assumes Cookie is a silly, happy, easily excitable dog without balls (literally) that will definitely get bullied by other dogs. (I mean he does look silly and tends to cry a lot) At least thats what we thought before we brought him back!

Now I have confirmation that Cookie is so much smarter than he looks.He bosses all the other dogs around : he has to be first to enter a room (rudely pushes Lady out of the way), he has to be first to eat and he has to eat the most! He has to be the first to bark whenever someone comes home and the first to greet whoever comes in the door. He has to be the first for everything!!!!He freakin scolds Ben and Michelle for barking..not realising he barks more than them by doing that. Every bark that comes out of Ben or Michelle's mouth, there are 20 more barks waiting to be let out of this boy's mouth. I could kill him, especially when this happens at 6 am when he insists to be let out to (sigh) greet my maid. He is also super kaypo..has to be everywhere all the time. He guards the stairs protectively and sleeps right in front of the stairs during the afternoons so that he can boss both the people(& dogs) upstairs and downstairs when needed.

Anyways, this incident totally confirmed my suspicions. The other night, Cookie was already sleeping peacefully when Lady wanted to be let in. She was in my parents' room before. As she is so tiny, she always have to be carried up onto my bed. She lets me knows she wants to be let up by standing up and leaning her front paws on the side of my bed. Cookie jumped off the bed as I was letting Lady in just coz he was kaypo and wanted to see who was at the door. Upon seeing me carry Lady up on the bed, Cookie looked at me forlornly and then FREAKIN PRETENDED HE COULDN"T JUMP UP on the bed. He pretended to make several half hearted attempts to jump and then showed me how he just couldn't and didn't have the strength to do it. He then looked at me with his innocent eyes and whined. I looked at him, dunno whether to laugh or cry and had to carry him up on the bed as well. After that, then he kam luan and went back to sleep.

Later that day...after whacking him for barking too much at Ben and Michelle, I sat down on the sofa in the living room. I called out to Ben who was walking pass outside and Cookie beh kam luan again!! He immediately jumped onto the sofa and climbed onto my lap!! As if to show off to Ben that he's the boss and the most lovable dog in the house. You tell me this dog cunning anot!!

I do admit I forgive him easily because he does look so CUTE, esp when he gives me his guilty and sorry face.

Maybe thats why he thinks he's the boss of me...:(

Cookie- a superhero's story

Sun, 10 Jun 2007 07:35:02 GMT

Everyone then lived happily ever after...~The End~

Short & Silly

Sun, 10 Jun 2007 06:15:40 GMT

Went for Yoga class this morning. We usually start out the class with a brief 5 minute meditation in the Lotus pose.
During this time, our instructor who's from India, would play calm, soothing, spiritual indian/hindi music.

Today he used a different song with this lady singing:
"Cibai, cibai, cibai, cibai...ma leh cibai...cibai cibai...."

WAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHA...I almost died.

Lady's 12th Birthday

Fri, 08 Jun 2007 06:22:14 GMT

Yesterday was Lady's birthday. She is a grand 12 years old...which means she is a total of 84 doggy years. She is still as active as ever, scurrying up and down the stairs. Unfortunately, her teeth has started to gave way and she can no longer take down too solid foods. She has been with me all through my high school years, comforting me during the difficult teenage years I had growing up.

She used to protect me whenever my parents got on my case by barking at them and snapping at their heels. It always ended up with my mom and Lady screaming at each other instead of me. I remember the first time I saw her..she was a small black bundle of fur that fitted nicely in my palm. Lady is a pure bred Yorkshire terrier flown in from Australia. She has a prestigious pedigree, coming from a long line of dog show champions and even has the certificates to prove for it. Her name on her birth cert was actually "Havago Golden Faye". So cool right? Her ancestors had names like "Silverbelle Tigerlily" and "Bluesteel something something"- I cannot remember, but they all sound posh.

Unfortunately, her staying with us has kinda lowered her status quite a bit. She always had unkept hair..looked more like a giant dust bunny than a show dog. She is the greediest dog you can find, can count on her to zoom in on your straight away whenever you have food.

Check out how she gobbled her "birthday cake" down.

*Happy Birthday Lady* & may she have many more happy years to come.

The Siaoyin & Cookie Newsletter (Issue 6)

Wed, 06 Jun 2007 14:00:46 GMT

Dear all,
Cookie used Lady as a pillow the night before. She got so mad...started kicking his head off her. Cookie stupidly still moved his head closer to her after that and closed his eyes, much to Lady's indignance.

Last night, when Cookie was sound asleep on his back with his tummy bared, Lady purposely trod all across his stomach to get to the other side of the bed. She could have easily walked around him, but she simply refused to. Cookie then woke up with a start, glared at Lady in disbelief and came to lie down right beside me.

Lady is also very curious whenever Cookie starts licking is paws vigourously. She also wants to eat whatever he's eating.

Cookie now feels he has a lot to prove. He wants to prove he can bark louder and faster than all the other dogs. He barks the house down when people come over and scold Ben and Michelle for barking along with him. He can also eat faster, gobbling his and Lady's food down. (We had to feed Lady again when Cookie went upstairs.) He also wants to prove he can pee and poo as much as Lady. When she pees, he has to anyhow squeeze out a few droplets. As soon as my maid finishes clearing the mess, another one happens right before her very eyes. I feel so bad for her, I scurried upstairs. I think she is secretly plotting her revenge on me for bringing Cookie home.

I am very upset today. I was unpacking my precious Ikea bedside lamp that I had flown thousands and thousands of miles back to Penang. I was so happy it arrived in perfect condition as I had stuck "Fragile" on the box. Then as soon as I took it out of the box, I @#$%@ dropped it and it broke in half. You tell me, what is the point of spending all that time and money packing and sending the lamp back only to !@#%@%^#$%^ break it as soon as I took it out. KNNCB leh!

Show you all something...

We all know how Andy feels about unhealthy fast food. But there was a time when Andy would eat McDonalds every day for almost a month just to collect every Sesame Street character for me. So sweet hor! Now I ask him to go, he makes so much noise that I'd rather just eat wholemeal, low G.I bread.

The Secret...(to great hair)

Tue, 05 Jun 2007 14:15:55 GMT

Siao Yin has always had a problem with unmanageable, unruly, unsightly hair. She has been told that she resembles Cousin It from the Addams Family by rude strangers. She has also been known to bang into walls and fall into drains because her thick frizzy hair is all over the place and affects her vision...in fact all of her vision.

She always glances over at her lusty friend-Ben's hair, filled with envy. Her only wish was to one day have great, manageable hair with side parting, just like Ben. One drunken night, she accidentally blurbed out her agony to Ben. Ben, being an extraordinarily generous being, and was also very drunk himself, revealed his secret to her.

The secret was : A ceramic, ionic hair dryer, and a titanium plated, heat controlled hair straightener that can curl as well.

Siao Yin, being jobless and all, immediately begged her mom to buy her the closest hair dryer she can find.

Voila! Introducing the all powerful Super Max-8500 (No ionic or ceramic unfortunately and a lot cheaper rip off of Ben's amazing hairdryer. But it will have to do for now. And the all amazing titanium plated hair straighter that can curl as well.

The result was astonishing! Although Siao Yin hair is still not as great
as Ben's, she is happy with the amazing results. Now she can have sleek, manageable hair with side parting any time she wants!

Thank you Ben, for sharing this secret with her. Siao Yin's life has completely changed since. She is now a confident young woman, ready to take on the world!

Now she can do this all she wants. Everyday is a great hair day, thanks to "The Secret."

The Siaoyin & Cookie Newsletter (Issue 5)

Mon, 04 Jun 2007 05:44:55 GMT

Dear all,
On Saturday, Cookie met up with Andy's side of the family. Aside from meeting regular human people, he also met Didi- a dark brown Silky Terrier x Shih Tzu and Candy- a Shih Tzu. I am very proud to say, Cookie is the handsomest dog there.

At Andy's house, Cookie ran up, down and around as usual while the other dogs simply ignored him. It was peaceful as each dog kept to themselves and didn't wanna play or fight. Just an occasional butt sniff was suffice to them. Poor Cookie was limping that day, running on 3 legs. I have no idea how he sprained his leg, must be from running and jumping around (showing off to Lady) all the time in my house. His PR campaign taking a toll on him. Luckily Andy's uncle was there to massage the boy's leg. (Suyi: You can picture his "high high" face here) He is back to normal now. We're thinking maybe he faked it to get more attention and love.

He tasted curry chicken for the first time as well. I dropped a piece of Andy's granma's homemade curry chicken on the floor and before he saw what it was, he had already gulped it down. I think he was happy at Andy's house coz everyone gave him so much attention. (Except for Andy's dad, coz he feels extremely partial to Didi)
Oh, he also finished all of Candy's food.

Cookie is fast becoming a jealous dog, much to my dismay. He now likes to scold Ben and Michelle for nothing and snatches Lady's food. When Lady comes to greet us first, he pounces in front of her from behind and shoves his bum into her face. I had to whack him with newspapers to get him to stop annoying the other dogs. Yesterday when he was arguing with Ben over who has nicer hair, Cookie even stuck his head out and snap at Ben's paws. Poor frustrated Ben cannot get to him through the partition. I tell you, if ever anyone accidentally lets Ben or Michelle into the house, I don't know where or how Cookie is going to run.

In an effort to make all my fat dogs lose weight, my mom prepares brown rice cooked with brocolli, carrots, garlic (to ward off fleas and vampires) and some meat every day as dinner. Cookie was at first unsure of how to eat rice, but has now gotten the hang of it and even finishes Lady's food. My mom complained of Cookie being such a messy eater, his food is always scattered all over the floor. Lady has to clean up after him. She so clever!

As Cookie is such a trusting dog, he falls asleep anywhere and everywhere: in front of the door, on the steps, on my mom's place in the sofa, the study room, the living room, the kitchen, the corridors...So picture everyone in my house constantly almost tripping over him.

As for me, I finally got tired of moping around and went out...I have managed to unpack more boxes and am running out of space already. I look at my nice Melbourne clothes, all proud and happy, but then I have no where to wear them to. Its so different here, people dress down and really ugly (I'm sorry but its true). I went to Queensbay Mall - Penang's newest and hippest mall. (got all the brands and cafes ok- Gap, MNG, Topshop, Starbucks, TGI etc etc..) Looking around, I see people dressed in the most distasteful outfits. Stone washed jeans with a million zippers on them, tie-dyed spaghetti straps covered in gaudy lace, huge plateform shoes worn by women with really long tacky coloured toenails. Guys decked in tight shirts, funky necklaces, fishermen shorts, sports sandals *shudder, reflective purple coloured sunnies...Its not like we don't have nice clothing brands here, but maybe to them what they are wearing IS fashionable.

Of couse there are well dressed people around..just that they are the minority. Very different from Melbourne where almost everyone is well groomed and stylishly dressed. In Melbourne, I always make sure to wear nice nice and put on at least concealer, even if to go to the bank. Here, people just don't bother and even look at you funny if you wear too nice. I guess I"m noticing the differences now that I"m back for good and have to belong to this society here. Before that on my holidays, I didn't care as I knew I was going back to Melbourne and be a part of something bigger and better. Ahhh..@#$% it!

Till next time, Cookie sends his love in the form of a blanched broccoli. I'm missing u guys heaps.