Living With Wolves

I learnt about wolves yesterday.

I watched part of a Discovery programme titled “Living With Wolves”.

It was eye-opening. I’d always know wolves lived in packs but I didn’t know the pack structure was so complicated. The Dutchers, Jamie and Jim, a couple working on documenting and researching wolves, lived with a pack of wolves for almost 6 years to make the documentary. It was awe-inspiring to witness their love and concern for the wolves. And even more surprising, the wolves’ attachment to them.

I learned that:

1. There are alpha, beta and omega wolves. Alpha, is of course, the pack leader, omega the loser whom everyone bullies and the beta, who is the caretaker and minder of all the wolf cubs.


2. Wolves mate for life and there can only be one pair that reproduces within the pack, and that’s usually the alpha pair.


3. An omega wolf can elevate its status out of being the omega to be a regular wolf.


4. The pack is really a tight knit family and their communication system is quite complex. Barks, howls, non-verbal and body gestures, the whole works.


5. The wolves really are so adorable!! Thick fluffy fur with distinct markings, each with their own distinct personalities.


6. Their fur is so thick that no amount of heat escapes it during winter. They can romp and frolic in the worst of conditions and the snow would still not melt if it stuck on their fur.


7. There are black wolves (somehow always thought they were brownish, grayish)!

It was a very informative programme and I loved it if only to watch the wolves and their interaction among each other. They really are soooo adorable. Even though we know they are hunters and carnivores. It just strengthened my conviction that animals are so much more complex but more deserving of this big wide world than humans are.  Why? They don’t go about destroying or using up limited resources for their own benefit.

Actually, we two-legged beings can learn a lot from the rest of the four-, eight- and many-legged or winged friends out there.

My Life So Far

BOOK FRENZY
Been buried in my books, I LURV them SO MUCH! To the exclusion of human contact. Crazy, crazy. I leave them in the car with me so that I can read them when I'm stuck in a jam. I lugged one (hardcover) with me all the way to and back from Singapore. I love the smell of my new books; I love the feel of the crisp pages; I love the fonts and text used; I love, I love, I LOVE! I also have a new favourite author. In another blog entry I will rave more about him.

BACK AND KNEE
I went to bed on Wednesday with a lower back pain. I woke up Thursday morning crying out with pain trying to get out of bed. My back was shot. I couldn't bend forward without screaming. So I called Merv for SOS. He sent me to his physiotherapist, Mrs. Wong. I discovered, it's my left knee that's the culprit: fluids & swelling. She also told me that my spine is curved to the left, so left hip is lower than right and shoulder lopsided. I have exercises to execute and a mission to stuff an insert into my left shoe. Oh, and to see her again Saturday to get the back treated this time. Thursday & Friday were just the knee.

Well, there goes salsa.

CONNECTION
I still don't have streamyx and am on a waiting list.

FINANCIAL STATE
Bad.

WORK
I am running around much more these days. And happier for it. Being out in the market is GOOD.

FURBALLS
Pixel now has his third spot of ringworm. The first is now filling up with fur, the second is still bald and the third is getting better. Only because I got him the watchamacallit collar and subject him to abject torture for at least an hour a day.

Meg still tries to sleep on my pillow.

Trixie knows how to head up to the room and bask on her chair in the coolness of the airconditioning when we turn in on.

All three love their new catfood to bits: it's a combination of a little of what's left of their old food (10%), Tuffy's (which I think must be tasty coz they gobble everything up; 65%), and Royal Canine's Furball Formula (25%).

MyKad

Whhoooooeeee!!

Picked up my new MyKad today. Yes, I am one of those that left it till the last minute to do the job. And I had to drive all the way into the boondocks of Kota Damansara to get it. Luckily I was smart enough to ask the JPN people there for directions over the phone before I went. I would have ended up in Timbuktu if I hadn't.

Small Idol

I have to give it to Daniel. I never thought he’d make it through.

Granted, I didn’t give this Malaysian Idol as much time as I did the first one. Imagine my reaction when I found out he’d won over the girl (what’s her name?).

He must have a lot of fans, most of which I bet are Chinese schoolgirls.

Recently though, I’ve been catching his single, Mimpi, on air quite a bit. I must say, for someone I didn’t think could sing all that well, the song showcases his voice very, very well. He actually sounds extremely pleasant on air and the song is honey-coated pop. It’s all very well executed and a delight to listen to.

Wow, so Daniel may really have a shot at stardom. Amazing.

uPod, iPod, wePod!

We’ve gone and done it!

We got ourselves an iPod!!

Comes with the works: dock, splitter, case, like I said, the works.

40GB worth of space for all the songs we could possibly want to listen to.

The only problem I foresee: who uses it when?

Fever

The furballs have fever. And I gave it to them. Well, technically the vet did. We took them for their shots yesterday and it wasn’t till then that I discovered that the vaccine is actually a virus. It causes a fever which in turn helps the furballs build immunity towards the virus. No wonder the furballs are usually quiet and lifeless after their shots.

Meg and the boy went straight to bed after their shots. Slept the few hours straight through. The girl was more lively; she came downstairs in the evening, walked about and stretched her legs. By night however, she was zonked out. Lifeless and sick. I felt all their furry bodies and hers was the warmest. Delayed reaction on her part. By night, the boy was back to his normal self and moving about.

The two brown cows shared Trixie’s furry chair and by this morning, she was still sick. I had to carry her down for breakfast, but she refused to eat. Instead she curled up under the dining chair and squeaked everytime I picked her up.

I hope she gets better later today.

State of Mind

• I drove through the Smartag lane at the toll booths without my Smart tag on yesterday. Luckily I was not driving at my usual speed but was


• Last Friday, I drove home from the office with the intention of dropping my Crumpler and T41 home before I headed out for dinner and salsa. The main other objective of heading home were to feed the cats. I had no problems with Number 2. I plain forgot about Objective #1 and headed to dinner with the blinking Crumpler sitting in the trunk.


• Heading towards a stoplight, a friend tells me to turn right. My brain is high on exhaustion and doesn’t register that or hears a ‘left’ instead of ‘right’. I head left. Friend says right again. I still head left until at the very last minute I realize what I’m doing. “Oh Shit!!” Too late. We’ve gone left.

Moonlight Sonata

I feel like I’m in a funk.

This brings back memories of days when I’d feel depressed in college or uni. Here’s what I’d imagine would be happening to me when everything in my life seemed to go awry. I’d put on the CD and lie on the bed and envision this for real:

Imagine Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata imbuing the room with ambience. Low lights, or no lights is ok. But it’s in the late evening and it’s a haunting tune, Moonlight Sonata. Perfect for the occasion. I’ve got the tealights and candles burning and I’m surrounded by them; on the floor, on the shelves, near the bed, on the table.

I’m on the bed. Dressed, of course. I’m lying diagonally across the bed. My arms are flung wide. My right wrist hangs over the edge of the bed. Blood seeps from the cut I’ve made on my wrist. It’s a deep enough gash to let the blood push through broken skin and trickle steadily through, dripping down. Down onto the carpet, creating a growing puddle of crimson.

My eyes are open and I can see the ceiling fan rotating overhead. I can still wriggle my toes, I can move my left fingers a little. But moving the right fingers is a bit tricky. They’re starting to feel numb. The blood is flowing faster on my right arm. I turn my head left and then move it to the right, then back to looking at the fan. The longer I lie there the more effort I need to move bits and pieces of my body. The fan keeps on spinning, blowing my fringe across my forehead, fluttering the thin cotton of my shorts.

I feel very little pain, but I know the life force is draining out of me. Slowly, surely. Drip, drip, drip. It takes a while but I feel sleepy, tired, so tired. Drip, drip. My eyes start to lose focus, I try to keep them open. It takes too much energy. Drip. I can feel my breathing start to slow. Drip. A few more breaths, another haunting note. Drip. Drip.

The blood keeps on dripping as the Moonlight Sonata fades and what’s left of me is just a shell. Vacant. Lifeless.

What now, brown cow?

I finished my stash of books from the other day.

I feel like a fish out of water. No more books to read. Well, technically there're a load more of books out there to read. But I don't feel like reading what's available.

Out of desperation, I picked up Stephen King's The Stand from the bathroom floor and started thumbing through that while on the throne. The first chapter somewhat caught my interest. But the sheer thickness of the book is daunting: I swear it's gotta be about 2-3 inches thick, gack!

I am waiting for my Erotica to get here. And my Jill Solloway too. I think I'll drop an email to Kino and see if they're here.

I have this inane urge to dig up Luna from one of the buried boxes in the study. Everytime I open the door and step in there, I chicken out. I know I must read it at least once more before I hand it to Sasha.

Hang on! Sasha just passed me her Banana Yoshimoto. I think I'll take a look at that one.

Sigh...nothing to read...sigh...

Seven

So I guess it’s my turn after being tagged by Sasha…

Here goes:


Seven things I plan to do before I die:

• Write and complete a book, preferably a YA fiction or kiddy book.


• Visit the rest of Asia, preferably travel the Silk Road; and also visit at least one of the islands in Greece and when that’s done, visit the rest of the world.


• Hopefully my ears will be fully recovered and patched up so I can jump into the sea and go scuba diving or swimming.


• Contribute to the animal cause: do something to rid the earth of useless humans who harm animals; help find homes for stray cats; go on a rampage together with like-minded humans and bring those wildlife poachers to justice (and see how they’d like their balls or penises chopped off because consuming them makes for a good aphrodisiac).


• Choose one of my many interests and try to concentrate on just one or two till I become really good at it and hopefully make big bucks from it or win an award or something (yeah right, hahahahah!!).


• To be fluent in another language, and since I already have some knowledge of the Japanese language, I suppose I’d choose that to be fluent in. It would be too ambitious to say I’d like to be fluent in Mandarin.


• Figure out what I want to do with my life and how to live happy.

Seven things I could do:

• Be more patient.


• Be nicer to my family.


• Work harder (or smarter) and make more money.


• Actually start work on that book I’m planning to write.


• Be more organized.


• Complain less, suck it up, and just do it (whatever it is that needs to be done).


• Be a better leader.

Seven celebrity crushes:

• Johnny Depp


• Gary Sinise (must be all his military/men-in-uniform roles)


• Viggo Mortensen (but only in LOTR and when he’s all scruffy)


• Julian McMahon (yummmm…anytime good or bad.)


• Liam Neeson


• Harry Connick Jr. (the man can croon!!)


• Ewan McGregor

Seven often repeated words:
(note: I usually utter strange unintelligible sounds. Words are used only when necessary.)

• Duh


• Aiyoh


• What the..???


• Fucking Asshole!! (only in the car or when parental units are not around)


• What lah you?!


• …you see.


• Erbeduh!

Seven physical traits that I look for in the opposite sex:

• Nice eyes


• Nice complexion (can’t imagine snogging a guy with a pimple-ridden face).


• Not too tubby but not thin as a rake either, can’t stand skinny guys. Athletic build would be ideal but we all know that’s like asking for the sky.


• Nice smile, hearty laugh.


• Average or more than average looking (intelligence is great but if you look like Gollum, sorry, I don’t think my mind will remain as interested. Sad to say, but ‘tis the truth.)


• Hands. I’d have to agree with Sasha here. If a man can’t keep his hands and his nails in good condition, I don’t want him touching me. Somehow the shape of the nails plays a part too. I may sound like a freak, but somehow short, stubby-shaped nails turn me off.


• A rich, deep voice.

Seven things I do to make myself happy:

• Read lots of YA fiction or flip through picture books.


• Play with my cats.


• Listen to and blast my rock or latin music


• Salsa


• Go for a session (or more) of retail therapy.


• Eat lots of ice cream


• Look for and hang out with friends.

So in retrospect, I think my sevens list is just as, if not lamer than Sasha’s.


Oh, and for my part, I’m tagging Chin Lai, Ai Ling, June (if she’s reading this), Wendy, Sam, the hubby…anyone else who feels like it lah. Heheh.