Cats

After many years of 'collecting' cats, live ones, the authorities caught up with her and like many others, had to place the cats in licensed pet hotels. To-date, she has 97 there, and paying monthly too. Yesterday, she called to let me know about some kittens she found. As her home is constantly being spot-checked for cats, she couldn't keep them there for much longer.
Looking back, to the times when I was doing 'rescue' work, it's thankless, time consuming and costly. The numbers never get smaller because we find cats with crushed limbs, sickly ones and those just too young to fend for themselves. Over the years, the ones I've rescued eventually passed on and I'm left with the one cat that started me on this learning journey into their psyche.
I wish I could adopt another from her, but I am working too much and time is not on my hands. Yet, I find that I'm just giving myself and her, another excuse. I gave up on fighting for this cause, because our society is just not matured enough to understand that like us, they are also fighting for survival - keeping them in pet farms is not the solution. It's been more than 10 years, since the sterilisation programme was widely publicised - have we really done better? I don't think so, because just a few days ago,in the Forum page, someone wrote in about kittens being run over by cars, probably because someone left them near the road. The writer found one with crushed limbs. Is this society progressing? No, it's selfishness, and it began because some felt that animals are not people, so they don't deserve to share this land. I guess, if some higher order species emerged, we should just volunteer to be put down or worse still, left to live the rest of our life in cages, with dreams of running free.

Bad drivers

Are parents doing enough in setting good examples of behaviour for their children? Sadly, I feel that more often than not, they forget. There was this driver, who obviously was in the wrong lane, during peak hours, trying to get to the exit on the far left, when she was in the far right lane, some 4 lanes across. She expected all other cars to give way to her by veering sharp leftwards. And when cars didn't, she wound down her window and waved her hands wildly in the air. In the first place, if a driver needed to filter out, why wait till less than 30m before deciding to switch lanes? To my horror, she had a 10 year old boy in the front seat. She clearly made an error in judgement yet she expected the rest of the car population to give way to her, just before the road split, when cars were already in a queue to filter out. That is bad behaviour, not just bad driving.
So if we wonder where the children are picking up poor social behaviour, it's almost obvious. When we make a mistake, we should apologise. When we need assistance, we should ask, not assume. When someone gives way to us, we should thank them, because we were in the wrong place to begin with. Stress is never an excuse, because every working adult is stressed, one way or the other. We should prefer to share the smiles and laughter, instead of spreading our bad days to people who really don't deserve to be on the receiving end. And, never in front of the children - they don't need to be part of the embarassment we are causing.

Weekend Cars

I have noticed that there are more weekend car owners using their cars, after 7am, without a valid coupon. It's an observation and I think these owners are just taking advantage of the system. At even 5 past seven, I see weekend cars cruising along Still Road - the road being narrow and it's obvious they didn't have that coupon there. For whatever reason that the drivers may give - the point is : they didn't pay to use the roads after 7am - so why should I let this rest when I do pay full road tax. And if we calculate the average speed that cars are travelling along the Central Expressway - when we see a weekend car there, on the fast lane, but obviously not able to travel even at 60km/h, we all know that they are not going to a parked position at 7am sharp.
There is no way, we can have the best of both worlds - if you want to use the roads, then please pay for the usage. It's not that I'm pro-fines or taxes - I'm just saying that if the rest of us can pay full road tax, why can't they if they want to use their cars anytime - It's a matter of principle. Sure, it's a gamble - if they get caught, then it's their own fault - but just how many do get caught? Because going by the numbers I'm seeing on the roads at that time of the morning - it's time the cops did something about it. I'm game to go bumper to bumper with the next car, if he paid the same taxes.
There are ways to save money, but this is cheating not just the LTA, but every car owner that doesn't have a red plate.

The new shoot

Finally, after endless waiting, the seeds sprouted. I have been waiting until I gave up - thinking that perhaps the birds had them for dessert. This plant, I don't know the specific name, is my 'childhood' shrub - bunga telang. I used to pick the bright, blue flowers for my Grandma to dry out. They used this as a food colouring those days. I don't have a garden, but I found a sunlit space for this trough.
If anything at all, this plant brings me back to a time when life was about collecting eggs, plucking fruit and catching spiders. When I saw the seedling this morning, I was overjoyed - not because the trough will now be put to good use, but at least, it will be the last thing I see, when leaving for work, and the first thing I set my eyes on when I get home.
For me, it's always the little things that drive me - it gives me a reason to keep going - If you keep looking from the same point of reference, there is no fresh angle. I need a fresh view every now and then, and if a little blue flower is going to give me that, then, a little blue flower it is! I'm not into surprises yet each new shoot brings with it, life -

therapy for me

Lately, I have been feeling 'under the weather'. I've resorted to sleeping way before 11pm and waking up even before the sun peeps from the horizon. My bones tell me that if I continue working and living in air-conditioned comfort, I'll have to wrap my entire self in a huge tokuhon medicated wrap! My skin is drying, and the amount of body milk I use, is almost too much to admit.
I was looking at shoes yesterday, and instead of admiring the fit, I went "oh shucks, i need to some body milk for my foot!". Perhaps it's vanity that got the better of me, but I don't have time for that on a realistic level.
So, let me just find the ray of sunshine for myself - in a new pair of shoes or maybe even a new tub of body milk. That should keep my spirits up a little, at least for a bit. It's not retail therapy, it's just being able to act on impulse.

Pedestrians and Taxis

There was this topic on radio this morning, about pedestrians and taxi drivers. Pedestrians stopping a taxi at a bad spot - Taxis going out of their way to pick up the passenger. I had someone say to me, it's the pedestrians fault because they are not drivers. That, is a load of crap. When a person crosses the road without regard about road safety - we never say it's because he doesn't have a driving license. When a licensed driver overtakes without signalling, it's definately not because he doesn't have a driving license. It boils down to Safety Consciousness for us and the people around us. It's being considerate of others, which is so lacking in society these days. We are always in a rush, climbing over the heads and backs of others to get ahead, without regard. Thankfully, that is common behaviour for some and not all.
So, for the licensed and unlicensed road users, think, before you make a dash lest that cost another his life or livelihood. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. So whether in speech, argument or action, THINK. It doesn't take us a lifetime to THINK about the 'reaction' - of course if one cannot THINK then you only have yourself to blame for taking the easy way out.

Blood is Thicker than Water?

How do we start afresh, when people from the past keeps popping up and asking for an update? I met an old friend this morning - my ex-schoolmate, who was a neighbour's boyfriend. It's been eons since we last met - and so much have changed in my life. They asked, how were my kids..and I went, you mean my son? And she looked confused. Rightfully so, because how do we get from two to one?
I don't believe in blanking out issues - only because it happened and we should face up to it. But in this case, I'd rather not comment, and leave the blanks for them to fill. Most people are horrified that I have casually altered an equation to suit my needs. It took anger, regret and strength to get to where I am today - functional. I had to decide on difficult choices, just to keep myself from drowning in the pool of lies, created by a malicious genetic anomaly in a phenotype that lives and breathes IN MY SPHERE. She was like a tumour, malignant - spreading itself slowly, under cloak.
"Blood is thicker than water", I wish for it to be true, so that I can go on with my life knowing that IT never had half my blood, because if IT did, then I've just proven that saying to be wrong.

Over our heads

What can we possibly do about people who consistently have the desire to go way over our heads?
Professionally, it's a tough call, since people who behave that way, apparently aren't bothered about being unprofessional. They must be so clueless about creativity, originality and probably have no sense of pride in their work at all - to be in this rock bottom situation.
Should we feel apologetic for such people?
I don't.
I don't because everyone has a situation they are dealing with at some point or another. This is not about friends being bitchy with each other on a bad day it's about glory-seeking individuals in an innocent-looking package.
What should I do?
Today, I feel like putting that package into the shredder.
Such behaviour is unacceptable - you reap what you sow, not what your neighbours slogged over.

Everyday I think about whether I made the correct decision to go back to a 9 to 6 job. I'm on a disciplined shift - I used to work flexi hours - which on hindsight, so flexi that I only worked about half a day - yet I could manage my budget. These days, I'm spending more time working - but nothing else has changed much in terms of real income.
I'm about to throw in the towel and go back to flexi hours - simply because it's not worth the effort - whatever I do now, is not going to ever matter to my wallet at all - and the worst part of it all is, I'm not even in social services where there is a bigger picture!
SO, let's see where this train of thought will take me - perhaps I'll pave a highway, to zip out of mere corporate boredom.