Love is...

... not eating the very last ferrero rocher in the box because he might want it later.



Hopefully, love is also about saying, Aww. How sweet. That's alright dear, I don't want it, you go ahead and have it...

or at least, How sweet of you, lets share it! :)

Fun with digital paints!

Found a nifty little painting tool called ArtRage by Ambient Design.

Mostly intuitive, and user-friendly. Good for a bit of fun!
No doubt those more aesthetically developed may find better uses for it. :)

Dude, where's the cheese?

Puppy origami

I made this for Bear on the first day of Chinese New Year. Instructions can be found here. Isn't it cute and surprisingly recognisable? :) It's presently guarding his computer.



I still think it's funny that before I met Bear, Qiao used to muse about getting a labrador and calling it Salmon, or Sam for short, and then I went and met Bear, who's born in the year of the dog, and is actually called Salmon. That's right, Bear Salmon is his name. hahahahaha. No. But yes. And its also funny because Bear used to have a labrador called Sam, short for Samantha when he was little. Then again, maybe it's not so much of a coincidence since all labradors are called Sam anyway. Well alright, most. Maybe just many. But undeniably, that is The Name for labradors.

Now Qiao just has to keep an eye out for a guy born in the year of the rat, presumably called Monsieur Camembert!

Rattie update

Bear and I may just have had enough of vet visits. We thought this a month ago, but what else can you do when your little loves get sick and you don't know what to do? Kimi the brave was going downhill day before yesterday, and breathing with difficulty and, what was more telling, he was stroppy and upset, shoving things away and pushing us away which is completely unlike him. So we brought him at night to the emergency vet hospital, where he had to stay overnight, alone! Sitting by himself in an oxygen tank, trying to breathe and getting injected with diuretics every hour or so. Not to mention the shocking amount we were quoted for his care by the vet on duty. Thank goodness Bear is solvent.

Anyway, we were sick with worry, not only for his health but also for leaving him alone, so we got up at 5am and went and got him. Luckily, he was feeling better, not back to normal by any stretch of imagination, but calmer, and we took him home with new meds and instructions. Sigh! Unfortunately, heart failure is progressive and sooner or later, we are going to have to make a very hard decision.

Thank goodness Linus is stable and doing well enough... although I know enough now to add 'for now', and is happy about taking his meds (in ice cream!) and calmly accepts help with grooming, and will usually reciprocate by cleaning my fingers for me. What a sweetie! :)

Kimi was still doing alright today, although he was deeply suspicious when I had him sitting on his back, because that's how I had to give him his meds orally last time, and I had to hold him firmly to dose him, and he didn't like it at all - can't blame the poor guy. After just gently brushing him a bit and making soothing noises, he decided no nasty syringes were going to make an appearance and agreed to be helped with grooming... that is, until I tried to clean his ear out with a bit of tissue - he has a small infection in his left ear, which we were treating with eardrops. Kimi stopped what he was doing, grabbed the tissue, and gave it a good hard look and sniff before deciding it really wasn't a dropper full of icky wet stuff, and then let me get on with it.

Sigh! :)

Last night, Bear and I had to give Kimi 3 different kinds of meds, one of which he has decided not to take anymore, so we had to be cunning, and we also had to give Linus his antibiotics and put ointment on his feet for his pressure sores and do the daily clean out of their cage (what with Kimi on diuretics and all..) and help them both with grooming, and then give Monty and Alfie the last of their meds for parasites and give them a run around in the living room, then clean out their cage a bit And then make them all dinner.

We decided that when the last of these boys left us, we'd have a break.

The thing is though, ratties are just So Full of personality and charm, and they like living with you, and show it. They also show that they like you and trust you and will play silly games with you, are affectionate (when in the right mood), are mischievous and cunning, love good food as much as we do, like being comfortable, understand some of our words and phrases, and when they're happy, they do this bouncing hoppy hoppy thing when they run. The sight, smell, and warmth of them always gladdens the heart. And what is love if not pain and sacrifice anyway? Except perhaps pain and sacrifice willingly endured.

Not without complaints, but nonetheless.

:P

Year of the Puppy

Bear, when small, with puppydog.

Gong xi gong xi gong xi ni

Happy Chinese New Year everyone! Prosperity, peace, and puppies for all!

It's been a quiet one here, and what with being stuck in Sydney and turning 26 today, I got birthday presents instead of ang pows, except Bear's mum gave me an ang pow as well, because she thought I might like it, and i almost cried man... wah lau, all the homesickness and thesis-stressing and birthday bluesing and chinese-new-year-ing got to me i think. I did have a nice weekend though, especially dinner on Saturday, at this neat little restaurant in Newtown called Oscillate Wildly, with Adrian and Bear. I even got pictures! (hooray for cameraphones!) Sorry about the quality. :P

I'd heartily recommend this place, I'd go back again with any excuse! The menu changes every fortnight or so, and you can order what you like, or have an entree, main and dessert for $45. Considering the quality of the food, the presentation, the way you can see how carefully they prepared it all, maaaaaan it was SO WORTH IT!

For an entree, I had scallops dressed with truffle butter and dill, and these were the best scallops i've been served in Australia... plump and succulent, nearly translucent inside, they were perfect! and so sweet. *rave*



Adrian had the prawn ceviche with some cucumber salady thing, which he said was nice, but maybe a bit too mild. Maybe because its only cooked in lemon and lime juice, the prawniness wasn't brought out enough or something? *shrug*



Bear had something that was called "shredded pork with something mustardy something and polenta". It was yummy! very tasty. Bear liked it very much. Also, the polenta was really nice, quite unlike our miserable failure when we tried making it at home before (gluggy).



Apologies for the blurry and grainy photos. T'was but a phone camera after all, and we did have drinks.

For a main, I had kingfish with lemon aioli and sweet potato chips. This was, again, really really good! Fish can be difficult to do well, but this was cooked just right, flesh falling off the fork, and just cooked through inside with crispy skin outside. The aioli and sweet potato were nice too, and everything made friends with everything else, and there was nothing extraneous or unnecessary. *nod sagely*



Adrian had the venison with charred broccoli and something, and man, it was really tasty. Like a really good cut of beef but with more complex flavours. Mmmm...



Bear had the poached chicken with prosciutto and something and a skordalia puree, which apparently is some sort of mashed potato mixed in with yummy stuff. Bear enjoyed this a lot and so did i. :P



Next, dessert dessert dessert!

My beautiful baked peach with butterscotch schnapps and pistachio crumble (started eating it before Adrian reminded me to take a picture):



Adrian and Adrian's very nummylicious cheese plate:



Bear's perfect chocolate and Almond torte:



Yum yum yum yum yum yum yum.

Next time anyone comes visit (Qiao!) I'll take you there. Saturdays need to be booked about 2 weeks in advance though, it's such a tiny little space and so justifiably popular!

Yum yum yum yum yum yum yum.

I'm 26 now. mwah.

Before I go and have my mushroom soup lunch, here are some random links to some things Bear put together:

Bear's new toy (or Why Suyin is broke)

The rattieboys' birthday card to me! (Awww...)

Some people just shit me

I cannot abide animal cruelty.

I don't understand how people can harm, with purpose, a creature who is harmless, tame and trusting towards them. It just fills me with pain and disbelief, and a need to punish. To hurt their cruel heads till they see sense. Except that it wouldn't work, that much I know. It would be much better if they simply learnt that such behaviour is inhumane. No, inhuman. Except that it isn't, is it? It's human because we're all really animals of course, but "thinking" animals, allegedly, and all that thinking can really mess with the simplicity of primal needs and desires - I mean, how does an animal handle the complications of right and wrong in human society? It's so much harder to know what you should or should not do when it's not life or death - where is the guide within you, and where does it come from anyway? The fully-aware conscience, I suspect, was not included in the basic human package, and so people develop one as best they can, with as much imagination as they can muster, or borrow (or adopt) them from bibles and creeds. Either way, they don't come up the same, and who's to say which is more righteous and superior?

The thing is, though, if we don't think hard, and I mean really hard, about right and wrong, and question ourselves and take responsibility for our thoughts and actions, instead just... living, as it were, blaming nature, we waste so much of the potential we have for protecting and nurturing the preciousness of every fragile little life, starting with those who depend on us.

Sigh.