This is the kind of thing my mum does to drive me the wall:
I've been keeping a turtle for a couple of years, which I once found on a road and decided to keep it. I have no problem feeding it and caring for it myself and I only need her to care for it when I'm outstation. But yet she takes it upon herself to give it water and food in her own time coz' she thinks I don't do it often enough, although I try to explain to her that the turtle only sleeps all day therefore getting water twice or three times a day is enough, and it doesn't even eat everyday. But anyway, she still does it herself coz' I apparently don't do a good enough job.
Fine, you wanna do something coz' you think your way is superior then I'm ok with it. Except that as with everything else in life, she complains about the turtle. When I'm not around, she complains to my dad about how she always has to take care of it, and it's a problem for her and yadda yadda yadda. Again, this is after I have told her that I can do it MYSELF. But she doesn't believe that I'm capable of it for God knows what reason.
So I decided, fine, if she's just going to make it her problem and complain about it, I'll get a new home for it. So a few months back, we took to a turtle pond in KL hoping it would like the place. Well, unfortunately I have the only turtle in the world that can't swim. So when it was in the pond,it looked like it was going to drown. So we took it back and been keeping it since. And it was not ME who insisted to take it back, but her. And yet she would still occasionally complain about it to my dad.
So now that I'm moving out, I tried to find someone to adopt the turtle instead. And I did. Today I was all ready to send the little bugger over. But guess what? My mum had aaalll these questions about who these people were, how can we know that they will take care of it properly, would they lose it, yadda yadda yadda. In the end, she said she doesn't want to give it away coz' she doesn't trust that anyone else can take good care of it. So I had to tell the other person that it ain't gonna happen.
So essentially it goes to show that whatever anyone does in the world, it's not good enough for my mum, so she ends up doing everything by herself and at the same time she will complain about why nobody can ever do things the way she wants us to.
- Curtains, need them for the living room. Something with a funky pattern like this
- Bedsheets, also with some awesome patterns like this
- Non-stick cookware. I actually saw a RED non-stick cookware set at Carrefour going for RM139. I am sooo wanting that
- Of course I would need red utensils to with the cookware, and I also saw a red set at Carrefour. Wee ha!
This would go nicely with the red cookset too. :D
- Plates and bowls too. Another awesome design :D
- Induction cooker. Coz' gas stoves are a potential fire risk that a single lady can't afford to have and the only form of red I won't like
- Clothes dryer rack, else I'll have nothing but wet clothes to wear. And just so happens Carrefour also has a red set going for RM30-ish. On the shopping list it is.
- Garment steamer. Coz' iron and ironing board is just too troublesome
- Cute little display cabinet
For security reasons
- Baseball bat. I'm kid you not. This will be kept in my room for use in case of unwanted intruders
- Fake surveillance camera, to ward off the crooks who are dumb enough to believe it's real
- Warning sign to put on the gate for added effect :P
Stuff I want for my dog
- My pooch should have a nice place to sleep too.
- And a couple of nice bowls to eat and drink from too
- Auto dog food dispenser, for those long days out, and if necessary, when I'm travelling (colour needs work though)
- Dog tag with his name on it and my number in case of emergencies ^_^
The stuff I can only dream about....
The good thing is that the house itself is painted white, so don't worry, your eyes will not melt when you come to visit my house of red stuff. I think.
I decided to rent a place in SS19 and just put down the deposit this week as well as booked some furniture for the place. There were two places I was interested in, one looked a bit older and wasn't repainted on the inside but was partially furnished with wardrobes and kitchen cabinets and the landlord said he would put in an air-conditioner for free. At first I was going to go with that, but the stupid thing about that house is that the main bathroom is in the master bedroom, so if I had a housemate, she (or he, but it would have to be a very trustworthy 'he') would have to go into my bedroom to use the toilet, which is more than weird. The other place, the rent is slightly higher but it was fully repainted and the living room space is bigger, plus the main bathroom is outside of the bedrooms, so no issues there, but it's completely unfurnished which means I need to get everything myself. Last Saturday, when I saw both places, I was so ready to go for the first one, and I actually told the landlord I would bank in the deposit that day itself. But something kept bugging me to go for the other one (I think I wasn't very comfy with the first landlord) so I went with my gut and had to inform my agent for the first place that I wasn't going for it after all.
Sidetracking a bit, that agent was a bit weird too. He would send me multiple smses telling me the same thing, only paraphrased. And he kept sms-ing me with 'oks' and 'thanks'.
Weirdos like these should be arrested for abuse of their phones.
So anyway, I'm now trying to decide whether to shift out this weekend or wait til end of of the month. I can do either, and since my wonderful mum has forbidden me to take a bed and or wardrobes
(apparently it's more important for my brother and sister-in-law in the
US who comes back once in every 2 to 3 years to have a place to sleep,
so in the remaining time the bed can just kinda rot), I can move out
easily.
Sidetracking a bit AGAIN, as expected, she was not happy about me moving out. For some
reason, if I'm moving overseas to find a better life, it's fine. Or if
I'm moving out because I'm getting married, it's fine. But if I'm moving
out single because I want my own space to do things however I like, it
means I'm rebellious and unappreciative of all the things she has done
for me after sooo many years. And it's too difficult for me to explain that I do know she has done a lot for me, but the thing is, but I'm old to enough to run things how I want without being subjected to her restrictions of how a house should be run, and I don't see why she has to interpret me moving out like it's because I hate her or don't appreciate her. In her mind, I am free to do a lot of things, but I can't invite
friends over because she hates the house getting dirty. I can't
decorate the house however I want coz' she complains it all becomes
junk. I can't keep any more animals because she always makes it into her
'problem' although I'm perfectly capable of taking care of my pets
myself. She always has something to complain about and no matter what I or my father do to try and meet her expectations, nothing makes her happy. And when I said I was moving out, she had a wonderful comment about how I have
no brains to think about how difficult it will be living by myself,
although when I was 21 years old I lived almost a whole year by myself, taking care of my own space and survived quite well. The funny thing is when I told my dad I was moving out, he said that HE wanted to move out because of my mother's ridiculous expectations as well. It's sad as well because we are not the only family members who have issues with her, and she simply cannot understand why. She just gets mad and miserable about why all people just can't follow her way of doing things or meet her expectations, when the fact is just that not everyone thinks like her or believes her way is best.
So anyway, it's unfortunate that is came to this, but I'm sure how to talk to her anymore, so I just don't talk to her. To be honest, and I know that
this may actually sound evil of me as a child, but I wish that when it comes the times her to go, I wish she would just pass away quickly and easily. Because if she was to be bedridden, I can only imagine the string of irate comments that will come out of her every day and have to be dealt with by whoever is taking care of her. It's not only to spare whoever that person is, but also if she would rather complain all the time about small things instead of enjoying more important things, you know, like actually talking to your children and getting to know why they think or act a certain way instead of getting all uptight because they don't think like you, then what joy is there in your life? You live an angry life, and you make your family feel bad all the time.
Sorry, sidetracked a bit too much there. I am looking forward to my own place. Of course, the feeling is marred a bit, although I was pretty much expecting it, but there's nothing much I can do about her, I can only do what I need to do for myself and hope things get better between us one day. I have a wishlist of stuff, which would probably make up my next post. Hey, it's not only the married people who should get housewarming gifts, right? Hint hint hint.
Yesterday I chatted with him after a week of silence between us. I had thought that he had decided he didn't want to talk to me anymore, which was really annoying to me because I told him specifically not to shut down. Apparently he thought I had changed my mind about wanting to still be friends too. A big lesson for me was to never jump to conclusions (something I usually try to do, but in this case, I failed miserably), coz' confronting him led him to tell me the real reason why he's been keeping quiet. Which is also the real reason why he's not ready for a relationship, and why he can't say when he will be, if ever.
It's something personal enough that I can't say what it is, but it's big enough that most of what he said and did now makes total sense (some parts still don't make sense somewhat, but it's minor enough to ignore). I wished he had just told out front and saved me a heckuva lot of confusion/ turmoil/ annoyance/ all of the above. But now that I do know, the only thing I can do is, well, be a friend.
Don't worry folks, I'm not pregnant. I'm referring to the dog I really want to adopt as soon as I get my own place. Yeah, I know a few posts back I was mulling over the idea of moving out of the country to Aussieland. But I decided I much rather stay home instead. It's just a bit too adventurous of me to move there alone with no idea what will happen. Would have been much easier if I had done my studies there and stayed on... now... a bit difficult to make friends when you're working. :( Plus, I'm just lazy to go through all that hassle of applying for PR, looking for a new job, new place in another country, etc, etc, bleh bleh. Anyway, my folks are a bit on the elderly side now, and considering I have one bro already out of the country and another having his hands full with three kids to feed, I'm the only one left to take care of the old folks if anything ever happens to them. I would also miss watching my nieces grow up. And most of all... the awesome Malaysian food. Plus I hate cold weather, which does happen ever so often in Australia.
I'm still planning to get my own place here though. I have been more actively looking for a house for the past week. The reason may be a bit silly, but as those of you who actually read my blog (for God knows what reason) would know, there's this dog outside my office that I've gotten really attached to. Initially, I was hoping to get someone to adopt him, which is why I posted this little video on Youtube in June.
Then I started feeding him, along with my boss, who is an animal lover who puts me to shame (he is vegetarian just because he doesn't want animals to get killed for his food). My boss also named him Lucky, which is a name I don't like coz' it sounds like the type of name a Chinaman with very poor English would name his dog (and each time would call him as "Ah LAK-KY-aaaah!"). So I call the dog by a different name, Friendster. And I think he's gotten pretty attached to me too. This dog is really quiet. I had NEVER heard him bark, until after I got back from a week long trip to Cambodia. The first time I saw him after that, he came bounding towards me and was yelping with joy at seeing me, and tried to climb all over me like he usually does, except with more excitement than usual. My heart was totally stolen from that point on, I think.
The second time that showed he had gotten attached to me was when two dogs around the area came near my office while I was feeding him. These dogs were not as friendly as him, and even seemed a little aggressive. So while I like dogs, I didn't want to feed them as this would encourage them to hang out next time for food. And I'm sure my Muslim colleagues would not appreciate having so many dogs hanging around outside our office. So I tried to shoo them away. Before I did that, Friendster was hesitant of what to do with these other dogs, and I thought he was too friendly to try and take them on. I was quite surprised after I tried to shoo them away, he took that as a cue to go after them, and he was just chasing and barking after them. One of him, against two of them! And those guys were baring their teeth like they weren't going to go away without a fight, so I was a bit worried for my doggy friend. Luckily they were more afraid of me than him, so I managed to shoo them away... while Friendster helped along and probably thought he was doing a fine job of getting rid of those other ragamuffin mutts. That episode showed that he was trying to protect me, and that means he consider me as his 'top dog'. And I was impressed... the quiet friendly fellow had some guts in him after all!
I didn't realize just how attached I'd gotten to him until sometime last week, when another colleague came up to me and said that the boss was looking for someone to adopt the dog, and promoting him through the German embassy (German boss, for your info). And at that moment, I thought I was almost going to have a nervous breakdown at the thought of not being able to see and play with him anymore. I immediately told that colleague and my boss to stop trying to find someone else coz' I wanted him and I was trying to look for a suitable place. My boss was quite happy to hear it, since he would then be able to visit him anytime.
So coz' of that I'm really making the effort to find a place now. And I'm more likely going to buy then rent, coz' I wanna have control over my house to do whatever I like. Which means I can own a dog without any annoying landlord bothering me about it. It may sound like a pretty dumb reason to look for a place (of course, there are other reasons, like I just don't want to stay with my parents forever for the sake of my sanity), but you know how some people consider their pets like their kids. Well, this dog is like a kid to me. I wasn't quite sure how I would manage taking care of a dog by myself, especially when I have to travel. But I do have some ideas, like I know a church uncle who does a daily maid cleaning business, and I might be able to get him to come by when I'm traveling so one of his maids can feed my dogs and clean the poop. Or I could get a trustworthy neighbor to do it. Or the best idea is to rent out of the rooms of my house to a person who doesn't mind helping to take care of my dog while I'm away. Easier said than done? I hope not!
Initially I thought a condo or apartment with a big area might be ok for one medium sized dog. But not I think I will definitely get a landed place. Coz' I've also pretty much decided that I need another dog to keep Friendster company when I'm out. And I think I found that perfect companion in the form of ANOTHER stray near my office, who looks like this (try to ignore the freaky green eyes due to reflection of my camera flash. I assure you, the dog is not an alien).
I met this fella a few months ago near an economy rice shop just a few roads down from my office. He has shorter legs, which makes him cuter. And he is really friendly as well. That was the only time I saw him... until yesterday when I went to feed Friendster and I saw that he had a friend with him, which was the same short legged black dog I had seen before.
It was funny at first coz' the black dog was trying so hard to get close to me and be friendly, but Friendster got into his protective mood again and tried to chase him away (in a non-aggressive manner, but more as though he was warning the other dog not to touch me). It was only after I told him no, and held him back, then he figured I'm ok with this dog, and so they started playing with each other instead. I fed them both, which made them really happy. Had a little homemade tug-a-toy which I used to play with both of them (imagine one dog grabbing each end and trying to yank it from each other. Super funny!).
In the end, when I wanted to go home and I was sitting in the my car with the door open, the black dog came and jumped up, putting his paws on my lap. And Friendster, not wanting to be left out, did the same thing. So I had two dogs with their paws on my lap, demanding attention and probably trying to get me to stay and play some more. Heart melted again.
So yes, when I get my own place, these two boys are going to be MINE. >:)
