Romance of the Scratching Box

Whenever we get a new scratching box, you can count on Skoda to be the first one to claim territory of it. For scratching boxes, we've a slim one and a large one. Skoda will be the first one to hop onto the slim one and give it a few good scratches.

As for the large one, which suits her comfortably (she is more on the broad side, hee), this is usually what happens...



The packaging comes with a pack of catnip which is tagged to the board. I think Skoda is drawn by the remnant scent of it. If we hand out fresh catnip, Skoda will have some initial reaction to it (this also wears off after a couple of minutes), while Mikki and Braun are neutral. I read somewhere that two-thirds of cats are susceptible to catnip and the behavioural phenomenon is hereditary.

3 Cats, 2 Ice Cubes & A Water Fountain

What do the three have to do with each other? One hot afternoon, Mousie and Grimlock had the bright idea of dropping two ice cubes into one of the water fountains to help the girls cool down a little. Skoda hogged the water fountain mostly to herself (she is truly the Alpha at all times). The beans didn't see much of the girls lapping up the icy goodness. Instead, there was plenty of staring and pondering, some going-around to get a better view of the ice cubes (Skoda was at it) and a few attempts to paw the ice cubes. So much for quenching the heat...

Joy of Toys

Just take a look at our glass display cases at the Cove and you'll be able to tell Grimlock and I are kids at heart. Grimlock is a fan of transformer toys, and we both collect Bearbricks and Kubricks. Be@rbricks are released in series; 10 in a series but we only collect the Artist and Pattern in the series. Many of the Kubricks figures are licensed representations of film, comic book, or video game characters. We only get those which we've a particular liking for.

Grimlock's transformer toys take centrestage in our living room:



Frame-ups of Our Be@rbricks and Kubricks in acrylic boxes which are placed on the otherwise ugly-looking aircon pelmet:


Beannies and some other soft toys and collectibles, mostly my presents from Grimlock:



Grimlock used to collect comics books - these are lined up on a wall in the bomb shelter:

Some of the collectibles are limited editions. We've no intention to sell any of them. Over the years, we've become more discerning in our acquisitions. Now that we've run out of display/storage spaces, our buying has slowed down quite a bit too. Gratification comes from reminiscing the association that the toy brings, and getting to own a piece of that association. And toys have a lot to do with creativity and imagination.

A Sick Mousie

I'm down with flu and having a sore throat. I've been given medical leave for today. Feeling quite drugged now. Nose is leaking. Shall see if I'm fit for work tomorrow.

The weather is very hot but the girls are the least affected. They have been snoozing. So this is what they do at this time of the day. Some photos I took yesterday of their siesta Sunday...

I'm my Father's Daughter

I've some feminist streaks in my blood but I don't harbour any "feminist mentor" ambitions (wink wink). Having said so, I cringe whenever people address me as Mrs K (initial for Grimlock's last name). That is so passe (this is the 21st century). I derive no secret sense of accomplishment nor pride to be addressed as so. I'm a woman who can stand on my own two feet (so hear me roar, hee!). No need to tag me on to Grimlock's surname - thank you very much.

I wouldn't miss this article in my paper (12 March):

Grimlock is as cool as I am on such matters. My father is about the only man I would see myself being "tagged to" and so marriage wouldn't change that any bit :). It is as simple as that.

CATivated!

Grimlock and I went to watch the "CATS: Now and Forever" musical on 18 April at the Esplanade. The tickets were sold out during its three-week run in Singapore, captivating an audience of 50,150 in total.

I had a most enjoyable time at CATS. For one, I enjoy musicals and I've watched most of the compositions by Andrew Lloyd Webber. And I definitely wouldn't miss this one, considering my fascination with cats. I've come across several quotes of T.S. Eliot (the story of Cats is told through his poems from Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats), many of which brings out the unique characteristics of cats.

Yours truly...

I didn't go to CATS to see how good the cast was in mimicking feline movement and reactions. I enjoyed the musical for the variety of dance styles (highly rigorous), the music, the singing, the costumes/make-up and the stage design/setup. Delia Hannah's (Grizabella) delivery of Memory was superb.

There was this girl seated on the other side of Grimlock. She came with furry stockings that resembled leg warmers, complete with a tail hanging down from her back. And throughout the musical, we caught her doing small catsy gestures with her hands.

And hey, I got to play a cameo role at CATS. During one of his songs, The Rum Tum Tugger stepped off stage and came up to me to do a short dance number (yes ME!), right next to my seat. I just followed his steps and all I remember was being spun round and round. That couple of seconds seemed like eternity while I was at it. After that, it took me a while to calm down (fortunately the hall was quite dark - blood was rushing up to my head, hahaha).

My favourite character has got to be The Rum Tum Tugger. No prize for guessing why. Well, he is the coolest cat and ooohhhh, this guy oozes sex appeal (all those hip movements of his), meeeoooowww (hee! :) ).

Here is the man himself (cute chap, right?):

A review by the Straits Times (18 April):

Life Lines

His was one of my must-read columns in the Sunday Times, never mind it was a fornightly column. I also come across his articles/columns now and then in other magazines. Most of them are on relationships which form the tapestry of life. I enjoy the depth that he gives on the topic, and he presents his take and insights in a layman, pragmatic manner. Anthony Yeo is also a much sought-after speaker for talks and workshops.

This was one of his Sunday Times articles, published some time around January this year. I found myself nodding in agreement to his take on what marriage is, and what it is not.

On 19 April, I was a little saddened to read it was to be Anthony's last article for the column, an enlightening piece on the importance of prioritising and ensuring there is non-work time for rest, recreation, relationship and reflection so as to nurture the soul.

And yesterday, I was saddened to read from Straits Times that Anthony has been diagnosed with lymphoma. I certainly hope the best for him and his family during this time.

1,000 (Green) Origami Cranes (XV)

The frequency of Skoda's urinalysis is now on a bi-monthly basis. 0n 4 April, we bought her along for her annual vaccination cum general examination, and had a urinalysis done at the same time. When we let her out of the pet carrier, she was the least inhibited and walked all over Dr K's examination desk. When her shot and examination were done, we had to coax her back into the carrier.

Skoda's urine turned out to be a little less concentrated, and the crystals and RBC levels came down slightly. We recapped our options of managing her urinary condition with Dr K, ie to continue with Waltham S/O kibbles and Prescription Hill's C/D wet food, and to bring her back in June for a X-ray (this will be done once in every six months).

"Yay, you're looking at character in its face..."

Project S (X)

Four adult newbies (two tuxedo, one ginger and one calico) have been sighted at Site X. The 2 tuxs are males, while the ginger is a female. I saw the calico from a far distance and it was quite dark so I wasn't able to ascertain the gender.

I scheduled my 6th round of trapping on 22 April - three females were spayed (one was pregnant) and one male was neutered. The male is one of the tux newbies. The two tabbies are the kids who have now grown up. There is one more tortiseshell kid who is very scrawny so will hold off her sterilisation for now. All the while, I thought there are only three white/greys (all have been sterilised) so this one is a surprise "discovery". With this recent round, the tally stands at 21 cats being fixed (14 females and seven males).

When we released the cats back at Site X, I saw the ginger newbie. We laid a trap but she didn't go for it, and she wasn't friendly enough to round up by hand. The other tux newbie is quite a senior cat with battle scars on the body and his nose area was quite moist. Will have to monitor if this tux and the ginger are making random appearances at Site X or whether they are here to stay. I also saw a young tux from a distance on my trip there last week.

I've not seen for some time two of the cats from my previous trapping rounds; Ginger Boy and Chaplin (white cat with black patch on nose). I wonder if they're alright. I see 'Tua Tao' (ah tom who has a big head) now and then - he seems to have shrunk in size and his head now looks smaller to me (hahaha, my eyes playing tricks on me?).

'Business' As Usual

I had gone MIA because one fine day about three weeks ago, my desktop hard disk suddenly decided to call it quits. I went into a semi-panic mode because I've tons of important files on it and I hadn't do any backup.

And just before that three-weeks ago, I had gone ahead with getting my very own notebook. My bro-in-law enjoys a staff discount on such purchase and there was a promotion. I thought about the purchase for quite a while. Besides the desktop, we've one more notebook at home, with compliments from StarHub when we signed up a subscription contract with them. The thing is Grimlock hogs this notebook. I wanted the mobility of a notebook so I proceeded with the purchase (did feel the pinch) and shortly after, the desktop "died". All our attempts to get the desktop working again have failed. So my justification is that the timing couldn't be any better, hahaha...

Grimlock helped me look around the Internet on data recovery; we bought a hard disk drive and I got back all my files from the desktop yesterday. Now, Grimlock and I can both catch Hong Kong drama serials together and each have our own notebook to work on (yay!) :) It's good to be back on blogosphere.