People Food - Not for Dogs

Quite a number of friends have asked me before about what kinds of food are dogs not allowed to have. I actually have been keeping this list, so might as well share it with you right? (I am sorry to cat owners, because I really don't know much about them or their dietary requirements).

Grapes and Raisins

Grapes and raisins can cause kidney failure in dogs. As little as a single serving of raisins can kill a dog.

Onions

Onions destroy red blood cells and can cause anemia.

Chocolate

Chocolate can cause seizures, coma and death. Baker's chocolate is the most dangerous. A dog can consume milk chocolate and appear to be fine because it is not as concentrated, but it is still dangerous.

Coffee, coffee grounds, tea and tea bags

Drinks/foods containing caffeine cause many of the same symptoms chocolate causes.

Macadamia Nuts

Macadamia nuts can cause weakness, muscle tremor and paralysis. Limit all other nuts as they are not good for dogs in general, their high phosphorous content is said to possibly lead to bladder stones. Exception to this rule is PEANUTS and PEANUT BUTTER.

Tomatoes

Tomatoes can cause tremors and heart arrhythmia. Tomato plants and the most toxic, but tomatoes themselves are also unsafe.

Avocados

The fruit, pit and plant are all toxic. They can cause difficulty breathing and fluid accumulation in the chest, abdomen and heart.

Nutmeg

Nutmeg can cause tremors, seizures and death.

Apples, Cherries, Peaches and similar fruit

The seeds of these fruits contain cyanide, which is poisonous to dogs as well as humans. Unlike humans, dogs do not know to stop eating at the core/pit and easily ingest them. It can also become lodged in the intestines and kill the dog in 24 hours with no warning.

Hope this at least helped a little. Keep your doggies safe and healthy. From my Sunshine & Snow to your pups.

The Ledge

You are standing on the ledge, and I am standing slightly behind you, holding your hands tightly. You have been here before. Only this time, this ledge is even higher, the fall even further down and the person holding your hand then was someone else. You recognize this, and you feel your life has come a full circle, and you didn't make it anywhere near where you wanted to be.

You asked me to look down, at all the things you have pushed down or fell off the ledge. I take a step nearer and look down. I see shattered dreams, broken hearts, bruised confidence, and unresolved passions at the bottom. You keep looking down but I keep looking at you. I tell you it is okay, I am still here. But you don't see me. You refuse to look at the safer grounds that we are standing on. And I break down in helplessness.

I turn your face to look at me. See me. I am here. Then as the wind blew hard, you took my hand and start crawling back to safer grounds. We crawl slowly, and I feel safer... for you and for me. But in an instant, as if the ghosts of the valley calls to you, you let go of me and start running back towards the edge. You tell me there is nothing to live for on the safer grounds. That all you built was down in the valley. Shattered. You just had to mourn them one more time. I run after you, because I promised I will not leave you alone ever again.

As we stand and mourn, I get tired from standing. I feel like letting go off your hand, but am afraid that you will jump or I will fall of the ledge. I keep looking at the safer ground, and wonder when we will ever make it back. Then as I feel my grip on you loosen, you tell me that I have pushed you here to the ledge. I keep telling you I do not have the energy to hold on, but you insist that the stand won't be for long. So I stare ahead, trying to take in all the beauty of the view from the ledge. To draw strength to stand there longer. But as I stood going weary, I had to unload certain weights in my life, in order to keep standing next to you. By choice, I start throwing things that I had built and wanted down to the valley. This depresses you more. And you feel you have no choice but to push me to safer ground, and force me to leave you at the ledge.

I stand on safer ground, calling you. "Look at me". You do not hear me. So I choose to run to the ledge and decide to jump. You grab me and ask me why I do this. I do not know. Maybe it's because I am tired on running back and forth. Maybe it's because I too have nothing else on safer ground to live for. And maybe, just maybe, I wanted you to know how it's like to see the love of your life stop fighting the fight, giving up and leaving you behind. This was the threat and you felt no greater betrayal. 

You finally sit at the ledge and ask me to sit beside you. You said that having me sit here calms you down. Helps you from wanting to jump off the ledge. But you feel me shiver. And you asked me why I feel so insecure and unsafe. "I am afraid of heights, Baby." It never came to your mind, that I would be afraid of anything. So you ask me "What now?" I plead you to look at the ground we sit on, stand on. And look further ahead, to the safer ground. There are new dreams to built, new passions to explore, new families to embrace. And I want to be there with you when you finally make it there. I will be with you every excruciating step of the way. I would scrape my knees, bear cuts on my fingers, withstand hunger and thirst, if you would step off the ledge and walk with me back to safer grounds. 

So here I am, standing with you on the ledge, holding your hands. What do you want to do? What do you decide? 

Run - Snow Patrol

Scuba-do-bee-D'oh!

I love the getaway...beaches has always been my thing. Tioman was a lovely place. And of course, I love the person that was sharing my first experience in diving. But I hated to learn how to dive! I will try not to bore you with too much details, but I might have to narrate it dive-by-dive (if I can recall clearly, 'cause my brains could have been fried by the amount of nitrogen that went in).

Dive 1
Find a buddy. Effortless.Get into the wet suit. Easy.
Learn about the equipments. No problem.
Carry equipment from deck to shore. Nearly fell.
Going into the deep ocean water for the first time. Panic.Must breathe through mouth instead of nose. Almost impossible.
Clear mask underwater (letting stinging sea water into the mask and blowing it all out). Mind blowing.Bobbing up and down in shallow waters (about 3m) for a long time. Motion sickness. Need to throw up, but might choke and die underwater. Decided to call it a day.

Dive 2
After spending the whole night freaking out to Red, I thought I managed to convince myself to be better at this. It took me no more than 5min in the water...I started panicking. All I wanted to do was come out of the water. Surface. Surface. Let me go dammit! The dive instructor held me down, signaled for me to breathe. Cleared my mask. After gaining back some level of sanity, we joined the rest of the group and started repeating all the skills we have learnt. But we had 2 new skills to learn in this dive. I managed to survive without further incidents and with my confidence in tact.

Dive 3

After lunch we suited up and went back in the 

water. Additional skills to learn:

- Removal of weight belt underwater (this required us to take out the weight belt, hold it in one hand, do a body roll to put the belt on again). Not that difficult, just tricky as I got disorientated when I was TRYING to roll in water.

- In an out-of-air situation. This one nearly damn killed me. I so wanted to die in this session. Literally. Took me a long time before I was calm enough to purposely remove my air supply underwater, take Red's alternate regulator (they call it the octopus) only to realize it could not work! I had no air! I threw out the octopus, panicking, grabbed my own regulator, gulped what seemed like tons of sea water, choking for air, and then tried hard to breathe once I got air in my lungs. After the instructor checked the equipment, he seemed to think it's safe now for me to repeat that unnatural act of choking underwater. This time it worked better, but nonetheless, I still gulped plenty of sea water as struggled to get the octopus into my mouth. (I wonder if any small plankton or fish went into my body). As if that was not bad enough, the next was to share my regulator with Red. If this is not an act of "I will die for you", then I don't know what is. At every interval where the regulator was with Red and I was gasping for air, I swallowed sea water, choked more, panicked even more. Lucky for me, it's his face that I am looking at. Although I really felt like crying, I eventually calmed down because I knew this man would not let anything happen to me. 

- We apparently learnt how to fin like a dolphin. I think I looked more like a half dead salmon.

Ended with a cramp on my right foot only to realize later that I sprained my ankles. It begin to swell and I had to call it a day. The girls went back in for another dive, Red stayed with me (ON DRY LAND).

Dive  4 - 7

Woke up and found my bikini missing. Spoilt my mood. Borrowed swimsuit from Bec. Limping around with swollen ankle. Suited up, got onto speedboat, posed for a group shot and mentally prepared for FOUR boat dives in a day.

It was unnerving to imagine holding on to mask and regulator, sitting at the edge of the boat and flipping backwards into the sea. But once you get a hang of it, this is actually the best part!Can't explain the sense of calm as you crash into the water, breathe with ease, look up at the clear water from beneath and slowly floating to surface.

The four dives were all quite similar but yet held very different experiences for me. The deepest we went to was 23metres. This was Dive 6 and because my ankles were busted, I was being towed around by the instructor. These boat dives were indeed more relaxing and fun compared to the earlier learning shore dives. However, I still found myself from time to time panicking and wanting to surface. 

Things I experienced/saw in these 4 boat dives:

1. REALLY cold waters when we reached below 20metres. 

2. You could not only feel the current underwater, you can actually SEE it.

3. Swam through narrow tunnels of corals. I think they are corals. It can't be real caves can it?? LOL

4. Was left alone in the deep blue sea for a few terrifying minutes while instructor tried to locate the rest of the group.

5. Saw amazing sea life - turtles, clown fish, shark, school of barracudas, really tiny red fish, stingray, FISH, FISH, FISH an FISH. They were all beautiful. Thank God we didn't come ascross jelly fish. I would have freaked.

FINAL EXAM

To add to the difficulty, after ALL that we endured, we had to sit for a written test. Thankfully, we all managed to pass (with the help of an open book and unethically asking each other). Celebrations were in order and we drank to our 'success'. I still cannot believe till today, that miraculously, I am now a certified scuba diver! :D

10 Things I Love about You

Needed something to write about to revive my blog. So will write about what's on my mind now.

10 Things I Love about You

1.  I love the way you smile...especially at me.
   
2.  I love your laugh, it's contagious.
   
3.  I love the way you hold me, I feel safe.
   
4.  I love your kisses. They are perfect.
   
5.  I love our conversations. Whether it makes us laugh or cry or think, we never run out of things to say.
   
6.  I love your patience. Especially when I am short of it.
   
7.  I love the way you look at me longingly, makes me feel confident.
   
8.  I love your face, and the kindness in your eyes.
   
9.  I love our meals together. A sign of sharing and caring.
   
10.  I love the music in you. My passion.

A Fresh Start

Its time. 5 and 1/2 years of laughter, pain, joy, frusration, memories. So much memories. I grew up here, and the hotel 'grew up' when I was here. When I first joined Prince Hotel, they have just opened their doors for business and I have just started dating my now husband. 5 and 1/2 years later, Prince Hotel & Residence is no longer an unknown property, we made a huge profit last year and I am now a mother of two little monsters. Time went by in a blink of an eye.

Some are asking why I have to leave, want to leave. I guess it's time for me to move on. I am forever grateful for all the oppurtunities that Prince had offered. I am truly blessed and should be so lucky to have had such a great career run whilst I was here. But I need more for myself, for my family. At this moment in time, money is not the deciding factor. My career development is. And where I am going seems to offer a better prospect. I still don't know whether I am making a mistake. Some asked me to listen to my inner voice, my intuition. Some asked to to listen to God. I think my 'hearing' is imparred at the moment, because I don't hear anything else besides the voice of logic. But logic...can be argued.

However, I have made my choice and that is to move on and not look back. I will miss this place and change, although inevitable, is always scary and can be difficult. But I love a challange, and maybe, I will tell you what the challenge has thought me in another 6 months. For now, I will carry with each and every moment and learning I gained from this magnificent place.

For those of you who are in the same crossroads as I am in, remember:

1. You should be so lucky that people want to offer you a job. Means whatever you have achieved is appreciated. Good job!


2. When choosing jobs, look forward 3 - 5 years. Make a logical conclusion which path will bring you to your goals. If both will lead you there at the same time, choose which is more beneficial to take.


3. Depending on your characteristics, choose to move or stay. If you are a stable person, risk adversed and not comfortable with the unknown, then it would be more beneficial to stick to what is good. But if you are like me, a bouncing, impatiend, easily bored person, then...you might want to change your environment once in a while to make things exciting.

So based on the above 3 things, I chose to try out new things, meet new people and collect new memories. Hopefully, I make new friends on the way :), because I will miss my old ones.

Unlikely Angels

After years of not taking public transport, last night I decided to try out the efficiency of our KL transport services. I was fed up of waiting for hubby to come get me from the office, KL was jammed up as usual, and I decided to save time and money by taking the monorail instead of the taxi. I have heard many horror stories about our public transport system and about the people that take them. Some may think that it is weird that I should try to experiment with this now that I am 8 months pregnant, but those of you who know me knows that I am a 'spontaneous' person. Haha.

So I left the office on foot and walked uphill to the Raja Chulan station which took me about 15 minutes. But to much relieve, I managed to climb up the stairs to the payment counter and another flight of stairs to Platform B. First thing I think of is...'How does one on wheelchair get up here?'...there are no escalators. (I think a lot about the disabled nowadays because I happen to be working with one). Another "Mana Boleh" for Malaysia...woo hoo!

Anyhow, the moment I stepped on the platform, I realized I was going to be sardined all the way to my stop. There were SO many people and from what I observed the monorail to be all this time, the train is SMALL. I panicked, knowing this means trouble as I have been rather klutzy since getting pregnant. We stood waiting for the train to come and I was paying particular attention to my now very painful, swollen feet that needs rest.

I started 'assessing' the people around me. Since we are all in the mood of celebrating our 50th Merdeka and the spirit of muhibbah, I wanted to confirm the theory of why Malaysia was voted the 3rd rudest country in the world. So my first 'targets' were these two jokers standing right in front of me. They were talking loudly and fidgeting (more like pacing) non stop although the whole platform was packed. I was afraid they will step on my foot. One of them was 'wearing' a Malaysian flag and I remember thinking to myself that it's way too early to celebrate Merdeka. Then I remembered that its the Asia Cup and Malaysia was playing tonight...so maybe they are off to see the game, who knows? Anyway, he continues pacing and playing with his flag...putting it on his head, then taking it out to wear around his waist and then decided to be Superman and used it as his cape. Frankly, in my head, I (too) quickly summarized 'hooligan'.

Now the first monorail comes around the corner and everyone starts pushing. When the train stops, I know no one can board because the train was way too packed. I saw a mat salleh push his way OUT of the train and started cursing when he finally managed to get out. I thought, "Great, how am I ever going to get home now?" We waited some more and I passed more judgements on the two jokers in front of me. The second train comes and the pushing became more intense. The train stops and people realized that there are gaps in the train which they can fill! The pushing becomes violent and I get squashed. I couldn't push anyone and obviously nobody gives a s**t about me being pregnant. Then I heard a voice behind me shouting. It was the flag guy. He started shouting at everyone to let me pass, "Oi kesian lar, ada ibu mengandung!" So because of him, I managed to board the monorail. He was my first angel of the evening. I felt embarrassed that I had passed unfounded judgements on him earlier, but quickly forgot my bad behaviour at the next stop.

I was trying to balance and stand in the packed carriage when I made the conclusions that my friends (and the TV campaign/ad) were right....NOBODY will let a pregnant woman/ elderly person sit. There was a frail looking makcik standing next to me, and I decided 'Heck! if she can toughen it up, I will not complain'. However at the next stop, someone stepped on my swollen, painful foot because she wanted to get out. More people tried cramping into the train and at this point I was getting really pissed off. To add to my "pissyness" a young couple boards the train, holding each other tight, as if the girl will fall down. They cramped close to me and I wanted to smack them. Again, I started making judgements about them, trying to stereotype them with my small, stupid mind. Before I can comprehend what was happening, this young boy tapped on the shoulder of a seated moron, and asked him politely to give up his seat for me. The moron (a strong looking Chinese man wearing a shirt of a Japanese car manufacturer) looking utterly embarrassed, got up and mumbled something. The young boy replied him with a smile and said "Thank you bro. Dia pregnant lar. Thank you ah." I sat down and my second angel looked at me and smiled. I smiled back (still embarrassed about judging another decent human being) and he asked if I am OK. I thanked him and wanted to cry.

Since life is all about living and learning, I got 2 lessons from my experience last night:

1. Matthew 7:2-5 declares, "For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, Let me take the speck out of your eye when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye."

2. There are still decent Malaysians who will prove the world wrong about us being rude... MALAYSIA BOLEH!!!

Our Amazing KL Road Systems

They say that pictures tell a thousand words. Well, here's one.

It was another day for me, caught in the jam on the way back home. I was just thinking how amazingly 'smart' our people are when it comes to planning (and carrying out) road works because I was caught in the new Imbi jam. For those of you who know (or don't), they have changed the road system along Jalan Imbi and never even bothered to do up the roads properly. It all looks a little crazy at the moment. So I was sitting in my car, half falling asleep and half singing to whatever song there is on the radio, when I saw what you are seeing in the picture above. I just found it extremely hilarious. Although by accident, I pressume, this ulitmately reflects the efficiency of our road systems and planning...random selection of road works as they please.