Hello March!

Old Sophie is making a speedy recovery from her previous hypertensive episode so that's a load off my mind. Okay, make that a HUGE load off my mind! I wasn't optimistic about her regaining her sight but i guess she just didn't belong to the typical textbook case and it's really a miracle she's gotten back all, if not 90% of her vision. I never knew God granted prayers with regards to animals but apparently He does!

I know i've said this umpeenth times, but I love this old girl to death. Even my folks love her because she is so docile and affectionate. Alrite, the docile part is probably not by choice since she's nearly 20 years old but still, most people who've been around her tell me she's one of the gentlest (and oldest) cat they've ever met.

Anyway, since we're on the subject of cats, here's something cool to check out if you have mischievous cats that prance around on your computer keyboard. I remember how years ago, Cocoa would do that ever-so-often while i was chatting with Dan on MIRC (remember Q? the channel bot?) and would even accidentally step on the "Enter" key such that all the gibberish she "typed" would appear on the screen!! Whenever that happened, Dan never failed to say i have a cute and smart cat (of course, he was probably just buttering me up la!!) and i was always quick to affirm that too. I still have fond memories of my little Cocoa puff even though it's already been a year.....

So February has gone and March is creeping up on me! I'll be following in the footsteps of Dan and will start teaching music part-time next month, so anyone interested in music lessons, tell me. I've been wanting to get back to jamming and music since god-knows-when but since we can never find kakis to jam with, i suppose the next best thing is to teach? I hope i can inspire more people with my passion for music and maybe in return, my students will inspire me to reach higher grounds too!

There's so much more i wanna do but probably after the wedding is over and i'm more or less settled down. For now, i'm gonna stay focused on training Chester up for his first SKC trial, which happens to be a resolution i made in 2005 i think. So what if it took 2 years to fulfill one single resolution? I'm still extremely thrilled nonetheless! I don't think we're there to win or prove any point. I think i've gotten what i wanted during the training sessions with Chester - that is to bond, enjoy each other's company and basically have fun! If the sole reason why you train a dog is to win trophies or ribbons, you're missing the point completely. I guess i'm just not the sort that'd push and pressure my dog (or kids for that matter) to excel and get all disappointed if they don't live up to my expectation. I'm probably more relak-jack Aussie than kiasu-kiasi Singapore!

Frisbee is also the latest craze going on between us and the dog. Chester's ability to learn new things just amazes me all the time and i really want to maximise his potential before he retires. He does frisbee fairly well (considering the fact that he still had frisbee-phobia just 6 months ago!) and i really want to help him achieve greater things by spending more time training him and teaching him new tricks, even though there's no ribbons and trophies involved! Two more years maximum, we'll see how far he can go....and then i'll retire him from all these adrenaline-pumping activities.

I think a huge part of how i bring Chester up (and probably my kids in future) stems from the fact that i have parents who've always been rather cool about things and have never pressured me to achieve this and achieve that. They've always been supportive of my interests and nurtured me within their limits (well, sometimes beyond too) and i really want to be great parents like them when it comes to my turn!

Before i forget, March is also the month that we're supposed to file for our solemnisation! Another step closer to our big day! :)