Of Dogs and Cars

I've finally uploaded some of the pictures i took in Perth. Super overdue i know but it's better to be late than never! This was taken during the fireworks display at the Perth Royal Show. It was freezing then but we enjoyed the spectacular show huddled together, sipping our hot chocolate while nursing our aching legs from walking for the past 8 hours or so!

Two weekends have come and gone and soon, we'll have to bid farewell to 2007! The last 2 Sundays were spent at the Singapore Expo - one was to watch dogs in action and the other was to watch cars in action. 2 weekends ago, the hubby and i were there with Chester for the SKC trials. Even though i thought i was fit enough to run my last trial with the dog before going on a hiatus for the next 2 trials at least, many (concerned) others thought i should chill and not "take the risk". It is a real pity because the dog (and my handling skills, not shy to say!) has improved tremendously over the past month and even with extra weight on my body and a bulging mid-section, we have been doing many clean runs during training sessions.

Clean runs are pretty rare in the past for us because Chester is a speedy dog who always gets in my path, overly-zealous to get more instructions on where to go next. BUT after scouring through numerous agility websites and of course, with some professional help, we were able to sort out the problems which bugged me for the longest time.

Anyways, with the help of our good friend and instructor, Chester came in 4th in the maxi-jumpers trials and bagged a trophy! The dog just needs to qualify 2 more times and we can get him titled, kinda like how we all like to add more alphabets to our names by collecting more degrees!! Of course, the extra alphabets behind Chester's name will mean nothing to him, but for me, i think it speaks volume of how much an owner was willing to spend time bonding and training his/her dog, how much the dog saw the owner as a leader to want to please him/her, and how much cohesiveness and chemistry the dog and the owner had to achieve such results. Besides photographs, videos and his ashes as keepsake when the dog finally passes on, i think i'd also like him to have some honour to his name while he's alive. Dan's on the list to run the next trial with Chester (stress stress stress, he says!!!) and if he qualifies again, i hope to be the last one to do the final qualifying run so Chester can finally get his JD!

Anyway, enough geek talk about dog training! Just 2 days ago, we went for the "Super Import Nights" at the expo to catch some drift action, hot cars and motor babes. Sad to say, the drifting session was only so-so because we've seen better (the husband has a stash of drifting DVDs) and even Russell Swift that we caught during the motorshow earlier this year was much much much better. I've never had the chance to take much pictures of cars much until the husband recently got Scooby, but i think i'll like to shoot cars more often, just that i will need BETTER LENSES for sure!

Took a few shots of the cars there, especially those in the autostyling competition. The standard was again so-so except a few eye-catching ones which were true works of art. Dan was beating himself up for not entering the competition because he was pretty sure he could at least end up 3rd in the competition due to the lack of able competitors. Anyways, Scooby will probably go for another decal facelift soon but this time, Dan has cleverly appointed me as his "creative director" because of my artistic inclinations (muahahhaha!) and possibly because if there's any muck up, i can be the scapegoat that he blames....hahaha!

I've never been big on cars but it's good to be able to learn new things especially since the husband is so into zhnging cars and stuff after he got Scooby. Although i sometimes give him the disbelieving look (because i have no idea if he's smoking me or not!!!), i think i've picked up a little along the way and can carry a conversation for more than one sentence when someone talks to me about Scooby's BOV. Also, i can correct someone for calling the gauges "METERS"! Scooby is not a taxi, he doesn't have a meter, y'know?!! Muahahah!

I think it's really funny and amazing....how two lives can come together and become a part of each other. Besides me picking up on cars, i think Dan has gained considerable knowledge on dogs and stuff all these years with me. Was just joking with Dan's best friend at the garage yesterday, how Dan even advises people on dog issues in the car forums (he always gives credit to his missus though!) and it dawned upon me how we've rubbed off each other to become more knowledgeable and well-rounded people. That's the way it should be, methinks.....to share the things you love with the person you love. :)

Will post some pictures from the car show soon. No hot babes caught on my camera unfortunately - i thought the highlight of the show were the import babes but the only ones we saw were the local race queens. Dan promptly remarked that if he was in drag, he'd beat all these girls hands-down as the chioest race queen.....hmmmmm. I'm not going to entertain that thought (of my husband as a drag queen)....heh!!!