THE AFTER EFFECT OF HAVING A DEATH AT HOME

There would indeed be the never ending flows of pouring tears, heavy heartache, the feeling of guilt of not able to save a life and occasional mood swings. That was exactly how I felt when my favorite cat, Jeremy, passed away two weeks ago. I knew I had to stay strong but yet I was so deeply affected by my worst enemy – emotion. It was until a close friend told me her story about the rules of life when someone had decided to have a close relationship with another, may it be a person or a pet.

“Of Memory and Loss

Before I went to sleep, I decided that the next morning I would go and get a pet. I was not sure if it would be a dog or cat or bird or something else. All I knew was that I needed, no, wanted to share my life with another creature that would accept my friendship and affection.

As I slept, I fell into a deep dream.

There before me sat the most beautiful creature, neither male nor female. To either side of this wondrous creature, there were two identical waterfalls with deep clear pools at their base. From each waterfall, the most crystal blue water cascaded down. I was entranced. Never before had I seen such beauty, such serenity.

Wordlessly, the creature motioned me to come towards the pools at the base of the waterfalls. I noticed that at each pool, there was a small silver cup attached to a fine silver chain.

"Dip thy finger into the pool and taste," the creature said as it gestured to the pool to its left.

I did as instructed. As the clear cool liquid touched my tongue, my stomach clenched with pain and my heart pounded fiercely within my chest. Hollowness rang throughout my being that I feared I would never recover from.

"This is the Pool of Loss." the creature said and then it motioned to the other pool of water. "Dip thy finger into the pool and taste."

Warily, I drew my forefinger through the water of the other pool of water. As my finger touched my tongue, a joy so deep and pure touched my soul. A wave of happiness and wonder drowned the pangs of sorrow and loss the first pool had caused.

"This is the Pool of Memory," the creature said. "If you take one of God's creatures into your heart, you must be prepared to drink from both pools. Do you accept this as your covenant, your bond with one of God's creatures?"

Silently I nodded yes.

"Then drink from each pool." The creature instructed as it motioned towards the silver cups at the sides of the pools. "For now they will bear no taste, but in time you will discover how much you have partaken of each."

The very next day, I went and found a kitten at a local pound. It was the smallest one of the litter and it was the one who seemed to need me the most.

I watched it grow and play and I reveled in the smallest joy it brought to me. But then without warning, it was taken from me in a way most sudden and cruel.

Once again I felt the pangs I had felt in my dream when I tasted the waters of the Pool of Loss. Only this time, I thought the pain would never leave. Then, I remembered the taste of the waters from the Pool of Memory. Slowly the pain of Loss began to subside, and was replaced with the joy of Memory.

Now I realized that I had drank more from the Pool of Loss than the Pool of Memory in my dream. But now I knew that the Pool of Memory brought more than enough comfort to offset the pain the Pool of Loss could cause.

I now bear the knowledge that each time I open my heart to one of God's creatures, I drink from the Pool of Memory and the Pool of Loss. How much I partake depends on each creature and that, in the end, the power of Memory is so much more powerful than the Power of Loss.”

Therefore, the drinking from the Pool of Loss had to stop someday and somehow. It should be now as the water from the Pool of Memory would help ease the pain and sadness I had within me. For each and every of those memories, I should be glad that I had the opportunity to spend the happiest moments of our lives together, bringing smiles to each without fail daily. I still miss him but life has to go on. I’m sure he won’t want me to be sad forever.

Here’s a simple tribute video I did for him for the great memories we had for the last 3 years together. I’ll surely cherish all those sweet moments forever. I’ll miss you Jeremy… Rest in Peace~

Note: You might want to let it load fully before playing for the best effect. In case of failure to load well, try visiting: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N76pO4zRv3I

HAVING FAITH IN LIFE

It would be a wonderful thing if everyone in this world has at least some compassion in them. It was only two days ago that I had encountered an incident when a man fainted along the pathway of the heavily traffic of Penang Road, in a fit with blood rushing out from his nose and not even a single motorist stopped by to help him. I often wondered if the locals are really a heartless bunch of people or they are afraid of other consequences that might happen if they were to lay a hand to help anyone that is really in need. Although I was already late for an appointment, miles away, I was glad that at least I did my part in calling 991 for an ambulance to send him to the hospital

Speaking about compassion, my heart melted away as I was reading about how a 22-year-old Reuben Stringfellow, a private-first class in the Army, stationed in Alaska, rescued a puppy about to be put to sleep. His mother Jude, who lives in Oklahoma City, took over the task of caring for the poor puppy. Faith, the name given to the Labrador-Chow Chow mix breed female dog, was born in December 2002 with only 3 legs. Its left front leg was amputated at 7-months old when it was found to be deformed and useless. She has to be taught to walk upright by a canine trainer and training was not that easy as everyone thought. I guessed she would be the first bipedal dog that I have known that ought to receive a standing ovation.

This is a great incident where a combination of compassion by the Stringfellow family and having faith in life, can push forward the determination of a canine to live its life to the fullest. Be compassionate. Lend a hand. Encourage some faith and motivation to live on, not only towards animals but also towards those humans surrounding you. Life is not something to be discarded off so easily when there is still hope, faith and willpower to strive on.

A book has been published about Faith entitled “With a Little Faith”. If you check through YouTube, you can see Faith and her owner, Jude Stringfellow, featured on The Oprah Winfrey Show, The Montel Williams Show as well as Ripley’s Believe it or Not. You can learn more about Faith at faiththedog.net

NEW KIT ON THE BLOCK

I do not how I ended up here but I am here now. I am the new KIT on the block! What is my name? Just call me Jeremy. In Hebrew, it means God’s Exalts, having the high rank, power, dignity and highly praised by many.

From now on, I shall be dominating this blog as well as in a few others. You want to know why? Because I am cute… cuter than the rest! I am the new Garfield…King Jeremy Garfield, the conqueror of cats and kittens! … hehehehe… (evil meow~~)

I HAVE FINALLY WON!

“It has been a boring Valentine’s Day with no dates, no good animal shows and having to stay at home with a bottle of alcoholic fruit drink in my hand... errr... paws,” said Jonathan. At least I still get some glamor out of it… haha :P

Thanks Deana and her cute gang for awarding Jonathan for the Funniest Valentine Photo in the 2008 Toonces and Rollie Valentine Contest based on cuteness, sweetness, personality and fun. It is an honor to be selected amongst the dozens of photos submitted. Even Jonathan would like to send his warmest thanks to you guys.

The triplets Janice, Jayson and Justin on the other hand were also surprised to find out that their Papa emerged as a winner. There are still too young to be in this limelight yet at only 40 days old. Who knows, they might outshined their Papa in the future?

Jessica also felt surprised as she was too busy taking care of what was left behind by the earlier actions of her so called hubby Jonathan aka Romeo aka Casanova who are still having late nights partying daily.

Bubble was walking up and down grumbling that I did not submit his photos for the contest. Oops…it was my mistake to overlook! Sorry Bubble…next time dear! :P

LETTER TO MARS

Dearest Martian,

I would be grateful if you could abduct a few weird species over here now. It is getting more and more stressful for me each day. My hair are getting whiter and dropping more often than I have expected them to be. My eye bags are getting darker and heavier too. My body gets easily tired due to unnecessary workload towards the end of the day. The brain seemed to be stalled due to over-powered lethargy. The fingers hardly listen to the brain nowadays and kept on producing lots of typo errors. The ears too might have some problems as there was the silence from ignorance all the time. The nose was always sensitive towards whatever viruses and particles that were left drifting about the place. Even though the mouth was kept mum all the time, the noises by other mouths and actions kept piercing sharp tingling pain into the head. It is real suffering over here.

Oh, come back to the main topic. I was wondering if you would be interested in abducting a plump furry pinkish rabbit who has nothing more to do than eating, sleeping and going out until the wee hours of the next day. I need to warn you first. Its place is filled with lots of shredded fur and it stinks like hell. You can see dirt, furs and many colored triangular shaped cloth all over the place. Even my cats are considering the place as a regular spraying and business area now. You can practically see its mouth opening and closing quite often but at times the silence is damn scary. Sometimes, I can hear soft noises of it sharpening its claws and teeth to prepare for some unexpected invasions. This is a silent killer or maybe a ninja in disguise. Watch out for any hidden samurai sword. You would not want to be caught off guarded, right? This rabbit has big ears too. It uses its ears to listen to the other rabbit instead of finding out about the real happenings surrounding it. It used to be an obedient rabbit but I guessed mixing with the wrong attitude rabbit will somehow affect its thinking. You can try examining its brain to find out what causes it to behave so awkward.

On the other hand, if this pink rabbit is too hard to deal with, you can go for the white rabbit. No doubt the place is as filthy as the pink rabbit’s hole, this one is much skinnier. Other than the normal sleeping and late coming home habits, this one hardly eat and will stay in front of the laptop three quarter of a day. You can practically see cobwebs gathering slowly around it. This rabbit specialized in sharpening its teeth and major in underground attacks. It will bite suddenly when you least aware of its existence. Lazy by nature, it will never clear up the surrounding mess it has created. The worst, it hardly cleans itself up unless someone kick its butt to do so. This rabbit is still young and do not use its brain to act wisely. Maybe a brand new hardly used brain would be a good choice to operate on.

If you think that you are not interested in abducting them, you can try me. I volunteered to surrender myself for your inspection. At least I can ease myself from more stress and have a nice vacation in deep space. You do not have to worry about food too as I can easily create different food fusions to suit your taste bud. My brain contained lots of data from the past and present. You may find many failures in them but you can see the solutions through experiences that led to many successes. They are also many systematic plans and foresights for the future too. Just make sure you jot down well when you dismantle my brain and know how to reassemble it later on. I will still need it for the benefits of other earthlings when I am brought back to earth.

One thing, leave my two cats alone. They are even smarter and more self discipline compared to the two rabbits. They are very hygienic and know where to do their businesses at the appropriate time and place. Unfortunately, they cannot stand on their own two feet during my absence to assist me in clearing up the mess left by the two rabbits.

The only worry that I have now is that I might not recognize my own place when I come back from the long trip. It could end up as the largest dump in my country. Somehow, I need to get someone to fill up the empty room left behind by the skunk recently. How glad I was when it had decided to vacant the place, even though the trail left behind by it was not pleasant to the nose. Maybe you can loan me a considerate and responsible human being prior to my journey?

I do hope to hear from you soon. I mean real soon!

Regards,
Criz Lai

A LIFELONG COMPANION

If you have noticed it, my whole blog theme has been changed to go in line with the advertisement shown in the Nuffnang Ads. It is an advertisement by SPCA Selangor. I am an animal lover by nature and I am going to share with you the advantages of owning a pet. Pet plays an important role in our lives as they can help us physically, emotionally socially and security.

How does owning a pet or some pets help in a family? First and foremost, it helps us to have some healthy values such as lowering high blood pressure, preventing heart disease and combating depression. Pets do help us to live more energetic lives. Walking a dog or even watching those fishes swimming in your aquarium indeed does help. By taking your dog out for a run, you will get more exercise too. It has been proven that those who own pets at home have less arthritis or backbone problems. What about fishes? In Japan, it is believed that all offices have at least one aquarium. By watching the greeneries of the aqua landscaping and the care free movements of the fishes, one tends to have a more relaxing and calm mind. Thus, it is a mode of anti depression and stress.

Have you ever thought of improving your child to be a more responsible citizen in the future? If you are eager to see that happen, get a pet to be part of your family. Children absorb life values quickly at a tender age. They can learn the importance of responsibility by tendering to the needs of pets. It also fosters a closer relationship between the child and the parents while caring for the pet together. It also develops a sense of discipline as the child will have the duties to be in charge of the pet daily. Taking a pet to the veterinarian for sickness or vaccination will get them exposed to the world of medical issues. They will learn to see the life situations of being sick, old age or even death. This will prepare them to face the real world out there with a stronger stand emotionally.

Pets do provide emotional benefits as they shower us with unconditional love and attention. They help to reduce our loneliness and anxiety. They provide us relaxation and at times giving our lives some touches of humour. They do not care if we are unattractive, old, incompetent or mentally ill. People look to them for solace, especially in the case of the loss of loved ones. Pets acts as a stress buffer in these life situations. The best thing is that they never complain.

Having a dog at home makes us feel more secure. We feel safer to have them around the house. They warn us of the approach of strangers and protect our homes from intruders. Even if they are small sized toy dogs, their bark is enough to scare the wits out of any burglar. Dogs are wonderful cheerleaders. They boost up our spirits and eliminate our depression. Dog owners are never at a loss for laughter with the energetic pets’ daily dose of fun. Laughter has been shown to be therapeutic. It can fight off illness and even promotes healing.

So if you intend to live a healthier lifestyle or having a more united family, why don’t you adopt a pet or even purchase one today? Mr. Spot, Ms Polly, Mr. Whiskers, Ms Mousey, Mr. Gold Fish or even Mr. Conan Cat will surely be happy to see you… Haha!