Home For The Hols

I can't believe a year has passed. I look back at all the fun and crazy things that happened over the course of the one year I lived away from home. I haven't seen my family and friends in almost a year. Don't know how I managed to live without you guys.

I'll be leaving in 2 days and I can't wait. I started packing up last night when I was supposed to be studying but I couldn't concentrate because I was too excited! My bags are semi-packed and I'm actually done with my finals. I just have a couple of research papers to finish and I'm officially done with the semester. If I finish them by tonight, I'll be able to go on a last minute shopping spree tomorrow before I get back.

Home! I'll be home for the holidays and I know it's going to be a blast!

Mum

I was never close to my mum, maybe only at one point in my life when she wasn't working and could spend more time with us. I never recalled telling her about the things that were going on in my life except for the mundane stuff. I guess maybe it was because I was afraid that she'll judge me and possibly end up blaming herself for my bad behavior, because she couldn't be there for us all of the time. I was afraid that in her anger, she would discipline me in unfair ways and no doubt, that did happen. So when I came over here, it felt good to not have to look over my shoulder all the time, to be able to do what I wanted.

I guess you know by now that I was feeling down in the dumps for a little while now but the other night, I didn't know what came over me. I think it was the lowest point I ever came to regarding this matter and I did something that even surprised myself. I picked up the phone and called my mum to tell her what was going on and just to ask her to pray for me. She did so and I had as good as a cry as I could without freaking my room mate out. I guess what I'm trying to say is that maybe somehow, I didn't expect my mum to be that cool about it.

Well, I haven't talked to her since then and I hope she doesn't worry about me. But somewhere deep inside of me, I have a feeling she knows I'm alright because she raised me to be who I am today. Tough as nails on the outside but with a big heart on the inside. I'll be okay.

Home Is Where My Heart Is

My mum woke me up today at 8.40am by sending me an sms...asking me to come online. I shall remind you that it is a Saturday. Hmm...anyways, after that I couldn't go back to sleep. I felt a twinge of homesickness today, I admit. It is my first Saturday living on campus and it is rather boring. I mean yeah, I have work to do and stuff but I miss home (my room!), miss my family, my friends, the mall and Blossom. Gone are the days when I can wake up in the morning, and put my feet down onto solid ground, lumber off to the bathroom and change freely in my room. I miss the family dinners with my parents, bro, Tan family, aunts and Aunty Jude. Something is usually planned during the weekends but now, it's dinner at the cafeteria.

I miss going out to the Mall and mamak with Yvonne. I miss Friday night CG meetings with YT, Hannah, Sarah and Jane, Eugene and Nianci, Ju and Jou. I miss the mamak. Here, we can only hang out at Spike's and Spikes do not offer roti kosong with dhal sambal nor teh o ais limau. Sigh...


I miss Blossom most of all. If I'm stuck at home alone or am up late into the night, she'll be the one who usually keeps me company. Bawl! I miss you piggy!! I wanna cuddle you and kiss you. Sometime earlier this week, my mum told me that Blossom ran away. I felt my heart drop down to my knees. Apparently, she sneaked out of the house because my dad didn't lock the gate and ran around the neighbourhood. My parents went out but when they got back, they found out that she was missing and spent 3 hours looking for her. They asked around and found that my neighbour caught her and got her back. She was so scared when she got home that she hid underneath the couch.

I would absolutely die if anything happened to her. Just trust my dad and bro to leave the doors open around the house. I was so mad that I told them off. Sigh, to make things even more sucky I have very little money at the moment because my ATM/Debit card has not arrived. Meaning, I can't go to the mall. Not only that, I have so little of my stuff over here. I miss all my craft supplies. All my paper, ribbon, stickers and etc. I hate to start all over. Valentine's Day is coming up and the shops are full with all kinds of craft items which I am dying to get but then again, I have no one to give them to. Most of my closest friends are back in Malaysia. Bah!

Mia-owch!

I've never been a cat-person. However, that rule does not apply to the only cat that I ever liked; Adelle's former pet cat who was more dog-like in behaviour than any cat I've ever met. Today a cat came into the compound of my house, in the midst of the many people who were here to attend my parents CG's Home-E. By now, most of the neighbourhood cats would know well to stay out of our house as they would be met with nothing but hostility. When it first came, my dad shooed it away. Then it came back, and my brother got the hose and sprayed it away. I thought it left for good because most of my neighbour cats only see my house as their litter box and leave stinking "parcels" behind.

It came back a third time and this time, there was no mercy...my dad shot it with the pellet gun! After the Home-E was over, I went out to clear as many things as I could. I found the cat was sitting on the stack of chairs. When it saw me, it did not attempt to run away but allowed me to pet it, carry it around and was very affectionate. For a cat to come back after being treated the way it did, you've got to give it some credit.

I felt rather sorry for the cat and wanted to give it some milk to drink but my mum would hear nothing of the sort. I gave it the milk anyway. :P I seriously considered keeping it as part of my family's pet collection as it reminded me so much of Adelle's cat, "MiaoMiao". It even looked like a younger version of it. The moment my dad and brother came out, they shooed it away again but it went to my neighbours house so I ended up playing tag with it for a while before it was chased away yet again. Poor cat! I wish it would come back...but not to use my house as a litter box.

The Lee Family Zoo

I just realized that in addition to having a dense garden in my home, we also have quite a few pets. I stayed up late into the night yesterday to identify the snake species that my dad brought back home. He caught the snake at his jetty office and brought it back yesterday evening for us to see. My mum did grumble a little though but since the snake was outside the house and going back to the jetty with my dad, she let us put up with it for a few days. My dad and I finally decided that it was a Painted Bronzeback snake (Dendrelaphis pictus), non-venomous but then again, my dad is still rather cautious when handling it.


My mum was rather nervous about the snake but I told her that if I just squeezed it a little, it would die as it looks extremely fragile. It's about 20cm long and skinnier than the skinniest snake that I've ever seen.


We recently got 4 budgies to add to our collection of pets but unfortunately, one flew away today when my dad was cleaning the cage. But it was the naughtiest of the lot so I guess it's not so bad. The others are rather silly as they actually like to eat bits ot newspaper, forcing me to remove all traces of paper from their cage. My favourite bird is the blue one in the picture.


This is just one of the many water features/ponds/aquariums in my home with fish in it. This one is at the side of my house.


But then again, no pet is loved more at home than my dog; Blossom. She has been on a naughty streak recently, peeing and pooping where she shouldn't and biting things. Just only today, I discovered that she pooped on her chair and my dad realized that she bit the electrical wire on the fan when he was taking it out. It is a good thing that she didn't get electrocuted. To date, she has bitten 4 pairs of my slippers and rendered 2 unusable. Naughty, no? Well, I still love her to bits and will miss her when I go away.