Botanic Gardens

It was mahjong day today and I was wagging my tail and welcoming the mahjong girls and guarding them. But when fomfomfom came down, I avoided her entirely. I didn't want to, but the trauma of the past 2 days' force feeding was deeply etched on my mind, and instinctively I walked away from her, even though she was just patting me as per her usual morning routine. It was so hard for me.

Ah bee woke up early to go to the airport with Janice and Lynn to fetch some foreign exchange student and it turned out they made a mistake and the student was supposed to arrive at night. So stupid. She had to go again at night.

At about 4pm, ah bee and cha brought me to the botanical gardens. It is like a minute's drive from our house and it was the 1st time in 3 years that they brought me there. What was wrong with them? Anyway, I had a great time, loads of kids wanted to pat me and I was the centre of attention and I wandered for 35 minutes and I was terribly happy. I forgot the trauma of the force feeding and when fomfomfom returned at midnight, I brought my bottle and snuggled into her lap for some lovin' and she was so happy.

I hope to go to the botanical gardens again tomorrow. It is my new favourite place.

Trauma

I threw up 3 times last night. So the antibiotic came out too. The force feeding was all for nothing and since I threw up both my lunch and dinner, I had nothing for food all day yesterday.

This morning, I had a bit of bread coz cha was afraid I would be too hungry and throw up again. I decided not to eat lunch coz I suspected they had an antibiotic hidden inside. Happily, fomfomfom and ah bee brought me for a walk in the afternoon. I wandered leisurely for 25 minutes before I asked ah bee to carry me home. I used to run very fast and tire myself out, but since I'm already 3 years old and the weather was so nice and cool today, I decided to enjoy myself and smell the flowers.

In the evening, they tried to feed me dinner and I made sure I sniffed and chewed every morsel thoroughly. Then I stopped eating after a while coz I didn't want to push my luck and end up eating the morsel laced with antibiotic. Fomfomfom and cha put me on the counter and force fed me with the antibiotic again. I was drooling and fomfomfom was prying my mouth open and cha was holding my head and I was so miserable. It was so unpleasant and I was so helpless. After that, I ran into ah ma's room where it was safe.

All the grooming and vet visits and ear cleaning and force feeding and vomiting these 3 days have taken their toll on me. I have never been so traumatised in my life, not even when they brought me to have my tubes tied. I tried to be brave but I couldn't help being afraid of what my mamas are going to do to me next. At midnight, fomfomfom was doing the count up to 2007 with me by the fan in the living room, and when cha and ah bee came too, I knew they wanted to wish me happy new year and kiss me, but I couldn't help trembling. I love my mamas but they scare me so. They saw me trembling when I was surrounded by them and they were heartbroken and I was scared and no one wanted it to be that way but it couldn't be helped. I didn't want to go upstairs coz I felt safer downstairs.

It is a new year and it is supposed to be a happy time and I decided to take a leap of faith and go upstairs. It was also coz I was so tired and I went to cha's room and thankfully my mamas allowed me to sleep without anymore torture. I am so tired.

I hope tomorrow will be better.

BBQ Nite!

Today we went to the vet's for ear cleaning and it was a bad bad experience. Ah bee told me we're going out, and I wanted to please ah ma and ah gong who were with me so I let ah bee leash me up. Then I started shivering right away, at home, and everyone laughed at me. I shook all the way to the clinic. It is Saturday and the clinic was so crowded. The nurse Robert said he'd ask the vet man something before washing my ears "just to be sure" and he clean forgot about it until 40 minutes later when he saw fomfomfom standing there and asked the vet whatever it was, right in front of fomfomfom. Fomfomfom wasn't happy. Then during the cleaning, the vet man told fomfomfom that something "fantastic" had happened. It turned out that the swab they took 2 days ago of my ears was useless for culture coz they'd cleaned my ears before the swab. But, the vet man assured fomfomfom, they definitely had the zymox solution for my ears, which was supposed to be ordered 2 days ago for us to collect today, or else he would strangle the girls at the counter. Of course they didn't have the zymox. Fomfomfom was hopping mad. It was an unnecessarily long and exceptionally exasperating visit. Fomfomfom was scowling when we left. But she wiped that scowl off her face and held her breath for a while out of respect when we had to walk past a big big big dog. It was the biggest dog I'd ever seen. It was white with black prints and ah bee thought it was a cow when she first glanced at it. Well, it's a vet clinic afterall and people are entitled to bring cows, ah bee defended herself.

Fomfomfom and ah bee felt so bad after the long visit to the stupid clinic that they let me roam outside the house for 25 minutes when we reached home. I hadn't walked outside the house for so long, so I was happy.

I ate antibiotics with my lunch. But then I threw it up together with my lunch later coz the vet visit took too long and I was too hungry so I vomited whatever I ate.

At night, we had 5 friends come over for ah bee's bbq. I was the host and I slept under each and every one of their stools during the bbq. Later, before they could be allowed to leave, ah bee made them kiss me on the head. I collected 5 kisses today!

At night I had a lot of tidbits coz cha was trying to trick me into eating another antibiotic. I refused and was quite pleased with myself. But alas fomfomfom put on golfing gloves and force fed me, putting the pill in the middle of my tongue instead of at the back so I tasted every bitter bit of the pill and I was drooling coz I refused to swallow it. Cha held my head firm and fomfomfom held my mouth closed and stroked my throat so I had to swallow. Later I drank a lot of water to get the bitter taste out of my mouth.

I am so tired today.

Bad Groomer

Today we went to cut my hair. The assistant groomer was very fierce and she muzzled me and she told my mamas to go away so I can't see them. Then she kept scaring me with her nail cutter which she made like she was going to hit my face with. She even hit the muzzle. I was scared but I couldn't do anything. Later she shaved me and shoved me into a cage and told my mamas it'll take another 2 hours coz we had to wait for the groomer to come. My mamas wondered why the groomer is not there when we had an appointment and told the bad woman the last time took only 1 hour. The bad woman's attitude was very bad and said it was impossible and not to compare with the last time. It was the very worst service possible. My mamas lost patience long ago, when fomfomfom saw her hitting me on the muzzle, so they took me away with the job barely halfway done. The bad woman had the cheek to charge us the full grooming price, and fomfomfom paid up and we thought it was only money for us. That bad woman's bad attitude will surely cost her much more. We live and let die.

I was upset and we went home and I was happy when I saw that tai ma was here. I forgot all about the bad experience and I sat with cha on her lap and we chatted with tai ma and ah ma and fomfomfom.

Later, fomfomfom and ah bee brought me to another groomer. This one wasn't bad, so I managed to finish my grooming today afterall. We went home and a while later, wenli came. I was happy again.

Dinnertime, I had to eat antibiotics again, and I got luncheon meat as an enticement. So I did it. Later on, wenli came again, with fomfomfom and I was happy again.

I have kind of forgotten about the bad groomer, but now that I write this entry, I am reminded of her again and I get a little upset. But I tell myself I have to be happy coz ah ma loves me and my mamas love me and we are all very happy together.

HRHQP

That is my title. It means Her Royal Highness Queen Ping. But until my coronation, I am just HRHPP. That is Princess Ping. My coronation will take place upon an event, which is my ear infection clearing up.

I went to the vet again today. The woman is not around, so we saw the vet man. He is a bad one, he put the muzzle on me. And he put ear buds in my ears and did cultures and said I have new bacteria. Fomfomfom wasn't happy when she heard that. Now I am back on the old eardrops and old antibiotics and it just feels like one big expensive painful circle and I am standing in the same spot again. It took so long at the vet's coz we had to wait for the culture results and fomfomfom and ah bee promised to make me queen when it is all over.

And it rained all day today and I told ah ma I don't have the power to stop the rain yet. I can only do it when I am HRHQP. Meanwhile, the royal household doesn't even have dry towels for showers. Maybe we can try using toilet paper.

Still raining

It was raining today again. It comes and goes and it's all cloudy and ah bee complains she has no clothes to wear. Nothing is drying coz there is no sun. The garden was full of water and I couldn't go out.

I protected the mahjong girls again today. I didn't leave them one second and I was vigilant and in the end, ah ma won 10 dollars and I asked for 5 dollars for all my bodyguarding but ah ma hasn't given it to me yet. I will remind her tomorrow.

It was time to see off the mahjong girls and ah ma carried me to the ground floor so I could say goodbye. Ah ma carried me a long time coz she was showing them the flooded basement and giving a running commentary. I like ah ma to carry me but she doesn't carry me often. Only when we are seeing off guests does ah ma carry me to let me say goodbye. Oh, and one time ah ma carried me and I thought she was giving me some lovin' and she gave me to ah bee to wash ears. The hurt was deep, the betrayal, oh, indelible.

But I still like ah ma to carry me coz I love ah ma and ah ma loves me.

Shih Tzus rule the world

It has rained for 24 hours. I like the rain coz it's so nice and cool, just that I can't go out into the garden. The weather gave cha hives. Cha made ah bee drive her to the doctor's and she has to eat medicine now.

We went to the clinic to wash ears today and it was 2 young girls who did it for me. They were not so familiar with my ears and poked my eyes briefly when they held my head down. I wasn't cooperative coz it was my nap time so they muzzled me. Fomfomfom was horrified and made ah bee clean my ears too in case the girls weren't thorough.

There was a boy shih tzu in the clinic too and he wanted to make friends but I didn't want to coz I only wanted to go home to nap with ah ma. He looks like me, only he was brown and not as pretty as me. There was another girl shih tzu on the counter and she belonged to the nurse. She doesn't look like me at all. That's because she gets her hair combed on the counter by the nurse. I usually comb my own hair so I have more style.

And then it rained and rained and there was a bulge on fomfomfom's wall. It looked like a kitty face with ears. It was rainwater collecting between the paint and the wall. It is good paint coz it didn't break. But ah ma had ah bee poke a hole in the bulge so the water drained out. And the basement is flooded again.

Ronald McDonald

It is christmas again. We didn't do anything special, and ah ma was screaming that she's bored. So we went to take a car ride and after a very long time, we ended up at a McDonalds. It is about an hour from my house and it has a pond with lots of turtles. It is my 1st visit to a Mcdonalds, drive thrus not counted. I took pictures with Ronald McDonald and I ran around the paths and my paws were muddy and I was very happy. Ah ma and my mamas had food but I didn't have any.

We came home and I found that I was featured on Dogster diary of the day again! So happy. But I was too tired coz of the car ride and the run at McDonalds so I slept for a while in ah ma's room even though it was time for me to cook dinner. And then I woke up and cha brought me to the porch to enjoy the breeze.

In the evening ah bee and cha were trying to call the philippines for the new carlin, her name is merilyn. But the phone is too challenging for my mamas and they didn't manage to connect. The poor merilyn couldn't wish her family merry christmas. Maybe we will try again tomorrow.

At night ah ma was trying to chase me out of her room so she can sleep. But I took one kibble in my mouth and lay on my mat and refused to budge and ah ma was dragging the mat out with me on it and I thought it was so unbecoming.

Fomfomfom came back with turkey and stuffing and pasta and ah bee ate and ah gong and cha too but I didn't get anything again. And it rains.

My 4th christmas eve

It is christmas eve today. It is my 4th christmas eve. I had my 1st one when I was 2 weeks old, in my doggie mama's house. On christmas day 3 years ago, these 3 mamas came by and said they wanted me, and ah ma said ok, and I had a family!

Fast forward 3 years and I had some loose stools. It wasn't exactly diarrhoea, but it was sticky and it stuck to my behind fur and ah ma squished it further onto me when she tried to clean me up. So she locked me in her bathroom and cleaned my backside more than ten times with wet tissue and finally washed my backside with water from the showerhead. I ran around the house with a wet backside. It wasn't dignified.

Oh, oh, and wenli came by. She is fomfomfom's friend and she came to return our grill. She played with me and I ran around and banged twice into fomfomfom at full speed, once my nose on her elbow and once my chest on her knee. Wenli scooped me up like a baby and rocked me. Wenli said I have mega paws and I've grown bigger. I told her rubbish, it's only my long hair. Then she left too soon.

We had a grill in the evening. My mamas were grilling lots of things but I only had a tasteless stingray. So I lay around everywhere in the porch where the bbq was while everyone ate. It was such a hassle preparing food and cleaning up and ah ma was so bothered and busy but I think that's what happiness is made of. Fomfomfom even drank wine under ah ma's nose and ah ma only screamed at her to watch where she puts her wine glass. It was all very busy and happy. Later we watched Nigella cook on tv. Cha won't believe the woman's almost 50. We think it's all that food that keeps her looking young.

I was tired and fell asleep before I could count up to 12 midnight.

The big turtle

I bathed today! It is the 12th day since I last had a bath. Giggle. I wasn't unhappy about having to bathe coz I don't have to scratch myself so often now. I am clean and fluffy and I smell like an apple.

Fomfomfom and cha came back from the supermarket with the very nice kibble. Ah bee gave me powdery bits, so miserly she is. I licked the capful of powder clean. Yum.

At night I was watching tv with ah ma in her room on her sofa. I dragged the big turtle from the stool next to my seat and put it in front of me. Then I hid behind the turtle. Fomfomfom came in and wondered why ah ma was sitting next to a big turtle. Giggle. Ah ma praised me for being smart.

Ah ma said my eyes are so round and my nose is so black. Ah bee asked what that means. Fomfomfom told her it means ah ma likes me.