14. Adopting a cat

Sorry, dears. Life has been a haze for the past few days. I'll tell you the story one by one. But I'll start with the major story of my life.

April: 

My birthday wahoo. My friends got me a cat for my birthday. Adopted from SPCA. Now, I would not recommend anybody giving a cat as a present for anyone for a birthday. A cat is a big decision to make; you might think that all you need is to feed it and change his/her litterbox BUT factoring in the reason that he/she might get sick; toys; bla bla, well a cat is not just a hasty decision to make. Food & litter is not cheap here in Malaysia. I recently bought Science Plan for Maximus which was around RM 45++ for just 28 days worth of food.

My friends knew I have always wanted to have a cat but I never really had one because of sinus problems/mom's wrath. Now that my brother and sister-in-law left to study in UK, and that I'm staying alone, my friends thought it would be a perfect time to get me a cat. My parents, of course, FREAKED OUT when they found out about having a cat.

You can't even begin to fathom how scared I was about keeping Maximus. My work keeps me busy; it's not a regular 9-to-5 job as recently, we started a project; I might finish work at midnight, or 8 pm. I was afraid that I could not take care of an animal who depends solely on you to feed him, or I would not be at home and I'll return to a house full of ruins. That and the fact that I have never ever had anything furry to take care of (had tortoises but that was it).

I googled information on how to keep a cat. The first day at work, I kept him in his cage. And I read that it was cruel to cage a cat; that if you were gonna cage him, you didn't deserve to have a cat in the first place. So I let him explore the house (I live in a condo); watching him like a hawk and preparing to sound him if he was going to do anything naughty like bite wires, scratch furnitures or jump off my balcony.

When I took him in, he was 2 and a half months old, around 400 grams. He was sick with feline fever at that time, and it cost me RM400+ for boarding, feeding, consultation fees & taking care of the furry bugger. I cried when the doctor informed me that Max was emaciated and that there was a slim chance for recovery.

But now, five weeks later, he is 1.5 kg and healthy. I've never loved a furball as much as I do for Max. I love that he waits for me patiently at the door when he hears my keys rattling at the door. I love that he waits for me patiently at my feet as I hang my laundry. I have even come to love him biting and scratching me as I feed him his antibiotics and bacteria shots for mammals.

My most dreaded moment was going off to Singapore for a 3-days-2-nights vacation; I had just picked him up from the vet; he was just recovering from his fever and he was doing alright. My friends had promised to look in on him, and feed him. It was such a relief when I came back and he was still purring and eating.

 

He is now very healthy (and a bit spoilt). In the beginning, I let him sleep with me in my room; but I developed a cough and cold the same time he started to develop symptoms of feline fever. I was also allergic to his fur. I had to "sterilize" my house when he boarded the clinic for his feline fever. So now he sleeps out in the living room. He is my alarm clock, as he will meow very very early in the morning to let me know he is hungry. He knows not to jump off the balcony. 

Maximus is a very playful cat that basks in attention. He loves silly games like chasing your hand (you place it under a blanket and move it around). Sometimes when I'm resting he'll walk across my head. He loves to disturb me when I'm reading or doing work (plonks himself in front of my book/laptop). Having a cat forces you to be more clean and attentive (keeping anything wiry after you're done with it, throwing away anything like lint, strings etc).

 

But it is all worth it. He knows I'm his master and there's no feeling like it when he curls up in your arms and purrs like a lawnmower. It's the best feeling in the world and I'm grateful to have Max around. I love him and I plan to having him stick around for the rest of his cute, furry life. To others, yes it is costly to keep a cat - the doctors said that there was an epidemic from cats adopted from SPCA so it really is up to you where you would adopt a cat from. I rather adopt one than buy one that was bred at a shop anyways. They are lovely creatures who are actually very independent. You will be rewarded with companionship & furry warmth at the end of the day.

13. losses

Last weekend I lost my grandfather. In the first week of December we discovered he had cerebral tumor. There was nothing to be done; it was an aggressive form.

At the age of 89, my grandfather was a man I knew to be a picture of health and strength. He was rarely sick. Sure, he had been a chainsmoker for as long as I had remembered, but that was it. No bouts of fits, or signs of sickness.

He was administered into the hospital when he had a fit in the first week of December. I visited him then, he was physically fine. He told the doctor how well he felt, that even at the age of 89 all of the teeth he had in his mouth was all "original". I massaged his feet, I gave him milo (hot cocoa) to drink.

We laughed about the time when he came to my hostel back when I was doing my diploma in University, and how he asked around "where to find Junee?" (amazing, considering that there was more than a few thousand students in my uni). He waited for me to finish class, waiting for me with durian and rambutans (local tropical fruits).

He told me of his hopes and dreams, that he wished for me to continue my masters and Phd. It was the only request he ever made of me, in life.

After my visit to the hospital... his condition deteriorated very fast.

He stayed at my aunt's house afterwards, when the conditions got worst. The last time that I ever talked to him while he was still consciously aware of my presence, he kept telling me to pursue my studies. He told me to find a decent man to marry.

Me: Bawo, bawo okay tak? (grandpa, are you okay?)

Him: Nak air, haus. (please give me some water, I'm very thirsty)

*passes him the water*

Me: Bawo kenal tak ni sapo? (grandpa, do you recognize me?)

Him: Mestilah, takkanlah tak kenal cucu sendiri. (of course, do you think I would not recognize my own grandchildren?)

Then I massaged his feet. He was so cold.

The last thing I told him while he was still awake was to come back to us, that he had to be there at my wedding.

And then, the next thing I knew, he was comatose. The medication the doctor gave him left him in a forever drugged state. He got progressively worse. By this time, I had accepted that grandpa would never wake up again from his medicated torpor.

I visited him as often as I could after work. Whenever I saw him I would kiss his forehead and whispered, "bawo, Junee dah sampai" (grandpa, I'm here). He would not respond but I would tell him of how my day had been, that I wished for him to come back to me.

During my last visit, all of my aunties stood next to me, urging me to talk to my grandfather. I did not know what to say. I squeezed his fingers, touched his toe, kissed his cheeks. I thought I had said everything that needed to be said. I begged him that he had to be around when my sister-in-law gave birth. I told him he had to be around when I walked across the stage to receive my masters scroll. I whispered to him that he had to return to us, that he had to be standing there when I married, that he had to put his arms around my first child.

Yet he did not return to us. God loved him too much and took my grandfather to His arms.

My mom called me on early Saturday morning, 22nd January 2012, informing me that my grandfather had passed away around 5.30 am. I woke my brother up immediately, and set off to head to my aunty's place.

My grandfather was so frail, and pale, lying on the bed, covered in blankets and sheets. He had stopped breathing. He was not with us anymore. All of his loved ones, his children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren, lied around him. We all sat around him, offering prayers. Kissed him, looked at him for the last time.

He looked at peace.

I kissed his cheek one last time. Then it was time for his body to be washed clean by his sons. Time for his body to be brought to Melaka, where his body would finally be buried in his resting ground. Time for us all to say goodbye, and watch as they poured earth over his body.

It was then that I cried. That I found tears forming around my eyes. That it was with a realization that I would never hold his fingers in mine again, or gaze upon his face.

During the sermon afterwards, the tok imam said that "we came from earth, and so we must return to earth... whatever our sins and good deeds, all of them will be weighed by Him. No matter how small, He will judge them all... and God willing, the Almighty, the Fair and Just will forgive all us for all of our mistakes."

There's so many feelings that I wish I could convert into words, but my feelings of missing him are so raw, and it's a torrential storm of grief and loss. I wish I could just write it all out but in the end, I think my grandfather (he insisted we called him Bawo; it means abah tua, old grandfather in Malay, and would get mad at me if I did not call him that) knew what I wanted to say, whether I said it with my words or through the simple squeeze of his hands.

Rest in peace, Bawo. You will be sorely missed by all those you had in your life. I don't know if I will ever see you again, but I sure hope I do.

beyond the door there's peace I'm sure
and I know there'll be no more tears in heaven

12. a little slice of heaven @ awan mulan

it was friday night; me and a group of friends had decided to visit a place in the middle of nowhere in seremban called awan mulan. following the directions of google maps, which took us everywhere through kampung roads, we finally ended up in said place. after 10 phone calls to friends who arrived there first, and 5 u-turns after realizing gps coordinates were a bit slow, we finally arrived to a quaint little bungalow on top a hill.

imagine a secluded little place to call your own, up in the hills. it's so perfect and cool. would you believe it, the above said picture was taken around 4 pm? (stolen from sha's camera). the featured star, the hammock, was later broken by big nas :(

the kitchen, living room and balcony/patio co-existed peacefully. we spent 70% of our time here. most of us even ended up bunking here.

the breathtaking scene because it really is that beautiful. the pictures don't do it enough justice. imagine this, just 180 degrees from left to right.

if you looked towards the right of the patio, you can see the top two floors of the bungalow. we occupied two rooms for fourteen people (eventually only 10 came).

amir, sarah and me. on our last day :( none of us wanted to go back. amir wanted to wake up at 7 to pick rambutans (succulent delicious fruits) but he ended up waking at 11 plus, fail.

with may and ikhsan, the awesome people that planned this trip. there was a lot of setbacks but thank you to these two for introducing us to this beautiful place ♥

with hawa in one of the toilets. see how beautiful it is? you shower under the open skies! hawa likes to photobomb people's photos idgi.

this is pup, the guy that broke our lovely hammock :( i didn't even get to sit on it, booo.

this is judge. thank god for his carton of cigs. the weekend was filled with just chilling, smoking, eating, laughing, drinking, eating, smoking and more smoking.

the dog that underwent so many name changes. eventually, the group decided on dobby. she's so adorable and friendly. she doesn't bark and is trained to sit outside the house.

i suppose the house is built on an 'organic', environment friendly concept. the materials we used was "raw:" (ok honestly idk wtf raw is supposed to mean but cemented floors, cemented sinks); recycle bins; no air cons (we didn't even turn on the fan - it was that cooling); lots of recycled materials used for decorations (like bottles as wall dividers), yanoe, that sort of thing.

part of the girl's bedroom (i didn't take the picture of the double bed). on friday night, i crashed in this bed for four hours. on saturday night, i ended up sleeping "fifteen" minutes (which eventually turned into 5 hours WTF) on the couch in the living room.

one of the beds overlooking the scenery in the guy's bedroom downstairs. can you imagine waking up to this every morning? perfect.

BBQ on a lazy saturday afternoon. the bbq-ed chicken teriyaki was awesome. the owners of this place were awesome; they gave us fresh papayas (which was mouthwateringly delicious - that's saying something cos I HATE papayas) and salad dressing.

the perfect pool. we spent saturday night swimming after the BBQ staring and gazing into the night sky. it was brilliant, you could see all the stars, a satellite (according to Sarah wtf) and maybe a planet.

lovely picture destroyed by amir's finger.

the sunset. you can't really see a spectacular sunset, especially with the mosquitoes biting you. but it was still nice to see the gradients of pink, blue and white mingle and crash into black.

our rented bungalow was called "teratak bonda". for fourteen people, two nights, each of us paid around rm 200++ which was quite okaylah considering the amount of serenity, peace and calm you'll get during this trip.

if you're interested, visit:

official web-site: http://www.awanmulan.com/wp/

facebook: http://www.facebook.com/awanmulan

e-mail: serenity@awanmulan.com

phone number: +60187020021 / +60122712260

PLEASE BEAR IN MIND:

1. try try try to travel by daytime. most of us travelled after work on friday night; the place is quite hard to find in daytime because of how deep it is located in the jungle, let alone nighttime. most of the roads are narrow, unlit and dangerous to travel by nighttime.

2. you can travel via GPS whatever, but the best route would be to just set your gps to kampung bharu pantai, ask where's the balai polis, go to the police station and ask them or the locals where is the chinese schools and malay schools. there's a road there that leads directly to awan mulan.

3. the couple, mr and mrs teng, recommended us to visit between april - june, as that's when autumn is, and all the trees will be yellow and beautiful. there's also durian season, i forgot when WTF. mr and mrs teng (and their son) are extremely lovely, gracious and patient people btw - thank you thank you for the sack of rambutans!

4. get all your bbq stuff/snacks/whatever before you enter this place. seriously. the nearest town for atm machines and stuff is like 30 minutes drive away. that's not counting the winding road all the way from awan mulan back to civilization.

5. please leave the place as you found it; spick and span. do consider others who will be staying there. there were other guests staying around us that night, but we put on soft music, so apologies if we did sound a bit crazy that night.

6. it's a place of serenity so yes. think book, cards, chilling, swimming. think of an escapade away from the city. i brought along one of george r.r. martin's books, a storm of swords, the 3rd book from a song of ice and fire collection but ended up reading only 3 pages -__-

7. there's an optional hiking expedition if you want to go. it's rm 70 per group and yes, you'll get bitten by leeches. a local will take you around the forest reserve and even the waterfalls. we opted for this option, but it was raining heavily so we decided to paddle around in a nearer and shallow pool/waterfall like a boss.

8. be aware of the fact that there are plenty of stray dogs around this area. i'm no dog expert but this trip was really perked up by the fact that the dogs were there. they're just so calming to pat and play with. i think these strays have already been trained not to attack you and not to enter the house. they're really friendly, and they don't bark or make noise.

i would not mind visiting this place again, simply for it's sheer simplicity, tranquility and serenity. god, i miss it already.

other blogger's take on awanmulan:

1. kinkybluefairy.net - nice instagrams and stories on the place.

2. crustz.blogspot.com - lots of pictures; you can see how the place is.

3. the-kins.blogspot.com - pictures of pool and hammock T__T