2nd year since our Xin Xin left us

This is the 2nd year you have left us but we still speak about you as if you are still with us.

Come visit us when you have the time. We will love to know if you are doing well so far.

What if…?

If your cat is a vehicle? What will he/she be?

Kim Kim, being the big fat cat she is, will be a Landrover. Though not the prettiest or the cutest of the lot, she is very dependable (and huge), like a Landrover, and takes charge of the other kitties when we are not around.

Xin Xin, being a lean mean racing machine, will be a street racing motor bike. She zooms in and out of rooms without ever breaking her stride.


Bon Bon, our pretty girl, will be a VW Beetle. She’s just cute and fun to be around with. You just want to cuddle her everytime you see her, just like you would like to take the Beetle out for a drive every chance you get.

Chang Chang will be a mountain scrambler. Though he looks the skinniest and frailest, he is actually the strongest and the only one which can take on Kim Kim in any fight. He’s lazy and lounges around most of the time, but his spurts of powerful sprints are second only to Xin Xin.

And lastly, cutest Yuan Yuan will be the Toyota Yaris (must be the orange one). When she crouches down, she looks exactly like the Yaris with a big head and a big backside. Very cute looking and does not run too fast. In our family, the Yaris has been renamed the Yuan-mobile.

If your cat is a vehicle? What will he/she be?

We sleep while they slog

Enough said. Life is good :)

Click Clog Click Clog

Chang Chang: Hey girls, do you know doggies blog too you know. I read it from the newspaper (The Sunday Times, Lifestyle section dated 2 Apr 06 but cannot link to site ‘cos newspaper people money face. No pay money = no password = no reading. But not my kitty business lah. I am just a cat) today.

*gasps all around*

Xin Xin: You mean you read? *snigger*

Kim Kim: Boy boy, don’t bluff us lah. You are so not intelligent, how can you be literate?

*Bon Bon rolling on the floor, still laughing hysterically*

Chang Chang: *fuming liao* Of course I read lah. You think why I lie on the newspaper everyday when Daddy is reading. I can sense the words via my super kitty power paw pads (S.K.P.P.P) you know. But of course the sayanging from Daddy is a bonus lah. Hehehehe…

Yuan Yuan: What talking you? Newspaper is good for shredding only *continues shredding the free Lian He Zao Bao which no one reads*.

Kim Kim: So, what did the newspaper write about?

Chang Chang: Aiyah, some of our doggy friends are writing blogs and the reporter wrote an article on it, as if it’s something new like that. Our kitty friends have been blogging so long already and the reporter said she was not able to find a “clog” written from our perspective.

Xin Xin: Obviously she has not done enough research or is just lazy like you. Our clogs are all over the web.

Bon Bon: Aiyah, who cares whether she write about clogs or not. No one except for our Mummies & Daddies care about us kitties. Other people always think that we are non responsive dau animals what. You know hor, even this thing called the Hideous Donkey Bugger call us nomadic animals which shed fur and dirty the place.

Kim Kim: What nomadic animals??? Obviously Hideous Donkey Bugger is dumb or just plain ignorant. We are not nomadic!!! We have our own territory and will defend it if there are outsiders. Why would we be nomadic when we have secured a good food source? Look at our lion, tiger, leopard and cheetah big brothers and sisters. They are not nomadic, and they patrol their territory to secure their food source from the other guys. Though we are just smaller versions of them, we behave exactly like them in this aspect.

Bon Bon: Yah lor. Say we shed hair. Our doggy friends also shed hair what. And we do our business in the litter box. We are so clean you know *continues preening*.

Yuan Yuan: *smell smell armpit* Heehee, I smell so nice today and everyday. Maybe we should send some money to Hideous Donkey Bugger so that it can subscribe to SCV’s Animal Planet, National Geographics and Discovery Channel so that it can learn a little more about us and other animals.

Xin Xin: Aiyah, no use one lah. It won’t accept alternative views one, even when these new views are correct. It is stubborn, that’s why called Donkey what.

Chang Chang: F*** care them lah. As long as Mummy & Daddy loves us and other Mummies & Daddies love us kitties, it’s enough already.

*Kim Kim smacks Chang Chang*

Kim Kim: Tell you so many times cannot use vulgar language you still do it.

Chang Chang: Sorry mummy. I very bek cek so cannot control already. I promise I won’t do it again.

Bon Bon: Hey, I heard Pip just gave birth. Her kittens must be cute. *looking at Chang Chang* I hope they won’t give Donna Jie Jie as much trouble as you did to Mummy & Daddy.

Kim Kim: They’ll be in good hands. Donna Jie Jie is no greenhorn and Pip is an able mother. I just can’t wait to see photos of their bright blue eyes. Ok, back to sleep you all. We all need our beauty rest.

*Kim Kim sends everyone back to bed*

Yuan Yuan: *running to the computer again* Donna Jie Jie, jia you. You can do it.

Does it work?

KXBC:

kuro.shiro.neko was blogging about Japan and somehow the subject touched on Maneki Neko (招财猫), ie, those sitting cat statues you see in Japanese or Chinese shops/restaurants. One of its arm is moveable and seems to beckon you in. Apparently, these cute little things are beckoning fortune into the shop/restaurant.

When we were visiting Hokkaido last year, we noted very few stray cats and dogs in the streets. And the strays we saw all seemed very well fed. Perhaps most of the strays have been adopted and are living a relatively comfortable life.

How we wish Singapore can learn from the Japanese in this respect. Give the strays a chance to be adopted into our home and if they cannot be adopted, let’s seek to make their lives in the streets easier. Allow them to live. Don’t cull them just because of some complaints by cat/dog haters. If I apply this culling logic to humans, I think half of the primary schools in Singapore will have to be shut down permanently. I know most people will say you cannot equate a human life to a stray cat/dog’s life but to the many feeders and volunteers, they are their “children” they feed and take care of daily. These strays reciprocate with purrs, head butts, belly rubs. They give back 100% love unconditionally. They may fill a certain void in many lives. I cannot say the same thing about humans. How often do you see parent-abuse cases reported in the daily newspaper? How would you feel if one day, your child does not come back home for dinner? Will you be worried about his/her safety? And how will you feel if you learn from a neighbour/friend/relative that he has been captured (and culled!!!!!) by the authorities for making a din in the shopping centres/book shops/libraries running and screaming because there is a complaint against this inconsiderate behavior. Does this sound familiar?

Let volunteer organizations like the SPCA, CWS, Metta and ASD continue with their TNR (trap and release), mediation and adoption programs. With time, we will see good results. Most neutered/spayed cats are very docile and do not mess up the environment. We humans mess up our estate much more than all the strays in Singapore put together. Take a look around your estate early in the morning before the sweepers begin their work and you will see what I mean.

I seemed to have strayed from my original topic matter. Ok, back to the original topic about招财猫. After Kim Kim came into our lives, on the first day of Chinese New Year, we will bring her out to the front door and then we will lift up her front paws to do the 招财thing. We do this with all our cats without fail every year.

Obviously, it does not work because we had never won Toto first prize these few years. Haiz... Waste our time and effort. Hahaha...We'll continue trying though.

Have you ever done this or even thought about doing it?

PS: Actually Yuan Yuan wanted to post her story but somehow the picture cannot upload. So she will have to wait...and I still miss the block’s feisty calico which had gone missing since last year.