Tym Blogs Too!

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Too hot to handle

Taken by ampulets2
You know the weather is too hot when:

Ink has taken to sleeping in the bathroom sink throughout the day.
Running two standing fans in the living area doesn't do much good except to channel the warmth around the room more quickly.
The tiniest rumble of thunder sends me into rapturous joy (it didn't rain in the end, but it was a little cooler around noon).

I am officially tired of this weather. Rain, please!

Labels: Kitty corner, Singapore stories

posted by Tym at 7:40 PM

Friday, April 25, 2008

A little cat crisis

As I reported jubilantly to a few cat-loving friends last week, Ink and Sisu seem to be finally settling down. There's been much less scuffling and many more instances when I stumble upon them grooming each other. Of course, what usually happens is that mid-grooming, Ink will decide he'd rather nibble upon Sisu's neck instead, or Sisu will be more persistent at licking Ink's ear than he'd like --- and then they're off in a tumble again.

The important thing is that they haven't knocked anything over.

However, today I learned at the vet that Sisu shouldn't be eating Ink's prescription food (Royal Canin's anti-urinary tract infection diet, with the extremely appetising name of Urinary S/O). I thought it was harmless and she really loves it anywa Link

y, but no, the vet says it could affect her urine pH balance. My brain does not intuitively comprehend why that's bad but, er, it is.

At the same time, Ink absolutely cannot have regular cat food anymore. So the bottom line is that I have to get Ink and Sisu their own food, and make sure they don't eat out of each other's bowls when I'm not watching.

Which means that if I'm not home, Ink and Sisu don't get fed, unless I put them in separate rooms with their separate food --- but then that entails having a second kitty litter set-up in the separate room too. And in the small flat where I live, the only possible separate room is my bedroom. I really don't want a kitty litter set-up in there, even temporarily.

Okay, that's way too much thinking and agonizing. For today, I've stocked up on their separate types of food (Sisu gets Avoderm, for those of you who care) and fed them only under strict supervision. We'll see how things go over the next few days.

Labels: Domestically challenged, Kitty corner

posted by Tym at 6:30 PM

Friday, March 28, 2008

It's my birthday and I'll brush my teeth if I want to

Even if the cat won't let me.

I wanted to brush my teeth but the cat wouldn't budge

Actually, he got out of the sink after a couple of minutes, so I could perform my morning ablutions after all.

My birthday has been hot (where's the unseasonal rain when you need it?), somewhat work-filled but generally not too bad considering how much dawdling I did. This I document to reassure my brother, whose SMS to me this morning consisted of birthday greeings followed by "Hope the whole day isn't spent doing work."

My dad's SMS included a line to say, "Make the world a better place to live in" --- both sweet and guilt-inducing at the same time. I need to dust off certain ideas and get cracking on them.

My mother's SMS asked me what my plans were. To wit:

I planned to back up my hard drive --- done.
I planned to do a spot of work --- done.
I planned to mix various leftovers into a chicken salad for lunch --- done.
I didn't plan to finish the Leonidas chocolates oiseauxbleu gave me for Xmas, but there were only two left and I did.

Tonight's plans consist of dinner and maybe ice cream or something sweet after. I almost called Awfully Chocolate just now to get myself a whole 6" chocolate cake, but decided I would rather hold out for a real Lana cake when I have time to engineer an order for it.

-----|||||-----
Technorati Tags: birthday, cat, Ink the cat

Labels: Freelancin' living, Kitty corner, Personal

posted by Tym at 5:46 PM

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

After working late tonight

I am sitting here at the laptop, reading blogs and having a glass of white wine before bed. The karaoke pub across the street --- which I summed up to Wahj an hour ago as "strictly of the dive variety", with a "HANDWRITTEN 'members only' sign on the darkened-glass door" --- has a very enthusiastic band tonight. The current tune: "Sweet Child of Mine". The new cat was sniffing my heel some minutes ago, but has now gone to sleep on the chair beside me. The old cat is looking expectantly from the couch towards the back window, as if he expects a bat to fly through it any minute.

Goodnight.

-----|||||-----

Labels: Kitty corner

posted by Tym at 11:36 PM

Monday, March 24, 2008

Two days later

It's a good sign when the two cats are snoozing together under the bed

-----|||||-----
Technorati Tags: cats, Ink the cat, Sisu the cat

Labels: Kitty corner

posted by Tym at 11:14 AM

Saturday, March 22, 2008

Ink has a playmate

Her name is Sisu.

She's quite feisty, despite (or perhaps because of) being half-blind.

They have spent most of the afternoon circling around/chasing each other, so this is the least blur picture --- never mind that it's also the most uncharacteristic --- I could get.

Despite the mild batting and swatting, they have not been at each other's throats (yet). Perhaps it's because Ink keeps running away ...

-----|||||-----
Technorati Tags: cats, Singapore cats, Ink the cat, Sisu the cat

Labels: Kitty corner

posted by Tym at 6:46 PM

Sunday, March 02, 2008

Missed the window

I spent all of yesterday thinking, "Oh, it's February 29, that only happens once every four years --- I'd better post a blog entry today."

Then I overslept, which made me late for lunch. Then I had to clear out some rubbish at the old flat and the friends who helped came over afterwards to the new place for a bit (with their dog, hence the encounter pictured above). Then I had to do the weekly flat-cleaning. Then (and oiseauxbleu will be particularly glad to hear this) I cooked. Then I had to get more groceries. Then I ran into a friend, who came over for the evening.

So I didn't blog yesterday and I went to bed feeling a little rueful at missing the opportunity to have a February 29 entry.

But it was only today, when I looked more closely at the dates of the pictures I took yesterday, then cross-checked the dates on my email inbox, and finally checked everything against the computer's date setting --- that I realised that February 29 was two days ago. So I'd missed it anyway.

Which just goes to show you where my mind's been.

For the record, I spent February 29 powering through some work in order to meet a deadline, then kicked off the weekend with steamboat at my favourite old-school steamboat place.

-----|||||-----
Technorati Tags: 29 February, February 29, leap year

posted by Tym at 4:25 PM

Sunday, February 17, 2008

Manufacturing imitates reality

No, it's not Ink.

It's a cat figurine, crouched over some kind of water feature figurine, that just happens to look uncannily like Ink, black tail and markings and all (minus one black spot that Ink has on his back --- see here for comparison).

The figurine belongs to bowb's kid, who got it at one of those machines where you put in money and use the claw to pluck out some kind of toy. She likes cats and would be miffed if I took this one away from here, otherwise we would have here a photo of Ink with his toy counterpart.

No, stellou, I did not show this picture to Ink.

-----|||||-----
Technorati Tags: cat, Ink the cat

Labels: Kitty corner

posted by Tym at 11:58 PM

Friday, February 01, 2008

I failed to pack the coffee

While the movers were impeccable in hauling furniture and 30-something boxes up to the new place, I failed to give clear instructions to my mother regarding the coffee --- which means it got left behind and I only realised it this morning when I woke up in the new place and couldn't find it.

Fortunately, the only thing I had to do this morning was to make sure the Starhub guy got the broadband and cable access set up alright. By 11 am, I was online and things seemed to be falling into place.

Except for the unpacking.

As I've told several people today, the place looks like a cross between a second-hand book store and a furniture leftover storeroom. Or as Ondine suggested --- albeit without seeing the place --- a thrift store. I desperately need to declutter, and a book sale might be in the works (a travesty, I know).

In the meantime, I live amidst boxes and stacks of stuff, and the cat is whining from disorientation. But hey, at least I bought new coffee today.

-----|||||-----
Technorati Tags: unpacking, moving house, Ink the cat

Labels: Books books books, Domestically challenged, Geek girl, Kitty corner

posted by Tym at 5:39 PM

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

The perils of living with an animal

Alternative titles for this blog post: "Why I didn't sell my old iBook after getting a new Macbook" or "Why my cat is in the doghouse".

I thought it was going to be a nice, quiet, productive morning: wake up at 7 am, put in a couple of hours' work, then head out at 9ish for an appointment.

Except that first, I overslept by an hour. That severely curtailed the amount of time I had to do work. Then the new coffee tasted not-as-nice as I'd hoped. But hey, the cereal looked pretty good when I laid it out on the table beside the coffee and the Macbook.

Except that the cat, in the middle of one of his bouts of madcap streaking from room to room, abruptly leapt up onto the table ---

Upsetting the coffee ---

A quarter of which spilled all over the left side of the Macbook keyboard.

So then there was shrieking (me) and fleeing (him), and I was so discombobulated it took me a few seconds to figure out that I should start mopping up the coffee that was on the laptop (instinct drove me at first to the spillage on the table). And even though I managed to continue clearing email and surfing for a bit, within half hour the keyboard decided it'd much rather switch to special character input instead. So my emails started to look like this:

... this week is already jam-packed for me, and this morning my cat made things worse by spilling coffee all over my new laptop! I'm going to have to bring it in to be serviced as the keyboaå®∂æß∫∫≥ç≈πΩøçΩ≈πçº–∆£∑´…®µçµ

So I had to forgo work for the entire morning and drop off the Macbook at the service centre. Thank goodness the old iBook's still serviceable and I didn't yield to the temptation of selling it for a few hundred bucks. Also, it's a good thing the cat is still awfully cute, or he'd be out on the street.

To top it all off, the button on my favourite (and only) pair of jeans has come off, leaving me wondering what I'm going to wear for the rest of the week whenever the weather gets cold (the monsoon's still in town).

Ironically, of course, all this happened less than 24 hours before Steve Jobs is due to announce the latest in Macbooks ...

-----|||||-----
Technorati Tags: Ink the cat, cat, Macbook, iBook, laptop

Labels: Geek girl, Kitty corner

posted by Tym at 7:33 PM

Monday, December 24, 2007

Xmas Eve shopping

I bought a purportedly catnip-laden cat toy for Ink from Ikea today, but he paid more attention to the giant plastic shopping bag instead. So much for my attempt at an Xmas gift.

Ikea's Tampines outlet was really quite civilised, despite it being Xmas Eve. I'd never been there before and the hugeness of it is very refreshing. Not to mention the inevitable Raiders of the Lost Ark vibe when one enters the self-service warehouse area.

-----|||||-----
Related posts: Breaking the bad taste barrier, Surprises from Ikea

Technorati Tags: Singapore, Ikea, cat, Ink the cat

Labels: Kitty corner

posted by Tym at 5:45 PM

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

It's not really Xmas till ...

I have fresh cupcakes from Baked Ideas in the house.

There were four boxes of them, but most are going away as gifts.

The cat, of course, immediately decided as I unwrapped this box for myself, that the pink ribbon was his new toy.

-----|||||-----
Technorati Tags: Baked Ideas, cupcakes, Ink the cat, Xmas, Christmas

Labels: Food for thought, Kitty corner

posted by Tym at 7:59 AM

Monday, December 17, 2007

The perils of working at home

How am I supposed to get anything done when he takes a stack of A3 printouts as an excuse to climb into my lap and snooze?

Fortunately, he got bored about half an hour later and moseyed off elsewhere --- just before my legs fell completely asleep.

-----|||||-----
Technorati Tags: cat, Ink the cat

Labels: Freelancin' living, Kitty corner

posted by Tym at 3:06 PM

Friday, December 07, 2007

Morning call

For the second time this week, my day has started with me reaching under the bed with paper towels to mop up Ink's puke.

He does this every so often, usually after scarfing down his food, then immediately running around like a mad hatter. It's preceded by the telltale hacking sounds that suggest he's retching up a young alien creature, followed by the appearance of a pale brown puddle of gloop.

At least today, he didn't do it at 6 am.

-----|||||-----
Technorati Tags: cat, Ink the cat

Labels: Kitty corner

posted by Tym at 8:43 AM

Saturday, November 24, 2007

Playtime

At the gift shop at the Chinatown Heritage Centre, $2 buys you this:

I thought anyone who went to primary school in Singapore in the early/mid-1980s would be familiar with it, but apparently ACS boys are not. Good thing the rules are easy to explain.

In the debut game of Wahj vs. Packrat yesterday, both players wound up with three pieces "home" and one piece left to trudge forlornly, perhaps forever, around the board. So they, er, declared it a tie, which I'm fairly certain is not kosher in the rules.

The thing is, I'm fairly certain I played this with someone recently (i.e. maybe the last year or so). I seem to even recall reading the rules printed on a piece of dusty thin paper. Now who was I playing with and whose set was it?

Other retro amusements that have recently entered my possession include a bunch of small toys that came out of a goodie bag assembled for the adults at Nate's birthday party. The capteh (shuttlecock) didn't last long with Ink around.

-----|||||-----
Technorati Tags: Singapore, Singapore games, aeroplane chess, capteh, Ink the cat

Labels: Kitty corner, Singapore stories

posted by Tym at 10:45 AM

Monday, October 22, 2007

Confusing the cat

I was watching Evan flip over on YouTube and Ink trotted over excitedly to investigate, very much wearing an expression that said, "I can hear the human noise, but where's the human?" He has the same reaction if my cell phone ringtone with the screeching "Ohaaaaaayyyyyo!" voice goes off.

It was only after two minutes of replaying the video that he lost interest and moseyed off.

-----|||||-----
Technorati Tags: cat, Ink the cat, baby video

posted by Tym at 9:34 AM

Thursday, October 18, 2007

The things I do for my cat

What can I say? He has a penchant for cold water, preferably when it's in my glass.

(Quite a bit of water was spilled on the table in the making of this photograph.)

-----|||||-----
Technorati Tags: Ink the Cat, cat

Labels: Kitty corner

posted by Tym at 6:08 PM

Friday, August 31, 2007

Of all the ...

I thought I got a splinter in my foot --- but it was a whisker from my cat!

-----|||||-----

Labels: Kitty corner, Twitteresque

posted by Tym at 4:42 PM

Saturday, July 07, 2007

It's a good idea to stock up on new toothbrushes

So that when I accidentally locked the cat in the bathroom at 3.30 pm before going out, and the flatmate only realised he was stuck in there and let him out at 8.30 pm when she got home, I still have a clean toothbrush to use for the night. Because among the destruction he wreaked:

My old toothbrush was on the floor and had been subjected to who knows what kind of feline imprecations.
One contact lens case was missing and may in fact have gone down the drain ...
Since he managed to get the drain cover off as usual, but mercifully did not this time toss the cover down the drain as well.
My perfume bottle had been knocked onto the floor but, miraculously, did not break.
Ditto my glasses.
A good half a toilet roll lay in an artistically messy heap on the floor.
My towel and some odd bits of clothing had been pulled off the towel rack onto the floor. (Good thing I washed my alternate towel yesterday.)

Another small mercy: the only item to land in the toilet bowl was something completely unimportant and dispensable.

Note to self: always check on the cat's whereabouts in the apartment before going out.

-----|||||-----
Technorati Tags: cat, Ink the cat

Labels: Kitty corner

posted by Tym at 12:24 AM

Friday, April 27, 2007

Ink's week

What Ink has been up to lately:

Breaking a glass that was left unattended on the dining table.
Making friends with the best friend's 16-month-old boy. They were mutually curious and delighted with each other. For now, the cat outruns the boy while the boy outsqueals the cat.
Adjusting to a new (and less private) kitty litter spot. He's not quite as poopalicious as usual.
Peering out the kitchen window from atop the washing machine.
Attacking a 3-metre length of raffia string.
Diving into empty cardboard boxes.

What Ink has not been up to:

Taken by budak
I don't think he would fit anyway. Everyone who's seen him lately remarks on how big he is.

-----|||||-----
Technorati Tags: cat, InkTheCat

Labels: Kitty corner

posted by Tym at 1:50 PM

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

The day when everything went wrong

We used to get assigned to write school compositions with that title and whip up impossible feats of coincidence to satisfy its demands. Who knew that real life could be just as churlish?

I dreamed that I stabbed Ink accidentally and had to rush him to the vet's emergency room. (The dream was this morning, around dawn, so it counts as part of "today"'s calamities.)

I woke up to my cell phone alarm and the cell phone was fine --- but after charging it for an hour or so (which I do everyday), the screen went on the fritz. I think I'm going to have to get a new one, but that means paying more than I'd like for the Nokia N95 because I can't sit around and wait for the price to go down. I just hope I can still trade this one in for something.

Putting on my contact lenses just now, I managed to flip the case into the sink --- and the lens I hadn't put in yet vanished into thin air. I peered all over the sink and absolutely could not find it. On the bright side, I had one last pair of lenses I could switch to, but that means I need to order more lenses stat, too.

If all this had happened yesterday, I'd be a sobbing (and sodding) heap. Good thing it all waited till today. But still: poo.

-----|||||-----

Labels: Geek girl, Kitty corner, Personal

posted by Tym at 10:54 AM

Friday, April 20, 2007

Sleepy is ...

Noticing first thing in the morning that the cat's food bowl, needs refilling and going through the usual motions of doing so (the same motions I go through everyday) --- only to pour the cat food into the water bowl.

Which is still full of water.

At which point the cat looks at me as if to say, "So am I having cornflakes in milk for breakfast now?"

Sigh.

-----|||||-----
Technorati Tags: sleepy, cat, InkTheCat

Labels: Kitty corner

posted by Tym at 8:52 AM

Saturday, March 31, 2007

The birthday that was

It was my birthday earlier this week, and it was a rather strange one.

For starters, I was PMSing, which meant that there was far more meaningless and uncontrollable crying than I'd care to admit to. All those scenes you've seen in movies where a female character burst into tears for no good reason whatsoever? It's just as frustrating in real life if you're the cryer, to say nothing of how truly baffling it must seem to any cryee(s) present. Thank goodness it lasted only two days.

Then there was the fact that something was definitely wrong with Ink. He kept getting into his kitty litter, scrabbling around and assuming the position to pee --- only to have very little or nothing come out. Rinse, repeat, rapidly within a matter of minutes. Poor boy. I took him to the vet on my birthday (I'd given myself the day off, which made it the only free day I had this week) and she diagnosed him, predictably enough, with a urinary tract infection. The antibiotics seem to have taken effect since, so fingers crossed he doesn't have a relapse or I might be blogging next about how to get a urine sample from a frisky cat.

Finally there was the weirdness that ensues when it seems like everyone's forgotten your birthday. Which, in my PMSing state, I didn't mind at all (and still don't, for the record), but it's just sort of weird anyway. I mean, even my mother --- who called me first thing in the morning to ask about something else entirely --- forgot to wish me happy birthday, as she faithfully does first thing every morning on my birthday (she later SMSed a contrite message of atonement).

Of course, not everyone forgot and it's not like I sat around all day wondering why nobody loved me. Nor am I still wondering about it today. It's just that today I downloaded the above picture of a gargantuan slice of pie (served up at Marché at Vivocity, in case anyone was wondering), which was one of the many decent eats I had on my birthday, which made me think I should blog about the birthday, else this time next year I'll be cracking my head to try to remember what happened.

Anyway, when in doubt on how to end a blog post, I always say look for a Buffy quote. In this case:

Joyce (Buffy's mom): So what'd you do for your birthday? Did you have fun?
Buffy: I got older.
Joyce: You look the same to me. Happy Birthday. I don't have to sing, do I?
Buffy: No.
Joyce: Well, go on, make a wish.
Buffy: I'll just let it burn.
--- "Innocence", Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Note: This is not some kind of poorly disguised passive-aggressive plea for belated birthday messages, nor an attempt to guilt-trip anyone who forgot. Say whatever you like in the comments, but for goodness' sake, don't say "happy (belated) birthday". Thank you!

-----|||||-----
Technorati Tags: birthday, InkTheCat

Labels: Kitty corner, Personal

posted by Tym at 9:13 PM

10 comments | Trackbacks

Saturday, March 17, 2007

All is explained

I don't have the time to keep up with Boing Boing anymore, but I've got pals like Suzie to point me to gems like this: "Mood-altering cat parasites make women friendly and men into jerks". It seems that the presence of the Toxoplasma (in cat faeces) may make infected men more "self-reproaching and insecure", "jealous and suspicious", while infected women "tend to be more outgoing and warm-hearted".

I don't know how many cat-keepers read this blog, but consider yourself warned, regardless of your gender.

-----|||||-----
Technorati Tags: cats, Toxoplasma

Labels: Kitty corner

posted by Tym at 12:24 AM

Friday, January 05, 2007

Cranky

A little hungover.

A little irritated by the cat's ~~antics~~ persistence in doing everything he's not supposed to be doing.

A little unproductive.
-----|||||-----

Labels: Kitty corner, Personal

posted by Tym at 1:11 PM

Monday, December 25, 2006

The cat killed our ironing board

On the one hand, it's amazing how strong he's getting.

On the other hand, we now need to get a new ironing board. And no, Ink didn't get us one for Xmas.

-----|||||-----
Technorati Tags: InktheCat, Xmas, Christmas

Labels: Kitty corner

posted by Tym at 9:00 PM

Wednesday, November 15, 2006

A commercial break, brought to you by our cat

He gets free run of the bed and the couch, but all he really wants to do is to snuggle up with our (not very clean) shoes and to chew on the shoelaces on Terz's boots.

Cats, I tell ya.

-----|||||-----
Technorati Tags: cat, Inkthecat

Labels: Kitty corner

posted by Tym at 12:02 PM

Thursday, November 02, 2006

My very first cameraphone video

Busy week, hence the "dearth of blog posts", as Little Miss Drinkalot pointed out last night.

In lieu of blathering, enjoy my very first cameraphone video/YouTube upload. There's no fancy music soundtrack or anything, but you get to hear my voice briefly.

Behold: The Ink Attack.

-----|||||-----
Technorati Tags: YouTube, cat, Inkthecat

posted by Tym at 5:07 PM

Sunday, October 08, 2006

Laundry day

Pretty, isn't it? Nice clean sheets, fresh from the dryer. Comfortable cat, contemplating the clear skies (no haze today, woot!) outside the window.

Unfortunately for the sheets, Ink went off to his kitty litter shortly after, did his business, came back --- and left a faint shit streak on the clean bedsheet.

So that went straight back into the washer ...

-----|||||-----
Technorati Tags: cat, InktheCat

Labels: Kitty corner

posted by Tym at 11:00 PM

Wednesday, September 27, 2006

Help wanted

You know it's a bad sign when you meet friends for lunch and the first thing they say is, "Wow, you look tired, man."

In no particular order, I need:

A WorkSpace.
A less hyperactive cat.
An electrician --- or rather, someone who can figure out how to detach our ceiling light covers so that we can replace the lightbulbs. We have been living with only one working light (instead of the two needed to illuminate the whole space) in our bedroom for more than three years, and now the lightbulb in our attached (ensuite) bathroom has given up the ghost too. Anyone know a good handyman who can fix anything?
A vacation.
A drink.

Tankyu.

This blog post has been brought to you by the vices of workoholism and coffee addiction, and the sublime delight of a champagne truffle mooncake.

-----|||||-----

Labels: Domestically challenged, Freelancin' living, Kitty corner, Personal

posted by Tym at 11:47 PM

Wednesday, September 20, 2006

Tearing himself a new one

In the ten or so minutes that elapsed between when I got home and snuggled Ink, and hearing Terz holler from the kitchen, the little critter managed to tear a wee patch of fur off his back.

Off! His! Back!

My poor Inky pooh. He seems completely unperturbed about the wound, but it looks like we're going to have to visit the friendly neighbourhood vet tomorrow ...

-----|||||-----
Technorati Tags: cat, Ink the Cat

Labels: Kitty corner

posted by Tym at 9:58 PM

Monday, September 18, 2006

I'm just a prop

Ink is asleep on my right ankle.

Unfortunately, while I have a laptop right in front of me, unlike wahj I don't have a camera within reach, so I cannot impress the interwebs with the fabulous cuteness that is Ink with his middle all stretched out over my right ankle.

Trust me, it looks better than it sounds.

-----|||||-----
Technorati Tags: Ink the Cat

Labels: Kitty corner

posted by Tym at 9:53 PM

Thursday, August 24, 2006

The sporadic Ink report

This blog has been accused of not having enough pictures lately. That means it's time for a little gratuitous cat cuteness.

Ink says: "Studying is HARD!!"
Actually, more like Ink was nuzzling the edge of the books and papers because he likes the feel of it against his cheeks, I think, then he decided to flop over and pose when I pulled out the camera. I have a camwhore cat. Heaven help us all.

Recent Ink shenanigans:

Scavenging inside the wastepaper basket in the living room, because he thinks used tissues (snot and all) are fun to chase around the room.
Stalking cockroaches (or at least, defending the kitchen against them) at the drainage trap.
Chewing on the end of the cable for the cell phone charger.
Kidnapping his favourite black ballpoint pen and batting it around under our bed (maybe he likes alliteration too).
Absconding with my keys.

-----|||||-----
Technorati Tags: Ink the Cat

Labels: Kitty corner

posted by Tym at 2:03 PM

Monday, July 31, 2006

The not-so-cute side of having a cat

Ink just killed and ate a cockroach.

I'm torn between glee and revulsion.

-----|||||-----
Technorati Tags: Ink the Cat

Labels: Kitty corner, Twitteresque

posted by Tym at 9:59 PM

Thursday, July 27, 2006

Here, kinda

Busy. Tired. Somewhat sick. Besides, Ondine's said it all.

Enjoy the gratuitous cuteness that is Ink instead.

-----|||||-----
Technorati Tags: InktheCat

Labels: Kitty corner, Personal

posted by Tym at 10:45 PM

5 comments | Trackbacks

Wednesday, July 19, 2006

Doing the chores

A slight breather in my workload these couple of days, which gives us the time to spend our evenings on household chores like laundering our bedsheets (we really should do it more often), bathing our cat and, er, taking gratuitous pictures of the cat.

I'm not complaining that I don't have enough work to do, but it's strange to be at so much of a loose end. I even had time on Sunday to see Thank You For Smoking, which not enough people in the audience seemed to laugh along with, but I personally chalk that up to a gross lack of a sense of irony in our national culture.

Speaking of national culture, did you get your tickets to the Singapore Theatre Festival yet? Faster go and buy!

-----|||||-----
Technorati Tags: Thank You For Smoking, Singapore Theatre Festival

Labels: Kitty corner, Personal, Singapore stories

posted by Tym at 12:05 AM

Tuesday, June 27, 2006

The thing about running again after six months away

Ink was very mystified the first couple of times he saw me do my warm-ups. Then he thought it was a new game and tried to jump at my outstretched hands or at my hair whenever I bent over in some kind of stretching exercise. Now he just lies there and ponders how long before I leave and come back all stinky.

Speaking of being all stinky, when I got back tonight, Ink padded over as usual to say hello (i.e. to sniff at or nuzzle my hand or cheek) --- then totally backed off after the initial whiff of me. Huh.

But the most interesting thing is that despite the sweltering heat of the past couple of days, the fact that my iPod's crashed so I was running music-less, and the pint of beer I had with Terz at Brewerkz at 4.30 pm --- I still ran better tonight than all month previously.

Bizarre.

-----|||||-----
Technorati Tags: running, InkTheCat

Labels: Kitty corner, Personal

posted by Tym at 8:16 PM

Saturday, June 10, 2006

Names we call our cat

Technically, his name is Ink, for his slender black tail and the ~~three~~ four (yes, I cannot count) black spots on his otherwise perfectly white body.

But we also call him:

INK!!!
Iiiiiiink-ky
Inky-dinky-pooh
Inky-du (a bastardisation of Enkidu, I suppose)
Ankle-biter
Crouching tiger, hidden ferret
The-cat-who-spent-his-whole-life-in-the-toilet (that's Terz's favourite threat, not that Ink gets it, we know)

No swear words, though.

-----|||||-----
Technorati Tags: InkTheCat, cat

Labels: Kitty corner

posted by Tym at 5:31 PM

Monday, June 05, 2006

Why you shouldn't let the cat too near the keyboard

Because he gets excited watching the mouse symbol skid across the screen, and in his enthusiasm to pounce on it, ends up pulling the 'L' key right off.

Oh well --- my fault, not his, for trying to introduce him to the computer age.

Now to find out how much it will cost to replace the keyboard, not to mention the downtime involved, and to see if it's worth it or if if I should struggle on for a bit with having to poke just that particular spot without the aid of a key.

Edited to add (6 June): My helpful MacHead friend sends me this link of a kitten vs. Frontrow, which aside from being all cuteness and entertainment, makes me wonder what kind of person would let their pet unsupervised near a brand new MacBook Pro in the first place??

-----|||||-----
Technorati Tags: iBook, keyboard, InkTheCat, cat

Labels: Geek girl, Kitty corner

posted by Tym at 9:10 AM

9 comments | Trackbacks

Saturday, June 03, 2006

The kind of afternoon it is

Where after Daryl walks over to our neighbourhood coffeeshop for lunch, he needs not just one but two Cokes to restore him. And possibly a third ice-cold drink to carry him home after we visit the neighbourhood ATM later.

Where I wish I was on a beach in Bali with a fruity drink (maybe the concoction loof Life from Loof) in my hand.

Where the smart thing to do is to make like Ink and curl up on the bed for a comfortable nap.

Unfortunately, I have scads of work to do and Ink has now usurped the couch, right in front of the fan.

-----|||||-----
Technorati Tags: Singapore, hot, InkTheCat, cat

Labels: Kitty corner, Personal, Singapore stories

posted by Tym at 3:20 PM

Friday, May 26, 2006

24 things that took way more than 24 hours

So I've been tag-team-tagged by Chandler and a gecko's tale.

Once you've been tagged, write a post with 24 weird facts/things/habits about yourself then tag 6 other people.

1. If I don't do a meme straight away, I'll sit on it for weeks and weeks on end before finishing it. This one, for instance, took a good five days to get done.

2. I haven't not had a drink everyday since Sunday, 15 May.

3. Many moons ago, I went by the nick LizVader.

4. I frequently think of something, immediately forget it, and then spend ten minutes (or hours, or days) trying to dredge the thought up from the miasma of my brain. Yet another reason my domain is named what it is.

5. Before I went to university, I was painfully shy. Funny how it looked a lot to other people like I was being aloof, when I was just absolutely crippled by the thought that everyone else was too cool to be interested in me.

6. I still think everyone else is too cool to be interested in me.

7. I obssess about how untidy my handwriting is, even though a) I'm hardly twelve years old anymore, and b) I hardly ever handwrite anything anymore.

8. I have to practise my signature because at some point since the last time I renewed my passport, my signature's gotten a lot more indecipherable, to the point where official-type people have asked me to re-sign documents to make sure I really am the person I say I am.

9. My favourite comfort food is buttered toast with sugar sprinkled liberally on top.

10. I really didn't need or want an engagement ring, but Terz insisted.

11. When I was a kid, I quavered in fear some nights, thinking that giant monsters (?) would swoop down from the mountains (what mountains? Singapore has no mountains) and kidnap us away to their giant cave.

12. My nose is so sensitive to dust that cleaning up just one room in our tiny apartment is enough to send me into sneezing fits for the rest of the day.

13. I can't type the word "enlightenment" accurately on first try. The impulse is always to type "englishtenment" instead.

14. I have a cat who enjoys clambering into and sitting inside the washing machine drum, although he looks a little confused when he unintentionally sets the drum turning.

Clearly, he's no hamster.

(Okay, so this point is about how my cat may be weird, rather than about how I'm weird, but I'm running out of steam here.)

15. I remember song tunes rather well, but I'm hopeless at song titles and even worse at song lyrics. It's all about the melody.

16. I go to dance clubs to people-watch, not to dance, because I don't dance. More accurately: I can't dance.

17. I have a horrible poker face.

18. After consuming one unit of alcohol, I turn red faster than anyone I know. People who've never been out with me before often feel the need to point it out, probably because they're afraid I'll pass out on them or something. I've been told it's got something to do with good circulation and/or a particular enzyme that Asians are genetically predisposed to having. All I know is it means I can't have a drink over lunch and then go back to the office because everyone'll know I've been drinking.

19. I don't use makeup, except for a dash of lipstick when I remember to, but, more importantly, I don't know how to use makeup.

20. I typically IM in grammatical and correctly punctuated phrases. And I generally apologise for typos.

21. I have an incredibly poor gauge of distance. If there weren't markers on the ground where I run, I wouldn't have the faintest idea how far I'd run. If you ask me how far away something is, I can give you the dead distance in terms of how long it'd take to get there, but I'd be hard-pressed to say so in kilometres or, worse, miles.

22. I'm multiracial. That's less common than you'd think it was in ostensibly multiracial Singapore.

23. I'm a great believer in vibes. If I have bad vibes about a person/place/job, I probably won't pursue it. It's all about the gut instinct.

24. I don't mind the odd meme, but I feel guilty about tagging others, so a lot of the time, I just let the meme die with me.

Like this.

-----|||||-----
Technorati Tags: Singapore, meme

Labels: Kitty corner, Memed, Personal, Words words words

posted by Tym at 1:08 PM

5 comments | Trackbacks

Saturday, May 13, 2006

What kind of day has it been

I continue to have crappy sleep.

I neglected to bring an umbrella and got drenched in the rain, which I ordinarily don't mind but I was too sleep-deprived to enjoy it today.

I took an hour to fold all the clean laundry.

On the bright side, Ink's liver seems to be recovering, although the blood test results still aren't completely normal so he's got medication for the next few weeks.

-----|||||-----
Technorati Tags: InkTheCat

Labels: Kitty corner, Personal

posted by Tym at 6:47 PM

8 comments | Trackbacks

Wednesday, May 10, 2006

Life with Ink

It's been almost two months since we brought Ink home, and from the kinds of posts I've made here and the accompanying photos in the Flickr photoset, you'd think that life with him mostly consists of moments of unbearable cuteness, interspersed with the odd reality check of buying food and kitty litter.

In other words, something like this:

Things that I have had to do since we brought Ink home, that I never did before in our almost seven years of living in this apartment:

Cover my hand with a plastic bag so that I could reach down the bathroom drain to recover the drain cover that Ink'd pulled off (an almost daily ritual) and casually tossed down there.
Wedge a non-functioning desktop computer on top of that drain cover, between the sink and the shower stall, because it's the only thing heavy enough that Ink can't move it to scrabble further at the drain cover.
Pick up his toys after he's been put to bed.
Vacuum the living room, dining room and kitchen every other Sunday (we have someone come in to do a thorough cleaning of the entire apartment the rest of the time), not so much to clean up cat fur as to suck up the regular dust that accumulates in all the corners he loves to hide in.

Oh, all right, I love the little bugger.

Some friends have remarked that Ink is like our substitute child, to which I say that despite the above, he's a lot less work than a child because he's self-cleaning (excepting the weekly shower we subject him to), doesn't require any food preparation more sophisticated than pouring dry food out of a bag and doesn't talk back (although he occasionally sulks when he's been told off).

Having said that, we sinned grievously last week because we knew we were running low on cat food, but for one reason or another neither of us couldn't make it to the pet store --- and the next thing we knew it was 11 pm on a Wednesday, Ink was starving and the cat food bag was completely empty.

Oh, how he mewed.

Fortunately, we had a packet of wet food, some kitten formula Terz'd bought before, so that kept Ink going overnight, till Terz got new food the next day (all 20 lbs of it, so that we don't have to go to the pet store so often). But we felt very, very guilty, and when we got home the next night to find a stray cat outside our door (on the eleventh floor! How did it get up here?), it was time to atone for our sins.

He was a skittery creature, but he came forward to get the food once we backed off. So he got fed, we left some water out for him too, and our karma equilibrium was restored.

Last Sunday, I was napping on the couch and Ink pounced on the cushion I was hugging. Once I got over the shock, he settled down on the cushion and went to sleep too. It was nice.

-----|||||-----
Technorati Tags: InkTheCat, cat

Labels: Kitty corner, Personal

posted by Tym at 11:30 PM

11 comments | Trackbacks

Friday, April 14, 2006

Why everyone should keep disassembled fans around

So that the cat has a playground to rummage around in.

-----|||||-----
Technorati Tags: InkTheCat

Labels: Kitty corner, Twitteresque

posted by Tym at 3:13 PM

Thursday, April 13, 2006

She who walks into walls

Terz says that would be my politically incorrect Native American name, if I had one. He ain't wrong.

I have a mystical talent for being a klutz: tripping over ~~invisible~~ nonexistent cracks on the ground, stubbing my toe on the corner of the bed or a chair, bumping my head on things (or against Terz's head). This past week has turned up a bruise of unknown origins on the side of my leg, which is really nothing remarkable because in any given week, I'll have equally mysterious bruises show up on the side of my knees or on my lower calves. Nothing as dramatic as Ondine's recent dance-induced war injuries, but enough to make me go, "Hmmm ... "

Of course, now that we have Ink, that's even more cause for picking up knocks and bruises. The little guy thinks our every movement is an invitation to play and enjoys nothing more than darting between our legs where possible. If I had a dollar for every time he's come close to tripping me over, I'd have enough money to pay for his monthly food and kitty litter.

Meanwhile, left to my own devices, I'm perfectly capable of, say, swinging the back of my palm into the corner of a plastic table, which doesn't sound very painful, but trust me, it feels as though some implement was stabbed through my palm, and it's been throbbing since for the better part of the day. No visible bruising and only the faintest swelling, which might in fact be perceived only by my pity-seeking imagination, but my hand's not pleased if I try to use it for anything that's more strenuous than typing or writing.

Oh, all right. I'll stop whining and go back to work now.

-----|||||-----

Labels: Kitty corner, Personal

posted by Tym at 3:28 PM

Saturday, April 08, 2006

I'm too old for hangovers

It's nice to start the weekend with some wine.

It's not so nice to have too much wine because then there's the throwing up (sorry, Makanguru!) and the feeling dehydrated the next morning and the general disorientation that's aggravated by not enough sleep. Which then heightens the confusion when the vet tells me that Ink has something weird going on with his liver, so he can't go under general anaesthesia and hence can't be sterilized as planned, which is fine except for the part where no one seems to know what's really caused the weird liver symptom in the first place.

Anyway. If any of you reading this are ever out with me and see me attempting more than two glasses of wine in one night, please bash me over the head with your shoe. Thank you.

-----|||||-----
Technorati Tags: hangover, InkTheCat

Labels: Kitty corner, Nightlife, Personal

posted by Tym at 4:08 PM

Monday, April 03, 2006

Catblogging without cute cat pictures

Ink has been with us for three weeks, and every week we've had to pop into a pet store to pick up supplies. First it was to get all the basics: kitty litter and tray, scratching post, bowls for food and water. Then, it was to buy toys, because he was getting bored out of his skull and beginning to investigate all the corners of the apartment that we didn't want him in.

Yesterday, it was to pick up more cat food (he's almost through his first five-pound bag), a basket for him to sleep in and, well, toys. So far, he hasn't shown much interest in the basket, but he did destroy one toy within a couple of hours by yanking it off its string. He also really likes scaling the window grilles. I just hope he doesn't bring the timber blinds down one of these days ...

At my planned-at-short-notice birthday non-party at Cafe Cosmo on Tuesday night, a friend remarked that my blog, of late, is always either about work or food. Now I suppose you can add Ink to that list.

After all, what am I gonna blog about --- politics?

-----|||||-----
Technorati Tags: InkTheCat, cat

posted by Tym at 1:47 PM

Sunday, March 26, 2006

The weekend

This is a good way to begin the weekend on Friday evening --- by memorializing leaving the office.

Not that things have been bad at the office. They've been very good, really. No, this photo's really to memorialize the start of the first weekend in over a month that I didn't have to be working through said weekend.

So instead, on Saturday I took (hat-tip: mr brown, for teaching me the difference between 'bring' and 'take') my parents to see Singapore GaGa at the Arts House, like I said I would. My dad, who's 63, pronounced it a "classic" which needed to be released on DVD, stat. Afterwards, the walk to the car led me to the belated realization that, "The new Supreme Court building's so ugly, it actually makes the Treasury building look good."

Today, I spent the whole day at home eating junk food: Chinese nasi lemak from our neighbourhood coffeeshop for brunch, followed by half a bag of Ruffles potato chips (I have an established weakness for them) at 5 pm. Right now it looks like ~~dinner~~ supper might be some leftover KFC mashed potatoes. (Food connoisseurs reading this, please refrain from passing hellfire-and-brimstone judgement; I did preface this list with the term "junk food".)

Ironically, while last weekend Ink wanted very much to play but I was rushing a deadline, this weekend I had almost all the time in the world to play with him, but he was curiously inert. Maybe it's the aftereffects of the vaccination and de-worming he had at the vet yesterday, but it's strange to see him spend most of the day asleep, and still be quite happy for us to put him to bed at 10:30 pm. (We moved him because he was getting all dozy on the couch, which means he'll get all yowly when we try to move him after he's fallen asleep, as we learned the hard way last night.)

-----|||||-----
Technorati Tags: Singapore GaGa, InkTheCat, cat

Labels: Kitty corner, Personal, Singapore stories

posted by Tym at 8:33 PM

Saturday, March 25, 2006

Inked!

I am very remiss in blogging about our not-so-new cat Ink, but in my own defence, the first week he moved in with us coincided with the last week of a freelance project that I was madly rushing to print, and this second week he's been with us I've been madly atoning for pseudo-parental neglect by playing with him instead of snapping pictures or blogging about it. So.

The interesting thing about acquiring a cat, especially one of the Cute Overload variety, is how much I want to come home and play with him. Part of it is the abovementioned pseudo-parental neglect from not being able to spend the better part of the day with him, or knowing that he's alone in the bathroom if both of us aren't home. (He's not yet sufficiently acclimatized to the flat that we'll let him wander free unsupervised, although that is most definitely the eventual goal.)

I've had the look/gasp/SMS/IM of disbelief from friends when I say something about wanting to go right home after work to see Ink, but I get it now why people say that pets are therapeutic (assuming you get the right one for your temperament, I suppose). I get it why people show off pictures of their pets (guilty as charged, the above four image all currently reside in my cellphone) and how they can spend a good deal of time waving colourful ribbons and other paraphernalia in front of the pet, instead of, you know, blogging or watching TV.

And I'm coming really late to this party because I've never had a proper pet before this. I mean, I had terrapins as a child but those really don't do anything and aren't anywhere as cool-looking as diamondbacks. And the chicks we reared wound up as, er, chicken on the dinner table. (No, really, we Singaporeans can be coolly pragmatic that way.)

Let me put it this way: I've never had a pet that, after a busy day, would curl up and go to sleep on the couch before.

-----|||||-----
Technorati Tags: InkTheCat, cat

Labels: Kitty corner, Personal

posted by Tym at 11:08 PM

Monday, March 20, 2006

The simple things

I'm not sure if I'm getting cat-like tendencies, but I really like the feel of the office carpet under my feet and have taken to padding barefoot whenever I'm up and about from my desk.

-----|||||-----
Technorati Tags: cat

Labels: Kitty corner, Personal, Twitteresque

posted by Tym at 5:38 PM