Cats who teach me to fly…

It was the first time I witnessed a total lunar eclipse on 10 December last year. I was so excited that moment, waiting to witness a total lunar eclipse.

I was so upset when I accidentally pushed a button on my Canon EOS 600D and the worst thing was I did not even know which button I pushed. The camera jammed and these were all that I had taken.

The next total lunar eclipse will be on 8 October 2014. I look forward to witness another lunar eclipse.

Mel was not as excited as I. Such a cosmic event means a lot to me because more than half of the population on earth may not have a chance to witness it in their lifetime.

I cherish nature. I cherish everything that is happening around the universe. My interest in space could be due to my experience with UFOs. One late night 24 years ago, I was staring out of my window when I saw two UFOs circling high in the sky. I will never forget that and I consider myself lucky to witness the two beautiful saucers flying high in the sky.

There was a Venus transition this morning. The sun makes it too glaring for most of us to view the transition. Those who witness the transition could see a small, dark silhouette of Venus crossing the sun’s face. Too bad I do not have a safe solar viewer. Otherwise I would have tried looking at it!

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The second match was held on 12 May. We beat our opponent again in the mixed doubles. Here comes the third match, my nightmare. Our so-called coach swopped me from playing mixed double to singles which I am completely incapable of. When I asked him about the switch in players for mixed doubles, he did not give me a reason.

I lost with 2-21 and 2-21. It was a complete humiliation to me. While I was competing with my opponent, I kept asking myself, why was I in this state of humiliation as I was never trained to play in a singles match and our trained singles player was not playing and instead she was replacing me for mixed doubles. The only reason I could think of  is our coach did it for personal reasons. He didn’t want our singles player to lose as she was trained by him. If she loses, there goes our coach’s pride. There is never an official reason. I felt completely ashamed of his cowardly act. It was for selfish reasons and non-professional.

The Thomas Cup and Uber Cup was held at Wuhan, China at the same time. I watched them played. It was a team game. Our community games is also a team game. From the Thomas and Uber Cup, I learnt that the coaches arrange top players to the match. I saw their spirit and bravery. China won this round. Everyone was happy receiving their medals. Those who fought and those who did not have a chance to fight were all happy.

I represented Whampoa Team B while our coach represented Whampoa Team A. Team B fought 3 matches and Team A only one. Team A is obviously stronger than Team B. Our coach arranged the weaker ones to play first. Now we are in finals which is this Wed, 6th of June. Whampoa Team A against Whampoa Team B. What a joke? Team B has fought their way and Team A which is the coach’s team is strong and they are going to defeat us? What kind of arrangement is this? I felt that I was being fool. If the team feels the same way too, we are being foolish too.

Who doesn’t want to win in a competition? During my third match when I was swopped to play singles, I told my coach that I was ashamed and would not come for the next game. My teammate saw his intention, his intention of using us to win his match and told me to turn up for the final and fight till the end.

Honestly, we only have a 20% of winning chances. Man singles(team A stronger), man doubles(team A stronger), master doubles(team A stronger) and mixed double(team A stronger) and we are only left with woman’s single which I think our singles could win. So overall… Intelligently plotted by our coach. I was filled with rage when I realised it and it was too late.

The dilemma I had now is whether to go to the final or not…

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It was Valentine’s day again! Business was better than the previous year. Very busy. I only had three mini “baos” on that morning and had lunch and dinner at 9.30pm. What a lovely Valentine’s day! I was happy even though I cannot spend time like other couples do. There was a great sense of contentment and fulfillment and on the following day, I rested like I had never rested before. The feeling was good.

After Valentine’s day, I began to feel lazy. I registered for a mahjong practise session and I did not turn up. I spent my time creating new flower ararngements. There are still many more for me to create, especially the Congrats ones.

I was told to collect bread on the last Sunday of March. However, the schedule had changed and I was not told. Look, I really dislike the way some people of welfare organisations treat volunteers. We, volunteers, are always not well informed about the changes they make. It was not the first time that I encountered this. Mel had experienced that too. Volunteers are not free labour who are at the beck and call at anyone’s whims and fancy.  I hope all volunteers out there be wise and know when, how and what to help.

In April, I visited the library . A book titled “黄帝内经“ attracted my attention. I bought two books on the same subject from Popular Bookstore and I fell in love with the knowledge in the books. I have been re-reading the books till now. They taught me alot about how the ancient Chinese determine a person’s state of health and mind through the symptoms exhibited and observations about the person’s appearance.

The ancient Chinese in China believed that nature created all things. Our health is thus governed by the laws o nature. By reading, understanding and analysing “黄帝内经”, I was able to gain a deeper insight of our body, health and nature. The worst thing is, I am now curious about Chinese medication. Mel always finds me amusing cos I am interested in almost everything. Am I? Mahjong definitely does not catch my attention as much as “黄帝内经” does. Anyway, I am amused with myself too :).

I have participated in the community games competition that is organised by the People’s Association. It started in end April. I represent Whampoa for the badminton tournament and I am playing mixed doubles. Things went smoothly during the first match. We won the first match!

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What had happened to me during the past five months? Hmm.. Let’s start with January 2012. New year and new resolutions as usual. Looking back at my diary. I no longer volunteer at the elderly day care home. I need changes, therefore, I volunteer myself at the “Food From The Heart”. What I do is to collect and deliver leftover bread to a children’s home on every Sunday evening. It began on the first week of April.

Chinese New Year falls on January this year. I helped to deliver CNY hampers to the needy families. Spent two half days to deliver them. They were thankful to the organisation as well as to me:) and I was happy. It had been worthwhile.

One interesting game I picked up was mahjong. I learnt mahjong at the community centre. It is an interesting game. I always wonder why people love to play Mahjong for hours and even playing over the night. It is indeed interesting and challenging of course. However, it did not capture my attention for long. I still love badminton. The reason why I learn is because I want to play with the elderly and I am able to play with my families or relatives too if I am invited. Mahjong is fun!

Oh! I have made a very small monthly donation to the Wildlife Conservation Society, The Asian Elephant Foundation and Soi Dog Foundation, Bangkok. I love animals and I wish I could protect them. I wish I could speak on their behalf. However, with my ability alone, I couldn’t do much. I wish Man could stop animal testing and animal cruelty. They live, they breathe, it’s their world too. This is the slogan from the Cat Society:p.

Three days before CNY  had been busy. I had orders coming in and they all ordered hampers. Not one but many. I was happy as it kept me busy throughout the day and night again. Mel was there to help also. Mel began teaching again. I prefer her to be a teacher rather than working in MOE.

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Below are some of the photos that I would like to share.

I have always wanted to look at lotus flowers and I thought I could only see a real beautiful lotus flowers in India. However, I saw them at the Orchid farm. Mel took a beautiful picture of it.

We also visited a temple which was located at the top of a mountain. On the way down, I saw a middle-aged lady who told me that I should buy some birds and release them. She had captured the birds and kept them in small baskets.

My heart ached for the birds.  I wanted to set them free. The lady had 3 baskets and she asked which basket of birds I would like to release. For me, it was a tough choice as I couldn’t bear to choose which birds I should free. I decided to bargain with her to release all 3 baskets of birds that she had captured. The nest was so small with many tiny birds. They could not even flap their wings. I paid 500 baht to release all of them.

Look carefully at the blurry spot at the left of the photo, just above the silver umbrella. You can see a tiny bird flapping its wings. The rest has flown away. I said some prayers before I set the birds free, wishing that they would find food and never be caught again…

I am glad Mel has at least captured a bird flapping away. I asked her why she didn’t take continuous shots. She said she asked me to be slow many times but I didn’t wait for her. Actually, I didn’t hear what she said. I was wholeheartedly saying the best prayers for the birds.

I really enjoyed my holidays. It was a new experience to me.

90% photos posted on this blog were taken by Mel and the remaining blurred 10% photos were taken by me :p.

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