I just finished reading a book few days ago, a book called "Marley and Me". It is not a book by one of the big book writers but it is written by a man who had a 'thick skulled' golder lab retriever.

He wrote about what he thought the worst dog in the world; described how the thick-skulled dog changed their lives as a couple; all the hilarius moments the dog created and of course the last moment of the dog.

As a dog lover, I totally felt the writer's heartache when his dog 'passed away'; I used 'passed away' because I always think dog is just like human, and I think they are the 'lucky' human beings on earth. Just like what the writer said, dogs live the way we human beings wish to live; dance like no one is watching; love like there is no tomorrow, there is no racism, no culture differences, no designer brands, be 'young at heart' till the very last moment of your life.

This book made me laugh out loud and cried like a baby, sobbing my heart out when I got to the part when the dog was in the last phase of its life.

I had a dog when I was in primary school, not a pure breed but some random stray dog's baby. My dad decided to take it home because we needed a guard dog for the house. I treated him like a baby. His name was Royal.

Though he's called Royal, but he definitely didn't behave like one. He looked forward to any opportunities to run free from the house, but he would come back when he got hungry and twice he brought back with him some STDs that cost thousands of dollars to cure. My mom hated him!

When he got STD the second time, my dad vowed not to take him to the vet, instead he took him to some secluded area and left him there. Yes, my dad abandoned our dog. I was devastated but as a child, I couldn't say more.

One morning, when I was getting ready to go to school, I had a strange feeling. I felt that Royal was waiting for me, and I would see him when I opened the door. True enough, he was right there, wagging his tail till his butt was shaking, I was over the moon to see him and shocked to his ability to find his way home from such a far place, took him only 4 days. My dad was shocked too and decided to take him to the vet.

Then one day, Royal ran away again, but I wasn't upset because I thought he would be back in the evening for his meal. I was wrong, he didn't come back for the next week, months.....

I was clearing the mails one evening and found a notice from one of the government departments. Apparently they caught Royal and told us to pay $x amount to claim him back. I told my dad to claim him back but he refused, and the notice was given to us a couple of months ago, just that we didn't realise it.

Again, I didn't pursue further..... I thought... maybe that's fate

But I totally regretted it now... I should have forced my dad to try to claim it back because I know if we didn't, Royal will be put to sleep then fed to the animals in zoo.

I am soooo sorry.... I felt sorry because I felt so sad and cried my heart out when Marley died, and he wasn't even my dog but I did not shed a tear for Royal. The loyal dog who always wag his tail till his butt dropped, the dog who is so afraid of water that he would knock me down when I pointed the water hose to him, the dog who would go crazy when I tried to play catching with him, the dog who would share watermelon with me, the dog who would played fire crackers with me, the dog who would push his bowl out to the gate so that outher stray dogs could eat from his bowl, the dog who would hum any dogs that he saw, regardless if it was male or female...

I am sorry Royal, I should have tried harder.....

Since it is getting near to the festive season, let’s talk about LOVE

Remember when we were young, just started falling in love; had crush on our seniors in school; cried over sad romance novel or movies; dreaming to the Cinderella in our imagined romance. Then there was always one question in our mind, “What’s love?”

To be honest, until this moment, I have no idea what defines LOVE, because there are too many types of LOVE.

These are my definitions of LOVE.

LOVE from parents:
- Working 10 hours a day, paid for my education and never asked for any returns.
- Never expected me to be the most successful person but a happy and healthy one.

LOVE from my sister (I don’t have any brothers!):
- Waking up at 3am just to hear my ramblings after I quarrel with bf for the Nth time
- Keeping my darkest secrets from my parents
- Playing pc games with me at 4am even she was heavily pregnant

LOVE from friends:
- Listen to my ramblings everyday and anytime of the day
- Give me a hand whenever I need help
- Laugh at my silly jokes

LOVE from bf:
- Watch a movie with me; a movie that I really wanted to watch, though he had seen it
- Fight like cats and dogs the day before and try to hold my hand the day after
- Stretch out his hand to hold mine when we are getting into a crowd
- Wishing me ‘Happy Halloween’ on my birthday!

Having an Aussie bf is really an eye opening experience, especially with their culture.

I don’t mean to take things for granted, but when I was in Malaysia or when I was dating Asian guys, it was pretty common that guys would pay for the meals and expenses when we were out together. And how often would I say “Thanks for dinner / thanks for tonight / thanks for the movie”? No, hardly! Unless it was special occasion like Valentine’s Day when I was given a big bunch of roses, I would say, thank you!

But with Matt, he is always so THANKFUL!

“Thanks baby for cooking dinner.”
“Thanks for coming over”
“Thanks for the night.”
“Thanks for ironing my clothes.”

He says thank you for whatever I do, I feel appreciated for whatever I have done.

Not long after we got together, he once said “how come you never said thank you whenever I pay for dinner or anything?” Of course he asked in a polite way, and it seriously did not strike me that I have to do that?! Not that I wasn’t thankful, just that I didn’t know I have to express it verbally!

I learned slowly and I now say thank you to whatever he does for me, and he will definitely ‘you’re welcome’

Now we are both so thankful that whenever we speak to one another, we would ask “how are you or how’s your day?” and we will answer “I am good thanks”

Weird? I don’t know, but I think I prefer this than the traditional Asian men who take everything for granted and never say thank you to their wives for cooking, cleaning, ironing and etc.

By doing this, you may think we have overdone it, it is way too official. But it is great to be appreciated, thus we wouldn’t mind going further for one another.