Perth, Portions and Princesses

Hey all! 3.13 am, and I really oughta hit the sack, hey? Hehheh. But I wanted to log on to say this: ONE WEEK TO PERTH!!! Yaaaaay!!

Oh, haven't I elaborated on this already? I'm heading to Perth for a lovely week-plus to attend the 10th anniversary of Children's Theatre at Murdoch Uni. I've been working hard on the music for this year's show, Lit by Limelight, putting in additional hours of moosik work on top of the daily grind of the full-time job with the webbysite. It's very much the likes of previous productions such as Zak Zebra and Athena Emu and Captain Quokka, not to mention last year's Captive Carousel, which I never got to see in person even though my music was featured in it.

This year's production is going to be even more interesting because we have prerecorded music by yours truly, plus live music performed by musicians here and there throughout the show... so in a way, it's double the work for me because I've got to compose, record the music and write it out in music notation form. Ouchy wouchy. But it's been fun. So far. Meanwhile, the show has its preview night in a little more than week, and I still haven't submitted all the music yet. Oy.

But back to the point... YAAAAAY, PERTH!! It's going to be my first visit in three freakin' years, and I'm SOOO excited! Will be staying with Judi and Justin (heeeey Joooodi!! Heeeyy Jussstinnn!!), and I'll get to hang out with them and with the rest of the former MUCC crew, including Chris and Jade and Josie and Carol Weh and Brett and and and and ooo I'm getting bouncy-off-the-wallsy just thinking about it! Yaaaay!

Of course, it will also be an opportunity to catch up with some of my other friends, from uni and beyond. So I'm really really looking forward to this, as you can imagine!! Interestingly, but the time I get there, it would have been almost exactly three years since I left. I came back to Malaysia on May 21 2006. I will be in Perth on May 23 2009. So if you ask me, it's meant to be, heheh!! Now the biggest challenge will be to maintain my diet while I'm there...

Oh, have I not elaborated fully on this diet?? LOL. Well, I'm on a weight-loss programme, recommended by J & J in Perth themselves, and so far I've been on it a week, with the aim (as I've mentioned previously) to drop about 30kg to reach my targeted weight. (It kinda makes me sad to realise that in 2004, I was at my ideal weight. And over the past three years, it's all come creeping back. Well, not so much creeping as roaring back, with a vengeance. Aaugh!! But let's look forward, not back, shall we? Oy).

Anyway, J & J say they'll help me stick to the eating programme while I'm in Aussieland, so I should be able to get by. It's a lot of proteins and veggies and fruit and little carbs in the shape of crackers, all in precise amounts that need to be weighed, etc etc. Oh, why don't you find out more about it yourself. Here's the link to the Aussie site that I checked out before realising there was a branch in Singapore, which led me to realise there was a subsidiary in Malaysia, and now here I am, 7 days old and supposedly already noticeably losing weight (my colleague commented, "Are you losing weight already?!" ...but he knew about the diet, so maybe he was just teasing, I dunno. Hrmm.)

So that's that for now. Oh, actually it's not — I've got one more story to tell, but it's a bit of a downer. Well, it's a terribly bittersweet story. More bitter than sweet. If you wanna end on a happy note, maybe now's the time to stop reading. If not... well...

On Wednesday, my colleague got a phone call from a friend, who said that there was an abused dog in Bangsar (in Kuala Lumpur) that had been howling in agony for several days/nights, and had infected wounds etc. Anyway, this person didn't know what to do, and somewhat inanely asked my colleague whether it would be proper to poison the dog to ends its suffering. (Yes, definitely a wtf? moment). Well, that obviously didn't sit right with me, so I called my friend Nicole, who's an avid animal crusader around town. It took a while for the person who reported this case to provide me with the proper details on the dog's location, but I finally managed to get the info yesterday (Thursday) and passed it on to Nic, who had decided to take matters in her own hands.

So Nic told me that initially she couldn't find the place, but neighbours in the vicinity helped to pinpoint the location — they had been hearing the dog suffering for days, too. When Nic got there, nobody was around and the gate of the compound was locked; Nic, bless her heart, actually scaled the wall to get closer to the dog. And the poor doggy was in a cage, injured, open wounds infected with crawly bugs (no need to paint you a picture, right?), malnourished, hungry. And when Nic approached it, it seemed so happy to see a human being that actually seemed to care. Nic actually got the dog out of the cage, and was about to carry it over the wall (infected wounds and all), when the persons "responsible" for the animal came back. Turns out they were foreign workers, hard labour workers who earn very little and who were using the old rundown building and the compound to stay in; people who didn't know what to do with a dog in the first place, and who hadn't physically abused it but had let it suffer from neglect. And when Nic, being the firecracker that she is, confronted them, they said their "boss" had left the dog with them "to be a guard dog while she was away overseas".

Nic argued her case, and the foreign guys were hesitant to let the dog go because "boss will be very angry, dog is very expensive, many thousands of dollars". Oy vey. When Nic said the dog had to be taken away, she was told "the boss would be back in two weeks", to which Nic (I imagine) promptly and fiercely rebuked that the dog would be dead by then. So they apparently backed off. And she took the doggy with her. And the poor thing, wounds and all, leapt into her car and sat quietly in the back seat while she drove off. (Meanwhile, you gotta love Nic's concern and daring; not even the prospects of maggots in her car turned her off. Sorry if you were reading this while eating... but that's how bad the wounds were. Oy.)

So later Nic called me to fill me in on all this. Dog, about four years old, is named Princess (huh), and Nic had brought her to the vet, who would clean the poor doggy up as much as possible, look after it and nurse it back to health, thank God. Princess, Nic says, was responsive despite being weak; she ate and drank and the prognosis seems positive. Fingers crossed. And oh yea, Nic called the SPCA and is filing an official case of abuse and neglect against the owner, in the bid to gain custody of the dog and have it made available for adoption later. You go, girl. Nic, that is. And Princess too.

So that's the bittersweet story. A part of me is happy that I managed, in my small way, to get this dog rescued (my colleagues were very impressed at Nic, since they were following the saga since Wednesday; for Nic to take action and get the dog help barely one day later is quite a feat, no?). Another part of me is angry that this had to happen in the first place. Sometimes, the capability and capacity of human beings to be cruel is just mindblowing. And don't get me started on the major controversy that has brewed here over the Pulau Ketam case. This is an extreme case of cruelty and neglect, but thankfully, some caring folks are on a rescue mission to save these poor animals. If you'd like to find out more, check it out here... but I should warn you, it's a really tragic, heartwrenching, awful awful story... so... um... maybe read it when you're ready to, ok? Animal lovers, be forewarned. Sigh.

Anyway I hope to be able to visit Princess maybe next week, so I'll share more updates on her progress if I can.

In the meantime, just to end this lengthy blog posting on a happier note, let me leave you with this pearl of profound wisdom:

"Though the eyes are the windows to your soul,

the zipper is the window to your underwear."

HAHAHAHA. Some of you would know where that's from. ;))

Okay, guys and girls. Time for bed, I think. It's taken me 45 minutes to write this. And the music for Lit by Limelight has been playing on a loop throughout, threatening to drive me crazy. I'll put up a sample or two soon. But in the meantime, there's more music to be done; and I've got to get to work tomorrow; and there's the meals of the day that need to be prepared in accordance with the dieting plan; and I gotta make sure everything's ready for my trip; and YAAAY PEERRRTH in about 7 days, and oh golly gosh osh kosh bgosh I'm getting bouncy-off-the-wallsy again!! I should end here. Until next time. BYE!!!