The turtles' picnic

Found this story interesting... Maybe I should go meditate on it until my next feeding.. adious

A family of turtles once decided to go on a picnic. Turtles, being naturally slow about things, took seven years to prepare for their outing. Finally the turtle family left home looking for a suitable place for their picnic.

During the second year of their journey they found a place ideal for them at last! For about six months they cleaned up the area, unpacked the picnic basket, and completed the arrangements.

Then, to their dismay, they discovered they had forgotten the salt. A picnic without salt would be a disaster, they all agreed. After a lengthy discussion, the youngest turtle was chosen to retrieve the salt from home. Although he was the fastest of the slow-moving turtles, the little turtle whined, cried, and wobbled in his shell. He finally agreed to go on one condition - that no one would eat until he returned.

Fair enough, the rest of the family decided, and the little turtle left. Three years passed and the little turtle had not returned. Five years rolled by, then six. Then, in the seventh year of his absence, the oldest turtle could no longer contain his hunger. He announced that he was going to eat and began to unwrap a sandwich.

At that point the little turtle suddenly popped out from behind a tree and shouted, "See! I knew you wouldn't wait. Now I am not going to go get the salt!"

Like the little turtle in the story, some of us waste our time waiting for people to live up to our expectations. We are so concerned about what others are doing that we don't do anything ourselves. We're worried that other people are going to let us down, so we live in fear and suspicion. We often think the worst of others, not realising that it's our very lack of faith that leads to the result we dreaded. The family of turtles would have waited for the little turtle to return. In fact, they did; seven years they waited. Eventually the oldest turtle was forced to stopped waiting because of the little turtle's mistrust. In the same way, we often bring out the worst in other people because we expected nothing better from them.

So choose to see the good in people. Don't waste time judging others while not doing anything to improve yourself. If we were like the little turtle in the story, we would all suffer.

Maslow's Law

I think my female owner is really busy these days. It was our feeding day yesterday. She realised it, so she came into the balcony to get our feeding tank, gave it a good scrub and filled it up with fresh water. As the night was still young (maybe 9pm), she decided not to feed us yet. So we waited…. And waited…. And waited…. And without warning, the lights went out close to midnight and it struck us only then that she forgot all about us!

So much for waiting.

You must be wondering why I’m so uptight about being fed. I learnt from somewhere that a certain Abraham Maslow’s Law states that the most basic needs are physiological and that includes the needs for oxygen, water, protein, salt, sugar, calcium, and other minerals and vitamins.

Ah… now you understand right?

a touch from God

It was a horrible start to my Saturday. I woke up to see the cleaning lady in our balcony. The cleaning lady makes her appearance in my female owner’s house once every few weeks. Every time she comes, all of us terrapins break out in cold sweat. This is because she would put us into a tank to keep us in (in case she tramples on us while she cleans). This tank is opaque and cramped, making us very miserable, stressed and claustrophobic. Today was worse, because I suffered a relapse – I had a prolapse again. This time, I felt uncomfortable because I could feel something sticking out of my tail but could not get rid of it no matter how hard I kicked. Coincidentally, Dona also suffered a prolapse. It must be the cleaning lady! My female owner’s mother saw our condition and tried to poke the prolapse back into our tail. Her nursing skills worked the last time for Dona and I thought I would be ok too. I certainly did not wish to go back to the vet again to be cut up and stitched back and doped with horrible tasting medicine. Alas, I was too tensed when she picked me up and I continued to have a prolapse (Dona was ok after the poke). By this time, my female owner had roused from her sleep and inspected us. Although she didn’t say anything, I could almost hear her heart drop and her thought bubble coming on “Prolapse again?!” I bet she must have felt demoralised. After spending so much on me, I still suffered a relapse few months down the road. Anyway, she took me out and left me in the feeding tank, separated from the rest. I believe she prayed for me, because by afternoon time, my prolapse had gone in. I was as good as gold! Close shave!

the best moments are now

Ask me what the best moment in my life was, I would tell you that there were two. The first “best” moment was when my male owner chose me to be his pet. The feeling of being specially chosen by someone and subsequently, belonging to someone who loves and cares for your every need is overwhelmingly heart-warming. My male owner has never, in my short 4.5 years on planet Earth, failed to make me feel special and loved. The same goes for my female owner. Although she may complain about me and not feed me for days, I know that it is due to a personality flaw, more than personal attack on me. Alright, I know I sound as if I am launching a personal attack on her, but you know what I mean right? The second “best” moment is now. Waking up everyday, knowing that each day brings with it surprises and new experiences. I know it sounds weird, coming from a terrapin which does nothing much every day, save to “eat, sleep and shit” (that’s what my female owner would say). My female owner tends to reminisce about the early days when we were so small and cute. Now we are even cuter (it’s true!), but not so small, and so, she would gripe about our swollen size (“so fat and heavy”). I tend to disagree with her, life is about growing and living right? So we should appreciate our physical size, big or small, because growing bigger and older is a sign of health and wealth. Indeed, the best moments are now!

a picture paints a thousand words

This is just a recent photo of me. My female owner probably wanted to show everyone how fat I am.

This is our new haunt - the shoe rack. We used to be able to go underneath the shoe rack as it was perched on four bricks. However, Nanook (on the right) got so big that she toppled the shoe rack (it had four racks) a few times. For our own safety, the shoe rack is no longer perched on bricks but placed squarely on the floor. However, we still find it an interesting place to be, as it is slanting.

Nanook and me, spending a lazy afternoon together under the trolley. My female owner managed to alleviate the trolley so that Nanook can go underneath it. My brothers usually leave us alone when we have our girl-talk.

Me resting under this four-wheel cycle which is more than 20 years old (Nanook is in the background)! My female owner used to ride it when she was a little girl. Because of her reliance on this four-wheel cycle, she took a long time to ride a proper bicycle.

Queueing up to be fed

Contrary to popular belief, my female owner fed us yesterday despite the earthquake that happened between my two owners. In fact she was extra thoughtful - she fed Nanook first. Nanook, as you would know by now, is the largest terrapin among the four of us. For some unknown reason, she ballooned proportionately, while I just fattened around the head, with my shell still constricted. Hence, Nanook, for her size, can still retract her head totally into her shell while I have to make a hasty retreat by moving backwards whenever I feel threatened.

Anyway, being the biggest means that she is usually fed the last. Why feed one terrapin and leave the other three looking in hungrily from outside the feeding tank when you can feed three together and leave the "fat one" outside to wait her turn? Besides the "fat one" eats the most and doesn't seem to know when to stop eating. Hence, for reasons such as these, Nanook is usually fed the last.

This has caused a dent in Nanook's self-esteem. She often wonders why she is usually the last. In fact, she can get quite moody over this and acts out by sulking in a corner, ignoring my owners' call to food.

So yesterday was a pleasant surprise for her, as she was fed first, together with Dodo. Dodo, for the records, usually gets fed first, because he runs the fastest and reaches the tank first. First come first served usually applies at my household. Ah, that's another reason why Nanook doesn't get fed first! She is always sulking in the corner. Oh, but the sad thing was, I became the last terrapin to be fed!

world peace

My owners are at it again. It's like an annual affair. At the beginning of the year, they would have a major disagreement about their relationship and each one seems worse than the previous one. How does it affect us? Many ways.

i) My female owner will visit us more, just to space out. Then when some mean or unhappy thoughts will come into her mind and she will act out, by poking us in any or every retractable body part. That includes the 4 limbs, tail and head. I get it worse, because my fat head makes it IMPOSSIBLE for me to retreat into my shell for shelter. And that gives her 1 more reason to be upset - that Nooki is too fat!

ii) My female owner, as she is, is already quite temperamental with her feeding. Although we are supposed to get fed every other day, sometimes she would (for an endless variety of reasons) choose not to feed us. So we go without food or water for 3 days. We may be resilient but hey, who would ever reject food right?

iii) My male owner will stop coming over and that means that our living conditions will deteriorate. He is the long-suffering soul who would scrub our tank to make it clean and clear from algae before feeding us.

iv) Less play time for us. Sometimes they would sit together in the balcony and talk about us while playing with us. With one person gone, at least half the fun is gone. Actually more than half, coz my female owner would oscillate between playing and poking us while he would just play with us.

May there be world peace.

an act of humanity

It’s a new year and it’s time for some reflection. Today’s reflection topic is: ever wondered how life would be if I didn’t hoodwink my male owner into choosing me for a pet? My owners are very dedicated to us (save for the occasional slip-ups in feeding days) and are not the kind of Singaporean Chinese who believe that terrapins should be released into the wild as an act of humanity.

What humanity are these people talking about? You rear us in small tanks with 1-inch deep water and feed us 3 times a day (no, not my owners, but the typical terrapin owner) and just as we are getting comfortable with being waited hand on foot, you pack us into your car and drive to the nearest reservoir to carry out your act of humanity?? By then, we would probably be quite round and heavy, making swimming to keep afloat a near impossible task, much less swimming around to look for food! (by the way, this usually happens after a few months, when we are bigger and "not so cute" and the owners are tired of looking after us.

My blood boils at the thought of such human logic! A pet is for life you know. How can you buy a pet and release it after a few months and call it humane? I don't see human parents doing that to their children! Oh, baby has grown up and learnt to walk. We should find an auspicious date to release him into the jungle for it’s an act of humanity to do so.

Alright, enough reflection for the night. I need to cool off and book my favourite nook for the night! Nanook, make way!

does life stop at 25?

I think my female owner is depressed. She just celebrated her birthday in Dec and claims that life stops at 25. No prizes for guessing how old she is now! At 25, she is at the prime of her youth. She is still young, financially independent and has the freedom to do whatever her heart chooses to do. Then why does she declare that life stops at 25? Human women! For terrapins which are bred in captivity, our life-span is about there – 25 to 30 years old. I’m only 4 years old. I wonder how life will be when I’m 25. Will life literally stop for me when I’m 25? That’s so scary! For now, I shall enjoy my life in the balcony, taking each day as it comes.