capture

Most of you would have know that my female owner sort-of adopted a kitten-cat and named it Sayang. His future remains uncertain, given that the owner of the house absolutely detests animals, but rather than dwelling on unhappy things, let's take a look at some photos, and you might understand why Sayang managed to capture my female owner's heart.

On the first day when they met... and he stayed on the ledge the whole arvo, causing my female owner to panic and thus, feed him

taken with Sayang on her lap, one of her favourite photos feeding time apparently Sayang refused to use his bed when he first got it... and they used all ways and means to entice him to try it

after three days, he caved in see how comfortable he is now?
self-entertainment with his toy mouse (see his paws)
look! he can stand too!

jobs

My female owner says that applying for jobs in Aussie is not as easy as doing it in Singapore. For one, being on a student visa, the odds are stacked against her. In addition, she has not graduated from her programme and hence, would not be able to apply for psychologist positions, which usually require full registration. Her best bet would be to look for counselling or social services jobs. But it might be difficult to convince potential employers that she has intentions to stay long at the non-psychologist job.

Anyway, when faced with such situations, my female owner would start to fantasise about going back to Singapore for good. She often questions herself for staying back in Australia. After all, she can easily pack up now and leave for home. Emo Sponge kinda distracted her shortly after by helping her to source for temporary administration positions, which kept her occupied the whole day. Not really sure if she would be able to convince anyone to employ her, given that she is “overqualified” but as my female owner said, better than doing nothing!

Hopefully she gets a temp job soon.

oxymoron

I suppose its time to update this Turtle Pad. I have no excuses for my long absence, except that I have been very lazy and in a hibernation mode. I guess the Aussie laid-back lifestyle has finally hit me.

As you all know, my female owner has submitted her thesis and over the past two weeks, she had indulged in several things. The big one would be that she went off for a holiday to Adelaide, Sydney and Canberra. Despite her incessant comments about her not having enough friends, she still managed to pull together this 9-day post-thesis tour. And it could have been a few days longer, had she known earlier that another pair of friends were going to be in Sydney at the same time as she was. Anyway, she also did a 3-day escapade to Coffs Harbour, which is 6hr drive from her place, and in New South Wales. In the upcoming days, she has tentative plans for Byron Bay, Whitsundays and maybe a lone road trip to Northern Queensland.

Even though she looked like she had heaps of getaways and fun with friends, my female owner actually struggled to relax initially. Sounds like an oxymoron actually. Struggling to relax? Anyway, her anxiety acted up and she felt an internal pressure to quickly get on with life, job applications, registrations and the like. Everyone around her, literally everyone she spoke to told her that it was time for her to relax coz she had worked so hard over the past few months. However, my female owner felt that she did not actually work very hard and hence, did not deserve to relax. It got to a point where Mr S remarked that there was something wrong with my female owner.

In the midst of all the conflicts within her (i.e. authentic relaxing vs finding work), my female owner actually managed to do clock a few RA hours (she still has about 120 outstanding hours to fulfil) and update her resume. My female owner is trying to apply the principles of mindfulness, where she soaks up the present, relish in the experience and not fret about the future or ruminate about the past. Getting the hang of it, she says.

ten

My brothers Dodo and Dona, turned ten yesterday! A decade old. Can you imagine? My female owner commemorated the day by updating her FB status with “Happie 10th bday to my beloved boy terrapins, Dodo and Dona. I will be home soon! :)”

And didn’t expect three friends to “like” her status. Hey, we turtles have a fan club too! Happy birthday beloved brothers!

submission

Out of sheer necessity, my female owner finally pulled up her socks and submitted her thesis on Tuesday (i.e. two days ago). Why “sheer necessity”? Coz her housemate was leaving Brisbane indefinitely on Wednesday and my female owner wanted to host a Good Riddance Party before she leaves.

My female owner tried to savour the process of submitting her thesis. She did not find it particularly flavourful. It was with an apprehensive and ambivalent heart that she handed over three copies of her 252-page, 57734-word thesis. She kept wondering if she had done enough and (as expected), catastrophised the worst case scenario that she had to rewrite big chunks of her arguments. And of course, the great uncertainty surrounding her future also dampened her mood.

So anyway, as a gesture of appreciation for her friends who laboured with her through her thesis, she hosted a dinner at night. My female owner felt so blessed to have such friends around her. She even said that with such friends around, she won’t mind doing another thesis. Err… sure anot? I think she was drunk when she said that.

getaway

My female owner had a getaway to the Gold Coast last weekend. She had so much fun, she didn’t even have time to tell us turtles about it. The plan was to spend Saturday doing things that her departing housemate wanted to do. So Emo Sponge and my female owner spent the day with her, eating at her favourite restaurant, taking random photos, desserting at Max Brenner. This was the exact re-enactment of her housemate’s birthday last December. The trio then an agreement (dunno real or not) to meet up every year at Sanctuary Cove to celebrate their friendship.

Anyway, here are some photos to capture the day.

The charming restaurant

Freshest seafood, complete with entree and white wine

Do re mi

poor Emo Sponge, he got dragged into girlie stuff! and finally, desserts..

wonders

And one starts to wonder what my female owner plans to do after she submits her thesis. Her biggest want is to do a roadtrip around Australia. Alas, she didn’t make enough friends in the past 2.5years to make that want come into fruition the way she wants it to. Still, within the limited circle of friends she has, she managed to cough out a getaway to Coffs Harbour (NSW), Adelaide, Canberra, Sydney and maybe Whitsundays (QLD). Short trips, but still better than nothing. Besides, it won’t be good to indulge too much into trips, if she hasn’t been working for a good part of the year.

And one starts to wonder what my female owner has in mind… after her mini getaways are completed.

Hmmm…

huge

My female owner says that her new housemate is driving her crazy. She is filled with so much angst and annoyance that it shows clearly, whenever she ventilates to some of her friends. My female owner prides herself as easy-going, accommodating and flexible. She has few red buttons, but they can be really huge and sensitive and this housemate seems to be pressing all of them.

I know I have written about these red buttons before, but let me just point out the current huge and sensitive ones:

- People who intrude into her personal space constantly
- People who can’t read social cues well, given their age and experience
- People who are inconsiderate and/ or self-inviting
- People who frighten her cat for fun

Go figure what’s pissing my female owner off now. The funny thing is that today, she was ventilating to two friends, one female and one guy (separately). And both of them were very amused. The female friend even said “this is so entertaining” while the male friend just kept grinning.

On a serious note, my female owner is so pissed that she tries to avoid her housemate as much as she can, and keeps conversations to a minimal. At times, she even coops herself in her room so that their paths will not cross.

spring

Today my female owner celebrates the first day of spring. She woke up in a super happy mood coz God really surprised her. (She had been praying recently, asking God to surprise her). For one, she finally booked a ticket back to Singapore at the end of the year (yay!). And then, she found out that her friend is also in the same flight as her. Double yay! And more importantly, her housemate told her last night that she didn’t need to move out of the house at the end of the year, because the mother decided to continue renting the house to her. YAY!!!! Such an unexpected turn of events.

And it’s spring today and somehow, it makes things better, psychologically for my female owner. Like a new beginning for her, as she embarks (prematurely coz her thesis is not yet submitted) on an ambivalence phase of life. She is looking forward to more surprises from God. She knows He has more in store for her.