promises

Recently, my female owner announced that she would be going overseas for about 2 weeks. That means that she won't be able to feed us for, let me count... 7 times. Oh well, her parents will turtlesit us then. No issue. She's always going off somewhere anyway. Later, my female owner updated her news release. Her parents are going for a 5-day holiday during that 2-week period! My siblings and I started to panick. FIVE days of being left at home alone?? No food and water?? Please don't test us. I know we will pass the test, given our good genetic make-up but can we not subject ourselves to unnecessary torture... please?? I promise to be good. I promise not to eat too much and I promise never to step on Dodo or Dona in order to climb over the tank. Is somebody hearing my pleas?

turtleneck

It has been a long time since I came here. Blame it on the weather. Singapore has suddenly turned really hot and humid. In a water-scarce environment like my balcony, it’s really hard to find the time to think and mediate. All you really wanna do is to snooze your life away. Animals like to hibernate when it’s winter. I prefer to be inactive when it’s hot. Peace is being able to be at rest… when your surroundings become heated up. Anyway, many things have changed since the last time anyone heard from me. One of the most significant thing is this. Yes, that’s right, a photo of me. My beloved female owner’s digital camera suddenly gave up on life and refused to snap any more photos for her. Either that or the camera has developed an allergic reaction to terrapins. Whatever it is, my female owner was trying to snap a photo of me when the camera blanked out on her. (I must add that I look grouchy because of the weather. Can you imagine wearing a thick turtleneck 24/7 in sunny Singapore??). The camera was never revived. So this photo which you see before you is really precious. It’s the last photo ever taken on her camera! She's quite upset because the camera was a gift from my male owner...

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.

finally a sunny day

After a spate of rainy days, the sun finally decided to report to work. It was a pleasant change for us terrapins, (and I’m sure many humans) as the warm sun rays helped us to regulate our body temperature. For some strange reason, my female owner was at home even though it was a Friday. I later found out that she was on leave.

It was fun having her at home. Because she was free, she took away the wooden plank that separates the balcony where we stay and the rest of the house. This means that we can, at our own time and pleasure, climb over a short ledge into the living room, where it’s a gateway for us to explore new things.

See the photo below. That’s me on the ledge. Nanook is the bigger one showing her bum while Dodo is the smaller one.

Anyway, Nanook and Dodo had a field day exploring new grounds. This exposure to a simulating environment is very important, to keep us alert and happy. Our balcony is getting too small and boring. I mean, we have lived there all our lives! This is especially so for Nanook who is getting bigger and fatter by the day. She is certainly running out of shady spots which can accommodate her big shell and would jump at any opportunity to look for fresh places.

As for me, I took the chance to stone in my favourite spot in the balcony - under the trolley. I mean, how often will you get the chance to rest alone in your favourite hide-out without having to share space??

Alas, my bliss was short-lived. My female owner took it upon herself to teleport me to the living room. As what all terrapins with high EQ would do, I did a few courtesy rounds in the living room and when she was distracted, planted myself in a cozy corner to snooze my afternoon away…

it's Christmas!

Today is Christmas! Yeah. No presents from my owners (I mean, what can you get for four terrapins who do bascially nothing but eat and sleep right?) but it's the feeling to being loved and cared for which makes all of us happy. My male owner came over again and we always look forward to seeing him because he is more generous with the food. Ha. Anyway, my female owner played her part too and gave the balcony a good scrub. As usual, dodo was so happy to see our beloved owners that he followed them around the balcony like a happy dog. Sometimes he would even climb onto their feet while they are mopping the floor. I'm not sure what he is trying to say through this action but my owners sure love it, especially the female one. Female Owner (FO): "You see you see, Dodo is walking out to greet us again." Male Owner (MO): "Yah, I see him". FO: "See, MY turtle is so grateful to us. What happened to yours? Where are they?" MO looks around and sees me and Nanook snoozing away in the shade. MO (in a not-so-sure voice): "Err...they are resting?" MO looks at us desperately, hoping that we will move to show our appreciation but nah...rest is more important.

the rainy season

The rainy season finally reached hot and humid Singapore. The largest downpour to hit Singapore in 75 years arrived on Tuesday, 19 Dec. The heavens opened in the early morning and rain only stopped early next morning. That is more than 24 hours of cool, wet weather. My siblings and I love water, and get very excited whenever it rains. We become livelier then and like it most if the rain comes into the balcony and soaks us wet. You see, Singapore is so hot and it makes us feel so lethargic. Plus, hot weather means the sun is shining brightly, which means that we have less shade for our essential afternoon snooze. Because of the torrendous rain, many parts of Singapore were flooded. My female owner commented in jest that if she released us to swim in the flood, we would all drown, because of our inability to swim. Why does she think that we cannot swim? Well... all because of a swimming lesson she put us through in January this year. If she had to grade us, I probably fail with flying colours. I was the only turtle who sank right to the bottom of the tank. At least my other siblings did some form of swimming.. before struggling for help. See the photo below? Yah, that's me sinking right to the bottom of the tank. My female owner attributed this sinking act to my body weight. What more can I say?

all that was needed was a poke

my female owner was livid yesterday. You see, Dona followed my fine example and he had a prolapse too. The difference was, his male organ (erm.. i don't have to explain too much right?) was also hanging out. So, coming out of his tail on the right side was his anus and the left side was his male organ. My female owner was very upset when she saw it. She started whining to my male owner about how come every one of us was taking turns to fall sick, that it was so expensive to bring us to the vet (remember my grand bill?) and so troublesome to take leave to bring us there. (Believe me, if I had a choice, I wouldnt want to be ill too!). Anyway, my dear male owner (yes, the one I cheated by pretending to be super active) tried to calm her down and finally, they prayed over Dona. Again, they adopted a "wait-and-see" approach. Fast forward to today. Dona's condition remained the same. My owners wanted to bring Dona to the vet as early as possible coz they figured that early treatment would cost less. They obviously remembered how they waited for one week before bringing me to the vet and ended up with a huge medical bill. As they were tiptoeing out of the house with Dona, my female owner's mother questioned them about their movements and started to become as hysterical as my female owner yesterday. You see, she never believed in spending money on vet visits and would always scold my owners for "wasting money". She claimed that all Dona needed was a poke to stuff his internal organs back up his tail. You know what? She was right! It took a grand total of FIVE seconds to reverse the prolapse. Later on, she even gave Dona a manicure by clipping off his extremely long nails. My lucky brother, was healed almost instantly, whereas I had to endure a week of prolapse, no appetite, surgery and stitches, awful medication and weird tasting food, and multiple visits to the vet and endless scolding from my female owner and the list goes on. All because, the in-house vet a.k.a. my female owner's mother was on holiday when I was ill. Life's unfair.

chill-out spot

The first photo shows one of my favourite chill-out places. The second is a close-up shot. I can stone here for hours or even days, if my owners would allow me, that is. What do I like about this dark corner (it is about the size of a opened magazine - it looks bright in the photos because my female owner used flash)? The ability to survey the surroundings without being seen myself.
I've spent many hours watching my siblings at play. They each have their own idiosyncracies and antics which never fails to amuse me. Dodo for instance, loves to "climb the wall", as my owners would call it. He can spend hours trying to scale this pink wall, moving to and fro its entire length. I wonder why he does it day after day, night after night, despite not succeeding. There's a saying that goes something like "a fool does the same thing over and over again, expecting different results". I wonder what is Dodo expecting from this.
As for me, i'm contented to remain here, out of sight of my owners... and hopefully out of mind... Alas, my male owner has sealed up the place ever since my illness. He thinks that I got infected there (tell you a secret, the only way to get me out of the dark corner is to stick your arm in and grope in the dark to locate me. He's afraid of doing it because he thinks that I will bite him in the process!)

busy

i know that my female owner is busy when
i) she visits us only once every 2 days and her sole purpose is to feed us (we are fed once every alternate day, you see. she read in some web-site that terrapins like us should be fed only once every two days)
ii) she visits us only once every 2 days and feeds only some of us (because she doesnt have the time to wait for all of us to finish glupping down 2 human days' worth of breakfast, lunch and dinner)
iii) she visits us on the third day of our last feed!

It has been ii) and iii) recently and I am praying that she will be able to make more time for us. You see, although we are soliatary and shy creatures by nature, we have grown used to humans (coz my owners make it a point to spend time with us) and we get excited everytime we see them.. With every sighting of a human (esp my owners), it brings hope that food is near...

ever wondered?

ever wondered how your backside looks like? I have, many times, even more so after my illness. The literal "pain in the ass" served a fine reminder that (promise you don't laugh) I've never seen my backside!

Actually, for us terrapins, we will not be able to see beyond our front limbs. We know that we have four limbs and a tail. If we use only the two limbs which we can see, we will not be able to move very far. With the same token, although I've never seen my tail, I do receive shock waves whenever anyone steps on it.



The mysteries of life for a terrapin - being dependent on parts of your body which you cannot see, even though other terrapins can see them. The good news for curious terrapins like me is that, we can rely on technology to shed some light on how our body parts look like to the rest of the world.

$179.55

my female owner's credit card bill has arrived. Normally it's not an issue for me but this time it is coz 4 items, adding up to a grand total of $179.55 belongs to me!
















That is equals to 20 bottles of turtle food, which is equals to 2 years supply of food for 4 of us, which is equals to 8 years supply of food for me. Wah!

I know my female owner is very upset now. $179.55 is equals to many clothes and bags which her wardrobe badly needs. you know what's the best part? My male owner, knowing how upset she will be, has stepped in like a hero to say, "I will cover Nooki's medical bills, here's $200" Oh...so sweet. but then my female owner, being female (or is it just her?), probably thinks "well, if not for Nooki, I can use the $200 to upgrade my wardrobe". No matter what, she still sees it as a loss to her. Women!

recovery

for those who are asking about me, I've fully recovered from my ordeal. The recent illness has made me realised how much my owners care for me. I used to think that my female owner was very "pian xin" - she always spoke affectionately of my brothers and complained about us girls to my male owner (of how lazy we are, how fast we are getting fat, how we ignore her when she comes to find us etc etc) - but now I know, she cares a lot for me too (although she did still complain about how expensive it is to bring me to the Vet, and how she had to take off to bring me there etc). To show my appreciation, I've made it a point to "show face" more often - come out of my dark spots to greet her, allow her to stroke me under my neck, smile at her when she sees me (yes, terrapins do smile too!). All's well that ends well... may peace be with us all..