"The tactful cactus by your window

Surveys the prairie of your room

Mobile spins to its collision

Clara puts her head between her paws

They've opened shops down West side

Will all the cacti find a home

But the key to the city

Is in the sun that pins the branches to the sky"

And then I saw the setting sun...

  Have a Happy Lunar New Year!

A simple ride home became like the lights chase.  The flats look so quiet in the wee hours of the morning.  Maybe I was tying to capture the ordinary & hoping they were magical after.  In my eye...

My birthday present from my beloved elder sister way way way way way way in advance.  We haven't seen this kind of design so far.  So when she saw it, she told me she had to get it for me.  It's really sweet of her.  When I showed it to my dad, he asked whether it runs on batteries.  The fact is, it's just a Doraemon figurine with a robotic looking body.  But it's very cute & it looks very yummy.  I couldn't decide which picture to post, cos' I love them all.

Last night, my mum shouted for our attention from the kitchen after dinner.  My sister & I went over & looked in the direction where she was pointing.  Our eyes immediately lighted up.  And my mum couldn't believe, kept asking us whether that was actually a lizard in the ceiling or mud nest of an insect.  Right there was a big fat lizard with a body width about 1 inch.  And if we were able to pull it straight, measuring from head to the tail, it should be around 7 inch.  The tile measured 6 inch by 9 inch.  We wondered in awe, what kind of diet could actually result such ‘healthy' growth.  My mum replied, "Mosquitoes."  Then my sister thought maybe termites, cos' our house used to have a huge problem with them.  The latter could be a possibility.  Termites did sound more nutritious somehow, and we wished that was true. Of course, it won't give us the answer.  Then my mum asked whether it was dead, as it stayed there motionless.  Maybe it was equally shocked but by our reaction, & trying very hard to make itself less noticeable.  I went to get a binocular, hoping to use it to take a better close-up with my camera.  But it was blurred; I realized I was still too close.  In the end I used my camera digital zoom & flash, and it came up well.

 After all the "Wow so big!" comment, we switched off the lights & left.  Then I went back to switch on the lights, proof it was gone.   

There is a Chinese phrase, “Ai Wu Ji Wu”, which means if you like something, you should accept & like everything about it. 

Sigh…the thing I couldn’t tolerate is really those cute rascals’ shit.  Yes house lizards!  Today they earned themselves a special mention.  I don’t mind them roaming around in my house, but if only they do their “business” off the compound.  And I don’t think anyone has success to keep them toilet trained.  I think I am quite reluctant to clean the window beside my study corner.  Just outside the window glass, is a ledge about the width of two feet, then next are the metal railings that formed many squares.  To protect the college I did on the wall, I kept the curtain drawn & window closed on that side.  And that really encourage them to use the window ledge behind the curtains as their lavatory.  That window was in fact cleaned about a year ago! 

Armed with 1 water spray, 1 toothbrush, 1 rough dish ‘rag’, 1 cloth, 2 & a half pails of water, I aimed to brave through the ordeal as quickly as possible.  The 1^st step was always better to scrap & brush off all the stains & shits, before finish it with clean water.  Dark clouds gathered in the sky, & it was better to finish before the rain comes & destroyed the efforts.  I was glad that my elder sister came to join me after she finished her ironing.  I always thought it was like asking 2 people to do a 1 man job, so I tried not to bother anyone.  The window ledges in the house are quite small, so it’s easier for me to clean with my hamster built, cos’ at least I still have space to squat.  She was helping me to change water, looking out for me, & just for being there was really nice for me.  Last year during one of the cleaning session, I was quite careless with a roaming mind.  I forgot I had opened the railings & while cleaning the window panels alone from the window ledge, I leaned back to take a small rest.  But I managed to avoid the accident in time.  Although it was two storeys high, it was still quite scary.  In order not to bore her, I speed up further while the thunder rumble in the distance.  Then there was this whole chunk of wet shit (due to the water) when we pushed the window glass to the other side.  I was looking at them in disgust & thinking I don’t want them in the pail.  I was already with my endless, “iiiiiiiiiiiiii&hel lip;..”.  Knowing me so well, my poor sister just took my cloth & offered to wipe them off for me.  This whole chunk of wet shit that balled up even more shit was so disturbing.  Then she went to the toilet to rinse the cloth instead.  And since we pushed the window to the other side, some shit went under the small ‘gateway’ on the window ‘railway’.  My sister told me to forget it, but it was really a huge NO NO for me.  Not for shit.  So I asked her to help me to get some cotton buds & managed to clean them out with more “iiiiiiiiiii&hellip ;..Oh gosh” comment.  Then looking at the window inside, was of course more shit lying along the panel like an awful prank.  So I asked my sister for wet tissues instead.  And oh man, how all that shit rolled under that thin piece of wet tissue as I wiped.  They felt soft & recent.  I should have folded the tissue more to lessen my sense of touch.  More wet shit gathered.  Anyway, this shitty ordeal clocked an hour.  It was finally over!!!

Then came another bizarre episode.  We had to throw the old curtain away cos’ it was badly torn.  My mum passed us 2 colors of clean curtains – Grey & orange.  We were stunned.  Both were made of different materials & length, so we protest strongly against them.  But she won the case in the end cos’ it was after all her house & her reason was not to waste the gray curtain in the meantime, cos’ it was torn too.

Just before my sister retired to bed, I went to admire the clean ledge outside.  And to my horror, at the far end of the ledge, was 1 lizard shit.  I went to my sister’s bedroom to get the water spray filled, & rushed to get that shit off that ledge.  To my second horror, it stick there like glue & half the bottle of water spray was already gone.  In the end, I still have to resort to toilet paper to grab it off the spot.  And yes I got another wet shit due to my fruitless effort.  Damn… and plenty of hand soap after.

… Like a fish out of water.

… Like a coffin yet to be filled.

… Like a sky that doesn’t rain…

Does a caterpillar felt any pain before turning into a butterfly?

“Dreams are, by definition, cursed with short life spans.” – Candice Bergen

“Death is not the greatest loss in life. The greatest loss is what dies inside of us while we live.” – Norman Cousins

They lighted up tonight. Suddenly I also found the answer to a heart that is shut. To all the people who are lost & losing sight of their dreams, HANG ON! Hang On…Hang On…