farewell, my darling

Hazel breathed her last peacefully in her sleep. Farewell, my darling Hazel, I will miss you forever.

As I looked at her empty cage, I can't help but remember how Hazel will stand up and look at me with her curious eyes, waiting in anticipation for me to share my bread with her. The way Hazel showed her love by licking all over my palm and she loved it when we stroked her soft white fur. The way she would peep at us through her hiding place, the way she would poke her pink nose through the cloth when she heard us calling her name.

Hazel is such a neat little critter! If we left food for her all over the cage, she would pick up all the pieces and drag them and pack them neatly in her food bowl. Oh, she is such a dear! And how I missed her. She is now resting in peace under a tree next to my place. Farewell, my darling.

Thank you for reminding me to cherish the people around me. Thank you for reminding me how fragile each and everyone of us are. Thank you for reminding me to live my life to the fullest and be nice to the people around me. Thank you for reminding me to make a difference in the lives of people around me. Thank you for teaching me how to love unconditionally. The way you did. Even though you cannot speak, you showed your love by your actions. I simply cannot forget. The joy you brought to me and my family. Thank you. I love you. Farewell, my darling Hazel. Farewell.

my hammy

A close-up shot of my darling Hazel grazing at her favourite lettuce!

speed writing

It has always been my goal to prepare for my speeches way in advance so that I have more time to rehearse before delivery. However, I never managed to do so. I thought I gave myself one week to do it this time round, but since the car accident last Sat, I had simply no mood to eat. How would I have the mood to write my speech?

Received a call from the workshop to say that my car was ready for collection. My spirit was lifted when I saw the car revived and looking as though it were new. The stone from my heavy heart was finally lifted off.

***

I sat and looked at my watch. It was 1.30pm.

Tonight I invited 2 visiting toastmasters (as well as fellow bloggers) Ee Chuan and Ms Kam, and one guest - my close friend Jensen, to my club meeting. I could not disappoint them and since I've booked this project slot one month ago, I really did not want to give it up as project slots are precious and hard to come by.

Since Jensen is coming to pick me up at 5.30pm and I need 1 hour to doll up, I have only 3 hours left. The project objective was to research my topic, I had to speak on the topic I was very familiar with as I had no time to memorize my script. It had to be on my favourite critter - Hamsters.

Luckily for the fact that I am an avid photographer, I have some photographs of hamsters ready. Sticking them with blue tack on some coloured paper, I put them into a clear folder, while squeezing my brain juice on 3 interesting facts about hamsters that I'm going to share during my speech.

I managed to come up with the following:

Fact 1: Hamsters have unlimited sets of teeth as they grow continuously, unlike human beings with only one set of milk teeth and one set of permanent teeth.

Fact 2: Hamsters are solitary animals and they prefer to live alone. Unlike human beings, they do not like company.

Fact 3: Hamsters are nocturnal animals. They sleep in the day and play at night.

Fact 4: Hamsters can store food in their cheek pouches up to 60 times their own weight.

I quickly decided on the method of delivery - to give a quiz. Then quickly thought of an introduction - to as fact 4 as a question for everyone to guess my speech topic. Quite sad that I have to live with a conclusion without a message for the audience to take home. But I had no time to think of a strong conclusion.

I went to doll up with all these points running through my mind. And I was done at 5.15pm, just in time as Jensen was 15 minutes early as I had expected.

***

Glad that the audience liked my speech and participated actively in the quiz. It was a fulfilling chapter meeting as always.

My next challenge - Project 8 in 2 days time.

my new hammie Hazel

Isn't Hazel such a cutie?

Daddy came home with a surprise gift for mommy. Isn't that so sweet of him? Seeing mommy missing Mysty is such a painful sight. Daddy got Hazel from his colleague whose daughter is also a fellow hamster lover. Her hamster just gave birth to 3 babies and decided to give one to us.

Hazel is my second hamster and she's surprisingly sweet and tame. It's not easy to get a tame hamster. She has very different character from Mysty. Mysty is really a scaredy cat when she first came, even our shadows freaked her out. Hazel will come looking for us when we call her. She loves to stand upright with her little nose pointing upwards, reaching out to our fingers to sniff for food. Such a cutie.

I'm so glad my mom has stopped stroking late Mysty's photos ever since Hazel became her new 'baobei'. Mom has been much happier since with our new addition to our family. :)

I miss you again

The whole of my brain cell membranes are filled with you. Nothing could get you out of my mind. I miss you so.

I miss you

My fifth day mourning for my darling hammy Mysty. As I was eating my sandwich for breakfast, I routinely broke off a small piece for Mysty and it suddenly dawned on me that Mysty is no longer around as I stared at her empty cage. No more messy food bowl. No more squeaky noises on the wheel. No more Mysty..... sob.... I miss you....

***

For the past few days, my mom had been bugging me to print out all the photos of Mysty I had in my pc. Took 3 days to print them. Later in the day, I caught sight of my mom stroking Mysty's photos. Scary... Think she is in a worse state than me. Poor mom is so used to stroking Mysty and patting her to sleep every night.

Worse still, she got scolded by daddy for her obsessive behaviour. Think daddy is sad too. My mom and dad bathes Mysty every Sunday and adores her like a baby. It must have been really hard on them as well.

This is the first time my family ever owned a pet together and go through the pain of the loss of Mysty together.

***

So long Mysty, farewell... Rest in peace. We will miss you forever.

Mysty reaching out for her food! 

pretty gal 

Mysty loves greens 

Mysty kisses mommy's finger! 

Mysty nibbles 

Mysty loves rice! 

tribute to my late hamster Mysty

Sorry for no posts for a week, been mourning for my late hamster Mysty.

***

"Ahhhh......" I was awoken by a scream followed by my mom bawling. My natural emergency instinct made me jump out of bed google-eyed, rushed out of my room, almost tearing down my door, asking "What happened? What happened?" My little heart was pounding so hard that it felt like it could bounce out of my mouth any moment. It was 7am in the morning.

Amidst loud sniffing, my mom managed to utter in Mandarin "My Baobei died!!!!" And started bawling again. This is the first ever time me as a daughter witness such a loud bawl from my mom. I stood dumbfounded. I walked over to look at Mysty for the last time and stared at the body for a long time. It was really quiet. Scarily quiet. No soft breathing movements. No twitching of nose. Nothing.

It took me a long 20 mins before I came to terms that Mysty is dead.

***

How Mysty got her name?

When my brother bought her, he kept her in his office for a few months. However, she was so adamant in getting freedom that she shoke her cage door and managed to escape!

My brother put food in her cage to lure her back, but every night, the food in the cage disappeared and Mysty remained missing. For 7 days, the food continued to disappear. Finally after one week of escapade, she came home finally. And my brother brought her home. So I named her Mysty (short for Mystery Escapade). Hey this smart lass knows her way home!

Yep, Mysty could understand my mom's language too. And she's such a darling. She has utmost trust in us. When she first came, she was such a scardy cat that even a shadow scares her. But soon, she grew comfortable with us and the bonding became so strong that she lets us stroke her and pat her to sleep. And she has learnt to nibble gently and release her grip immediately once she discovered it being my finger instead of food!

***

Now that she's gone, I will only have memories to keep. Sweet memories. Life is too short and in a hamster's life span, it is almost a fast-forward because normally hamsters live for only about 2-3 years. Mysty died at the age of almost 3 years old -- very old for a hamster.

Mysty was suffering from cancer. According to Dr Ling, Mysty's vet, said that it was really common for hamsters to have cancerous lumps and that is a sign of old age. Dr Ling said it was pointless to remove the lumps as they will grow back. Poor Mysty. She used to be cute and fat, but the last couple of months, she was already been reduced to bones. My heart wrenched in pain whenever I carassed her limp body.

The last 2 days before she breathed her last breathe, she was hardly able to open her eyes and she did not even have the strength to reach up to her water bottle. I had to take down her water bottle to feed her as she lies down every few hours. The last day of her short life, she actually refused her favourite food, pumpkin seed, from my mom. Think she was already too weak to even bite...

***

I have to stop writing now before my tears flood the computer keyboard.

So long, my darling Mysty. I miss you.