We have been dog-sitting Buzz for short periods of time for the last 3 years. This time round, Buzz will be with us for 10 days while his owner is on holiday. Buzz is the most adorable and cutest dog we've ever known. He has such good manners that even my parents and mother-in-law, who used to shun dogs, are bowled over by him. Honestly, I have never heard Buzz bark. He only makes a little noise when he gets excited; that is when I take out his leash and he knows that we are going out for a walk. Emily says that Buzz has got good EQ. He will come and cuddle beside me when I am watching TV, but if he sees that I am reading the newspaper or on the computer, he will just quietly lie one side and wait for me to finish.
I feel really privilleged that his owner trusts me and Emily enough to leave Buzz with us. Taking care of Buzz has given us an eye-opener into the amount of commitment and sacrifice needed to keep a pet or raise a child........this makes me think of my parents who have nurtured me so that I am who I am. Thanks papa and mummy!
I was at Pulau Perhentian in Malaysia with Emily last week. If you have not been there, you should! The island life is fantastic, food and accomodation is cheap and more importantly, the water is great!! However, the travelling there is a bit tedious as we had to endure a 13 hr train ride followed by a 45 min car ride, and finally, a 30 min boat ride to get to the island, but it was well worth it as you can see from the pics and video below!
We had a great time there! We had 3 days of snorkelling, did some jungle trekking and even kayaked round the island, a distance of around 13.5km! Frankly, that was the longest I've kayaked for some time and I am really proud of Emily as she has really come a long way from the time when she first learnt how to kayak. We were kayaking stroke for stroke almost all the time, and though she was lacking in strength, she made up for it with her persistence, and her patience especially when I being the captain of the kayak would bark at her "longer strokes! paddle properly!" :) I really cherish being able to spend that 4 hours with her, moving towards a common goal. Well, one other thing that drove us during the kayaking was the fact that we were kayaking without any support at all. It was either kayak properly or capsize. The north and north eastern part of the island was virtually deserted as it had a rocky coastline. If we had gotten into trouble there, I don't think anyone will know. It was really God's grace that we managed to kayak back safely. The snorkelling is something that I will remember for the rest of my life. The water was very clear and there was such a wide variety of coral and fishes of different colours. I also managed to swim with turtles! The closest I had ever come to them prior to the trip was at the turtle enclosure outside the Underwater World at Sentosa. In fact, I had this crazy idea that one day I would try to jump in after operating hours and just swim with them. I now know i don't have to do that!! All i have to do is just go to Perhentian!
First day snorkelling at Perhentian.....I thought it was great, until I went on the trip to Rawa Island
Swimming with turtle! At least now I can safely say I am as fast as a turtle! :)
"...because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope." -Romans 5:3-5
"The only limits we have are the ones we give ourselves"
"So we can suffer, and in suffering we know who we are."
"The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming; but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat."
"Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention to arrive safely in a pretty and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming: Wow!! What a ride!!!"
"When a man says 'I cannot', he has made a suggestion to himself. He has weakened his power of accomplishing that which otherwise would have been accomplished."
"I realize many eyes are on me to see how I handle my situation and overcome. If I don’t give up, other people who may be tempted to give up won’t. They will have to keep trying because I am living proof of unwillingness to give up."
"Unless you test yourself, you stagnate. Unless you try to go way beyond what you've been able to do before, you won't develop and grow. When you go for it 100%, when you don't have the fear of "what if I fail," that's when you learn. That's when you're really living."
"Live your life so that when you wake up in the morning, Satan says, 'sh!t, he's awake'".
"Success or failure on race day isn't a function of one single ride or run. It's the result of the steady accomplishment of consistency, week after week, where everything fits together and lets you get done, week after week."
"The chief cause of failure and unhappiness is trading what we want most for what we want at the moment."
"Clarity of purpose comes when you are pursuing the highest expression of your talents, are motivated primarily by the love of your activity, and live a lifestyle congruent with your stated purpose. When you have clarity of purpose, you will do whatever it takes to achieve your goals and you will love every minute of it."
