Tick

If I hadn't known better, I would also think that THAT is an obese koala. Thank you Wes for such an apt description on Andrew's comment board. The similarity is indeed unmistakable, and that's because perhaps the koala is the closest "brother" to the wombat. A wombat? A wom-what?! Aren't those the creatures that hang upside down on creepy old trees or cave ceilings? Nope. Those are bats. They are definitely not kin. The wombat hasn't quite grown wings yet and is pretty hefty and heavy to be hanging and swinging itself on branches. These burrowing marsupials can grow quite big and can weigh up to 30kg. They're stubby, chunky, have sharp claws and incisors, and although they look slow, wombats can be nimble. Cute as they may appear, they can very well defend themselves with mighty headbutts! Australia is so far from everywhere else (except for New Zealand) that its native animals have evolved to be quite unique and different from the rest of the world's.

Staying in a rented cottage in a farm during a trip to Lake Entrance, eastern Victoria, we had the luck to bump into and get introduced to Tick - the cuddly piece of meat on the picture. At that time, she was around two months old. Wombats are born to be in the wild, they're not usually kept as pets. But in Tick's case, its mother was found on the road, shot, with little Tick still inside its pouch. The owner of the farm brought it home and nursed it to health. Tick follows the farm owner's daughter M around as if she's the mother, it'd roll and rub itself on the grass and scratch itself with the hind legs. She loves the attention and would let people carry and cuddle her, she's obviously been tamed. However, she is still a wombat, not meant to be confined in human homes nor remain unfamiliar of the wild. In no time, she'll have to be introduced back to the wild; she'd have to find a mate and go back to its natural lifestyle. Tick is already being taught how to search for food, as there will be no filled-up bowl waiting for her when she is released. M spent hours and hours bent on all fours, with Tick under her, teaching and training her to graze on grass and shrubs and dig to find roots. She is encouraged to practise headbutting to defend herself. Hopefully when the time comes, she'll be ready.

Flying Thoughts coz It's Cold

The first thing that most people do when they wake up in the morning is to stumble their way into the bathroom and do whatever nature and personal hygiene calls them to do. I spend a good half an hour in there each morning, maybe more if I let myself a little doze in the shower. In cold winter months, the next best thing after a warm bed is a hot bath. And in cold winter months, stumbling into a cold bathroom is an unpleasant wake up call. I hate electric heaters, they suffocate me, make my lips, nostrils, eyes, and skin dry. Good quality moisturisers are expensive and the kilowatts clocked up by heaters will give you a heart attack when utility statements arrive after winter. And so with that out of the question, only the soft, warm duvet gives comfort... a comfort that can easily be stripped away with the sound of the alarm. Arghhh. Tiptoe into the bathroom, get a shocker with stepping on cold floor tiles... sit on the toilet and holy guacamole, get a jolt with an instant butt-frozen-over effect. I should get myself a new bathroom. Mental note to self #1 - in the future, consider under-tile heating, it's programmable for desired temperature too! Mental note to self #2 - get toilet seat warmers, the fluffy ones(?)... although this would be real icky if "accidents" happen. Gross.

If this weather is just not too conducive to hibernation, I'd be out and about in the park instead of almost murdering that jar of honey, the lid of which has stuck on ever so tightly. I just want some honey with my tea, is that too difficult an ask, do I have to thaw it as well? The squeeze ones are no better, when its hole gets stuck with solidified muck, the more force you put will see you with super glue-like substance all over the kitchen bench. The red wine no longer at proper room temperature like it should be. The good thing is, the greens and herbs live longer, the Coke still chilly even when kept out of the fridge, food don't spoil as easily, and the fashionable knee-length boots are out prancing about once again.

That's what winter does, a hell of a kicker for household chores, a hell of a longer wait for the tram that comes just a second before your frozen nose cracks and shaves itself off. On the other hand, at this time of the year, it is once again a time to dust off those beautiful coats and colourful scarves, time to put the beanies, mittens, and all those fluff back on show. Time for the southern whales to migrate from the antarctic to the Australian waters, time to hug more, time for a change in season.

Cold-butted or not, not to worry because it's nothing that a hot bowl of soup can't fix.

Sniffles and Krispy Kreme

A sound like a croak of a frog, that's what my voice is like at the moment. And yes I am almost as deaf as a twig. It sucks being sick. Just having been in scorching Manila and topped off by HK heat, then arriving right smack in the middle of Melbourne winter... is a bad bad idea. Not that it can be helped. When it's biting cold, we complain. When it's too dry and hot, we complain. There's no end to it. That is probably why there's an entire news section to talk about the weather, as boring as it may sound.

Day off from work? I wish, but not a chance! Not when I've just been away for 3.5 weeks... I'll be stretching the generosity and leniency shown towards me if I do so. 3.5 weeks is long (not so when you're back), but evident from the pile of work greeting me on Monday when I went in the office. For three days now, my bin would be three quarters full of crumpled Kleenex. Heavy head, heavy lids, itchy throat and nose, coughing like hell... it's that time that one craves most for mom's home-made chicken soup. I'll even take the duck soup with all those herbal medicine that used to be forced on me. It doesn't help when the air is thick with the word "deadline" and "pressure", as such the boss is at your back, and the boss's boss is at his back, and the boss's boss's boss is at the boss's boss back... if you get the drift... because the one who ends up staying late is the one who doesn't have the title of the "boss" yet! Ayayayyy!

It's mid-July, in less than two months' time... radios in the Philippines would be playing Christmas carols. Oh how I miss that kind of atmosphere! Am I going back again at the end of the year? Think about that when the time is near. In the meantime, I hope the sniffles will go away and that I get my Krispy Kreme from Sydney tonight!

Today Someone Attacked R

So, what was the hightlight of the day? Was it rushing through morning rituals in a short 20 minutes and careening through Roxas Boulevard in order to get to the "supposedly" biggest mall in Asia on time? That's only the beginning. The biggest mall is, well... a huge expanse of area quite difficult to shop around in. We didn't have the time to go around... but maybe next time. Anyway, we went to see Superman Returns on the new iMax theatre. Oooh, what a thrill to see the handsome superhero in 3D!!!...if only we could grab him *sigh* and hold him tight *sigh*. And you'd think that it was the highlight eh? Not yet. Climactic drum roll..... as people piled out of the cinema after the movie, we suddenly heard angry voices behind us, and before we knew it someone (female) was scratching, screaming at, and hitting our friend R. The guards couldn't restrain her at first! The guys with her were also verbally abusing R. Confused at what was happening and the reason for such madness, we hang around (of course we were not going to leave our friend to be butchered by these lunatics noh!). These people, who were seated a row behind us in the theatre, were saying that our friend slapped their female companion. And for which reason?... according to them, because the kids with them were "excited" and thus must have "unintentionally" annoyed our friend. Is that a reason for him to put a hand on a lady's face? 'Course not... but 'course that was not the whole story! And was it really him deliberately slapping her? Seems that they've tweaked a bit and made a shortcut to the ending before a logical processing of the series of events have been looked at.

The story: rowdy kids very noisy during the movie, and to top it off, endlessly kicking at R's seat (that's not really our vesion of "excitement"). Hellooo...even I would be incensed. Imagine a constant banging behind you while you're trying to peacefully enjoy a film. He turned around and said "Hoy!" but that's all. Perhaps his tone was a stern one. No one can blame him for being annoyed right? And so the woman (supposedly the lola of the kids) starting hitting him from behind, just because he said "Hoy!" to the kids. Reaction?... to defend himself. And so there, after the movie there comes the action; if there were no mediators there he could have been badly hurt by these crazy people. The woman was dragging R by the collar refusing to let him go while she attacks him. Goodness. She was yelling that R shouldn't treat kids like that because... well they are kids and it's natural for them to get excited and be rowdy when watching Superman. Wow... and so people should just sit back and take the endless punching and kicking of the headboard of the seats while trying to enjoy a movie? And so because they're kids making a mess, they shouldn't be reprimanded? As Char puts it, they should be disciplining their kids instead of making excuses for them. If they can't, then they shouldn't be brought inside the theatre (or to any public places where they are most capable of disturbing unsuspecting people). Phullleeeze. We all paid the same price to watch the show, and if someone's gonna spoil it for one person, then heck he has every right to be angry. He wasn't the one who got physical first anyway. Ah, one more thing that these psychos were saying... that R shouldn't have fought back because the other party's a woman. Not defend yourself because it's the "weaker gender" on the aggressive mode? Duh. Wait, weren't it women who wants equality? *toinks* What a day! I hope there are no bruises R!!!