Winter Holidays here in Perth

It's been quite a while since I last wrote. At one point of time I guess I really wanted to leave it at that. Then Misha came along and made me want to tell the whole world about my cat.

Three weeks have gone by since the start of the holidays, and very soon it will be over and it will be back to school. I envision this upcoming semester to be more eventful than the last - there's the annual vet Winter Dinner which a couple of us have signed up for, and the Halfway-Day event for which we have raised money (to buy beer) just to be able to celebrate the halfway point into our vet school days. And hopefully, some of us vet Singaporean students would be able to go on a short trip somewhere together, since we have never travelled together before, and will probably become too busy when fourth year comes along. Not to mention we just have a new housemate moving in this Saturday, and holding a garage sale on Sunday. This weekend is going to be busy.

I'm real glad that I stayed behind this school hols. Despite not being able to fly back to Singapore to meet some friends who have graduated, I felt that at long last, I have managed to do something different. It has been fun with my housemates around. During a particular dessert session, a major blackout occured in the neighbourhood and we brought out all our candle holders and lit all the tealights to create the lovely picture above. Our house never looked more romantic ;P It was so nice that even when the lights returned, we switched them off and admired them just for a bit longer. I've realised that they have helped me a lot, particularly when I met into some trouble when I scratched somebody's car while backing out of my garage and oh gosh, the story just goes on... and also in the acquiring of a cat. I really, really appreciated all that support.

Speaking of my cat, Misha, he is sooooooo so so cute. Yep, it's a HE, despite the feminine-sounding name. Misha was born on the 21st December 2004 to Ragdoll and Russian Blue parents owned by a Polish family here in Australia. The day prior to meeting him, I went to RPSCA and the cat haven shelter to source out their cats. But none of them were as perfect as Misha, whose details I obtained from the local classified ads. I had to drive 45 minutes away just to check him out at his previous home, and on my way there I had thought I would take a look at the cat and give myself a day to think about it if possible. However, that thought just flew from my mind... he was so adorable! Well, he was a little shy, as I was informed by his owners, especially with strangers. I thought I could probably get over that. When Brian and I brought him into the car, he just went crazy and scratched Brian in the arm. Luckily, he settled down when we stuck him in a box, else that would definitely have seemed longer than the 45 minutes it took us to get there.

On the first day, Misha just hid under my bed all day and only came out to eat and defaecate in his litter tray. During the entire night I simply couldn't sleep... cuz he was checking out the entire room and mewing through the night, which got me really worried. On the second day, he started coming out from under my bed more frequently and we brought him to the vet to be checked and vaccinated. He was surprisingly good about it, except the part where my housemate Val had to drive him from under the bed with a metal pole so that I could catch him and put him in his carrier bag. By the third day, he had already begun to sit on my bed whenever I wasn't in the room, and then he discovered a favourite spot sitting by the windowsill. On the fourth day, Misha started sitting around and on the table, especially on top of my laptop. We socialized him and Baki that very night and they seemingly got on ok... we were expecting more violent interactions between the two cats. By the fifth day, he started to allow me to stroke him without him running away or retreating in fear. Today, the sixth day, I can finally touch him with ease and carry him without him protesting... he has become quite the attention seeker! I was trying to write my emails earlier on today but he just sat around and mewed at me till I gave him the physical attention he craved. He is just so cuddly now. Over the last few nights, he came to sit at my feet while I was in bed, but I was so tired I fell asleep immediately, and probably kicked him off without realizing it =P

I admit, I am now obsessed about cats. Please don't mention cats to me if you do not want me to launch into a long speech about Misha =)