canyon in the crack between braincells

on a dark and stormy night...

drag0nette@livejournal.com — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 20:21:56 GMT

ok, it's dark but not so stormy. but cold, nonetheless! :) i'm loving it. i'm happy to be a november child. according to the mother unit, it rained an entire week when i was born.

final four episodes to the end of the current project. i was hoping to finish it before my birthday but it doesn't seem quite possible if i want to be somewhat functional during my birthday week. i shall just cruise along as quickly and easily as i can and see what happens.

having a mac&cheese before attempting an earlier bedtime.

goodnight LJ!

:)

on the bright side...

drag0nette@livejournal.com — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 01:00:11 GMT

i'm training myself to be less of a light sleeper. sigh.

Posted via LiveJournal.app.

drats!

drag0nette@livejournal.com — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 18:18:28 GMT

i managed to reset my sleeping hours after 546793728613 attempts... but i screwed it up again! thanks to work! :(

am about to pass out from fatigue from working like mad, so i will elaborate more tomorrow.

but i just wanted to say...

DRATS!!!

:[

tootsie!

drag0nette@livejournal.com — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 13:36:02 GMT

Testing a Polaroid (Polarock) app and picture posting from my phone! :)

Yes, call me slow!

Posted via LiveJournal.app.

momma lucia

drag0nette@livejournal.com — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 14:07:32 GMT

here's a random pic of lucia, before she laid four clutches of eggses. so angry at the black spaceship, yet still so cute. :D

lucia passed on in may this year. she spent her final moments curling up in the warmth of my palm as we said goodbye.

:)

wheeee!

drag0nette@livejournal.com — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 17:47:57 GMT

i had a most satisfying and productive day! :D

it's been ages since i've had a day off - i even had to work while visiting a friend in melbourne. wasn't much of a vacay, no! my projects have been lined up and i was ready to dig into my next one after i wrapped up the previous one yesterday. imagine my joy when i received an sms from my boss to say, changes in schedule - halt and stand by for more instructions! woohoo!

i did intend to take the day off today to run some errands and pick up the babies from the lab where they were being babysat. but it sure feels good not to have the new project hanging (looming) in the near distance! :D

so, i caught up with sarge today and we went to the cricket farm, bought my bubs some fresh food, picked up the bubs from the lab, and had a cuppa tea + poached eggs on toast @ colbar. after i got home, i re-housed the bubs in suitable homes and did some major tidying/cleaning of spaces in my room. i've not had a chance to unpack properly since landing back in singapore last monday, so it felt really good to be tidying! i also want to re-organise some spaces so i'm going to get that done tomorrow!

and since i'm feeling really productive, i did up a coupla spideybub peektures from some time ago, when my current babies were still babies! :)

i currently have three babies, all girls - lucelle, lucine, lucilla. i had six but three babies died while i was away. one thing i've observed about my current batch of spideybubs, from momma lucia, is that they seem to be weaker and more delicate than lucy's bubs were. weaker genes, perhaps?

i did get a nice video of their big sister, lucius, before i went to melbourne in august. i took it knowing that she may not be alive when i got back. lucius had the most darling temperament. i could actually handle her in broad daylight and she sat happily on my arm, washing her face. :) babysitter, uncle stan, messaged me when i was in melbourne, informing me of her passing, on the 24th september:

Hi Jes,
Sorry to inform u that yr baby Lucius had passed away, prob last nite.
She slipped away to spidey heaven peacefully, leaving behind a furry body on her cage floor, still looking as adorable as ever.
My heartfelt condolences.

as a spideymommy, i have come to terms with the fact that my babies will leave me quite often, especially this species that i so love - they seem to have a pretty short lifespan despite their magnificent size (for salticidae). i still love each and every one of them, but i now can let them leave in peace and well wishes instead of grief.

rest in peace, lucius! i'm glad we bonded before you went on your way!

i will try to get her video edited and uploaded very soon, so all of youse can share our bond. i just have to think of what music to use! (argh!)

and that's all for now, folks! i shall have an early night tonight for a change!

tata for now!

:)

zzz

drag0nette@livejournal.com — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 18:53:41 GMT

i really, really, really want to go to bed.

work is killing me.

:(

a self-indulgent entry

drag0nette@livejournal.com — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 15:08:29 GMT

to get myself back into the swing of posting pics, i decided to post a no-brainer. back in august, when i saw dex for my trim, he offered to give me temporary curls, just for fun. i thought, why not?

dex is a hair maestro, no doubt about it. he always makes me feel so fabulous! loved the curls! unfortunately, i can't have them permanent. mr hair maestro informs me that perms would never achieve the effect we see here. hence, i have to be happy with getting them for a day whenever i go for my trim. he also offered to teach me to do them at home, and order me a pair of curling tongs. not a bad idea?

:)

hello :)

drag0nette@livejournal.com — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 21:04:25 GMT

it's me again. :)

i always miss writing whenever i read my older entries. and when i happen to read some of my older entries, i end up reading many, many of them for hours. i really shouldn't stop writing, i know. it is so good to have a record of my life, my words, my thoughts.

as much as i want to be doodling in my journal right now, it's 5 am and i'm hard at work. i wish i could go to bed! but i really need to finish up this episode so it's back to the grind for me.

i hope everyone has been well.

:)

Testing 123!

drag0nette@livejournal.com — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 16:33:29 GMT

This is my first entry via my iPhone! :)

Posted via LiveJournal.app.

supersonicbionic wordchurner

drag0nette@livejournal.com — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 12:31:10 GMT

ok my boss thinks a little too highly of me. i hope this doesn't come across as arrogance but i think i'm not too bad at what i do. however! the project my boss just proposed is just impossible! financial news magazine programmes with a turn-around time of 4 hours per episode? i don't like to promise when i may or may not deliver. i turned it down. no matter how much money they're going to offer.

this is the first project i've ever turned down from my boss.

a buffet and a random update

drag0nette@livejournal.com — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 17:15:33 GMT

the spideykids had a fruitfly buffet today. =)

sorry for the sporadic-ness of this entry but i don't know how to bring everyone up to speed properly so i'm just gonna jump in and post whatever comes to mind. hehe!

i currently have eight babies, from mommy lucia who has already passed on. she had four clutches in total, and i have at least one baby from each. i kept more of the first, a few of the second, and one each of the third and fourth.

on the humans front, i have finally done the surgery that i mentioned some time ago. was it two years ago or something? it turned out that keyhole surgery wasn't an option, so i had open surgery. i always thought it was minor, until i was admitted and overheard the nurses talking about the "major operation tomorrow". *blink*

the ten minutes i spent waiting outside the operation theatre for my turn was the longest ten minutes of my life.

i had morphine on tap after the operation. it wasn't as fun as people think it is, but it did make sleeping rather pleasant. i slept for like an entire day or two. then after that, i caught on that they would not take the drip off me as long as i was still needing the morphine, so i stopped pressing the button. i hated having the drip in my arm. wanted to get rid of it pronto. =(

strangely, there wasn't much pain. it was mostly just inconvenience and fear of ripping the wound open.

the four days in hospital were the longest four days of my life. never been so happy to get home when i eventually did. =)

much thanks to salsarina and lennon for being the first two friendly faces i saw afterward - even though i could only keep one eye open; my chocolatechip muffin marianne for the long distance phone call; ness for making me dinner and deb for bringing her laptop; kate, kenneth, amanda and hosea for visiting with flowers, fruit and food; my big sister linda for the love from new york; my boss for being understanding; vince for the frequent chats during my recovery month; and mother for everything she has done for me. =)

so that was more than a month ago. i'm pretty much ok now. not 100% yet but that's gonna take time. the entire experience is something i hope i never have to go through again, especially the part where they made me climb back onto my bed from the trolley after the surgery. i had no idea why they couldn't just lift me back. that was my least favourite incident out of the entire hospital stay. the runner-up would be the time the nurse on duty decided to forcibly empty the drip bottle into me so that she could change to a new bottle right away, causing my arm to swell like a pig's trotter. the swelling went down after they finally took the drip off me, but the pain in my arm lasted for more than a month.

yes, never again, would be good.

=)

transfusion scare

drag0nette@livejournal.com — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 11:24:43 GMT

OMG!

so, i saw a new doc today and she was really worried when she laid eyes on me. she said i looked really pale and there was no blood in my hands etc etc. i was like, really? but... i look like this all the time anyway? she asked if i have been feeling easily tired recently. i said, no? she insisted on sending me for a blood test and said she might have to send me for a blood transfusion.

blood transfusion!!! wow! i was flabbergasted. but i feel absolutely fine?

so, i sacrificed a test tube of blood to the nurse and the results were pretty normal. doc was apologetic for holding us up. it was probably unbelievable to her that someone as pale as i am could exist and be normal. haha! i told her the only sun i get is from sitting next to my window at my desk.

my iron level is only slightly low, so she gave me iron tablets. need to start getting my monthly steak meals again.

=)

round #2!

drag0nette@livejournal.com — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 17:50:55 GMT

just a quick one to say, lucia has laid her second clutch! =)

yes, i owe everyone pics and please be assured that i have taken some! but i'm drowning in work so it'll have to wait!

in the meantime, let me leave you with a snippet of the stuff i have been cracking my brains over. i'm so glad i'm done with this bit. i only hope they don't recite other parts of the scripture in later episodes!

天之道
損有餘而補不足
是故虛勝實
不足勝有餘
其意博其理奧其趣深
天地之象分
陰陽之候列
變化之由表
死生之兆彰
不謀而遺跡自同
勿約而幽明斯契
稽其言有微驗之事不忒
誠可謂至道之宗
奉生之始矣
假若天機迅發
妙識玄通
成謀雖屬乎生知
標格亦資於治訓
未嘗有行不由送
出不由產者亦
然刻意研精探微索隱
或識契真要則目牛無全
故動則有成猶鬼神幽贊
而命世奇傑時時間出焉
五藏六府之精氣
皆上注於目而為之精
精之案為眼骨之精為瞳子
筋之精為黑眼血之精為力絡
其案氣之精為白眼
肌肉之精為約束
裹擷筋骨血氣之精
而與脈並為系

OMG OMG!

drag0nette@livejournal.com — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 13:09:31 GMT

i barely had time to breathe all day!

so, i didn't want to post this any earlier in case i jinxed it or in case i guessed wrong. lucia has been hiding away in a very thick nest for the past few weeks, emerging for a meal every once a week or so. i have been praying that she has laid eggses. and from her voracious appetite, uncle john and i both thought it was entirely possible.

so! weeks have been flying by. still no sign of bubs. i do remember that hyllus diardi bubs take a super long time to emerge, but there was also the possibility that lucia hasn't mated at all. i did notice that the first time she came out for a meal, she was visibly thinner.

yesterday, she stood outside her nest and just stared at me all day, following my movements. i thought she had something to tell me. i feared that she was trying to tell me she needed a mate.

guess what i saw this morning?

two little ones! =) venturing out for the very first time. my new kids on the block. if i was in the habit of squealing, i would have squealed. but i wasn't, so i merely stared at them with saucer eyes and beamed like a crazy person.

momma lucia has been transferred to a new home so i can deal with the bubbas without freaking her out. she is extremely fat from a recent cricket meal and still seems to be hunting for more food, so i think she will have at least one more clutch. poor little dear is trying to find her way back to her old nest, unaware that she is in a different little world now. i'm so sorry sweetie!

i can't believe how blessed i have been with this very lovely species. first it was lucy, found by uncle john, and came to us already gravid. she gave me the most wonderful spideykids, and they grew up beautifully. tiga and lucien were the largest adults of their kind ever spotted. they all had such fantastic, individual personalities. unfortunately, being a more delicate species, mating attempts were not successful and lucy's genes could not be continued. lucia came to me when i was missing my wonderful furry darlings, once again found by uncle john, and amazingly, once again gravid!

i'm loving 2009 so far. and it's only going to get better.

=)

a guest!

drag0nette@livejournal.com — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 08:20:35 GMT

it started to pour and from the corner of my eye, i saw a familiar scurrying figure outside my window. rain was running down all around her and she was trapped. she was actually on the wall outside my window and it wasn't easy to reach her, much less coax her into a container to shelter, but i did (with some extreme contortionist actions, two long-handled brushes, some wire, a container and a piece of paper).

she is a fat little girl who looks like she's carrying eggses. i might give her a temp room to have her bubbas in safety and lots of food. not sure what she is yet... will have to consult uncle moo!

the ebay song!

drag0nette@livejournal.com — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 16:06:53 GMT

freakin' hilarious!

so i was on the phone with paypal and they put me on hold. i hear this familiar tune come on and it was the boy band song that everyone knew... oh but no... wait! it's not! i couldn't believe what i was hearing suddenly and sniggered all through waiting time!

so i had to find it on the internet.

am guilty of being a sniper myself.

=P

lucia eats!

drag0nette@livejournal.com — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 15:36:49 GMT

as promised, here is a little movie of lucia eating a moth, made to 'surf' by moby, approved license from mobygratis.com.

in the making

drag0nette@livejournal.com — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 10:23:21 GMT

i have the cutest footage of lucia eating a moth meal and i'm currently waiting for a reply from moby to use one of his tracks available for non-commercial use. thanks for the site, matt! =)

muted

drag0nette@livejournal.com — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 16:18:26 GMT

sigh.

youtube has muted lucien's videos due to music copyright issues. just when i thought it was safe to use felix the housecat since he wasn't so.... mainstream. sigh!

i'll have to find some boring generic royalty-free music.

=\

justice unserved?

drag0nette@livejournal.com — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 22:55:04 GMT

some of you may remember alex. here are the entries that would refresh your memories:

[please say a prayer]

[appeal for witnesses]

[the visit]

[wtf?]

[bad news]

[schtuff]

[last visit]

[he's gone]

[the last goodbye]

so... there has been a verdict. and a fine. and, i do not think that i agree with it. money can't bring alex back, for sure - but a year's jail?! for fuck's sake! is it okay to commit murder if your weapon is a vehicle? is it considered "reckless driving" when the man accelerated on purpose, and jammed the brakes on purpose, with another human being on the bonnet?

[victim's parents to get $135k]

shocking.

a little discovery

drag0nette@livejournal.com — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 12:31:45 GMT

about myself. =)

this arvo, i was chatting with mother. we were talking about education options for the little ones (my niece and nephew) and the convo led to the past - when my elder brothers and i were little ones ourselves.

since childhood, i have always known that i was a little different from my family. my family is very traditional chinese, while i... i am like a weird little hybrid of a westerner raised with chinese ethics. i was the only one whose natural mother tongue was english instead of mandarin, even though mandarin/chinese slowly became my other first spoken/written language much later on. and i have always wondered why but never thought it was something that could be explained. i got an answer today.

when he was a kiddo, my eldest brother went to a community centre for pre-school classes. mother found that to be unsatisfactory because they were terrible at teaching english. they only had one language teacher who taught both english and chinese languages, and was only competent in chinese. so, when my second brother came along, he went to the same class for half a year before mother found out it was happening again. she immediately insisted on moving into our new flat then (ahead of schedule) so that she could enroll my second brother into a PAP (government) kindergarten class. that turned out a little better, but mother knew it wasn't ideal.

so when i came along, she put me into a private christian kindergarten. the fees were the most expensive, but we had english teachers and chinese teachers who were good at what they taught. and that was how i turned out the way i did.

when i got to primary one, it was there that i met the first of a chain of english teachers who loved me and doted on me. mrs soh gave me my first book, a hardcover enid blyton, 'circus days again', to encourage me to keep up the good work. i didn't quite understand why we needed to actually study english. to me, it was just something that came naturally, a tool of communication. i didn't know how to study for english exams, and i always did well (not the case for math, science and chinese though). i remember one day, it must have been in primary two - we had some english test papers marked and mrs soh wanted to reward the top scorers. she brought a huge bag of plastic animals! the top few kids could pick one animal each from the bag, and i was the first to go since i had the highest marks. out of all the exciting, large animals like the giraffe, elephant, tiger etc, guess what i picked? i picked the smallest animal in the bag - a little bunny. =) mrs soh asked me if i was sure and i nodded vigorously (because i didn't like to talk). the boys were so happy that i left the big animals for them!

as i grew into a teen, there were many english teachers i met along the way, feared by my classmates, but somehow always had a soft spot for me. i used to think it was because i was the disciplinary master's daughter in primary school - but i was a nobody in secondary school and it still happened. so i guess that wasn't the reason.

these mentors moulded me with their wealth of knowledge, and because i did not fear them the way my peers did, i was receptive to their guidance.

as i think of countless things that happened as a ripple effect of that decision to send me to a better kindergarten, i am extremely grateful to mother for everything she has done for me. i am not just grateful. i am amazed, that one decision at the right time of a child's life, can truly shape his/her future in ways you can never imagine.

what would i be doing today if my path had been different?

pastry pals

drag0nette@livejournal.com — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 21:22:08 GMT

the blueberry muffin loves the chocolate chip muffin.

=)

forgetful me

drag0nette@livejournal.com — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 17:18:09 GMT

i brought my little fish net out while running errands, thinking i would go to the field to collect some meals for the spideykids on my way home. i set the net down while sitting down at a counter while picking up something, and promptly forgot to take the net with me when i left!

by the time i realised it and turned back, the shop was closed.

tried to find an aquarium nearby to buy a new net but there were none to be found. sigh. came home and told mother about it. a few hours later, she remarked that she thinks there was one in the storeroom. lo and behold... there was! a really old one, on the brink of tearing... but still would work nonetheless! and i then remember we used to have an aquarium of large angelfish when i was very very little!

will test the 25-year-old net tomorrow in the morning. goodnight, livejournal!

=)

lucia arrives!

drag0nette@livejournal.com — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 12:18:03 GMT

john came by and brought my new furry girl! =)

this is something i observed of salticids. when their vision is less than crystal clear, they tend to be less jittery and frightened. it's like looking at the world through rose coloured (murky?) lenses. no clear vision = no sight of enemies. like an ostrich with its head in the ground. teehee!

so, lucia was very calm in her little takeaway tub, happy and oblivious.

when i opened the lid, she had a sudden whiff of the world around her and everything suddenly became crystal clear! she panicked, scuttled out of the tub, jumped onto my hand, bounced off and landed on my desk, then jumped onto my hand again, and bounced off again, and made for my imac screen.

so i decided not to try to get an open pic of her for today and just put her in her new home instead. i'll try handling her again when i get some cricket meals for her, make her fat and play with her after that.

she is slightly smaller than lucy and lucien were, but is very sprightly and healthy. she is more happy exploring than lucy was, even though both were adults brought in from the wild. lucy used to spend a lot of her time hiding and staying very still, doing the 'you-can't-see-me-if-i-don't-move' thing.

lucia has chosen a nice little spot for her hammock between the fabric leaf and the ceiling, spun her bed, and turned in for the night.

i feel normal again. i must admit that i have been feeling a little out of sorts when the last of my hyllus diardi passed on. that would be bib, by the way. she left about a week after her big sister, lucien.

thank you, john! she is so impossibly cute.

=)