Pepper~

This i HAVE to blog about! Its one of the few things in life i have absolutely no regrets of, and well I've also been telling everyone that i would blog about it but i NEVER do. So here goes..

I remember when we first got pepper! IT was a rather rash sudden decision. My sister just finished her degree, sat for her last paper and her boyfriend had this crazy idea of getting her a puppy! Since he was already a DOG person, i guess he wanted everyone else to be too. And well, we HAVE had "the talk", dog or no dog?

Anyway, this little mini schnauzer caught our eye in a pet shop near Petaling Street. I was terrified of dogs then! ABSOLUTELY terrified. But i tagged along and my gosh, i remember when they took her out of the kennel thingy and put her into this large metal basket thing so we could play with her. It was love at first sight.

She was the most hyperactive dog I had ever seen. When we hid behind the shelves of the pet shop, she'd yelp and bark and stick her head out to the side waiting for us to come back! So it was no surprise that we ended up bringing her back home, a new addition to our family.

It was about time too i guess. The house was getting too lonely and depressing and well we all needed a distraction and what a distraction she was. I remember already having a name picked out ages ago, Pepper would be the name for ANY dog...unisex, and the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper incorporated! We found out that her colour was ALSO salt and pepper! So perfect....!

Carrying her in a that cardboard box from the pet shop to the car, was the hardest thing i did. I was so terrified that she would jump out and start gnawing at my face so i kept the box at such a distance. Just lucky me that there weren't many cars on the road so late at night!

Then she was home! Everyone was there. Parents and aunty and cousins. All so anxiously waiting for her. And ooohhh, she was as tiny as a rat i swear!! As soon as she was free in the house, she started running everywhere her tiny paws could take her and we all just sat there and stared in awe. My parents never thought my sister would SERIOUSLY bring back a puppy. But all that talk got lost as soon as they actually SAW Pepper.

I still gushed from a distance, and did not want to get into her laps-around-the-hall course. It stayed that way for a while. I was always so cautious when i got near her. Cause immediately after that phase, her teething phase started. She would nibble on anything and everything she could get into her mouth. Oh the hours she spent lying on her back nibbling on the edges of the sofa! And if you stuck your finger close to her face, you know she's going to get to that too. And i had no intention of letting that happen!

I was utterly depressed when i thought of the fact that i could not muster myself out of this fear. And there came a point when i just started accepting the fact that i was going to be those people that are never really close to their dogs or shared this "bond" i read about so much.

But my oh my, am i happy that i was DEAD wrong! =P

Fair must be lovely?

I've always hated those commercials where the girl HAS to look a lot fairer just so that cute guy notices her. And one commercial has ALWAYS stuck in my head, Fair&Lovely! Absolutely ridiculous.

The whole commercial revolves around this made-dark girl being depressed because a guy doesn't notice her then suddenly her world becomes happy and sunny when she uses this product that made her as fair as she can be in 6 weeks? BECAUSE the guy FINALLY notices her! Yeah right, like us girls have nothing better to do then sit around waiting for a guy that may or may not notice us based on how fair we are?

The good news is i don't think they still run that commercial here in Malaysia but i remember the time when they did. And i also remember a very young friend of mine being so so so influenced by it, that she used it day and night and absolutely HATED anything dark, and thought no beauty could come from someone dark. It's a sad world when commercials can actually teach young girls to think that.

And a lot of F&L commercials are actually shot in India. Makes perfect sense i suppose since we are the most naturally inclined in having dark skinned girls amongst us. But why in the first place, or how did being dark be misconstrued into being a bad thing i never will know.

I certainly can name so many influential people who are dark, singers, actresses, activists, political figures, leaders.

But the troubling thing is when you "youtube" fair and lovely, you'll find so many Indian versions. I know a lot of Indians that think fair so very very well means you're the prettiest thing their eyes have ever seen. I know Chinese who think it's just plain wrong to be dark when you're a Chinese! Malays...not that much. But these are just based on the people I'm surrounded with.

Young girls everywhere should start feeling AMAZING enough about themselves to NOT associate themselves with the amount of skin care products applied on their faces. Being dark is OKAY because at the end of the day it only comes down the decisions and actions we've taken in life. If Tracy Chapman can go on to write politically conscious songs, then so can we all! If Oprah Winfrey can be the richest woman in the world, then so can we all! If Alice Walker can fight for women rights' then so can we all!!

A few links :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-9tcXpW1DE&feature=related
As if she was NOT pretty when she was dark?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIUQ5hbRHXk&feature=related
Yes, cause NO dark news casters/reporters/VJs EVER exist!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yxt7XndHfqE&feature=related
Okay, shes not even THAT dark to begin with, and she's dying for a guy to notice her in a temple?

And all three of them...HAS to have a guy inserted somewhere in the commercial to finally NOTICE us women!

WE are so above these!

And They Call It Puppy Love...

Oh I was bound to blog about it someday. It probably happens to every girl!

I can vaguely remember my last crush. 12 or 13 i think. But i cant remember it being NICE or a bed full of roses. All i got from crushes, were that they were horrible feelings that left you confused and obsessed and distracted! You constantly find yourself thinking of this boy, with his perfect hair and perfect dress sense. And you've got a test tomorrow but all you see when you open the book is his face and the day-dream of him talking to you in school tomorrow. Cliche i know, but its absolutely true!

And at that moment, everything in the world seems to ride on this one boy. THE boy. You find yourself happy when you're in school (though not actually talking to him) and depressed when you're at home! Every thought you have involves a swing and a big house and marital bliss!(not sure bout this part.) And you become incapable of doing anything! I bet if a survey was done, the reason some girls were the poor achievers in class, would be crushes.

I cant imagine the world being a nice nice place for a 13 year old girl who has a huge crush on the smartest boy in class or the first boy that said "hi!" to her in that awkward stage with the hormones and acne and all that.

And people don't make it any easier too i bet. The constant teasing and the laughing, that makes you blush and do the most ridiculous things to get his attention. Gosh, crushes are horrible!

Guys maybe have it easier? All the guys I've known to have crushes, either go up to the girl and make it known or very easily do those ridiculous things without a moments thought to it. Life might be a lot easier that way. Girls just don't naturally make the first move, and when they do, then they're desperate and cheap! So life's tough, especially when you have a crush?

I bet people much older have crushes too, but i think when you're older, you very easily just go up to the guy and ask him out. I'm not very sure if that's common too. There's the "ohh..what if he says no?" and "What if he says no, and i have to see him tomorrow at work?". Guys might be a lot better at rejection(since they do the "asking out" more often) cause I'm sure those question run through their minds too, but are probably dismissed a lot quicker at the prospect of a possible dinner.

I'm not sure if I'll ever ask a guy out. I might. But urgh , the pre- rejection questions! a NO would be the most horrible blow to my ego, i don't think i could recover! And then to see him and be all nice and curtsy? What could be a more torturous punishment! If in the event of a NO! the only thing i would want to happen is extinction, either his or mine from each other. That's something i should probably work on though, GIRLS should start asking guys out! And I'm going to work on that from now.....and who knows, maybe soon it shall happen? ;-P