It was 2am when he came into the room and gravely mentioned one of the hamster is dying.

We peered into the tank wondering which it was, Chip or Dale. We recognised that it was Dale and he seemed to be in much pain. Almost immobile and confined to a spot, he was so weak that each time he tried to get up, he would slump back down.

It was heartbreaking to see him in such torture and watching him in this state reduced me to tears.

Honeybee tried in vain to assure me that he was just sick, that we would wake up to find Dale all well. But I knew he was lying…We spent 2 hours watching over him. He seemed to get worse as the time passed and I hoped for dawn to come quickly so I could bring him to a vet.

When I could finally bring myself to have some shut-eye… I was woken up barely an hour later by Honeybee who broke the sad news to me.

“Dale is dead” he said solemnly.

I got out of bed to see the motionless body of Dale. His body was no longer moving from the exertion of breathing. I burst into tears again while Honeybee comforted me.

5am, we found a spot where it was to be Dale’s final resting place.

Gone was the little hamster whom we used to refer to as fat and greedy. As a baby, I was told he liked to hug sunflower seeds like a bolster while he slept. As he grew, he would keep Chip at the sidelines during feeding times while having all the food for himself.

While Chip was the introverted hysterical hamster when we touch him, Dale was the extrovert who didn’t mind getting handled so long there was a reward at the end of the “ordeal”. Yes, he loved food. Very much.

Every time I ironed my clothes, he would often come out from wherever he was to see if he’d be getting more food. Recently he has resorted to acting cute to get brownie points – standing on his hind legs as he looks at me beseechingly for more morsels. He was adorable whenever he did that.

I’m gonna miss him.

He picked out his favourite and noticed much to his chagrin, how clean she was.

“She is so clean! Where is the mark on her mouth? Where is that birthmark I gave her?!”

“See! She is so clean and so cute!”

“No! She is too clean! She is not cute! Where is my Rachel?” he argued before putting the hippo to his nose.

Then he grimaced…

“She no longer have my scent!”

Boy, he was so mad he sulked over this for the next few days…

A few of them seem to know of my hidden agenda and were vehemently protesting. Too bad for them anyway. Some of them were going for a scrub & wash session!

The older ones from my original collection – Hugs, Rachel, Rita & Rosy, felt right at home in my room while the newer ones – Pugs, Porky & Bugs were amazed to be in a different place. Unfortunately, only Pugs & Porky were spared from a bath and they began to treat the weekend as a special retreat.

My mum was horrified when presented with the cute faces of the kiddies. Claiming that they stink, she ordered me to keep away from her! Along the way, Rachel managed to find time to do some taunting and almost got her head torn off. When Honeybee found out, he wasn’t amused.

He called long distance…

“Make sure Sandy doesn’t go anywhere near Rachel!”

“Ok.”

“Ok then. Bye bye.”

“What?! You called me long distance just to tell me to keep Rachel away from Sandy? No ‘I love yous’, no nothing?!”

“Yup. Ok, bye bye!” and he hung up the phone!

Sheesh.

Not long after, the five dirty/puke-smelling suspects were loaded into their “jacuzzi”.

In the meantime, the two holidaying pink kiddies were left to their own devices. Porky managed to befriend a smiley lil female pig which belonged to my mum. The poor dear was later traumatised when mum’s pig developed a serious crush on him. On the other side of the bed, Pugs was not a happy camper. The spoilt brat kept insisting that there should be a TV in the room for his viewing pleasure.

For the next few hours, I alternated between dealing with the grouses and trauma of the pink pair and pacing impatiently around the washing machine… When the softener-scented kiddies were finally left in my room to dry, it amused me to see them in this state of cleanliness… it’s been a very long while!

Once again, the ever concerned Honeybee inquired about his darling when sent a recent picture of her. He was also quick to respond when I told him that I’ll be doing an operation for the BIG hole in her neck which he was supposed to do a few months ago.

“Be careful!” He smsed.

Sigh. The ever protective daddy.

Thank goodness his current trip gave me an opportunity to get them washed.

My poor babies!

This has got to stop. I have to protect them from his nephew(s)…

After walking out of the salon with nicely ironed straight hair after a treatment, this perfect state wouldn’t last for long. My willful natural curls wouldn’t settle for anything less than messy.

True enough, my hair went poof!

Though he reassured me of my gorgeousness in spite of the hair, I can’t help but feel frustrated over my next course of action.

Such a pity I’ve told him. My thick mane is actually very good for styling, if only I know how or where to start.

More often than not, I succumb to laziness. Looks like “poofy” and I are gonna be good friends for quite a while. Sigh.

Yay! I have good taste!

I raised a quizzical eyebrow wondering how the bedsheets have anything to do with him.

“You have good taste in bedsheets so it means I have good taste!”

I must say, the new sheets are rather nice…

“Oh nothing. It’s just today you’re very sexy.”

“Can you please remove the ‘today’?” he asked with a bitchy look…
“Hmm??? Oh yes. Hubby you’re always very sexy but today you’re exceptionally sexy.”

“What do you want now? I already paid for your hair treatment…”

“Oh nothing much. Just want kissy.” Then I puckered my lips as he planted his lips upon mine.

I met Randi for a manicure and pedicure session. But I wasn’t myself! I must be on some invisible happy pill for I suddenly transformed into a sociable talkative bitch!

*Gasp*

So anyway while doing my nails, for some insane reason, we started bitching about men, sex, relationships etc. with the manicurist! I even earned myself the nickname of “Miss Teabagging” & “Nympho” from Randi. Sheesh.

It was weird, but the night got even weirder when I found myself at Zouk, the last place I should be at since I was severely under dressed! I was praying that I wouldn’t meet anyone I know… Too unglam for Zouk y’know?

But Randi promised me the trip would be worthwhile. After all, she did seduce me to Zouk with the promise of a really delicious concoction at Winebar… Unfortunately, while Kir tasted fab, it did nothing to get me high.

Such a disappointing night… 2 Kirs, 1 red wine, half a jug of Malibu Pineapple and a few sips of beer later I was still sober! I amaze myself at times. I’m either an alcoholic or I’ve put on so much weight that the fats has the capacity to absorb alcohol better. I wonder which it was…

The gods must’ve been on a roll… when they sent a crazy (or should I say desperate) Caucasian my way. Eek! To be picked up by a white guy, with me dressed the way I was, what a joke!I was seriously traumatised…

When I told honeybee what happened, his response was “Good what. It means you still have market value.”

Hmmpf!