Wrap-Up : 2012

Man was this entry loooooong overdue. *sweeps off 3 inches of dust from the blog*

A lot of changes in life for 2012, many times I wanted to actually blog about it (even this wrap-up was meant for 1st January 2013!) but lost motivation here and there (and a few doses of laziness added into the mix). To summarize my 2012 in a few major points (warning: more text than pictures) :

Surprise from Hazel

Finally, a comic! It's been ages... I have some old ideas to draw out, but since I just did the memorial page, I'd like to start with the Hazel related ones.

I also have some questions I'd like to ask everyone regarding this blog and it's comics, so if anyone could spare a few minutes to answer them, you have my thanks and appreciation. Questions after the jump.

On with the comic strip! :

And now, the questions! (please click the text below):

Remembering Hazel

Sorry I took so long with this. A tribute to our beloved Pembroke Welsh Corgi, Hazel (lotsa pictures)

Clearing the Dust

I know, I've been away for much too long, and it's sad that all it took for me to come back was a slap in the face with some bad news. More on that later, first and foremost an update and explanation on what the hell was I doing for a year.

Last year the trigger that stopped me from updating for a while was I got hit with a case of vertigo (it makes you believe you're a spinning top all the time even though your legs are stationary) and at the same time the place I hosted images at - kimag.es, went down and all my blog images with it for a few days, and that upsets the hell out of me. At this time I thought of getting my own domain and server, so that I'd never have to see my blog go down like that ever again. I hastily signed up and got a domain, but with absolutely no idea how to use it. I fiddled with it but I'm just not good with custom layouts.

Soon it was shoved to the back of my priority list as I'm running low on money and freelancing alone just doesn't cut it when you're married and have a house, car, bills etc. to pay. A talk from my husband prompted me to go out there and get a new job, which I did. That took some time to get used to and 6 months down the road I'm finally out of probation and managed to clear some amount of the house debts.

I finally gave up trying to attempt to build a domain without much knowledge and hired a friend to help build it, but he was quite busy so my project kinda took a backseat. Few more months passed and the domain expired. It was here I realised I jumped way too fast, I should've taken small steps and I missed this blog. I want to come back and I have some backlogged stories I want to draw. But being the procrastinator I was, I kept putting it off until today.

Today, my husband and I have to do the dark deed of putting our first furkid to sleep. Hazel, our Corgi, has been in and out of the vet for about a month with kidney failure. She's only 2 years and a few months old, so her getting kidney failure was a huge shock for us. It seems she was born with it, but we didn't notice her symptoms all this while because it just seemed like nothing was wrong. We thought her drinking a lot of water was normal for a hot country like Malaysia. She had to be hooked on drips every few days just to survive the last month, and few days ago even the drips weren't helping any more. Last night she was brought home for the last time, and in a few hours we will be bringing her around to say her goodbyes.

The main reason I came back here for now, is to make a beautiful memorial page for her, which I will get to tonight or tomorrow.

After that, I will be dedicating my time to this blog again with comics. If you're still here reading this, I apologize for my year of absence, and thank you for still being here and reading this. Thank you.

Shio is Spidercat

I keep that window closed each time I use the bathroom now.

Three Little Bastards Darling Furkids

Wish I had a better pic, we have not successfully gotten all 3 to look at the camera, ever. Best is 2 out of 3. But I like this picture. =D

I have some comics in store, but a few involves the little buggers parasiting the house so this will be a simple introductory post for the three furry kiddies we share our home with. We'll start with the order they came in to the house.

Hazel

Breed : Pembroke Welsh Corgi
D.O.B : 13th April 2009
Gender : Female (spayed)
Characteristics :
- Is a bimbo. Large chest, sexy walk, cute butt, low intelligence (despite her breed supposedly is the 11th easiest dog to train >_>). Well I guess there will always be not-so-smart ones... she's one of them unfortunate doggie souls.
- Dojikko. She bumps her head often. I hope that's not why her intelligence stat is low (*A*)
- Loves human feet. They aromatic and tasty.
- Scared of EVERYTHING pointed in her direction (except human fingers and feet). She even runs from a picture book we were showing her.
- Shows an angry face when approached by other dogs, but is actually an act and she can not fight at all. Hopes to scare away other dogs (usually fails, so in the end Hazel will run)
- Doesn't like to be carried/hugged/belly-up.

We got her at the Midvalley Pets World event in 2009. Husband always wanted a dog, and we both love Corgis, so we caved. I LOVE her fluffy neck. Oh and that walk. Her sexy walk. XD She's toilet trained, but will still pee on the feet wiping cloth in front of our bathroom, so be careful when you visit us.

Kuri

Breed : Yorkshire Terrier mix
D.O.B : 9th June 2009
Gender : Female (to be spayed)
Characteristics :
- Spunky. GAR. She challenges dogs larger than herself, jumps off places 5 times her height, approaches random strangers without suspicion... basically she's got balls. Balls made of steel.
- Loves the human face. If you're within attack range, expect some heavy dog tongue action.
- Possessive. If you're giving attention to any of the other pets, SHE WANTS SOME TOO. She'll wedge herself between you and the other pet. Even if the human isn't us. She just loves us humans.
- Excellent jumper. Even our bed is not safe.
- Is more intelligent than Hazel. She trolls Hazel pretty often, and Hazel falls for it. EVERY TIME.
- Even though she challenges Hazel and Shio, she's the lousiest in fights. But damn she's got high stamina. The cat usually gives up even though she's actually better at fighting.

Kuri is Japanese for chestnut. We wanted to keep a tradition for our dogs to be named after nuts, but "Chestnut/Chester" was too masculine. We adopted her from someone else as a friend for lonely Hazel. The first thing she did home was to try and boss Hazel around. She's currently a little on the plump side because Hazel for some reason wouldn't eat until Kuri does. But if it's treats/tasty rare occasion food then Hazel no give face la. 99.8% toilet trained.

Shio

Breed : Chapalang/Mongrel
D.O.B : ??? estimated May 2009
Gender : Female (to be spayed)
Characteristics :
- Likes affection. This is the first cat I have that loves to sit on our laps/chest. She demands attention on a daily basis.
- Chatty. She has a very large plethora of meows. Our personal favourite is "Nyap". Sounds like she's trying to bark. XD "You gonna get nyapped" is the house meme meaning the cat's gonna get'cha.
- Excellent climber. Not like climbing trees, I've seen her climb window grills like humans climb a ladder.
- Loves to go inside plastic bags and under blankets.
- Will attack unsuspecting human feet as they walk by.

Eric's a dog person, I'm a cat person. I really wanted a cat. I first met this cat downstairs at our condo. She's not afraid of humans, and seems like she was abandoned recently. She had a lot of wounds though, possibly from other neighborhood cats. At first we didn't intend to take her in, but we agreed that if we see her a second time we would, and we did. We wanted to name her after her color, Vanilla was one option but I knew I would be really emo when she dies later in life and I LOVE the vanilla flavour so I didn't want to make that connection. Oreo was too masculine. In the end Shio (which is Japanese for salt) was decided because well, "Salt" seems really wrong as a name. All future pet cats will now be named after spices.

And there you have it folks! Will get a comic up in a few days, work's kinda catching up.