Heartfelt pain

Our little tour of South-East Asia brought us to the holiday town and any golfer's paradise of Kota Kinabalu. Dad picked us up from the airport where I found out that there was not only one, but two terminals. The first one only had six gates if I remember correctly so I was very surprised to find out that there was a second terminal.

On the drive back, I asked about Ranger, dad's dog, only to be told that he had passed away last year. I sat there and absorbed this without saying anything and left it in the darkest corner of my mind. It was only when I got home much later that night that it truly hit me. Speaking to Chris about it brought back all the things about Ranger that I hadn't thought about in years. I took for granted that everytime I came to visit, he'd be there. Now he's not and it hurts.

Ranger was the only one I went through the whole training process with. In fact, I distinctly remember giving him lots of showers and getting extremely wet in the process. I don't even shower Curly! That's Edeline's job. :P Of course, there were all the other times when I sneakily brought him snacks and half of whatever I was eating when dad wasn't there. There were a few times where I got caught which brought down a hell of a tongue-lashing from dad. They all circled around the topic of how I shouldn't spoil dogs like that since it'll make them difficult to train and blah blah blah. *rolls the eyes* Didn't stop me though. ;) I still went out and bought Ranger bacon bits among other things.

It's funny how I'm not upset with the fact that no one told me about his death. I'm not even angry with anyone about it. My greatest regret is that I never spent enough time with him. He was such a playful pup; such a beautiful, affable little sweetheart. Everytime I came back he was so excited to see me, so happy to just be with me. Oh sweet Goddess, I miss him so much! I thought I was all cried out after the hours I spent yesterday but it hurts to know that I didn't get to see him one last time...

September Sessions

It's been three and a half weeks since I've left the UK but it only feels like I've been back a few days. That's technically true I suppose since I only arrived from Bangkok on Friday night and what a nightmare that was. Got to the airport early only to find the plane had been delayed another hour and a half. When we were finally ready to hit the runway, the pilot announces that there's a queue and we're 8th on the list. Ouch! The flight was long since I couldn't get any shut-eye and needless to say, I got a little moody. Of course, once we got back, I forgot about the IMF/World Bank Conference happening in Singapore so the security check was ludicrious. The immigration officer decided to give me shit for not having a Malaysian ID - I don't live there!! How can I have one if I'm not a resident! Argh! Of all the ridiculous people...

The only saving grace of Friday was the fact that as soon as our luggage reached us on the belt, it stopped and everyone around us groaned. That definitely brought a smile to my face. The smile stayed when I got a call from Dave checking that I'd arrived safely. Isn't that just so sweet? Of course, I gave him an earful about my horror of a day and he took it with lots of sniggers. *rolls the eyes* Yeah, I knew it'd be too good to be true. ;)

I heard from T for the first time in ages! Even though it was short, it was great to hear from him. I've really missed him and I don't think I realized how much until we finally had a chat online.