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For the past week, my thoughts were not on “creative thinking”. They were not even on this season’s “American Idol” – not much anyway. They were centred on Japan and her latest catastrophe. Tragedy after tragedy… since that fateful afternoon on March 11 2011.

Earthquake, Tsunami, Nuclear Crisis… how much more can a nation endure? Every day I scout the news, hoping for “miracles” – that all her problems and woes would disappear overnight. My heart goes out to all the Japanese people and I pray that all their troubles will be over soon.

The following is an article I posted on my doggie blog website which I would like to share with my readers over here and I would humbly like to dedicate this post to the people of Japan.

Quote/Unquote:

At 2.46pm on March 11 2011, Japan’s north-eastern coast was hit by an earthquake. A country where earthquakes is a common occurrence, it might have gone unnoticed as far as the rest of the world was concerned. Unfortunately, this was not the case. It was by no means just a mere passing to be remembered one day and forgotten the next. This was to become a historical account of mega proportions.

A massive 9.0-magnitude reading was registered on the earthquake which immediately triggered a tsunami so devastating that a new crisis emerged – that of a possible nuclear threat not only to Japan but to the rest of the world. Explosions from several nuclear power plants were being compared to that of the Chernobyl disaster some 25 years ago which are still being talked about to this day. Steps were being taken to avoid a nuclear meltdown. The fear of radiation to human health was the primary concern as the world watched.

But as much as I am devastated by the immense suffering of Japan and its people, it is this humane-compelling story that got me all worked up. Or to be more precise, it is this “dog-devotion” story which touched me as it did the rest of the world.

Yes, a 2.34-minute videoclip has been circulated online to remind us so-called “humans” that in a world full of disasters, natural or otherwise, animals also fall victims during such happenings as well as in its aftermath. In this videoclip, Japanese reporters were seen shooting the scenes where 2 dogs were being discovered among the rubble - 1 obviously looking much more alert than the other but reluctant to forsake its companion who was laying down motionless until a bit later when it started to move its legs. Even in times of trouble and tragedies, animals still remain faithful. Can we say the same for some humans?

Like I’ve always proclaimed in my dog articles, if the world was ruled by dogs and not humans, the world would have turned out differently, possibly much better - no conflicts, no greed, no “we have to be better than our neighbours” mental attitude, etc etc. But this is not a “dog’s world” is it? Just look what “Man” has done to “Mother Earth”. Sigh…

Enough said. Just tune in to the following videoclip. As at press time, it was reported that the 2 dogs had been rescued and are now being medically treated at separate facilities – one at an animal shelter while the other at a medical facility due to the nature of its injuries which was much more severe. Hopefully, they’ll be united with each other, with their previous owners or be adopted into caring families.

Before you click on the videoclip, get your tissues ready... you’ll be needing them...

Akita: That’s me in all my glory!! Remember my motto: Akita’s my Name and Blogging’s my Game!!

As subject matter goes, the following post would not find its way into my niche site. But as inspiration for my writing, it belongs here – lock, stock and barrel. Read on and you’ll find out why.

Quote/Unquote:

For those who have come across my blog website, you’d know that I’m a dog, yes D-O-G spelt “dog”. When my owner, let’s call her “Mama D” lost her previous precious spitz called “Sable”, her life was totally shattered. She locked herself in her apartment for 4 days and 4 nights with only a cup of chocolate to get her through the day. Those who knew of her love for her furry companion tried to comfort her but for some unexplainable reason, she could not find her voice when she received calls. She turned down visits from well-meaning friends. And when she eventually went back to work and tried to get back to her normal routine, it was an uphill task in her effort to stop thinking of her recent loss.

Ten days after Sable’s passing, I was born together with five of my siblings. Being the youngest and the tiniest, I always find myself at the bottom of the heap when it comes to “feeding time”. Yes, the eldest and biggest of our lot is always at the top. No guessing why! Imagine a scene from an American football game when a whole bunch of muscle-bound players pile up on one another. Yup, that’s us: the Border-Collie-Mix Siblings – all 6 of us!!

Mom’s real pretty – every black and white portion of her is perfectly crafted on her medium-sized physique. Big brother’s the only one with a brown shade mixed with white and dashes of black here and thereabouts. He was a real “beaut” but a week later when all our eyes managed to open and see the world for the first time, he went “MIA”. “Mama D’s” friend who wanted to adopt her searched high and low but could not locate her. So eventually after a few more attempts which were futile, she gave up and settled for my other brother which was pure white in color.

My 3 other siblings were also having black and white as a combination to their fur except for differing patterns. It was later discovered that only 2 of them started to sprout lush beautiful hair/fur, not unlike those of a spitz. But me, poor tiny little me – I was the ugliest! Honestly, not kidding!! I was the only one with a black face with a white band on my forehead. I did look quite cute when I was young but eventually the white band became narrower and narrower until you could hardly spot it. So, why did “Mama D” choose me?

At first, she did not want to take in any more pets because her recent loss had been the most painful among all the other sad episodes in her life when she lost each and every one of her dogs or cat to old age or illness. I remembered that she could not look at us newborns without shedding her tears because the memory of her newly-departed “Sable” was still so fresh in her mind. She was thinking that she did not wish to go through another painful time in her life. But on the 3rd day or was it the 4th or 5th, she had a sudden premonition when she retired for the night. That on the next morning she would receive a sign if it was meant to be.

Sure enough, the next morning as she made her way down from her apartment, she went to the box which contained all of us and she spotted me sleeping (as always). She saw me all curled up in a ball and from where she was (looking down on me and the rest of the brood), she saw an “arrow” sign on my back which began somewhere on the top of my head down the back of my neck. Now, if that’s not a sign then I surely don’t know what is.

Anyhow that night when she returned home after work, she checked me out thoroughly. Sure enough, she spotted 2 more signs. You must remember that my eyes have yet to open and being a really ugly-looking mutt (actually I do resemble a black rodent, think “rat” here), she could not see anything beautiful in me, that is in comparison with my siblings who were way ahead in the “beauty” department.

Back to the 2 signs. Firstly she spotted a patch on one of my front paws. “Sable” had a similar look because of her habitual nibbling on 1 of her front paws after each meal which left a stain on her silvery white fur as the years went by. Then I started to sigh – that’s sign No. 2. And yes, “Sable” does that all the time. Now, you have to remember that I was only like 3 or 4 or was it 5 days’ old at the time and the chances of having 2 similarities and 3 signs was indeed a positive Indication for her to take me home, pronto!!

End of story. No wait! How did I get the name “Akita”?

Well, “Mama D” was pretty dumb. Yes, she was. She didn’t know at the time that “akita” is a dog breed. She was thinking of giving me a Japanese name (don’t ask me why). A few names crossed her mind and she decided on either “Akira” or “Akita” because she liked the way they both sounded when she yelled them out loud. “Akira” reminded her of an old favorite Japanese actor of hers, full name “Akira Kobayashi”. But then I’m a bitch! Whoops, I mean “female”. That will certainly not do. So she added the “M” to “Akita” to make it “Makita”. But that didn’t sound right either. After a few days of deliberation, she eventually gave up the “logical” approach to naming me and settled on the name “Akita” thinking that being a dog, it wouldn’t make any difference to me. Lol, woof-woof!!

Now, this is the end of my beginnings with “Mama D” which you readers know as the writer of this article… yes, “Doris Lim”… that’s my momma!!

Though I may not be considered an online writing “expert” worthy of mention in “cyberspace”, I think my 2 years of 3R’s (Raves, Rants and Ramblings) on my niche site and blog website qualifies me as an expert of sorts in as far as being in a position to proclaim that “Triond” is a really “cool” article-submission website. There I said it!

And what does that mean in every day terms? Well, from my research on the subject of various article-submission websites, some looked pretty rigid on the onset. What I’m saying is that the minute you land on the “Home Page” of “Triond.com”, you feel welcome. Then you go through the ritual of signing up for an account and after being confirmed as a member, you follow-up with the insertion of some “juicy bits” on your “Profile Page” and of course you should always select the “coolest” pix you have stashed in your archives, regardless of whether it was taken 20 years ago plus-plus. Lol!!

Frankly-speaking, I initially wanted to insert my border-collie mix breed of a doggie’s “mugshot” taken when she was an adorable pup. However, 2 years of having her cute frame splashed all over cyberspace did not get me the “500 visitors per day” result I was hoping for in my other online links eg “MyBlogLog”, “Technorati”, “Yahoo” and of course her own doggie blog “AkitaWoof.com”.

But to be fair, she did get some attention: from those animal-lovers who spot images of their pets, of regular dogs and cats being the top favorites to other occasional odd-looking animals whether in real-life camera shots or those formulated on “avatars” that are oh-so-common nowadays. Yes, many a compliment had been bestowed upon my “Akita” (her name, not the breed). But now, it’s time to shed my “mask”. Writing is after all a very SERIOUS business. Just kidding!! I wouldn’t be actively pursuing it online if I had to be too serious about it. It’ll take the fun out of writing and if that happens, my readers would also feel “bored” from reading my articles and would therefore not enjoy it the way I intended.

Anyway, back to “Triond”. After all the basics had been laid down, I started to contribute my “2-cents worth” while checking out the community of writers in this popular website. And I must say that I was truly surprised to find some very witty people on board. That’s what I call real writing. It has to come “from the heart” and be able to “connect”. A stab at “humorous sarcasm” (or is it “sarcastic humour”) is occasionally welcome if it doesn’t really hurt anyone in particular. Life is after all not just about an exchange of plain “pleasantries”.

A little back-tracking here: I forgot to mention that the “skins” offered was of a pleasant hue. Though my favorite “purple” shade was not available, anything close - like a dash of pink mixed with violet would suffice. And this made all the difference. I’m after all a “female” and we know what they say about women, yes? We “judge a book by its cover”? No, no, no… of course not. Wouldn’t want droves of my gender descending upon me in retaliation for my words spoken in haste. You know the saying… “A woman scorned, bla-bla-bla…”. Okay enough now, just kidding!!

The point I’m making is that females are a little bit more particular when it comes to grooming themselves (or should I say “ourselves” since I’m one) and placing ourselves in an attractive scenario on most occasions, don’t you agree? That’s a good thing, no?? So if no one understands what I’ve just written, in “plain English” it means that I enjoy visiting my “Profile Page” and hopefully so will my visitors/readers. They’re not kidding, those “paint” advertisers. “Colors” does wonders to one’s mental state of mind. Am I drifting again?

Back to “Triond”. Being a “newbie”, I found it exhilarating in my exploration around this particular website and its contents. I’m of course still at my “infancy” so to speak and I have lots more places to go within its Triond sphere but every day is an interesting day while I’m visiting and contributing to this simple but warm website. I say “warm” because it generates a very comfortable feeling, call it my “intuition” or whatever. My “sixth sense” usually tells me when I feel good, at home and safe.

Now, if only the money portion ($$) would go a little faster. Every day I see a slow trickle of 1 cent. Do all the other new members begin like this? Or am I the exception to the rule? Regardless, the joy of seeing an additional 1 cent per day or per 2 days is a new-found joy of sorts. Let’s hope that in a couple of months time or so, I’ll be saying/writing “$$” instead of “cents”. Wishful thinking on my part…

Anyone from the “Triond top brass” listening? Hello?? Over and out…

It’s been slightly more than 3 months (give or take a few days) since my doggie blog website had been hacked/hijacked and it’s only recently that I got it working again, with a little help from a friend. And although I’ve finally brought back to life (online-speaking, that is) all my previous articles, it has been quite a tiring experience. For those who had encountered computer problems of vast proportions, you would probably identify with “yours truly”. But for those more fortunate who’s yet to experience any of life’s technological idiosyncrasies, consider yourself lucky for the moment but believe me, it will “hit” you one of these days.

I’m not being mean here wishing that the rest of the world would suffer a similar hack attack like what I’ve just been through. Just wanted to prepare simple folks who like myself might have gone through “computer life” thinking that if you did everything right or at least near-right, you’d never ever have to face this online pitfall. How wrong I was, not to mention completely “naïve”. I have a lot to learn about the “cyber world” – all the good it brings along with the bad as well. Sigh!!

If you’re a “control freak” like me, you’d never be able to handle the pressures of new technology. Reason I’m stating this is obvious: the pace in which it moves and develops and changes and manifests… need I say more? You’d never be able to catch up, certainly not me – a non-computer-savvy individual. So, in spite of the hours I would probably spend each and every time my laptop decides to have a “meltdown” of sorts, I have surely learnt that there’s really nothing much I can do about it.

Like me, you would probably scout countless pages on Google or Yahoo search engines to attempt to define the problem before you and like me you would probably land on a hundred, million, zillion websites telling you how to go about fixing your problem. But then again, you’d also read about the hundred and one “victims” who had read and followed the instructions (from well-meaning individuals/websites) to a “T” but somehow, it just doesn’t seem to work on their machines. And to make matters worse, more complications might ensue. Sigh again!!

So, what’s my advice? Seek the professionals right from the start if you have the cash. Unfortunately for me (my bank account is “shrinking” as we speak), I had to consider other alternative “money-saving” measures. But believe me, even after the problem is resolved, there is certainly no guarantee that it would not come back, return, recur, call it what you want or worse still, other new problems might start to sprout out of nowhere. Picture little monster mushrooms rising from the ground and spreading their umbrella-like tendons (??) far and wide. Lol!!

Enough “ramblings” from this paranoid blogger. What I really wanted to put across to my readers is to just relax if you do encounter a hack (which I sincerely hope you don’t) because all the migraine attacks you might develop in the days and weeks and in my case, months that follow is just not worth the trouble. Just call it “fate”.

And learn to adjust… I’m still trying to… yet… last sigh!!!

I was probably the happiest person alive in "cyberworld" when my doggie blog website over at "AkitaWoof.com" made a comeback of sorts.  As such, I find it most appropriate to also celebrate the joyous occasion right here on my niche site at "CreativeThinkingForWomen.com".  The following is the post I published at my alter-ego's website.

Quote/Unquote:

Hello World Once More! Woof-woof!!

To all my regular readers, I bid u “Hello!” once again. If you have been following my doggie blog at “AkitaWoof.com”, you’d realise that “yours truly” has been “hacked”!! Yup, the dreaded “H” word.

Anyway, b4 I get down to business of deciding if I’m contented with this newly-installed, hastily-chosen theme (selected due to my favorite color, “PURPLE”), and re-publishing all my past articles (the 3Rs – Rants, Raves and Ramblings of “Mama D” and “Akita”), let me just write a few lines to let u folks know that me and my dog (or should I correctly phrase it as “my dog and I”) are still alive and kicking (and of ‘cos barking!!).

So, bear with me a little longer and I’ll restore my humble blog to its former glory. Hahahahahaha…

Anyhow, I have to go about it the old-fashioned way of “cut-and-paste” ‘cos I couldn’t for the life of me figure out how to “import” or “export” or do whatever I need to do to “download” or “upload” all my 2 years’ plus-plus articles over to this newly-working website. Or was I too afraid that if I did so, I would probably be transmitting the “hacked/hijacking” infections over to this newly-installed blog theme?

Well, I was actually going to hire a pro to get it done but one thing led to another (blame it on the holiday season of X’mas and the New Year) and finally a computer-literate friend stepped in and lo-and-behold, we decided to start all over again instead of trying to figure out how to fix the hacking problems.

Now, this is supposed to be a short notification of sorts. So I’ll reluctantly end here and return another day to “entertain” you all once more with my “zany” thoughts, actions and writings.

‘Til then, this is me “Mama D” and my doggie “Akita” saying ta-ta 4 now!! Woof-woof!!

P/S: To celebrate the “Renaissance” of “AkitaWoof.com”, click on the following videoclip – one of my favorites in my collection… in line with the “Re-birth” of my blog/website. Just listen to the tempo and you’ll know what I mean…