Goodbye Angel...

Angel, the white Persian cat that has accompanied me since my college days, passed away this afternoon. I wasn't at home when it happened, but apparently it was a very peaceful process. He had been incontinent over the last couple of days, and he seemed to be having trouble seeing, but was still happy to eat any cat treats and canned food that he was given. My mother made him a little box that was lined with old towels and rags, so that he could have his own space and not have to share the cat kennel with my other cat. He went into the box this morning, sitting in the sun, and fell asleep, and slept all through the day. He came out briefly in the afternoon at feeding time to eat another can of cat food. Then he went back into the box, and went to sleep again... and by this evening he had passed away.

I guess this was the best that I could have asked for him. I got him as a kitten at a cat show, and shortly after I got him, he was diagnosed with a heart problem. I was told then that he would not live for more than 5 years or so, and he has been on daily heart medication since then. He beat all the expectations and proceeded to move through 3 states and 2 countries with me. When he was diagnosed with hyperthyroidism about a month back, the doctor told me that it was already a miracle that he had lived for so long. Every day by then was truly a gift.

He went in the way that I would have most wanted for him to go. I had been terrified that I would have to make the decision to end his suffering like so many of my other friends who are also pet owners. But apparently he was happy till the end, and even got to enjoy his favorite activity (I have never seen a cat who liked to eat so much that he would literally be bouncing up and down outside the French doors waiting for mealtime!) only hours before he passed away. I could not have wanted better for him.

Rest in peace, Angel. I will miss you.

Angel
White Persian
March 15, 1993 - April 16, 2008

The convolution that is life...

I got my graduation gown in the mail today. And if you are wondering, what the heck, I didn't know she was going to school again -- well, what happened was that when I graduated from JHU, I never bothered to actually buy the official gown. Part of it was because it's so expensive, another part of it was because I was COMPLETELY sick of academia by the end of my PhD and wanted nothing less than to be reminded of the trappings thereof. (Against the advice of my supervisor, I didn't even try to interview for academic jobs then.) I was fine not having my own gown until last Fall, when the new graduation ceremony required most of us faculty to be present, in full academic regalia. And the incongruity of wearing a gown that I did not earn finally drove me to order my own.

Looking back now, it's kind of weird, the convoluted path that life weaves for us. I don't think I would have ever imagined myself staying in Hong Kong for this long. Never imagined myself going back to the hated academia, either. Certainly would never have dreamed that I would actually find a love for education and be doing all those projects that have been keeping me busy.

I do wonder: is it me who has changed, or is it simply that I have learned to know myself better? My supervisor told me when I graduated that he did not see that the cut-throat corporate environment would suit me; he told me, even then, that I would probably be happier in a more nurturing environment. Maybe it was obvious to those around me, just not myself? My pastor said in his sermon last week that the further we get away from God, the less we know ourselves. I haven't given that enough thought to have an opinion about it one way or another, but in a spiritual sense, that wasn't one of the best times in my life, either.

Maybe it was God guiding me when I didn't know myself. I certainly would like to think so.

Race Day

This photo was taken during Race Day in Shatin. Horse Racing is a big thing in Hong Kong, with prize purses per race coming in at easily over a million HKD. One of our family friends happens to be a trustee of the Jockey Club, and he invited us to spend the afternoon at the races with his family.

It was an interesting afternoon spent in the luxurious private boxes above the grandstand, and listening to people talking about the races, and about their horses: bloodlines, races won and lost, etc etc. As somebody who has been an avid cat fancier in the past and who owns a could-have-been champion cat (he got first best kitten once, and then I decided to retire him because he clearly wasn't enjoying it), I can understand that enthusiasm -- the act of refining nature to get the "perfect" animal. It's a passion and a hobby, albeit a very expensive one!

I also enjoyed spending the day outside the city for once. Okay, the racecourse is artificial, but look at the green hill behind the course. Hong Kong is covered in vast swathes of these green areas. I just wish that the urban and rural areas were more evenly distributed -- methinks there would be a lot less stress living here if that were the case!

Computer training for refugee kids

Last Christmas, my pastor gave a wonderful sermon on "Home", during which he spoke about Christ's homelessness while He was on earth. From there, he extrapolated to how many people in Hong Kong are homeless -- not in the sense of street sleepers, but rather, they are refugees in Hong Kong, in a state of legal limbo.

Inspired by that sermon, I had then decided to try and see how we could help out. I learned about the name of an NGO here that looks to serve these people, but I was very busy then and didn't follow up. Then, about a month back, I had dinner with a friend of mine who happened to be volunteering for the same NGO. I decided that twice couldn't be a coincidence and jumped onto that, and got my friend to introduce me to the director there. They welcomed our help and we decided to do a short computer training camp for their children, just to see if our students could handle it.

After a flu-scare-induced delay, today saw our first IT camp for these refugee children. They come from a variety of races and backgrounds, and their English speaking ability is also very varied. Some of them are also a bit unruly -- like any other kid, perhaps, they would rather play computer games on the Internet rather than learn how to take pictures! But once you got their attention and their interest, they got excited about the subject matter in a hurry.

I think it was a big challenge for our students, too. Looking at those kids today, it suddenly occurred to me that most of our students had probably never interacted this closely with somebody who's not Chinese before, excepting their professors, and none of their professors come from similar backgrounds as these kids. Hong Kong is truly a little too racially homogeneous, I think. But kids are easy to deal with, and by the end of the morning, I would say that they were quite comfortable with each other.

It was a good feeling to come home at the end of the day today.