Re: Saffy & Pingu (Saffy's 2nd Birthday)

[Oliver & Henry's Mum]

LOUISE!!!!!

I'm so happy to see you!!!! I just returned (literally) from a two week vacation with Phyrie in British Columbia, Canada! It was amazing and we were actually talking about you....yes you! It was all complimentary insofar as you are one of our younger members who we feel adds delightfully to the DP and how we've missed you. We chalked it up to school work, as your load is becoming heavier and life, as that is surely becoming busier.

I am very sorry to hear about your friend's loss. I remember you talking about it the last few times you posted and I'm sure she is very grateful for your friendship. It is hard to go through, and I'm sure you've aged because of it. You are a terrific friend. ♥

I was sorry to hear about you losing all of those videos on your computer as well as homework assignments. I'm sure you've learned the hard way to back up everything! We miss seeing your updates on Saffy and Pingu! As for temps of 16C...I live for those temperatures, which is what I recently enjoyed on my vacay! I had all of the windows open and was loving it. Meanwhile, back here in the East, everyone was baking with Humidex readings as high as 40C!!! The weather was kind enough to bring a huge storm through on my way home yesterday, so today things are a sunny, breezy, 20ish which is again, perfect weather for me.

Congratulations on expanding your knowledge of other languages. I would think that learning Korean along with Mandarin, might be a bit confusing. Music is a great teacher, and it's fun to look at the boys whom you consider to be attractive. They look SO young to me, but then I'm old!

My goodness, you've been missed angel. Welcome back, and please try not to stay away for quite so long.

[cutiepants26]

Hey Kim!
Maybe you read it wrong but my friend thankfully does not have cancer but recently lost her dad from it.
Haha, I'd love to send some cold whether to you as I'd prefer real hot whether!

Hey Deb!
Glad to be back, thinking that it's been a while but also noticing that the year goes by so quickly!
The boys, haha. You wouldn't actually think that the oldest there is actually 22 and that's the Chinese boy bottom row 4th from the left (open jacket). I think he looks the youngest. While the youngest age is 18 being the Korean boy on top row 4th from the left (black button shirt). Luckily I had parts of my assignments saved on a USB. Although I did have to re-do a lot.

I miss talking on here about what's been happening. I love this little school holidays and Saffy & Pingu love it too as they get to sleep in with me on my bed whereas on school days they have to get up early and stay mornings outside. They are such lazy dogs in this cold whether.

So I just uploaded their latest video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wyjd6YygZh8

Just a video of Saffy & Pingu being cold, sleepy and cute.

[Oliver & Henry's Mum]

Sweet little Pingu!!!! My goodness, he's grown up SO much since the last time I saw a video of him. He has "eyebrows" now and I love his wee face. He does look cold! I keep my house at approximately 17 to 18 C all year long, so your poor dogs, and you would freeze to death here. Today is a balmy 25C with no humidity...yay! (the house is still at 18!)

It was lovely to see Saffy again too. She has the right idea...stay curled up on the warm and cozy bed. The little bit of you that I saw Louise, looked bundled up for Winter here. I'm sure if I grew up and lived in your climes, I too would find it very cold as I don't know how you manage days and days of 40C weather at a time. I melt when it's that hot.

I actually thought it was your friend's Mother who was ill, and didn't realize it was her Father. Still, I am very sorry for her loss. It is very hard to lose one's Dad, especially when the daughter and Father are close as I was with mine. It will take your friend a very long time to find a "new normal" as I call it. Thank goodness she has you as I'm sure you are the one constant in her life on whom she can lean. ♥

I am glad to hear you had backed up some of your work on a USB key. I actually know what those are!!! I've become a titch more computer savvy over the past several months as my son Ben is studying Computer Programming and Networking Technology at College. It's a 3 year program, that has virtually no breaks, except a week or two off here and there. He has this week off before starting the second half of the summer semester. Every time I turn around, he needs something else for his computer, and I just recently purchased my first very own laptop!

Ben said the USB keys we found for $5.00 each was a deal so I bought one for each for both of my boys. Yesterday, I purchased some cable that Ben needed, and also bought myself a new, wireless mouse for my desktop as I love the one I have for my laptop and my old desktop mouse feels gigantic and clunky now. Fuscia is my "new colour du jour"!

You did amuse me talking about the "boys in the Bands" and who's who! Clearly you like these young fellows. I must be getting old Louise. That's alright....it beats the alternative!

Poor Pingu is going to need some outerwear if this "cold weather" keeps up! I'm sure you enjoy snuggling with both Saffy and Pingu in the mornings. Isn't it lovely to sleep in, especially the first few days when you wake at your normal time and realize it's a holiday and you don't have to get up?! That is the best feeling in the world...almost.

Enjoy your time off and stay in touch, please!

[cutiepants26]

Yes that was my other little friend Kimmy who lost her mother to cancer, now my other best friend recently lost her dad to cancer. Sorry if I didn't explain it better before. Yeah we are more closer because my other friends don't really know what to do in these horrible situations and are a bit awkward so I have been around more for her.
Wow, computer programing... that's like a whole new language... for me the level of difficulty learning this would be Mandarin x2... haha! Ben must be smart because computer can get real technical when you learn about all those hard drives and whatnot. Good luck on his uni course!
Wireless mouse... they never tend to do what I want them to do, haha. Hope you have a better experience with them than I do! I prefer a mouse with a wire, haha.
Haha, yeah the first day off I woke up at 8am thinking I was going to miss the bus... 5secs later I just realized it's the holidays! it's a WONDERFUL feeling! Haha!

[Oliver & Henry's Mum]

Louise, I am so sorry to hear that two of your friends each lost a parent recently. I remembered well you talking about your friend's Mother, but I don't recall hearing anything about your other friend's Father. You are right in that young people often feel very awkward as this is new to them, as it should be, so with having gone through it already with one friend, you would be a tremendous support to the other. Are they friends with one another?

My new wireless mouse arrived today and it works even better (despite being the exact same model as my other one) and I love it! Perhaps my other one is too used as it was a bit "jerky" on my mouse pad, but the new one isn't.

Ben is really smart, but it's taken until this phase of his life, studying the subjects he loves to really show what he can do. He has a learning disability which made his early school years very difficult! He doesn't have ADD or ADHD, he has a "processing disorder" so he is/was unable to scribe. Once the school gave him a computer to use, with voice to text capabilities he was on his way. He can type anything as well, but he still has trouble with his writing and spelling. I can't tell you how many hours I've put in pushing Ben through his homework over the years.

The Course he is taking is not a "Degree" course, but a "Diploma" course. He attends a Community College that teaches things like Nursing, Respiratory Therapy, Graphic Arts, and anything to do with Computers as well as some other things like basic mechanics. However, I just learned that he can take one year of Uni after he obtains his Diploma and receive a Degree, from a University, which I am encouraging him to do! I'm very proud of him.

Just how many languages do you speak? Being multilingual is such a good thing for your brain! It's amazing that even in Canada where we have "two Official languages" that so few people are truly bilingual, including me. If one doesn't use or hear the language, they tend to lose it as they grow older. I'm always amazed by people in Europe who often speak no less than 3 languages. The people of North America would do well to emulate Europe and Asia in that regard.

I am glad you enjoyed your sleep in this morning. Did sweet Pingu ever climb into bed to cuddle? He is so cute, as is Saffy. I love your dogs. ♥

[cutiepants26]

Yes they both know each other. Kimmy is like my little sister and Iris is like my same age sister as our B-days are only 3days apart. Both I am close with and both unfortunately lost a parent from cancer.
Well congrats to Ben's success Deb! I bet you are SUPER PROUD! He can only keep going up now!

Haha, I'm not actually bilingual but I do know multiple languages such as being able to understand whenever my mother speaks Visayan or Tagalog (Philippino languages). Although I can understand her, I don't know how to write the language and only know how to speak basics. As for Korean - I'm getting there! Haha, I can write, and read hangul (Korean alphabet system) and surprised myself when I was watching a Korean video when 10mins into the video I realized there were no english subtitles and I understood what was happening! That shocked me, lol.
As for my German... I basically forgot everything, haha. After I stopped taking classes I never really practiced. I only vaguely remember Ich bin and things like schwarz, O Tannenbaum, Abschied, and guten tag. I have German/Ukraine roots from my father's side but never really got into the german language.

Every morning Pingu enjoys a cuddle and sleeps on my bed. Although once Saffy is comfy on someone's bed or anywhere she will not get up and move. Since my mum brings BOTH dogs in her bed, just before I wake up every morning my mum will bring Pingu into my room. Sometimes both of them sleep with me and other times me and mum have 1 dog each. It's funny how ages ago when we first got Saffy my mum would always say "the dog will sleep outside/no dogs allowed on by bed" while these days she comes home all excited to met her "babies".
It's funny to see how two little puppies can make a person change completely.

I have a message for you Deb.
See if you can translate this. The top line is my hangul handwriting and the bottom row is to help you in google translator as normal Korean handwriting doesn't really look like the text on the computer...
If it did, life would be so much easier, haha.

IMG_6172....jpg (37.12 KB) Viewed 937 times

[Oliver & Henry's Mum]

LOL Lousise...once I take a course on how to work "Google Translator", I just might be able to take a guess at what your message says.

It is funny that your Mum now has at least one of the dogs sleep with her. I do remember when the dogs were not supposed to be in the house, let alone on anyone's bed! I love how both Saffy and Pingu have changed her mind. How could they not, as they are both so sweet and funny. ♥

It's great that you can understand other languages even if you aren't able to fluently speak them, or write them as yet. Languages broaden ones mind and add to ones I.Q.

If I'm not mistaken, the message you wrote should be read from right to left or do I have that backwards?

You'll have to tell me what they say. I think the difference in the way they are written, as I had a good, long look, is merely your handwriting style as we each have our own. The second line looks more "structured", like block printing.

Enjoy those morning cuddles and snuggles with Pingu and Saffy if she feels so inclined.

[cutiepants26]

Haha, well Korean is to be read from left to right. I've read quite a few mangas (Japanese comics) and those have to be read from right to left.
The message says:
Annyeong haseyo Deb!
Which means "Hi Deb!"

Yes the second line is to be Korean printing which would kind of what it would look like on the computer which the top line is what you would expect to see if you were reading someone's normal handwriting in hangul.
And you got that right about looking block structured as the formations of each symbols have to go together to form in one block... I'm bad at explaining, haha.

I love practicing hangul handwriting but it is no where as pretty as my English handwriting as the problem I have with handwriting in hangul is the habit of not lifting up the pen. In my english handwriting I will always find a lazy way to write words so I don't have to lift my pen, haha.
Example:

IMG_6173....jpg (44.82 KB) Viewed 918 times

So if you see with my capital "I", instead of stopping I just drag the line down. Also with the capital "P" in Pingu I just continue with the word. Guess it's a habit now, lol.

[Oliver & Henry's Mum]

That's sweet Louise! I can barely tell where one word ends and another begins, although I do like your English handwriting. It is very neat and easy to read, with a bit of a flare. You'll find your handwriting changes with age, which I am finding these days.

My letters used to be far more individually formed, but as I have become older, my hand tends to want to make less movements. My printing is so different from my handwriting. My Mum claims to find it difficult to read my writing whereas I always had an A+ in penmanship.

The Daily Puppy also loves you, Saffy and Pingu!

[cutiepants26]

So I have been busy lately and only need a one word excuse - School.
VERY busy with school so this update will be fairly short as I need to type a few different assignments right now but need a little break.

So I went on a camp in late July from a Friday to Sunday and went to the capital(Brisbane) and toured different University campuses. There was a few uni students who stayed at the camp and we had many lectures explaining what life is like at uni and all the courses you can do. I really want to do Bachelor of Secondary Education in Brisbane. If I get a high enough OP Rank by the end of next year I want to do a Bachelor of Secondary Education/Bachelor of Arts. So for the Arts I want to study the Korean language & culture. Arts doesn't mean painting type art but includes religion/music/languages and much more but Bachelor of Arts has a lot of variety. So that weekend was pretty awesome. For a long time now I've been thinking about teaching, for maybe 3 years now, but I had other dreams like vet science and other stuff but I really have to wake up to reality... all I can say is rat dissection... yeah, so I burst into tears... I don't even like rats but I felt SO SORRY for it. Yeah so I got emotional and I knew for a long time that I can't for surgeries... though I was able to watch the dog surgeries during my work experience but I wasn't afraid knowing that they were actually alive....

ANYWAYS~
My life has been very school orientated spending weekends full of homework and assignments and SHOCK HORROR~Spending hours after school for a whole week! Including ALL lunch breaks working on assignments!
So I've even been waking up extra early every school morning to have a big breaky because there is no time for lunch at school! Haha.

All this may not sound exciting but the awesome thing about staying after school to do schoolwork after school, and doing schoolwork during lunches means I am WAY ahead of everyone else on assignments and can chill for at least a week and then focus on studying for the end of term exams(which will be in 2 weeks). While everyone else will try to rush assignments and jam some time in for studying for their exams(or maybe not even- and just wing it!)

Latest Youtube Video-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uOW4ElQPOg

A happy note - WINTER'S OVER! *basically in a few days
But the cold weather is gone!!!!!!!!!!
Bring on the hot weather~~~~~~~~~~~~
Heat waves = YAY
Haha

[Oliver & Henry's Mum]

Hi Louise! What a wonderful, wonderful treat! I'm glad to hear you are doing so well at school. You'll be successful at whatever you choose as you are working so hard. In Canada most people attend Uni for a "General Arts" Degree as an Undergrad, not all, but most, so I did know to what you were referring. I think you would make an amazing Teacher, and I know you are interested in the Korean Culture. The possibilities are endless.

I loved the new video of Saffy and Pingu! Both of them look so much more grown up all of a sudden. Pingu looks a lot bigger than I expected and Saffy looks smaller. That just means I haven't seen that much of them lately. They look as happy as ever, and gorgeous too.

As you are about to enter Summer, ours in winding down. Elliot returns to school after his summer holidays after Labour Day, next Tuesday, and Ben returns to College for his 3rd Semester. Ben is doing well at College in his chosen field, and will be doing a paid co-op in his 4th Semester. He no longer has more than 2 weeks off at a time between Semesters for the next 3 years. Elliot is excited about returning to High School and is currently taking his Driver's Education Classes. He starts the actual driving part of it after 4 full days in the classroom. I've been taking him out and letting him drive...which is always "interesting".

Oliver and Henry are doing just fine as well.

We miss you Louise. Try to drop in every so often and keep us up to date. I do enjoy hearing from you and seeing vids of Saffy and Pingu.

[cutiepants26]

Haha yes Deb they are all grown up! Saffy's turning 2 years old soon in just 11 days time!!!
She's all fully grown, Pingu stopped going ages ago too except for his weight as he put on about a kilo since he was so skinny before! It's going to get even more full-on, but I bet Ben is enjoying college life heaps!
I can't wait to get into uni!
Lucky Elliot! My mum won't actually let me get my drivers license.... when I could have gotten it all the way back in Feb! I've been nagging a bit because I could have gotten it ages ago.
She won't tell me why she doesn't want me to get it but I want to get it this year... so I will try and persuade her to let me get it so I can drive on the holidays. I already had drivers ED back in January and have practiced taking the drivers online test MULTIPLE times, actually I took the online test back in 2008 and passed! HAHA. But that is just a test, in real life- being on the road is very different~

[Oliver & Henry's Mum]

Louise, the way driving privileges work here is one must first complete a written test, now called a "G1" (used to be called a Beginner's) in order to have permission to drive with a Licensed driver in the passenger seat. That is similar, I believe to the "Learner's Permit" in the UK...only here, the cars are not identified with a big red "L", although I wish they were!

Elliot obtained that on his 16th Birthday, and I've allowed him to drive a bit, out in the country with me. After more than 20 hours of classroom instruction, he will then have at least 10 hours of driving instruction with a professional. I paid extra for this. Once that is completed, he will be tested by our Government Officials, and if he passes, he will have a "full" Driver's License that has graduated privileges.

When I obtained mine, once I had my full License, there were no restrictions other than the 15 Demerit points everyone has. All of that has changed and any newly Licensed Driver starts with fewer Demerits, has limits about how many passengers they can carry, and on which roads they can drive. Too many car loads of teens were killed every year with inexperienced but Licensed drivers. Elliot will have a 5 year probation period, as does every new driver, regardless of age now. I think it's a great idea, and because he has taken Driver's Ed, his insurance costs will be lower....ergo my costs will be lower.

You are a responsible girl! I can understand though how nervous your Mum might be at the thought of you driving. I admit that I'm extremely nervous about the first time I allow Elliot to take my car without me in it! I just have to trust and pray.

Saffy is going to be 2 soon! I can't believe it. My goodness the time has passed quickly. Pingu the pistol. He is as charming as ever.

[cutiepants26]

Just quickly popping in to share the link to my latest youtube video which is tribute to Saffy's 2nd birthday.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-sTGgDO ... ature=plcp

SAFFY IS 2 YEARS OLD NOW!!!
They grow up so fast!!!

[Tweedledee]

Your dogs are adorable, Saffy is a gorgeous girl, and I love your other dog Pingu's unique coat! I enjoyed watching your video, wish Saffy happy birthday from me