Dogathon 2014 at UPM #throwbackpost

Dogathon 2014: Battlefield, In Dog We Trust.

Dogathon is an annual event organised by veterinary students of University Putra Malaysia during the first semester of the year. How could I miss the biggest dog gathering in Malaysia? I became a volunteer this time instead of just being a visitor. Well I think the volunteers were somehow more than enough, so I was just being there to stand-by. Being a volunteer there means having less time to wander around, less photos were taken. Thus this post will be super short as I have explained the objectives of this event before last time (link at below) but I hope that photos below will bring back some memories!

Me as a part-time volunteer at the veterinary consultation! Saw some caring dog owners bringing their sweethearts over for a checkup. There was even one owner who noticed her dog had dandruff problem even though the dog was just a mongrel! It is really heart-warming to see people who are not bias towards dog breeds. 

Shades that blocked away some heat from the sun! The weather could get really hot during noon and doggies can get heat stroke easily. That is one of the reason that owners shouldn't leave their dogs in the car! 

There were water stations at various corners to rehydrate the dogs. I found that when big dogs drank from the basin after some exercises, the basin will be half-filled with their saliva. lol

What a sweetie~

Big dogs can be gentle too!

One of the most seen dog breeds in Dogathon. This one was without eye-brow make up, hahaha. Some owners drew eye brows for their Beagles! They looked really weird to me.

I fell in love with pugs (the once ugly dogs in my mind) after following Pewdiepie and Cutiepie on Youtube. 

As long as they are healthy and happy, breed doesn't matter!

You can always find 'gangs' of huski at Dogathon, either grey or brown. This one was quite small in size, there were gigantic ones!

Besides inserting chips for your dogs, it is good too if you have your dog wearing his name and your phone number when you take him for a walk or when he is allowed to go outside the house on its own. Just in case that he is lost someone can contact you immediately.

Dressing up for battlefield!

Owner and dog with matching outfit! How sweet is that?

The sweetest photo of the year! Can I get a kiss too?

Many people would prefer to keep pure breed dogs as pets because of their distinct features and desired personalities. To me, however, pure breed dogs are the results of human's modification on their genes for many many years so that they inherit the characteristics that the people want. They are beautiful and sweet, but they carry the genetic diseases with them which will explode when the time comes, when they get old. Because of their prices in the market, some people who breed the dogs in an inhumane way, making the dogs the breeding machines so that they can yield more puppies and more money. Thus, whichever kind of dogs that we have decided to keep, we should be a responsible owner since the birth of the dog to avoid contributing to the horrible industry. Adopt is a way better option since there are way too many strays wandering the streets looking for home.

Personally I have not owned any dog (except feeding the strays living at the alley), but I do have friends and relatives who owned these adorable furry friends. The dog might just be part of your life, but to him, you are his life. Cherish them, love them. =)

Dogathon 2015 coming soon! I can imagine the theme for the next event by seeing this trailer image. Will Dogathon 2015 break the record of 1216 dogs in Dogathon 2014? Lets make it happen!

P/S: Ahh this post was supposed to be written and posted last year!!! Well last semester I was really inactive in blogging so I think I should write up more now instead of just rotting at home. This was the second Dogathon event that I have attended and you might be interested with the first one Dogathon Stoneage 2013. I included more details regarding the aims of this event in that post. Don't be surprised if you see familiar dog faces in that old post! (I just realised it as well, hahaha)

Locks of Hope - Donate Your Hair!

You might have heard of or even experienced donation of body parts (ok... I consider blood as part of our body, hahaha), but have you thought about donating your hair? Maybe cutting hair is just like cutting nails to you (same goes to keeping long hair and keeping long nails), the hair will always end up in the dustbin, to be precise, on the floor of the saloon. Actually, a charity called Locks of Love was started back in 1997 in Florida, United States to collect hair which will be used to make wigs for cancer patients. Hair loss can be traumatic for cancer patients who undergo chemotherapy but a wig can be too expensive to be afforded since the patients already need to pay for their medical expenses. So this kind act in helping them to regain confidence is not something really new in this world.

Hair Donation Campaign of Malaysia version! Locks of Hope brought to you by MMIS Professional (I couldn't find its official website) and supported by National Cancer Society Malaysia (NCSM) and Amber Chia Academy.
(image taken from JLBuzzBee blog)

I have a group of friends who had been planning to donate their ponytails long time ago and finally got the motivation to do so. I will always remember that day when I spent four hours accompanying them to do the donation. Chinese New Year is just around the corner and the saloon was full of people wanting to look good for this big event. But I did not regret for tagging along even though I didn't do any donation (I have not mentally prepared myself to lose my long hair which finally passed the length of annoyance, and my hair is still not long enough for the donation).

I first knew that we can donate our hair for cancer patients when I saw this photo of Khe Sin holding her ponytail on Facebook (this photo got over one thousand likes!). 

The requirements are simple:

• the ponytail must be at least 8 inches long 
• the hair must be clean and dry
• the hair cannot be bleached, permanently coloured or chemically treated
• the hair must not more than 5% grey

According to the official website of Locks of Hope, it takes 8 to 15 ponytails to make a wig. So the hair will be processed and dyed to get a uniform colour. It is important that the hair take up the dye at the same rate so that they look the same although they came from different persons. The healthier your hair, the better. However, wavy or curly hair is acceptable as well.

There are two methods you can choose from in order to donate your ponytail:

• go to one of the saloons with Locks of Hope logo (a list of saloons which provide such service can be found on the official website)
• cut your hair according to the requirements by yourself and mail it (again, for more detailed information please refer to the official website)

(from the left) Erika, Wenly and Feather, the determined girls who decided to completely make a change to their hairstyle while doing some good deeds!

When you can get a brand new hairstyle while contributing to a charity, will you do it?

A Post Dedicated to Erika

It was a cloudy afternoon when I happily got back to my dorm after the Calculus examination. While I was taking off my shoes, I noticed a colourful envelop at the mailbox (every room has a small mail box where you can leave notes). The envelop was made of folded cosmetic flyer which you won't notice that it is actually a piece of advertisement unless you look closely. Wondering who would give me a self-made envelop with maybe a letter inside (a hand-written letter is something representing sincerity to me), I entered the dorm and settled down before examining this envelop carefully. It stated To Wendy at the front. Usually people who are really close to me will call me by my Chinese name, so who could it be? It took me a minute to finally find the opening of the envelop (it's not my fault!! The 'open here' was written so so small, hahaha).

Who won't like hand-made gift? I mean, letter. 

Gingerly opening the envelop (I don't want to damage it), I took out a piece of folded lined paper sealed with a black piggy sticker showing his butt back. The paper seemed to be torn off from a cute notebook with a quote You are the shaper of your own destiny. Again, I gingerly tore the sticker away and finally the content of this mysterious letter was revealed! The first clue was, it was written in Chinese. I immediately jumped to the lower right corner of the letter without looking through the content and found that the letter was written in 2014 (I received a letter from last year!!! Ok just fooling around, I noticed the letter a few days after it was placed there), by Erika my coursemate. After knowing the identity of the secret admirer person who wrote me letter, the first thing came into my mind was, Erika really wrote me a letter? Why?

This is Erika......who is enjoying some 'rests' during class. Don't judge. =P

There are very limited similarities between two of us except: graduated from matriculation (mine was in Selangor, hers was in Perak), chosen Bachelor of Environmental Science and Technology of UPM as first choice, girl, long hair, wearing spectacles and....I think that's it. She is one year younger than me (the privilege of being born on the first of January and indeed she behaves like one too =P) but already taking Bachelor course at the age of 18 which is two year faster than normal people (we took matriculation, that's why I am one year ahead and she is two). We quarrel a lot due to many many reasons. Our frequencies are just not right. She does not understand why I love pan mee and I don't understand why she loves bread with peanut butter.

She complains that I go to the class too early.

She complains that I like to go to the noodle stall or mamak stall.

She complains that I keep complaining about the songs she likes (I am only human~~~~~ Ugh)

She complains that the weather is very hot......while cycling (eh it has nothing to do with me, right).

She looks at me with a boring face when she knows that I am going to ask her to have early breakfast together.

She looks at me with a boring face when I show her my favourite songs (really nice what).

She looks at me with a boring face when I told her something I find interesting. 

She looks at me with a boring face watching me laughing like a maniac about my own jokes.

Despite of all the dislikes she has on me, she is one of the people who really tolerate my not-very-nice personalities. I am kinda pushy sometimes, but she still can tahan me. We don't have complimentary personalities, seriously, and we don't spend lots of time sticking to one another either. However, it is really something to have her as my coursemate. =)

Our first year in UPM. This was during Malam Silang Budaya at Kolej Tun Perak.

We rarely go outing together. This is at Simple Life, Midvalley.

This is at Subway, The Mines.

Chilling at Bukit Exspo. When shall we do it again?

Siao zha bor during Wildlife Seminar 2014. 

During one of the lab session.

We went volunteering together during MENGO H2O Hunt at Publika last year.

Actually I mentioned Erika a few times before in my blog. In case you have not noticed her in any of the posts, let me direct you to the link below (she is still single and available, no worries =P), she is either mentioned, or featured.

• Kayaking
• My First Fieldwork in University - Forest
• Conclusion for Lake Chini Fieldwork 2014
• The End of My Teen-age
• Mid-sem Break Update #2: A Lttile Bit about The Farm in UPM
• Everything Is Awesome - Comfort Zone
• Events on Labour Day (part 2) - 7th Chinese Orchestra Concert in UPM

P/S: Sorry that I didn't manage to celebrate your birthday with you as I slept through the countdown (LOL I know it's once in a lifetime), so I dedicated my first post of 2015 to you as my gratitude to have you as my coursemate, collegemate and friend. Have a blessing year ahead! Finally someone is catching up! Enjoy your 20-year-old! ^^