Yesterday, the empty spot next to my grandma’s urn was filled with my grandpa’s. It sucks that he’s no longer around, but I believe it’s better than living tethered to a bed.
Thank you for all the trips to the cinema to watch Jacky Chan movies. Thank you for buying those tapes of Mind Your Language (I think it was Mind Your Language, I’m not 100% sure) so we could enjoy learning English together.
Thank you for all the trips to Genting Highlands, I hope you weren’t too scared when I was behind the wheel for one of the drives. That C Class was a blast to drive. The first time I saw a car phone was in your old ass Mercedes. I wanted to press the buttons but was told not to fuck around with it.
There was one time, we were coming down from Genting and I couldn’t hold my pee in. I remember grandma had to hold a bottle for me to pee in because you didn’t want to stop the car, or there wasn’t a stop nearby – I forgot. All I gotta say is that was one messy trip. Sorry, grandma.
Grandpa’s death reminded me of two stories. One – from a motivational speaker who was saying that everything in life is neutral – it is up to you to place a value onto it. He gave an example about the death of a loved one. It isn’t inherently bad or good – you decide what it means to you. It can be negative in the sense that you’ll miss that person, or in some cases their debts/problems get pushed to you. It can be positive because they no longer have to suffer, and it brings families together. Especially if they don’t meet up very often. This time, I experienced the latter. It was nice catching up. I still don’t agree with trying to convert attendees during a wake, but hey – it wasn’t my say as I didn’t organize it. Also, what’s the point of eternal life? Stay classy, Christians.
The second story was more of a joke/”psychological test” that I heard many years ago about why someone would murder their own family member to go to a funeral again. I wasn’t planning to kill anyone, it was just one of the things that popped into my mind.
I’ve been to way too many funerals recently (they’re not enjoyable even though they contain the word ‘fun’) – hopefully this will be the last post on the topic for a while.
It’s that time of the year again – where almost every working adult has to allocate time and resources working out how much money they owe to the government for the past year. For the past few years it has been pretty routine for me – doing the same thing I have been doing for the past few years. This year, it’s different. I’m now a contract worker – not part of a full-time workforce (even though my work pretty much takes up all of my time, so it’s like a full-time job without the benefits of a full-time job). So, the taxing process is a bit different. I have to fill in another form (I’m technically working for my own company) – something I haven’t done before. And because I don’t know who to ask for help, I’m figuring stuff out on my own. If I do get in trouble for fraud or mistakes in my tax application, do know it’s because of my ignorance/stupidity not because I’m trying to fuck with the system.
Which reminds me of the first time I ever had to file my taxes. I found the whole process so cumbersome and counter-intuitive. I had people to help me out with it back then, so I managed to figure it out in the end. But now I’m back at step one again, filling out a different form. Back then, I remembered thinking to myself – how come there’s nobody teaching these life skills in school? School and college (AKA daycare) didn’t prepare me for this. In fact, nothing did. I had to learn everything through trial and error.
Then I thought about why wasn’t it taught in school? Was it not relevant to most of the kids who would be growing up? My mind wandered on, and I realized that there were plenty of skills that you need as an adult to survive in today’s world but nobody ever told you what they were. You’d need to figure them out on your own. I guess that’s what makes life interesting – the wealth of new scenarios you’re yet to experience. But for some folks who want the shortcuts and cliff notes, there could be something to help them. Then I realized, there should be a school for adults.
I’m not sure if the demand is there rightaway to start a brand new school, but it could begin as classes/supplementary courses in colleges, universities and offices. If it gained enough traction, it could expand to dedicated centers around the city and eventually country.
We’d teach people the basics of being an adult: how to file taxes, what to look for when buying a home or secondhand car, applying for loans, what to do in the event of a car accident, how to read body language, how to handle interviews, how to write a CV/resume, how to dress up for different occasions, the importance of dressing well, grooming, how to cook, what to do when your wallet is stolen, how to handle a pregnancy, basics of raising a child, handling breakups and divorces, and so on. We’d start with the most important things, but the number of topics relevant to being an adult can go on forever!
It should be only a few days long at max – because adults don’t have much time for anything else. And it could also be something they wouldn’t have to take leave from work to attend. It should also be affordable – since we’re not teaching rocket science, we don’t need to hire professors to educate.
It’s unlikely I’ll start my school for adults in the future, but if anybody decides to run with the idea, feel free to credit me. Or not. In the meantime, I’ll go back to figuring out how to fill up my e-B form.
Traveling with a dog on a plane can be easy – if you have the funds to do so. Just look up for a pet transportation service, contact them, employ their services and fork out the money. Easy. However, if you’re looking to save some money by not going through a third-party service (trust me, they aren’t cheap – I inquired at least five different companies before deciding to do it on my own) – be prepared to spend a lot of time looking up information, making calls and sending emails.
Note – this isn’t a guide, but a description of the process I had to go through to bring Snuggles to America. It may not be the most efficient or best way to do things but it’s what I did. It worked, which is what matters, right?
My plan was to bring a dog (schnauzer-poodle), from Malaysia to the United States. If you have other pets you’re thinking about traveling with, this post may or may not be useful.
Preparation
Your pet needs to be healthy, so make sure he/she has been vaccinated, vaccinated for rabies, dewormed, and all the other necessary stuff.
Your dog also can’t have a snub-nose, if not it won’t be allowed on the plane (it’s not because they don’t like them – it’s for the safety of the pet). Apparently, snub-nosed dogs have trouble breathing up in the air.
Get your dog measured (height, length, width) and weighed – you’ll need the details to make sure you can purchase a suitable cage, and for booking purposes. Speaking of cages – you have to make sure that they are flight-safe (they are stronger, have proper ventilation, locks, etc). If you have a tiny pet, you can save a bit of money for flying the pet since some flights allow you to bring the cages as carry-on, which should be cheaper than taking up baggage/cargo space.
Your dog will also need to be micro-chipped to get into the US – I believe it is a requirement for most countries (you’ll have to check).
You’ll also need to get the documents for your pet prepared. There’s no manual for this – the documents will vary from country to country, but essentially they want documents certifying the health of the pet. This step will require you to get in touch with the countries and/or airlines that your pet will be flying on. Fortunately, most airlines have all the answers you need on their websites. If they don’t, you’ll need to call or email them for the specifics. I know a lot of them just say “proper documents”, as though we know what that means. My best tip here is to get in touch with a vet who has had experience doing this before. The vet should help you sort out the necessary documents for your pet’s health. My vet was a great help here as he had done it in the past, so he was familiar with the procedures that I had to go through.
Snuggles in America
Flights
Once you’ve got all the above settled, the next step is the hardest part (IMO) – figuring out which damn airline to fly. This step could have been easier if I had an unlimited budget, but since I didn’t, I was making most of my decisions based on costs and the number of stops. Every airline has different rules about pets. Some allow pets as carry on, some as cargo only – I was looking for airlines that allowed pets to be brought on as excess baggage (cheaper than shipping as cargo). This is important because if you don’t have a direct flight to your destination, you have to take into account the rules of the airlines/countries you’ll be transiting to. Just because your initial flight can take your pet, it doesn’t mean that the connecting flights will.
For example, I found a reasonably priced flight from KL to AUS via KLM and Delta. KLM would have no issues bringing my pet, but Delta has a rule of pets as carry-on only. Since my dog’s cage was too big to fit under the seat, I couldn’t bring her as carry-on which meant I had to look for an alternative flight. The more airlines you travel with, the more rules you’ll have to look up – which is why I tried to get a flight with as little transits as possible.
Layovers in a country also might require documents even though that city/country isn’t your final destination. You’ll need to be prepared for all these things. Another thing you’ll have to worry about is that while an airline might take pets, not all of their planes and not all airports do. So there’s an extra thing to worry about.
So in short, you’ll need to keep in mind:
Does the airline allow flying with pets, if yes – as carry on, checked baggage or cargo? Does the airplane allow it? (you’ll need to provide the size and weight of your cage + pet here) Does the airport allow pet transfers? If yes, what documents or procedures are required to be completed?
I flew Snuggles from KL to Austin via the following route/airlines: KUL to NRT via JAL NRT to LAX via JAL LAX to AUS via AA
Flight-ready cage
Costs
For costs, there are no guidelines to how much extra this will cost – it varies from airline to airline, but based on what I know, they will charge you according to the weight of the cage + dog, and some extra charge for them being animals (because they can). If you have extended layovers, some airports will charge you extra for taking care of your pet at their pet area/hotel (as far as I know they are compulsory since the pets can’t be released at the airport). This doesn’t include the fees you’ll have to pay for all the jabs, documents and cage that your dog will need. And let’s not forget your own air ticket.
Doing all this by yourself can save you a few thousand ringgit (which is a big deal for me). However, if you have the money to spare, trust me – it’s much easier and stress-free to pass the task along to more capable hands.
Here’s how much it cost for me to bring Snuggles from KL to the US: Vaccination, documents and cage – RM1000 (my vet helped me to get everything done, so it was a package deal) Transportation costs from KL to Tokyo – USD400 (RM1600) Transportation costs from LA to Austin – USD200 (RM800) Total – RM3400
3rd party services I got quotes for started at around RM7000, so I saved quite a bit of money doing it by myself. Based on the trouble I had to go through, I can see why people would pay that much money for somebody else to handle the process.
Food, water, information
Miscellaneous
Other things I’ve learned during this process (accurate as of Jan 2019): MAS, KLM, JAL, AA – accept pets as excess baggage BA – only accepts pets as cargo (will also need to be arranged via a third party service and their shipping company – IAG Cargo) Delta – only accepts pets as carry on
There are also risks involved when traveling with pets. I’ve heard some horror stories about pets being left out to die in the sun at the airport, or pets not surviving flights. On the other hand, I’ve also heard many success stories. As usual, it will all depend on the staff that day (how they perform, whether or not they’re having a good or bad day, the weather, the flight, etc) and your pet itself. There’s no guarantee your pet will make the journey – just like there’s no guarantee you will make the journey. Don’t travel with a sick pet.
I don’t know if it really helped my dog, but I read somewhere that putting a shirt with your scent in your dog’s cage can help them feel more comfortable when they’re alone. I did it anyway.
Put your dog’s photo, name, flight details and your contact details on the cage. In the event it goes missing, at least there’s information to help locate you on the cage itself. If you’re going to be on the same flight, make sure it is stated there (“owner is traveling on the same flight”). Make sure you have your pet’s documents with you at all times (I had at 4 copies just in case). Don’t put them in your luggage, keep them with you in your backpack. You’ll need to show them to the authorities when asked.
Make sure you have extra cable ties and a way to easily remove them (i.e. nail clipper or pen knife) taped to the side of the cage – this way you can easily extract the pet if the cage needs to be checked at an airport, and you can secure the cage again after inspection.
Tape a bag of food and feeding instructions to the cage, this way the airport/airline staff can feed your pet if they run out of food during any layovers.
Snuggles ended up not eating much (she did drink all the water though, which I refilled at the LAX stop).
Whenever possible, bring your dog out for a walk and toilet break. During my transit in LAX, I could bring Snuggles to the restroom at the airport where she made a mess on the floor (I cleaned up, of course) and she could run around for a bit.
The mission was a success. I managed to bring Snuggles to America. For those of you looking to do the same thing, I hope this post has information to help you out. Feel free to get in touch with me if you have any questions about the process and I’ll do my best to help!
