Tag: cats

Push – 30th September 2021

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 1 Comment

Forcing this one out
Like a rock-hard turd
No ideas forthcoming
Today I have no word

So I pushed and squeezed
For the longest time
Eventually, I came up
With this little rhyme

Gratitude Journal

I am so happy and grateful for the crunchy muesli I bought yesterday and about to eat for breakfast as Amy prepares her workbench for baking her buns.

Another month down and all classes finished. It’s been a trip. There are a lot of Covid cases around Chiang Rai, apparently. It feels like the official figures don’t include any Burmese workers, where they live together in squalid camps and also cannot afford to isolate ‘at home’ for even a day. Whilst cases in general seem to be reducing around the country, potentially it could easily get out of control here as the country prepares to open up again. Despite this, I hope that the kids can come back next month.

After Amy and I are both vaccinated, I guess it will just be a matter of time before we catch the virus and hopefully we will be best protected. I’m of the mind I’d like to get it over with.

This morning there was a beautiful kitten sitting in the teacher’s room. No one knew where it came from. It looks and feels very healthy and it purred loudly when I picked it up. She (I think) followed me downstairs as if I were its new owner, which was tempting, I must admit.

When I came back after coffee, the kitten had been named Chicken and was comfortable on the lap of one of the teachers downstairs. I’m a sucker for a cute cat, even an ugly one, but adding another to our family wouldn’t be fair.

Long Live The King – 21st September 2021

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

Nicky, you were right
When you said you couldn’t do it
You made so many mistakes
Took your chances and blew it

You knew what was right
But still chose to do what was wrong
Now your houses are burning
And the peasants hail rousing song

Consigned yourself to history
The last of the clan to fall
Your future will be repeated
At the revolution’s final call

Gratitude Journal

I am so happy and grateful that all our cats are happy and well. Usually, there is one that is sick but let’s hope we can stay like this for a while.

Seems to be some problems with electricity around the city today but I managed to get some amazing coffees in before that. It’s fantastically and eerily quiet – no low hum – just the expected noises of cars going by, people talking and birds cooing.

Ah! It’s back – that low hum from the fans is good, now I’m getting that cool air.

I spoke to Hayden yesterday, he sounded neutral – no real negativity or enthusiasm. I think it’s tough for him during these lockdowns and I hope he doesn’t self-lockdown when things open up again. Like what happened to me when meeting Bronwyn, I hope he one day meets someone who can change his life and move him forward.

Amy and I started watching The Last Czar yesterday and it is impossible not to make comparisons with Thailand. Will there be a similar conclusion one day?


The Old Ways – 2nd September 2021

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

The belief that this way is the best
Completely fails when put to the test
Just because it was always done this way
Doesn’t mean it’s the right thing to stay

Instead of walking, why not run?
There’s other ways to get things done
People power can produce the change
One day to find the old ways strange

Gratitude Journal

I am so happy and grateful that all 3 of our cats are healthy again. It makes me smile inside to see them relaxed and playful.

Amy was tired yesterday after making two batches of cinnamon buns and was looking forward to resting today but just as she came to bed she got a message that Utopis sold out theirs immediately and wanted more! I chuckled and know she is also happy but not used to working on demand.

I’m looking forward to getting out for afternoon coffee and some book reading!

Time, time, time to escape – 30th July 2021

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

Since Kim came back from the vet she has been fairly content to be stuck in her one-room paradise. The room is bigger than my own! We take her out on a leash each day but she doesn’t like it and just sits sniffing the air. She is getting more keen to dash out whenever we open the sliding screen door and occasionally I will let her roam close by and try not to let her run off.

This time I failed! She quickly jumped up the wall and onto the roof for a look around the trees, where she used to pull little birds out of their nests. I ran around the other side to the step ladder and poked my head up. Luckily she was curious enough to see my head in such an odd place and crept out from the cover of the leaves (can’t really camouflage orange!) and came to investigate whereupon I quickly scooped her up and back into the safety of her room.

It’s sad that she can’t be allowed outside but as she is still a rebellious fighting teenager cat we can’t risk her hurting herself with her weak and compromised body. We are trying a special medicine that has helped some cats fight back against leukaemia but there’s no real guarantee that it will work.

And as always, we get all 3 cats home for a few weeks before another gets sick and has to go and stay with the vet for a while. This time it’s Tigger, who has suffered kidney problems over the last few years. He was looking uncomfortable and stopped eating and the vet found he had high counts of something or other in his blood. He’s on a saline drip until that stabilises again.

We do love our cats.

Gratitude Journal

I am so happy and grateful to be able to sit in our dining room and over the last three years watch our trees grow higher and higher. It’s the slow passing of time compared to the feeling of time accelerating.

Both Worlds – 19th July 2021

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 1 Comment

A lazy day with thundery skies
The temperature for Netflix and chill
In between episodes, look out the window
To see the clouds descend the hill
The bang and crash as lightning strikes
I can’t believe my good luck
But suddenly the power goes out
And now it’s Netflix and fuck!
Wait for the rains to stop again
And electricians to earn their pay
So we can get back to our series
And watch until the finale
Weirdly, there’s top-speed internet
Yet intermittent electricity
Nowhere has the best of both worlds
Neither this country nor city

Letts Association Football Diary 1979 – 30th December 1978

Gratitude Journal

I am so happy and grateful to have had a lazy day yesterday – even forgetting to write here. The busy week makes me tired on the weekend and I enjoy being home with the cats, our surrogate dog and crazy Amy.

Poems on this day – 5th July 2021

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Another Week

Another week is here
Another Monday of fun
How many have I seen?
How many more to come?
Time runs away from me
I can’t keep up these days
On the downward spiral
Running out of plays
Lazy summer Sundays
Now filled to overflowing
Oh, to be bored again
With no idea where I’m going
Regret no past mistakes
It was all a knowledge to seek
Savour every living moment
So begins another week

Uprooted

Uprooted from all you know
At the age of just sixteen
Still growing into your world
But following your parent’s dream
A better life is on its way
Though you may not see it yet
Take up this challenge
Make the most of what you get

I’m teaching a sixteen-year-old student who is moving with her parents from China to Australia. A tough time for someone that age.

Four Rats

Four rats run around Tokyo
Stealing all her food and drink
Too slow in her reactions
Those rats are smarter than you think
Sniffing the air in excitement
Whiskers twitching from their keep
In the drains and shadowy corners
Whilst Tokyo remains asleep

Tokyo is my friend’s pup, the sneaky rats are well-fed!

Gratitude Journal

I am so happy and grateful for a long day of rest yesterday with nothing much to do. I could recover from my hangover just watching TV or playing with the cats and dogs.

Ode For Kim – 30th May 2021

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 1 Comment

Kim Chi was sleeping a lot. It’s normal for cats, we know. She still rolled and stretched herself and purred at a tummy rub. Her body felt hot – not so strange for a cat that has been curled up and the outside temperature is close to 40 degrees. But this type of hot, which I cannot ideally name, didn’t feel quite right. To describe it, it is not like a surface heat but a heat radiating from inside, under the fur, skin and meat.

And then she stopped eating. Again, this happens sometimes when it’s too hot – just a loss of appetite. But these signs combined led us to a trip to the vet – again – she was there only three weeks ago for a fighting wound.

Her temperature was high so they ran some blood tests which indicated that she has measles. Our neighbour had recently told us that many cats in the village had died from measles so this news was a little worrying. Then on top of that the tests also showed she has leukaemia…. This will most likely mean a shortened life and complications with any illnesses she may have.

This news is devastating but I also tried to be rational and consider that she was delivered to us in a bucket, on the way to the temple where she most likely would have led a terrible life. We have given her love and a home she may not have received otherwise. I hope her weak little body can fight through this illness. We cherish every day with the love of our cats. As arrogant, yet more loveable than most humans.

You are one crazy cat
Delivered to us in a tub
Squeaking and all that
Climbing out for a rub
Covered in dirt you were
Until we scrubbed you clean
Nothing seemed to deter
You from going off unseen
You became the princess
Even though a boy
Fearless curious interest
Everything a toy
Grown into your own tales
Sometimes battered and bleeding
You’re one that never fails
Giving me the love I’m needing
Every day a blessing
For the nine lives you abuse
Eight and we are stressing
This is the last one you can use

Gratitude Journal

I am so happy and grateful we decided to take Kim Chi to the vet as we found out she has caught measles and they did more tests and found she also has leukaemia. It’s sad but at least we can try to help her with this knowledge.

30th May 2023 – She struggled and strived, using up her nine lives. You leave the biggest hole in my heart.

We got that attitude! – 31st March 2021

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

I am so happy and grateful that there is a local vet nearby where we can take our cats in the case of small emergencies. Last night we had to take Kim Chi to get some wounds cleaned up – looks like from fighting. She’s much better already

Just had another good class with Maeve in which she commented she feels much more fluent in her speech already. She did very well.

I then worked out my abs – which has made me feel good. And today at school I managed to work out a way to complete my 20 lessons plans, not just quickly and easily but also with a good method.

George is so off with me now that it is actually amusing. Dylan follows him around like a puppy but even he pushed back a little today too, light-heartedly commenting that George isn’t happy when Dylan doesn’t do what he wants.

Two days until a month’s break. Happy.