Gramps has been bugging me to get a dog license for Boyboy after she heard stories of relatives being heavily fined by AVA these few days. Tried to brush her off a couple of times and finally, I relented - I couldn't stand the constant "When are you going to get Boyboy the dog license?!" naggings : (
Initially, I thought it would be an easy task. I mean, how difficult could it be to get the name and address of anybody who lives in private housing? I quickly suggested to Gramps that my 2nd Aunt could help us since she lives in a condominium in Mandarin Gardens. Gramps quickly called the latter and well, to our shock, she rejected us in the most unusual manner - She pretended not to hear Gramps' request! (What a loser!)
Despite feeling pissed off, I fully understand her concerns (Why would she want to help when there are no benefits?) Moving on, I began to ask around and realized that it was not easy to get somebody to help at all! Some of my friends who own dogs who are not HDB-approved have similar difficulties and fortunately for them, they managed to get in touch with helpful souls who are willing to get the dog license under their names and addresses (Hey! Where is my helpful soul?) I had also come across many different kind of replies - Some mentioned they would help me ask around (Standard answer), some told me they did not have friends living in private housing (Implication: I do not want to help and I cannot be bothered at all) and some even pushed me to other friends who live in private housing though I said "No, it's Ok" (as we are just hi-and-bye acquaintances, why would they want to help?)
Feeling desperate, and yet refused to let Gramps know of my failure, I kept buying time by brushing her off (again!) I guess she knew what was going on and one fine day, she told me to visit this particular relative (whom I see only once every year during Chinese New Year) who happened to work as a security guard at an overseas school near our place - She mentioned that he and his wife might be able to help (Trust me, I was so damn scornful of it and everything felt on deaf ears. No way was I going to visit and plea them as I strongly believed they would come up with all kinds of excuses just to reject me)
However, this afternoon when Fat Boy drove Gramps, Aunt and me for lunch, Gramps insisted the former to drive into the overseas school despite my protests : ( We met up with the relative and his wife and Gramps, without any formality, asked if they could help us with the dog license and just as I was expecting a "Aiyah, as you know we already have 3 dogs...I want to help, but..." I heard a straightforward "Ok" (Imagine my surprise!) In addition, they even recommended a vet who charged a lower fee for microchip implant when they knew Boyboy had not being microchipped and they said that they would help us to apply for the dog license after the microchip implant (Can you actually believe that such kind souls exist?)
This incident made me realized a couple of things - People whom you think may not help you may actually go all out to do so and people whom you think will go all out to do actually do not...I must say that I am quite a failure because I must admit that I do not have many friends who actually go all the way out to help and perhaps, it's also time to reflect on myself. Is it because I have not done enough, that's why others do not see why they should lend a hand when I need them? I must say that I am quite an anal person as I treat all my friends sincerely and when I see that my sincerity is not being reciprocated, I cannot bring myself to treat them the way I treated them initially (I refused to play the fool) I don't see why I should continue to waste my time on them in terms of eat, drink and merry when they could not be bothered to lift a finger to help in my utmost need? I do not need such "friends".
