1 Tim 4:12
"Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech,
in life, in love, in faith and in purity." ~2 Tim 4:12
I've been having a bit of problems with some "lao jiao" (old-timers) agents in the industry recently. Sales at the showflat has been rather slow the past month. After close observation of the agents, i realised that most of them have very weak closing skills. While these agents are very experienced in the resale market, most are new to project sales and the closing techniques required in a showflat environment are very different from the resale market environment. I tried to tell them about certain tips on closing a client but i find it difficult to get through to them. There's this particular agent, Red Bull, who gets real defensive whenever i try to tell them certain things. And from the expression of some of the others, i can tell that they don't really take what i say seriously at times 'cos they think i'm a newbie when it comes to property. So far, as i'm still trying to build rapport with the agent, i've not been very strict on certain things but as a result of that, i feel that they're taking me for granted at times.
Things sort of came to a head today when the IC of the agents, Rattlesnake, actually brought up an offer to the developer directly. (As these agents are actually sort of like "outsource" manpower, whenever they get any offer from a buyer, they're supposed to let me know and i will in turn talk to the developer.) Not wanting to be confrontational, i told the Rattlesnake nicely over sms that in future, she should come to me instead of going to the developer direct. She agreed... but that was not the end of my troubles.
There was also some unhappiness between Rattlesnake and our co-marketing agents (another property agency) at the showflat today. Rattlesnake insisted that the co-marketing agents were not very fair in certain practices at the showflat. As she insisted that she personally witnessed the incidents, i brought it up to the developer as i felt that it wasn't in my capacity to speak to the co-marketing agents, and i should let the developer (who's basically the "boss" of the showflat) talk to them.
Unfortunately, upon further probing, it seemed like the charges alleged by Rattlesnake wasn't true and hence i was caught in between the developer, the very lao-jiao co-marketing agents, and Rattlesnake! I'm still trying to sort things out and obtain an amicable resolution to everything but it's really quite a headache. :( (Hope everything turns out ok tomorrow)
Things in the office haven't been good either. I have some issues with a colleague of mine and as a result, i've been less than helpful to him. I feel bad about it 'cos my attitude isn't very godly and i think i'm being a bad testimony 'cos i'm only nice & helpful to those that i get along with (which is basically everyone but this chap :P). Sometimes i think i should just be open about why i'm not happy with this person's work attitude instead of griping & bitching behind his back... but in an office setting, i'm worried about the possible repercussions that might have... When i got home just now, i just didn't feel good about all that has happened so far. I think i need a lot of wisdom on how to handle & in a way control these lao-jiao agents. I also need to learn to be generous to this colleague that i dislike.
While taking stock of things, the verse above came to my mind. I think it's applicable not only in the biblical sense... but also in the corporate world.... to not let the veterans look down on me... and to be honest, sincere & godly in all areas of my interaction with them. I've been afraid to talk about unpleasant things openly so far 'cos i'm afraid that i may be too harsh (don't want to bulldoze people over, which i can be real good at). But yet i can't be as soft as i am now 'cos some of these lao-jiaos are stepping all over me. I guess i need to learn to put my foot down - gently.
The food is tastier in the other cage
Bazhang has finally settled down & accepted Muah Chee as his friend. In fact, MC has inspired BZ to be more active now and he loves to play catch with her. MC's favourite game, however, is hide & seek... she'll dart past BZ and hide behind some pots so that he'll sniff around to look for her. It's really amusing watching them play.
Another thing i observed about these two naughty rabbits is that they seem to prefer to eat the other's food. They'll go into each other's cages to eat the pellets and/or drink water! Guess this is the house rabbit version of "the grass is greener on the other side".
My dad went on a trigger happy trip today. He took 55 photos of BZ & MC hopping about our garden. They were absolutely adorable... especially MC! She really looks like a toy rabbit in some of the pictures. Haha. My dad also printed out old photos of TY & BZ, taken when they were about 2 years old and hung them in my dining room.
Here's some links to photos of TY, BZ and MC. Hope you find them cute too! :)
BZ & MC have been getting on pretty ok just that BZ can get a little bossy sometimes. It starts by a friendly sniff at MC's back... then he gets more domineering and starts to prod her back... and when he's really showing who's the boss, he ends up nibbling at her fur and i think it hurts 'cos MC always flinches and hops away when he does that.
2 nights ago i allowed BZ to visit MC's cage. BZ was in a rather foul mood and started being a little aggressive towards poor little MC. After failing to calm him down, i removed him from her cage & placed him back into his own cage. I wagged my finger at him and told him that if he wasn't going to behave himself & stop bullying MC, i would stop him from playing with her.
That's when he lost his temper & stomped at me! That horrible rabbit! He stomped 5-6 times... BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! It was so loud that both MC & i were frightened. MC froze in fright in her cage & just stared at BZ when he stomped.
I was really worried 'cos this is the first time any of my rabbits ever lost their temper & stomped their foot. I told my friend who's really good with rabbits about it and he says it's part & parcel of rabbit behaviour - it's just a form of expression. But the thing is, none of my rabbits ever lost their temper before and i was worried about whether it'll affect BZ's health. He has after all been rather temperamental since TY passed away.
That was 2 nights back and BZ seems all right now. He still doesn't eat much and mopes when he's alone (we don't let MC out during the day unless someone is in the yard watching her 'cos we're afraid the stray cats might come into my house & attack her, or she may somehow hurt herself in her pursuit of extreme sports). But whenever i let BZ & MC out to play at night, BZ loves to chase MC round the backyard and MC sometimes plays a game of hide & seek with him. It's really funny to see MC hiding herself behind the potted plants & BZ running all over looking for his new friend.
My parents weighed MC last week when she first came. That was on 6 Sep i think... and she weighed 1.1kg.
Clown & i weighed both MC & BZ yesterday... MC is now 1.2kg & BZ is a staggering 2.5kg! Did i mention that BZ is a netherland dwarf? Hahahaha...
Clown & i got a new friend for Bazhang last night. We went to quite a few pet shops before i found the cutest holland lop at this pet shop at Serangoon North. Her coat's a sandy-grey hue and i love her long lop ears! She's 3.5 months old (which means her birthday's the same month as me!) and she's really cute.
We decided to name her Muah Chee 'cos 1) it sounds cute & 2) the colour of her fur is like the colour of the peanut bits.
Muah Chee is really active.... to the extent of being foolhardy. The first thing she did this morning when my dad removed the rain shelter covering the top of her cage was to leap real high... and she ended up knocking her head against the grilled ceiling of her cage. When my dad let her out of the cage, she was so excited that she ran around our backyard really fast... and knocked into the side of her cage... then she started running on the drain covers at the edge of the yard... and 'cos the grilles are really big, her front legs kept falling in! I was so scared she'll hurt herself i quickly grabbed her & put her back on firm ground. But she kept wanting to repeat her stilt-walking act. Sigh.... u would think she's into extreme sports!
This little rabbit also has no sense of danger. I brought her out to the front garden when BZ was there to see if i could get them to interact. My intention was to let them get to know each other slowly... but no... the word "slow" doesn't exist in MC's dictionary. When she saw BZ lying in his brick-hideout, she happily hopped towards him. I quickly pulled her back in case BZ turned aggressive. After a few attempts, she gave up and went to munch on the grass. I think that was the first time she saw grass 'cos she was so thrilled by it. Round and round the grass patch she ran. Heh..
Later in the evening, MC brazenly hopped into BZ's cage and BZ got a little ruffled by her. He started sniffing her & using his nose to prod her body. My dad managed to calm BZ down and he laid down at the front of his cage to take a nap. Undeterred by BZ's lack of welcome, MC also made herself comfortable and took a nap in BZ's cage. She seemed to prefer BZ's cage to her own.
After about 15mins, BZ woke up to find MC still lying in his cage. He got a little offended and started showing her who's the boss! He sniffed her left & right & left & right... this time, MC got a little frightened and "kowtow-ed" to BZ. She put her head right down against the floor, ears flopped by the side & remained motionless as BZ sniffed & prodded her. I tried to pacify BZ but he refused to calm down. Seeing that he was getting more aggressive, i quickly took MC out of his cage.
Looks like BZ still misses his childhood friend Tangyuan. Hopefully in time to come, he'll treat MC as nicely as he used to treat TY - lick her back, let her grab food that he's eating, and so on. At least i know for sure that MC feels a certain affinity for BZ. :)
Tangyuan passed away yesterday. Poor gal was crushed by an umbrella stand that was propped up against the wall...
We have this umbrella stand base that my dad placed against the wall. It's Tangyuan's favourite chillout place. Unfortunately yesterday, the umbrella stand slid down & crushed her.... 25kg umbrella stand on a poor little netherland dwarf.
At first, Bazhang didn't know that his friend was killed... my dad discovered her body first. He tried massaging her to revive her but it was too late. While my dad was digging a hole to bury her, BZ saw his friend lying motionless on the floor. He went over & used his nose / head to nudge her body repeatedly. When TY failed to respond, BZ went away & hid in their hideout. He was upset the whole night... didn't really eat his dinner and was generally agitated.
This morning, BZ hung around the spot where he saw TY's body. My dad chased him back to the cage for his lunch and he refused to come out after that. He's been in there all day just moping. I think he's really depressed.
I wanted to wait a week or so before getting BZ another female companion but when i saw how depressed he is, i thought i better act fast. I don't want him to die of loneliness!!
I'm going to the pet shop tonight. Hope i can find a compatible rabbit for BZ.
My poor rabbits. :(
