Introducing Cheongchai Abdullah

Ladies and gentlemen,

This is Cheongchai Abdullah; a street tabbycat that I informally "adopted". His name is derived from the dental clinic in front of where I found him, Cheong & Chai Dental. I still have not decided whether of not he is an MD.

The story of my friendship with Cheongchai is simple; I go to the gym across the block from the 24 hour store you see in the picture. One day, as I sometimes do after gym, I drove to the store to get my isotonic drink after working out. There was this cat, just sitting pretty in front of the store.

As I normally do when I see cats, I called out to it, you know, the sound that the gecko makes. Kind of like tsk tsk tsk..

Cheongchai looked at me indifferently, almost as if he was saying, "Yes?".

Then he turned away. I walked into the store and did my shopping and left. As I walked out of the store the cat was still there. I spoke to him again, this time asking him if he was hungry. Again he looked at me non-chalantly.

This went on for three days. On the third day, I figured he was special because it was as if the spot was his own; that he ruled that spot in Section 14 PJ.

I went into the store, bought my usual, and looked out for cat food which was not there. So I settled for some canned tuna.

I took it out and opened the tub, fed the cat and he gobbled 3/4 of the can. He looked happy and not to averse to my being really close to him.


Then I decided I needed to give him a name. I thought of naming him Norman Vincent Peale II, in memory of my original tabby cat with similar ownership beginnings that I lost in 2002. But then I thought NVPII had to be given to a cat I was ready to take home.

(I would have taken this cat home but my condo has strict rules against pets, and my new house - a landed property - won't be ready until September/October.)

So I looked around and Cheong & Chai stood out, and tabby was named Cheongchai Abdullah.

Cheongchai came up to me after his supper, and did wat cats do best: he sniffed my legs and then sat on my shoes, gesturing his appreciation I guess.

I have missed Cheongchai these past 2 weeks though. We're all set for the big launch of my latest project this Tuesday (to the media), and the on-air transmission launch on September 6th, plus the planning for my talkshow debuting in the 3rd week of Septmber, PLUS the National Budget 2008 Show on September 7th. So I have missed the gym for a while.

I'm sure Cheongchai, the hardy and lovable cat that he is, is doing just fine.