In the same way that a new mother shares a ludicrous amount of photos of her child on social media, I will dedicate this one post for my child of a sort (at least I don’t use a hashtag with her name and bombarding you with too many photos, or so I hope). I wrote a bit about her in here, but she deserves another post.

Meet Olive, my confidante, running partner, and keen licker.

She likes sausages, mango, and cookies, or any kind of food, just like any dog does. She’s really good at giving you puppy eyes. And boy, does she know how to use them as a weapon.

She’s extremely passionate and most of the time, over-friendly. She would jump excitedly on strangers, causing them to assume that she’s attacking them (especially with that big body of hers). She’s got an abundance of energy and it’s not easy to wear her out. When I get home, she usually jumps up and down to greet me, with her tail wagging cheerfully. When I was still working a corporate job, if I didn’t take her out for a walk immediately after I got home, she would let out a pitying wail as if it was the end of the world. A drama queen, this one.

You can get her to do anything with a promise of food. Sit and pose for pictures, for example. In fact, she seems to have a selective hearing. She’s often deaf when I call her out, but she can miraculously hear (or smell, most likely) a package of food being opened from meters away (after which she’ll approach you like lightning).

But above all, she’s one of the very few good things about living here, and most of the time, the only one here that makes me happy. If I could hang in here after everything that life in Jakarta has brought me, I should thank her. Those bright eyes, that wagging tail, and those jumps to welcome me (even if she accidentally causing me bruises and scratches) have always done wonders for my mood.

And for that, I’ll forever be grateful.

PS: I can only take good pictures of her when she’s sleeping/sleepy, otherwise I’d just have a blurry photo of white-and-black fur.