Taking an interest in people around me

Dear Diary,

Back from work…. My feet are crying out in fatigue…. In fact, every part of me is crying out! Haha… Saturday, as expected, is very much a relaxing day. Pretty happy to sell away some of the stuff which I wanted to “get rid” of, including a powerful compressor-based nebuliser, a huge box of redundant blue litmus papers… yup, and dispensed about 10 prescriptions today. A pretty satisfying day in that sense! =) Now… I just need to get rid of the Ascensia Elite Glucometer, haha…

It was also nice that a former pharmacy junior came down to return some notes to me and got me a pretty looking chocolate-layered cake which I took as dessert during dinner. Had a pretty long chat with her at my pharmacy counter. Suddenly, I am reminded about my direct pharmacy juniors… how are they getting on? Must check out on them soon! =)

These days, I find it hard to just really meet up with a friend and chat under the moonlight. How I miss those days of freedom! Those carefree days as a student! I was telling some of the part-timer promoters (who are students) to cherish their schooling days. I told my pharmacy student too. =) I will miss having a student around in my pharmacy when my last pharmacy preceptorship student departs in two weeks’ time. This current student is alone with me, unlike my previous batch… but she has defied the odds and it is just so comfortable communicating with her. Will remember her antics of “munching on air with her teeth”, haha… There must be something about girls liking to eat only egg whites (albumin)… all my female students have this trait. I prefer egg yolk by the way. High in cholesterol though!

When I went for dinner earlier on, I saw the usual group of middle-aged people dancing on a designated area of the huge pavement path. Many people like to criticise them for having nothing else to do. I used to look at them with barely a thought. Tonight, I saw the communal spirit behind it. The friendship, the joy, the belonging, the communal feeling, the exhibitionist pride… They almost looked like the Europeans dancing at their villages in Austria, Hungary, The Netherlands, Norway, Scotland or what have you… err… I could almost see the men wearing kilts like the Scottish, the ladies wearing scarves like the Dutch…. Oh how beautiful… how much joy… just that the rain was drizzling instead of the snow, just that the street lamps illuminated the place instead of the bonfire, just that the loudspeakers sounded the music instead of the traditional bagpipes band…

Sometimes, I feel so embarrassed that I hardly take the initiative to know people or take that extra effort to remember their names. I remember that while I was walking home from the bus-stop on Thursday (19-7-2007) night, I realised that a particular girl seems to be walking beside me for most of the way. She looked like someone in her teens, maybe a junior college girl? I continued walking with the stereo earphones in my ears… until I came to the main gate of my apartment. Then I unlocked it and she stood behind me.

“Hi, so you are living in this apartment?” I asked.
“Yup,” she replied with a smile.
“Did you move in recently?” I asked, trying to be friendly.
“Nope, have been here for a long while.” She replied with that puzzled look.
“Oh… Hee (yes, I literally made that sound!)… paiseh,” I said, feeling a little embarrassed.
She smiled, looking amused. Guess what, our conversation ended because we parted ways at the lift lobby. I hadn’t asked her name and now… I can’t even remember how she looked like (The gate area was pretty dimly-lit that night, okay? Haha…) and my apartment has only 12 families residing in it. I can’t even recognise many of them!

So the next few days, I started to take the effort to say hi to the gardener although I usually rush off to work. The gardener is the third one in 12 years. I must improve and take more interest in the people whom I call “neighbours”. Jesus said, “Love your neighbour.” I need to know who they are first before I can start loving them, haha… Resolution for the month of August! =)

God Bless,

Andrew