Weblog Interruptus

Dear Diary,

Yet another day has passed… time really waits for no one. People were rushing home from work and if you just stand right in the middle of that Toa Payoh bus interchange, you may be quite surprised to see to feel wind in that enclosed area because people were generating air movements with the pace they were walking! Oblivious to many, there are actually groups of people who no longer can keep pace with the progress of society. It just occurs to me how I may feel when I am 80 years old in 2060. Will I still be able to fit into the society? Yet in the midst of all the progress, I thank God that the gospel is eternal and never changing. It is for this reason we can put our trust in it. The Church should theoretically not be changing with the times too. At least, the doctrines should be the same as in the first century AD.

I said this because I saw sales assistant for the first time in more than half-a-year. I smiled at him and said hi. He was leaving for home when I came in for work. Yup… I started work at 6pm today. I asked another staff about him and coincidentally he got a reprimand this morning. He is lapsing into senility I think… I used to put him on a regimen of ginkgo biloba daily when I was resident at that pharmacy. Now, I looked at him with pity. I shouldn’t pity him because I hate to pity people. Pity has this negative connotation of helplessness… at least in my understanding. Yet, I couldn’t feel anything else but that for him. What really happen to this man? Two years ago, he was proudly relating his sea-faring exploits to me. Sigh… He is a lapsed Catholic Christian and I used to tell him to go to church at the very least on Christmas, Good Friday and Easter. Do pray for him to genuinely know the love of God and to trust in Him. Trust is such a simple word but yet challenging to live it out.

I also met this locum pharmacist when I took over her duty today. I sat there and chatted with her a little. She looked fairer, gentler and friendlier these days, hee… I told her so, haha… She asked my age and probably quite shocked that I was so many years younger than her. It is nice seeing her again. Think she still remember how my students impersonated me and wrote a letter to her on my behalf. Yup, they learnt how to make the lily origamis from me and then left the lilies at her dispensary counter in my name. Unfortunately, even that dispensary is no longer in existence anymore. That’s about how rapid changes are.

Anyway, on a lighter note… my student is sending photos to me now… including photos of my “best friends” and tagging machine??? Chewing gums? The HP printer? She tells me that I need those as memories soon too. Oh well… hahaha… She can be quite funny I must say. Even reminded me to wish her happy birthday because it is her birthday today! I am embarrassed that I forgot, haha… Happy birthday to you, Choon Pei… if you are reading this.

Will maybe update further some other time on how the barber cut my hair asymmetrically this morning and I had to rush back after bathing to get it ratified. Traumatic experience indeed, haha… Anyway, will leave you with the following which I extracted from a forwarded email… see if you will agree to it, haha…

There are 29 ways to know if you're Chinese.

1. You unwrap gifts very carefully, so you can save and reuse the wrapping (and especially those ribbons).

2. When there is a sale on toilet paper, you buy 100 rolls and store them in your closet or in the bedroom of an adult child who has move out.

3. You keep a Thermos of hot water available at all times.

4. You save grocery bags, tin foil, and tin containers. You use the grocery bags to hold garbage.

5. You hate to waste food:
(a) Even if you're totally full, if someone says they're going to throw away the leftovers on the table, you'll finish them. (Your mom will give a lecture about starving kids in Africa ).(b) You have Tupperware in your fridge with three bites of rice or one leftover chicken wing.

6. You don't own any real Tupperware- only a cupboard full of used but carefully-rinsed margarine tubs, take out containers, and jam jars.

7. You have a collection of miniature shampoo bottles that you take every time you stay in a hotel.

8. You wipe your plate and utensils or wash them in a small basin of hot water before you eat every time you go to a restaurant.

9 . You own a rice cooker and a slow cooker

10. You wash your rice at least 2-3 times before cooking it.

11. You fight (literally) over who pays the dinner bill.

12. You have a teacup with a cover on it.

13. If you're under age 20, you own a really expensive walkman if you're over 20, you own a really expensive camera.

14. You're a wok user.

15. You only make long distance calls after 7pm.

16. You prefer your shrimp with the heads and legs still attached-it, means they're fresh.

17. You never call your parents just to say, ' Hi. '

18. If you don't live at home, when your parents call, they'll ask if you've eaten, even if it's midnight.

19. Your parents tell you to boil herbs and stay indoors when you get sick. They also tell you not to eat fried foods or baked foods because such foods are 'heaty'

20. You e-mail your Chinese friends at work, even though you only sit 10 feet apart.

21. You always cook too much.

22. You eat every last grain of rice in your bowl, but don't eat the last piece of food on the table.

23. You starve yourself before going to ' All You Can Eat ' buffet.

24. You know someone who can get you a good deal on jewellery or electronics, computers.

25. You own your own meat cleaver and sharpen it.

26. Your toothpaste tubes are all squeezed paper-thin.

27. You call a sausage a hotdog.

28. You wrap with napkins all the knives, spoons and forks of the airline that you fly on and put in your travel-bag as souvenirs

29. You never forget to take with you all the unused bath and facial tissues when you check out from the hotel because you believe that you have paid its all.

God Bless,

Andrew