Forever Friend

The week has passed somewhat unnoticeably.

Firstly, results. Passed all but without flying colours. My own response was a surprise, simply muttering off and looking at the right-hand column of the webpage. And saying, "Oh." Nothing more. Logically, I would have expected more. This time around it's really weird though, I barely had butterflies in my tummy. Probably I am so used to being disappointed at seeing unfulfilled expectations there was little surprise. Probably I am so used to stomach all sorts of news this had relatively little impact. The only noticeable impact was that I went a bit loose on my budget that day.

The year-end office party we had on Friday was plain weird. It wasn't opulent but it was grand. We had this 'Wild Wild West' theme, so everyone had to rock up in a suitable costume. It wasn't long before my cubicle friends started pushing the line "on how Wild Wild West the costume can be." It ranged from gypsy styles ("gypsies can always be found anywhere"), to cheongsam ("there'd be Chinese immigrants") and turbans ("if there were Chinese, there would have been Arabs"). A lot of people ended up going there cowboy/cowgirl-styled. Some wore Amerindian garbs, others lady-ish garbs - this includes the likes of Little Women, saloon girls and a madam. There were two guys who hired Amerindian chief feather headdresses - one hired a circular one, the other a piece that went down to the legs (plus a cardboard tomahawk.) Consequently there was best costume competition too. The winner for ladies' costume was this guy who rocked up in a floor-length ball skirt and a demure, matching boned top PLUS a feathered hat and a lace parasol. It was very period so he would have hired it. Apparently he wore a bra; his colleagues stuffed it with tissue, helped him to dress, and put his makeup on. He put on a really good entertainment on the night by behaving like a lady and chattering away in a ladyish voice. So that was how he won :q

The people in this office go somewhat nuts in parties. I reckon it's because of the work pressure they are constantly exposed to, so when they can go crazy they go real nuts. Still couldn't believe it...

Yesterday I read some letters by my late paternal grandpa, addressed to my dad. It was like a journey to find out about someone I barely knew. The weird thing is, I can see how his traits were passed on to me: the slanted handwriting, the curled s, the tendency to use sepia ink, the way he ended every single one of his letters with "So long" (I usually end mine with "Take care".) All the letters were written in English with minimal peppering of Batak and Indonesian terms. He had had the tendency to be a pedant. Considering the fact he had learnt foreign languages on his own through correspondence, his ability to write in English was astonishing. He would have been born a linguist. On the other hand, I personally have to admit I didn't like his handwriting once he started using ballpens - it looked rather haphazard. It was also surprising to see the way he worried over my dad when he was young is similar to the way my parents worry about me, muttering away things like balancing study and social life. Hearts don't change much, do they.

On this, I thank God that I do not know him from life. Otherwise, we would probably the worst of relatives (disliking each other for being so similar) and I would have suffered a lot from being 'left alone' down here.

Yesterday, another "do-you-want-my-son/grandson/niece" episode happened. It coincidentally happened at a wedding. Luckily F4 is not my thing and I live overseas, so it was not hard to fend off. About the bride's bouquet, of course I tried catching it (since it came with a bonus of a mobile phone.) There was Stef too, doing the same thing and expecting the mobile ^^ Anyway, we ended up not catching it and it went to this weird-ish guy. So much for an effort to save money :q

I miss the good ol' days of uni, but they will never come back. What is left to do is to be courageous in putting all those idealist decisions into action. Today I have been stern to some people, and I wish I had been more cool-headed. To think of it, there are only twelve working days left for me in here. Only twelve more days to decide which way I will be heading.

Take care, and make your decisions well.

We've given each other some hard lessons lately
We've taken for granted our love means everything
We've pointed our fingers but not in the mirror
I'm sorry, sweet angel, I busted up your wings

Not any more, not any more, I want you to fly again...
'Cause it's a lonely life, when you keep hurt inside
We can start again, my forever friend.