It’s four o’clock in the morning. I should be sleeping by now. But thanks to my lovely afternoon nap, I’m still awake. I had promised myself to put in a couple of hours of work since I’m still up but haven’t really got the motivation to do that. It is after all a Friday and from experience, my brain just stops processing on this particular day of the week. Of course it might just be the effect of a few shots of cheap brandy that I had been sipping.
Earlier in the evening, I walked the half kilometer to the ATM machine to pay off some credit card debts. There was a token line of 3 people in front of me, among them were a couple having a spat. It was pretty hard not to listen as they were unabashedly airing dirty laundry right in front of me. The guy in front of them was visibly a bit irked despite the mp3 player that seemed glued to his ears. Their spat intensified when they got in the ATM booth, and this had caused quite a delay that the guy behind me knocked on the transparent glass door to remind the couple that there were people waiting for them to get out. (The non-confrontational me just stood there waiting) So the couple finally got out speechless, finally.
Judging from their uniforms, they were students from the university right across the street. Despite their spat, they still walked out of the booth arm in arm, though their facial expressions still bore their frustrations towards one another. Weird.
***
After paying off a fraction of my debts, I found myself walking another 200 meters or so towards the drugstore to buy some personals. I have this “thing” where I think I need to buy something and when I get to the store, I suddenly have a change of heart and drop it completely, due in part, I’m sure, to my stingy nature. So after browsing through a few other items, I walked out empty handed. Why do I do this? I am not quite sure but I do this a lot. I walk into the department store with a mission to buy brown shoes and I walk out without anything. Rather quite unlike my mom who walks into a store to buy toothpaste perhaps and comes home with a bag full of items.
Looking back, this habit of mine has either saved me money or deprived me of some necessity that I refuse to acknowledge. Maybe I should have bought the damn thing before I paid my credit card dues? Who knows.
***
Walking back to my apartment, I found it eerie that I chanced upon the quarreling couple once again. They were standing outside of their school gate still arguing, yet still locked arm in arm. The night class had just ended as an army of uniformed student were pouring out of the gate but there they were, still at each other.
I got back to my empty apartment and promptly plopped myself on the couch and turned on the television. The Amazing Race Asia had just begun. I lay there, half watching the show and half daydreaming about what I would have done being in the same situation. I then went on to think to myself who I wanted to pair up with for the contest. Mentally, I unraveled a list of qualifications that my partner should possess. A knowledge of different Asian cultures, athleticism and a sense of humor (ever notice how witty those guys can be?). I had it short listed to three possible candidates, but then concluded that with my easy going, happy go lucky attitude our team would probably be the first one eliminated. Way to go, dude.
***
So now I find myself writing nonsense at four o’clock in the morning, and I’m still trying to figure out if writing all this is a waste or a means for me to express myself. Oh well…
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