Together Yet Apart Yet Together

It was 7:00 PM at McDonalds. I secured the table nearest to the toilet and sat down. The table allowed me a direct view of the queue of customers waiting to order. "Here is good," I thought. "I'll just do my marking here while keeping an eye on the queue. Then when the queue is shorter, I'll walk over and buy a drink." I took out the stack of essays and began to read intently.

It was 7:30 PM. You called telling me you would be late and would not be able to join me for dinner and that I should go ahead and eat without you. "The fish and chips from the western food stall at the coffee shop is good, why not have that?" you suggested. I couldn't stop myself from sighing after you hung up.

It was 8:30 PM. The fish and chips WERE good. Eating alone, however, was quite sad.

It was 9:30 PM. You finally came back with a box of fried bee hoon. You transferred some of the bee hoon into a bowl and handed it to me and we settled in front of the TV watching Shark's Tale. We laughed at the Robert De Niro shark with the mole. "Who's the fish?" you asked. "Will Smith."

Speed Dating, Frozen Embryos And A New Epiphany

Sis and her colleague had just decided not to attend a speed dating event.

"I'm too shy and my colleague doesn't want to put her handphone number on the form," she explained.

"I think it's very stressful. You are given a limited time to introduce yourself and chat briefly and then you have to swap partners." I had seen it being done in one episode of Sex And The City.

"Really? Sounds robotic, like conveyor belt sushi, except you are served men instead," she laughed.

I wondered if relationships that started on such an unnatural note could really work. After all, the era when people stay committed to arranged marriages was long gone. I felt it was better to meet men through normal day-to-day interactions and told sis so.

"Women worry because their biological clock only gives them that much time. If they are too passive, by the time they meet someone, they may have to commit immediately, having no time for dating," sis explained patiently, knowing fully well how clueless gay men can be about women's issues. "The only way is to have your eggs frozen, then you can take as long as you want to find that right guy."

"Or adopt."

"But you may want your kids to have your own genetic makeup."

We were silent for a while, being both absorbed in our own thoughts.

"I have had a new epiphany since I started teaching," I said breaking the silence. "You can't choose how your child turns out to be. I have some students I really wish I were their parent," I continued, thinking of the boy. "Then, there are the other students," I sighed.

Sis chuckled, agreeingly. "Perhaps we can have cocktail children in the future, like in Gattaca."

Your Birthday

Lunch and a movie?

UOB gives special discount to card members who dine at selected restaurants on their birthdays. We should take advantage of it.

Also, we have been planning to catch The Da Vinci Code since way before it was released but just never got around to doing it. Unfortunately, not many cinemas are still showing it. Good thing you are off tomorrow so we can catch it during one of the afternoon screenings at Golden Village.

We are still together.