In Continuum.

I Heart Strangers

Tada,a brand new skin.It has been on my mind for quite a while now,to change that bloody skin,but i never found the chance to do it.I guess,in a way,i never wanted to.I dont know,it just feels like the right time to do such a thing.So here it is, brand new and more gloomy than before.It's not like i love the pessimistic nature of myself,it's just the need for change,i guess.I need to breathe in new air,even if it poisons me.

On this gloomy Saturday afternoon,the sky was covered in gray,for the whole afternoon it threatened to rain but it never did.It was supposed to be routine,and i awaited that perfect moment to come so i can collapse into my fluffy bed and doze off into a dreamless sleep.But it never came,and i am still here waiting,listening to crazy punk rock music and banging my head to the drums(Yeah Yeah Yeahs is a crazy band!).

I was just thinking about a converation i had with Corinna yesterday night.We were talking about travelling,i think.Speaking of travelling my dear friend Invis is probably in Milan right now,enjoying the life of an average Italian and preparing for the competition,in Ita-fucking-ly.Okay,im not jealous,im not jealous.I shouldnt be...i shouldnt be...that didnt work,did it?

She was kind enough(Or evil enough),to call me from the airport before her depareture actually.It was kinda strange when i was playing guitar in camp and then my shorts started vibrating.Initially i thought it was the guitar,but it turned out to be a phone call.What a rarity,to recieve a phone call nowadays.I dont get that a lot.Now,didnt i just sound like a bachelor living alone with a cat,getting all excited over an adventurous trip to the phone?

Anyway,knock yourself out Invis.Hope you have fun in Italy.I know you wont be visiting Rome,but i guess in a way Milan's gonna be cool anyway.Any place in the world is practically better than this tuna-can-like Singapore.Take a hell lot of pictures for me,and make sure you help me check out if it is true that Italian women dont shave their armpits.Oh,and dont ever,ever close your fingers so that the tips of them are touching each other.The Mafia might just murder you and bury you somewhere in Sicily.

Anyhow,so we were talking about travelling,how lucky she was to be in Amsterdam(At that time)and stuff.Then we started talking about conversations with strangers.She said that she never had such experiences,and that everytime on the plane when she actually gets the chance to do such a thing,her parents would be around.And as for me,that is the case as well.I mean,i dont travel alone very often.Recently,yes but my luck with fellow passengers havent been a very good one to speak of.

The ideal passenger next to you on the plane would be,to me,a person of the same age,male or female,taking a flight alone to somewhere.That would be GREAT,wouldnt it?Like the scene from Before Sunrise,just strike up a conversation after that German couple storms out of the carriage.How poetic and dramatic would that be.

But,instead of having people of the same age,let alone cute females,i get old grumps most of the time.They dont just look old,they smell old.Old people are fine,really.But they are incredibly boring.You cannot argue by saying "Oh,you are going to grow old someday".I am perfectly aware of that fact,but that doesnt mean your interest level has to go downhill with your age?Paul Newman is an old dude and i think he is fascinating.They usually board the plane,and after about half an hour you find their seats pushed all the way down,with their blankets covered to their chins and falling softly asleep.Thank god,i have not met any snoring passengers but my own father.

Other than old people,i get young kids.Not kids,but KIDS kids,know what i mean?For some reason parents of these kids never go to the airport on time,and as a result they get separated from their kids sometimes.And when that happens the poor soul sitting beside your kid will suffer,because he is probably going to treat you like a babysitter and ask you to call the stewardess for him/her.I havent met any one of those anti-christs to ask me to change their diapers yet,but i met crying ones and those were pretty horrible.No wonder you dont like kids,Corinna.

So,that sort of sums up my flight experience regarding passengers.But then again,once in a while you do get more fascinating passengers,and strangely enough these so-called "Strangers" are usually caucasian.It's not a general observation,but a tried and tested claim on my part.They are more friendly than Asians,the way they look at you when you ask them something,or say something out of the blues is just different.

This is how the caucasian reacted when i asked for the newspaper she had in front of her.It was about an hour into flight,i remember.She wasnt reading the papers,and since i forgot to grab one of those on the way in i asked her if i can borrow that newspaper for awhile."Oh,sure dear" was the answer i got.She even asked me keep it.Then we started talking about travelling,our destinations and the boredom of flying,which was in fact the most interesting part of it.How ironic,huh?

Now,an Asian wouldnt even be half as friendly as the caucasian.Both of them are strangers,but the response can be totally different.I am not saying all Asians are narrow-eyed,narrow-minded and narrow-hearted,or all caucasians are open-minded and open-hearted.It's just my personal experiences with them,that's all.And Asians will react in a very strange way to you if you happen to ask them for something,or simply some casual talks to kill time.

If you talk to an Asian out of the blues he or she is going to stare at your for a second or two with that look in their eyes,as if they are asking,"Why the hell did you talk to me for?There are other people around,right?" I mean,it is okay to think that way,but you dont have to frown and force your eyebrows to bend inwards into this strange shape,signally to me to fuck off,right?Im just trying to kill time,and help you kill yours at the same time.

So that is the difference between caucasians and asians.That's a shame though,that that doesnt happen in the local context.I mean,i rule around the bookstores often and i always see innocent victims on the verge of buying some atrocious books.I remember once at Borders when i was wandering through the "Mysteries/Thriller" section,i saw this pretty decent girl picking up "The Rule of Four" book and was reading the sypnosis at the back of it.I desperately wanted to stop her,telling her how utterly wrong her decision was to even consider buying the accursed book.I even had the opening line worked out in my head,and was just about to do it when she saw me staring at her,and gave me that look.Yeah,THAT look.Oh,how irritating.I swear if there were free Yellow Pages on the shelves i couldve tore them apart one by one.I hated those looks,the way they make you feel so trivial.

Disneyland was a memorable experience,especially this middle age guy i met on this big passenger boat.It was like those double-storey boats in the 20s,with a big wheel at the side to propel the boat?Something like that.Anyway,it was a sunny day,and this middle age guy with his kids was beside myself.So he asked me about the weather,where i came from and stuff.I mean,i respected him for the fact that he respected me as a person,and not this eight year old kid from the far east.

If i were to do so to some stranger on the street,just go up to him or her and ask about the weather,he or she is probably going to look at me with doubtful eyes and wonder if i am going to kidnap her and rape her in some deserted warehouse in the middle of nowhere.Trust me,in the society we live in that is going to be the mentality of people when you approach them,and it's down right sad,in my opinion.

Oh well,i guess in a way it is because i love strangers.The feeling of knowing new people,people living in different lives.I remember conversing with this ER nurse in America once over Yahoo!,and we had a great conversation about surgical procedures,the hours she had to endure and most of all how she juggles life in the ER with her family.It was amazing,to get to know people like that.Which is perhaps,one of the chief reasons why i love travelling so much.Is it because of the people i get to meet,or is it really because how cold people are between one another in Singapore?How we are drifting so far apart from one another that we need to crash into them for them to notice you?

I need to get out of here,damn it.