48 hours

No man is an island
No man is an island entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as a manor of thy friends or of thine own were; any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind. And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.

-John Donne-

Went for  short trip to my second home over the weekend which I thought would only involve 2 things. Catching up with friends and aikido. It turned out to be much more than that.

I managed to do both but because I only had 48 hours time management was abit of a problem. So on short trips like this I only tell a few of my friends. But then again which is worse, telling your friend but able to meet up or not telling at all and they found out later? It all depends on your discretion and conscience really. Maybe at the very least you should call?

First thing after arriving I went for dinner and a stand up comedy performance by the local up and coming comedian by the name of Kuah Jen Han. He first appeared as Rambo Tan and then by himself in his first solo act. He takes the CinaPek approach and speaking Chinglish. It was a night of laughter as I find myself relating to things Asian, Chinese and Malaysian. It was drinks after and I met a new acquaintance and a good friend whom I met from diving. The acquaintance was occupied with a personal matter. Good friend came over a little later and that is where the fun begins! First of all he commented on my slack in consuming standards but hey, I never did have a chance to practice back home. As the night went on it gets more and more interesting. We spoke about boundaries and innuendos. I don't think I will dwell into my mode of communication but suffice to say that the words "too straight, naive and blur" ruled the night. 

I felt bad for making the same mistake but am glad that the conversation happened. Sometimes it is very important who you interact or choose to surround yourself with. I realized that sad as it may sound, you can only interact with a person only in a confined situation, or specific situation. And yes, I am very glad for that night. Alas, after the analysis and diagnosis it was time to go before I could speak more to my good friend about his happenings in life. Next trip I shall make a better effort. I will call on you when I next come over buddy!

The next day I managed to have a short chat with my SM and caught up with her. Soon it was time for me to get ready to meet up with my aikido friends and off I went. I met another friend who was the taxi driver that SM introduced to bring me around. Very chirpy and friendly Punjabi who spoke fluent Cantonese. 

The afternoon spent with some very good friends in my aikido life followed by an instructive training lesson. I also got a very nice gift: a kuro obi with my grandfather's name on it. I will leave the aikido part for another post. 

For the evening I was supposed to cook dinner and make chocolate fondant for SM but..ahem...that did not happen. I feel very bad about it but then again I can't really do all that much in 48 hours. I should not have been overly ambitious and promised SM. So once more I did not live up to my promise. I shall make it up to her in a few months' time. This time it will be a much longer trip and I will feed her silly! Hehehehe.

Catching up with E over dinner was wonderful. I apparently amused her husband with some of my recent happenings. To his joy he found out that SM is also a Manchester United FC fan and the European Champions finals between Manchester United and Barcelona FC was due to be aired in a few hours' time. I watched it with SM and boy Barca outclassed Man U. Man U just could not keep up with Barca and I felt a lack of spirit among the Man U players as a team. Oh well I only watch soccer once every 4 years and occasionally with SM so I should just congratulate Barca for a winning the championship.

Although the 48 hours were exhausting it ironically injected me with some positive energy. It was because I was around some good people with some really good energy. People who love and people who care. People who take relationships seriously.

Thank you friends for being part of my life.