tales from an ordinary world

2000-05-13

In the Malaysian restaurant, some proud parents Ooh and Aah over their young son mastering the use of chopsticks. I remember doing this - every time my parents got Chinese takeaway, we'd eat it at home with chopsticks. This sounds rather tacky, but at least I can use them now (if not completely properly).

On the way back to Mavis' house, the effect of a fairly uplifting song on the radio (the Pet Shop Boys' cover of Go West - oddly enough, the Village People film was on TV this afternoon) is cancelled by the sight of a fairly bad crash - the battered car, the multiple police cars with lights ablaze, and the tow truck silently waiting just adjacent to the scene.

At the pool parlour, I sit on the bench and watch from the edge. Smoke curls up quickly like a warning signal from the cigarette at my knee. An old U2 song plays on the jukebox, reminding me of meaningful high school days gone by.

My observations cease while I play a lack-lustre game against Mavis, who's in much better form tonight. The world is a rectangular piece of green cloth where one learns to master geometry, inertia and momentum. A world in which my sense of control needs some serious work, but one in which I can manage to keep my head above water - waving, not drowning.