A Musical, A University, A Library & A Restaurant

So on Sunday we zipped off to this halal yong tau foo stall along East Coast first for a quick lunch. I made a face. I hate yong tau foo, hate, hate, but I told him I could eat it once in the bluest of moons, so as not to be difficult.

It was quite fun picking the items, if only I didn’t have to eat them. Basically, we just took for each other what we believed to be nice (for me, I picked whatever looked edible). I ordered mine with a special sauce (yes, drown those things!!!), different from his and I watched in horrid fascination as my friend picked the choicest and yummiest item (one and only) in my opinion from my plate and popped it into his mouth when he said he wanted to try my order.

Me: Oi, I happen to like that piece very much okay. You also have it on your plate what. Why you take mine?

He: Wah lau, why you never stop me?

Me: I can’t believe you actually just ate it!

He: =_=”

Me: You could have just used a spoon and scooped the sauce what. Hmph.

Haha. Anyway, when the bill came, I was like “no, no wait, I will pay, I insist” and hurriedly whipped up my wallet. Unfortunately the bill came to only $12, which hardly offsets my debt.

He: *raised eyebrow* why you want to pay?

Me: Wah lau, I cannot owe you too much money okay.

He: You do realise my exorbitant interest rates huh.

*

Then we headed to the city to catch The Producers. Yes, we sat in those couple seats. But me, ever the mindful about how not to encourage without being discouraging, blithely tossed out that oh yeah, Minxiu and I had tried those when we watched Rent before he could get any wrong idea. Well, he could still get another wrong idea (even though I highly doubt it) but it’s still less wrong than the other prospective wrong idea when things are stubbornly in the gray.

Subsequently, we made a detour to the SMU for our virginal visit. Nice. The guy toilet stinks like hell though. Why are gents always so stinky??? (yes, I sneaked into the gents)

And finally off to the library. We were amazed at the sheer volume of reference books not for loan and the number of books kept under lock and key for display purposes on the shelves (I didn’t even feel like browsing through, such was the deterrence, have to ask for unlocking). At these levels, we spend more time by the window pane and attempting to figure which building was which at a distance as well as to surmise intellectually about architectural artifacts the best we could.

As an aside, I borrowed (using his card) Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy. Yes, I’m going to tackle this novel next and this is part of the valiant attempt to cover all the literature classics that I have missed out during my more youthful days.

Would you like to have dinner, he asked, before catching himself and adding, oh, but you need to go to Minxiu’s place.

Now it was 6.30pm when we finished exploring the library. I looked at him. The thought of having dinner together was very appealing. The girlfriends were leaving Minxiu’s place. By the time I get there, there would be very few, if any, people I do know. Plus I wanted to do some work and in order to fully discharge my social obligations as a good friend, I foresee myself staying for over an hour at the housewarming party. Even if I cabbed to and fro, I estimate that home will only be a possibility by 9pm. Well. That’s kinda late to start work.

So, in the end, I went off for dinner with him. Which isn’t too terrible if you buy my reasons. But it was terri-terrible when I found myself home only at 10.30pm. Shit man. With the wisdom of hindsight, go Minxiu’s place will reach home faster.

We ate at Tao’s, a place I’ve long wanted to try. Yummy. We had the best of both worlds: having the main courses in air-conditioned comfort and our desserts and exotic teas alfresco with decent live Chinese pop in the background. Ah, bliss. This is life. Lovely food, charming companion, good music. I can face the world again with vigour once more after I’ve soaked in all these.

I’m sorry to announce that he paid. What’s a girl gotta do in these circumstances. Protest? I could, but too much protest and insistence might give rise to wrong ideas, right. And the last thing I want is to sponge off. I did the next best and un-awkward thing to do. At the end of it, I thanked him for the day and said that I am keeping track of the snowballing amount. He reminded me it has hit $500. For the record, I believe it’s $140, for now. Well, I suppose he can be my escort for Grease and we will be quits.

I just like to say I do feel slightly improved. Most of the stress has miraculously vaporized. I’m happy to know my friends still love me, in spite of my nonsense. Thanks, Meihui and Minxiu!!

Nevertheless: Am I doing the right things? Am I signaling right? Or heavens forbid, are neon lights the only way to go? If so, may I kill myself first?

Best Friend brought up a good point when she pointed out that as Mr Dimples was never literary or a lit student to begin with, his signals should not be screwed up. There is no such thing as irony and paradox and the unorthodox. Everything quite clear what.

In other words, what I see is what I get. He means exactly what he is intending to mean.

Well. I shall call it a night and stop here.