22 Jan

Woke up and decided (after a scrambled egg breakfast) to head over to MINDs. I stupidly decided to walk, because the adult bus fare is so ridiculously draining, but I gave up when I saw the bus pass me at the Queenstown library. The sun was out, and I was in my Nikes which always makes me feel confident, and the golden shower trees were shedding yellow petals in shoals along the pavement.

In MINDs, the place was busier than usual (At least 5 other people in the shop!) An old woman came in announcing "It is my birthday today!" and was returned with a chorus of "Happy birthday Carol!" from the (I suppose) regulars in the shop and the 2 grey haired cashiers. Soon after, Carol's daughter came in with her toddler-son Tom, who alternately shouted "Mama MAMA MAmA mamA MAma maMA MamA MAMa maMa", or wormed about on the floor, or pulled clothing and bric-a-brac from the shelves (I don't blame him...the clothes all have a lovely, worn in, warm, grandma sort of smell) . Soon he progressed from MAMAMAAMAMAMA to OUTOUTOUTOUTOUTOUTOUTOUT, soon after which they did.

On the way back, children from the Lee Kong Chian Gardens School were walking in to school. On young boy ambling along with his maid reached out and touched my arm as I passed, and I thought of Jesus and how people used to touch him and his coat or lie under his shadow as he walked through the world restoring Eden.

That night, I met Niki for dinner, who was glad to sit after 8 hours of working. She's saving up for New Zealand by working hours in a day under the scourge of repetitive  Chinese New Year music and standoffish customers, whilst I am saving up for Melbourne by making a Melbourne jar and giving tuition to TWO children only. (Oh yes, I didn't get the teaching job at ACJC) We talked about fine lines between healthy eating and obsession, between normal emotion and over mood swings. After a heavenly pear and cheese crumble for dessert at brunetti (and a conversation about cutlery), we walked along the darkening streets of Orchard road and in the still noisy white bright malls. For a rest, we sat on the steps of Ion and watched the cars speeding past, their headlights adding to the blaze from the building lights and the glow from the fair lights in the trees. /Beam/Blaze/Glow/  Niki noticed how time seemed to have slowed for us, that we were in some sort of limbo (which i suppose was sort of meta I suppose since we are in a limbo between school and school, schedule and schedule, routine and routine) Then we got into an interesting conversation about time and why we humans think we can name and own it when it just slips by anyway no matter what we do. (Why is an hour an hour? And why is it comprised of 60 minutes and each minute 60 seconds and can you keep breaking it down or is it somehow composed of immutable and distinct particles ala Democritus and his atom theory)

After Dad picked me up we went grocery shopping and we had a basket full of banans, blueberries, 15 apples, paul's yoghurt, soy milk and banan crunch cereal and spinach. A full basket of fruits makes me really really happy. (I like making lists in my head of how I'll eat them for breakfast...today (27/01) I'm having Banana nice cream for breakfast!!!!)