A gentle soul

On the train recently, I happened to be seated across from a guy who was skinny, had scraggly hair and a couple of tattoos. There was a general wildness about him. He seemed to be one of those who couldn't care less what others thought of him.

I had him pegged as a Mat Rock, till he looked up and stared straight at me. He had the softest looking eyes I have ever seen on a man. It immediately made him seem gentler and at peace with the world. I couldn't help but stare back. It was hypnotic. Even after he looked away, I still felt strangely drawn to him.

And then, (and I'm not making this up), he started sucking his thumb. But it wasn't the kind of thumb sucking that infants and toddlers indulge in. It was weird. He had his thumb in his mouth, while the rest of his fingers stroked his face. He didn't seem to be consciously doing it - in fact he seemed to be in a different world altogether, and didn't seem to realise that people were looking at him.

The guy got off at the next stop, leaving me staring after him. There was just something inexplicably strange about him. He may have been stoned out of his mind, but those eyes ... they haunted me for the rest of the day.

I prefer to think of him as a gentle soul, rather than a stoned addict. It's a lot more heartwarming, don't you think? And that's what the world needs at this moment. More gentle souls.

Till next time, this is Kucing Gatal signing out with a gentle Meow.

V Day

Love? Bah!

But I am a sucker for this soppy, over-commercialised celebration, so:

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone :)

Here's a virtual rose for my dear readers.
@}-`--

One rose per person, while stocks last.

Different perspectives

I met an old school friend yesterday. She was carrying her 7-month-old son and seemed happy and contented. We chatted over coffee and filled each other in on our lives.

I was feeling envious that she seemed to have it all: good husband, cute kid, great job, nice house, when she looked at me and said, "Kucing, I'm jealous. You're single, you can do as you please. Me, I have to answer to my husband and I'm a slave to my child. I don't have any freedom. I wish I were in your shoes."

It was totally unexpected. Here I was, envying her lifestyle, when she was envying mine.

From outside looking in, she seems to have everything she needs. But in truth, she lacks true happiness. Still, she has a good deal more than many other people, and as she told me, she's truly grateful for that.

Would I choose her lifestyle over mine? Not right now. I do know that once I'm married, my priorities would totally change. Perhaps I'll miss my old lifestyle. But I would have made the change by choice, unlike this friend of mine who had an arranged marriage.

The grass only looks greener ...

Till next time, this is Kucing Gatal signing out with an eye-opening Meow.

Muse wanted

I've been neglecting my blog lately, mostly due to work commitments. Ever notice how your boss happens to pass by your desk whenever you're doing something that's not work related? Whenever I get a bit bored and start surfing, somehow the boss senses it from across the room and makes his way towards my desk. Sometimes I'm so absorbed that I don't even notice he's there until he speaks, which makes me jump out of my skin.

By then it's too late to close whatever window I have open, so I just have to look confident, stare him in the eye and ask him what the hell he wants. In a more polite way of course. If it's not the boss, it's some big mouthed colleague who will very loudly ask, "Eh, surfing AGAIN ah??!" or "You buying something from ebay ah??!" or "Is that your blog??!"

Sometimes I wish this colleague would be run over by a very big lorry when she's crossing the road. Then I realise how mean I'm being and pray for forgiveness. After all, pity the lorry driver who'll be haunted for the rest of his life by a loud-mouthed girl screaming at him: "You couldn't see me meh??! So blind ah??! Stupid bastard, why you langgar me??!"

Anyway, I've been lucky so far. Never been told off by the boss for all that unproductive surfing, but that's probably because I get my work done well on time. Otherwise I'd probably be the reason for an office-wide memo banning all Internet surfing during work hours.

But the boss has been in a spectacularly bad mood recently and I don't want to give him an excuse to get mad at me and fire me or worse, yell at me in front of everyone. That would be incredibly malufying. Hence, no blogging during working hours.

And the rest of the time? Well, I'm just plain lazy ;) Plus my life's been so boring lately that there's nothing interesting to blog about. I think I'm suffering from blogger's block. Anyone got a cure?

Till next time, this is Kucing Gatal signing out with an uninspired Meow.