Sunday, December 10, 2006

Think of me?

You know how you tend to micromanage your life. For instance, for me this last Friday, it was supposed to be like this: go home at five, be at the gym by 5:30, dine out at 7, followed by a one hour napping, and finally to have some kind of a night life --which usually ends up being catching the midnight show at the movie place. But then something unexpected came.

Five minutes to five, a knock at my office door.

"I'm still here..."

"Ah, you are still here. When are you leaving?"

"Monday."

"Hm..six weeks, huh? I wouldn't know what to do if I have all of those time in Indonesia."

"You're not used to too much fun and actually missing working?"

"Yeah, I guess...ha ha ha."

"Well...I'll be working too, a little bit, sometime during those six weeks."

And that was the start of a nice long talk, well, not really long, about an hour or so. The conversation couldn't be easier, everything flew naturally, and that we sort of finished each other's thoughts.

I guess I am falling into the idea of sharing stuff with someone who knows what I am really talking about, and I mean not just about school or work stuff, but also something beyond. A good conversationalist makes you comfortable revealing things you don't actually say to others. And this person, he's just like that.

Towards the end, he said he needed to go already, twice, but there was always something that pulled us back. The last part was how the religion of the majority of the masses turns into a cultural thing and in time is being taken for granted.

"Do you celebrate Christmas?"

"Yeah, I am a Catholic. Don't you? I mean people from your country are predominantly Catholic, no?"

"I don't know what I am. I don't really go anywhere or do anything."

"Hm. But you are baptized, right?"

"Twice...I didn't remember the first one. But I got pictures of the second one. They tilted my head like that and poured the water over."

"Ha ha ha...is that a cultural thing there, to get baptized twice?"

"I don't know. I asked, they never gave any good explanation... Well, I really need to go now. Merry Christmas. I'll see you next year."

"Merry Christmas. Yeah, I'll see you next year too. Have fun!"

Ah, six weeks, huh. I wonder if we will be thrown into this kind of nice conversation then, just innocently getting to know him. But knowing my luck...


Think of me
Think of me fondly
When we've said goodbye
Remember me
Once in a while
Please promise me
You'll try

When you find
That once again you long
To take your heart back
And be free

If you ever find a moment
Spare a thought for me...


--Think of Me from The Phantom of the Opera

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