Nostalgic

It had been ages since the duo had seen each other, but the reunion was bittersweet. Singer and pianist separated to pursue their own careers ten years prior to the meeting, separating over personal and professional differences. Now, the nostalgic public demanded the comeback, and their popularity had been falling in later years. It was enough for them to receive the attention about the reunion that they were met with cameras and magazine reporters at their "airport reconciliation meeting." Their rehearsals were congenial but reserved, as they each noticed the effects of aging and maturing on each others' faces. Finally, the day came when they held a private interview with the biggest entertainment news program. Their smiles and uneasy laughter were broadcasted to the world, but it was unconvincing enough to generate a buzz about their incompatibility. Their comeback concert was poorly attended - rounded out with hardcore fans - and their tour was gratefully cut back. Finally, the day they called it quits, none of the media was paying attention to them anymore, and they sat together in the studio.

"What's that song we first sang together?" the singer asked.
"That was way back when the funk was big, but we were still stuck in those old folk songs," the pianist mused. "Oh I know, it's that one about the couple in love."
"Ah yeah. That's right. They had to part because of war or something."
The singer started humming a few measures, and the pianist found the right key. Soon, they started singing, and they didn't stop until the song was over. They took one look at each other, and laughed as they hadn't in twenty years.

Body

He spent his entire life with his bodybuilding obsession: full-time training at the gym, lifting weights, and constantly exercising. He talked, ate, and breathed the sport - so much that he had alienated all the non-bodybuilding people around him. However, he made a decent living with competitions and commercial promotions. At the age when most people thought of moving out of their empty nests, he was outpacing all his peers with limbs as thick as tree trunks.

Then disaster struck: due to a serious accident, he was hospitalized for the first time in his life. It was also the first time he had spent weeks unable to move freely, which broke his psyche. The hospital staff bore the brunt of his raving and inconsiderate behaviour. Each patient that was moved into his room quickly asked to be transferred to another. Finally, one patient seemed to tolerate the ramblings of the bodybuilder, and seemed to be blissfully listening.

The bodybuilder didn't understand why the other man was looking intently at him while he complained about how his body was broken, wasting away, and how frustrated he was becoming by the day. He also didn't know why the man never spoke back, nor even turned away. His talking never seemed to faze the man, which caused him to get angrier and then more subdued but annoyed. "It's like talking to a dummy!" he barked. "If you're going to look at me, at least react to something!"

A woman stepped into the room, and she stood by the man's bedside. The man gestured to the bodybuilder, who was now curiously silent, and started signing with his hands. The woman turned to face him and smiled. "He says he wants to thank you."

"What? Why? If I had known he were deaf I wouldn't have spoken to him."

The woman shook her head. The man signed some more. "He's just had an operation to gain his hearing for the first time, and you're the first person to have spoken to him like a real human being."

Nothing Ever Happens

The forest had all but been cut clean, save a solitary spruce tree that was saved because of its attractive shape and unusually large girth and height. The new owner of the lot had decided it could provide the land with some character, and it could also nicely raise the property value of the house to be built. The tree had stood for at least a hundred years, surviving season after season of intense snow storms and scorching summer mayhem. The tree's seeds made up part of the forest around it. The squirrels and chipmunks were often found under its boughs, and birds welcomed the cones especially in the winter. It was not unusual to see a moose hiding under it during vicious storms. But now a construction worker stood under it, hiding in the shade from the sweltering summer sun, smoking on his lunch break. The stub that had not been properly put out started the fire. Nobody noticed the tree, dry from the heat, robed in flames, until it was too late. The fire department put out the flaming stump, and all that was left was a dark frame of a tree. A few hours later, while nobody was looking, charred cones released their seeds.

Es-see-pa-die-nah***

I remember going to Toronto during the 2003 gigantic SARS scare. SARS was a terrible blow to all the Chinese communities - financially, socially, and probably even weakened family ties ... (that's another story). Due to the western world's irrational fears of contagious disease being transmitted through foreign-looking people regardless of nationality, and then people actually dying in Toronto of SARS, everyone avoided downtown Chinatown. And every Chinatown in the country.

So for the first time, ever, there were parking spaces on Spadina avenue. Every single restaurant had opened all their doors wide and advertised inexcusably cheap lunches, hoping for some customers to fill their unusually empty tables. Eddie wasn't concerned about SARS, and neither was I, so we went to a place for lunch (which was also deserted). We had only ordered one dish to share between us, as most Chinese restaurants make oversize portions with this intent. (It surprises me sometimes how Jorgh's family doesn't really understand this concept... but I guess it's a cultural thing.)

The waiter brought a massive bowl of tasty soup (one of those that you usually split between 6 to 8 people). "Included." Well...

After failing to consume enough soup to fill one of the great lakes, the waiter brought our oversized plate of "General Chow's" chicken and rice piled to the ceiling. Ok, I'm exaggerating - it was only halfway up to the ceiling. Even with Eddie's above average appetite and me being starved on the train for 4 hours without breakfast, we barely finished half of the meal. I thought it was a hugely overcompensating meal until the bill came... for 5 dollars. Now that was just ridiculous.

*** Say it like a middle aged chinese woman having been born over there but lived here for thirty-odd years yet never really got rid of the accent. Yeah, like that.

Hobby Accomplished

Fuzznuts, I lost the last story due to the keyboard "POWER" button. It was about a bodybuilder but now I'm too mad to write it again.

Hobby Accomplished

He had been waiting weeks for his package to arrive. It was the last remaining item to complete his collection of model trains from the industrial age. He had been anxious about its price - way beyond his immediate means - but he knew it would be worth the expense just to put it in his glass display case along with the rest of his collection. Then he could rest easy, knowing that he had finished his search. When the package arrived, he savored every moment cutting open the tape, lifting the box open, and digging out the packaging material. It was intact, and he was relieved. He slowly lifted it out of the box and admired its construction. Every facet was meticulously detailed and there was no defect as far as he could tell. He opened his display case, carefully placed it on the remaining empty spot, and closed the case. A few days later, he invited his friend to visit him to view the collection. His friend at first humored his enthusiastic stories, but impatience caused him to started taking out a train set.

"What are you doing?" he cried. "You're going to ruin it!"
"Made... in... China..."
"What does that matter? Hey!"
His friend gave him a frustrated look. "What's the point of getting all of these if you're never going to play with them?" the ten year old declared.

A Spider's Random Morning

The spider spent only an hour on it, but after it was completed, the web was the largest that the doorway ever saw. It glistened and gleamed in the early morning sunlight, with a few drops of dew still hanging between a few threads. The spider set itself directly in the middle and waited for the spoils of the day. It waited for a long time before a few small flies had become stuck in its web. The spider was ready to feast upon its morning meal when suddenly the door opened. A little boy and girl were just about to step outside and into the web when they immediately noticed a magnificently large web spanning the entire doorway, with a beautifully coloured spider as large as their mouths, now open wide and screaming into the daylight. Their mother hastily swatted away the morning art, and the spider scurried away into the nearby flower bed.

Flying Spiders

Most spiders don't have wings.¹ But there are "flying" spiders.^1.5 For some reason, my mum was pointing out some spider next to the side door earlier, saying something like, "Oh, that spider's flying about."²

I was wondering what one would look like. I mean a spider with wings.



Yeah that's not what I expected.

¹In fact, as far as we know, all spiders don't have wings.
^1.5See: Ballooning Spider.
²In fact, it's not an exact translation. I don't know my chinese too well.