'A Dry Afternoon, Not Unlike The Coming Of Fever'

Today in Taiping: was the usual scarcity of parking spaces; the antagonizing presence of haze, tingeing the air with choking agents (isn't this a state of cause and effect? that we drive around in our machines looking for that ideal parking spot, all the while producing exhaust...)

Today in Taiping: strategic thinking and aggressive driving earned me honks and rude stares; but that's the way to go, I explained to mum as we got out of my properly parked car. Hungry parking meters were left unfed at each juncture of our errand (I noticed however that a few individuals were still blithe enough to pay on a day which the consensus has come to recognize as a public holiday). The stops; they were many. And I will try to sleep the effects of the day's travels (hopefully) off in a while.

Much to my relief, the visit to the dentist was a pleasant one--I related to him the complications which I was currently facing (which had started about a week ago), and with that account he checked me: he tapped, blew, pricked, and pulled (I actually feared that the testing would eventually rupture or worsen the present state of things within my mouth) only to find that there was nothing physically, visually; wrong. It would seem that my character is permeating out into the open, outer world; that even my physical traits are now somewhat reflective of my nature (in the beginning came the grays, which made people label me a thinker). I do not wish to become 'complete' this way.

Today in Taiping: as I headed back towards the car, parked a few blocks away (thanks again to the lack of parking spaces) lugging a 10 kilogram pack of Siamese rice, a peculiar looking man walked next to me and asked me in Cantonese if I had a child--and in my surprise, I resounded almost instantly: No (caught by surprise I would probably answer any question honestly!). My mum who was walking a few paces behind, having seen this, caught up, and asked me if he was someone I knew. And I could only shrug.

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