of memoirs and musings

It's 3.30 a.m. and the coffee table in the hall is covered with wrist corsages made of blushing roses, ivy leaves and satin ribbons, chinese take-out boxes filled with goodies, half-eaten mooncakes and presents both wrapped and opened. Ah Tan's fallen asleep on the sofa after our mini cocktail session gone bizarre: whisky on the rocks and dry gin with lemon and soursop juice plus nata de coco bits. Looking out of the windows, you'd be mistaken we were on Fraser's Hill, except that it's not cold nor misty and the air smells faintly of smoke. Cloaked by the haze, the moon reminds me of the dry orange egg yolk left behind after the rest of the mooncake got devoured. I think it's time to put my superpower to use later today... let's see, what kind of songs for monsoon rain again? Oh yeah. Yup. Oasis.

Saint Nicholas sure came early this year! Ah Tan gave me a brown tweed newsboy cap for my birthday present and a dried maple leaf from NYC while I bought myself a cotton bomber jacket. Sugeo gave me a FIFA World Cup '06 Deutschland scarf, a book of selected poems by Pablo Neruda and Xavier Naidoo's latest album, Telegramm für X! On top of that, Supra and him also got me Alaa Al Aswany's The Yacoubian Building! Speaking of books, David Sedaris' Naked and three new Haruki Murakami books join the reading queue back home. Yup, Mr. Spin-Spin is back despite the brain carousel we had from digesting Kafka on the Shore.

Sugeo's on the plane back to Aalen now, along with Parka the polar bear... all fattened up for winter. Can't wait till we meet again next June in Baden-Württemberg, Lijiang or Roma (Round Two-Gelato-Ding!) , Sugeo! Whichever destination Atah and Mama choose, I think our dear Ms. Sood-Doo will be the happiest! In the meantime, I'll work hard on my bowling pinfall score and that submission deadline...