小小说

“要是暑假没事儿的话,就过来吧。”

要真让我记起来是怎么认识小夏的,可能就是从他说了那句话之后吧。暑假说白了就是让人懒惰的期间。过那个暑假的时候我刚刚失恋,不用上学也不用上班,闲来没事儿就找小夏。暑假后我又交了个男朋友,往后的见面小夏都是被动的一方。要是我不打电话,他也就不来打搅我的生活。但若是我闷了,还是会时不时的去个电话。小夏很方便,随传随到。我也没想过哪天他会不会不方便。真的,这念头从来就没有过。

我跟小夏是经过朋友介绍认识的。当时朋友介绍了两个人。一开始我本来比较喜欢另外那个。饭桌下跟朋友悄悄地讨论过。另外那个个字比较高,长得也比较俊俏。所以一开始我跟另外那个联系得比较密切,但是越交往越觉得他太肉了。干什么事儿都不是个事儿,做了等于没做。有一次我们三个人一起出去,交钱的时候我看不过去。他一个劲儿地磨蹭个什么啊。我就打算干脆自己掏了得了,省得丢人。结果服务员过来告诉我小夏已经交了。当天晚上我就把他给甩了。

这些年来无论我是单身还是交了男朋友,小夏跟我都仍然是若有若无的状态。我总是觉得有些事情就算是有了男朋友,也还是要找他。有时候我都觉得奇怪,为什么从来没有一个男朋友会担心我跟小夏有个什么的?小夏说那是因为我交的男朋友跟他完全不是一个类型的人。我琢磨了半天,也想不出来怎么就不是一类人了。

我跟朋友约在了咖啡厅里。朋友问我最近的感情生活如何,我回答不出个所以然来。

“不就还那么一回事儿嘛。”

“姑娘啊,你可不小了啊。工作也几年了,怎么对象还是一换再换啊?”

“那又怎么啦?咱们一届的人大部分也都刷单儿呢。”

“什么咱们一届的,你说谁呢。我认识的可该结婚的都结了。”

“你跟小夏不都还单飞着么。”

“呸呸呸。我那是有原因的,再一年就出国了,我结个鬼婚啊。再说人家小夏还不是给耽误在你手上了。我说安迪呀,我是真想在结婚前给你推销出去啊。否则我一走了,你可咋办。”

“说什么呢。你走了我外甥打灯笼照旧呀。”我又想了想,觉得不对劲。“你说什么我耽误小夏了?”

“你真不知道假不知道?小夏一大好青年这么多年都没交女朋友你以为什么啊?不过好在前些天我给人介绍了一女孩儿,现在正欢喜着呢。”

“什么?小夏交女朋友了?”我突然感觉老天爷好像在我的头上挖了个坑。

这段日子我确实没怎么给他打电话。实在是因为上次过后我感觉有点儿尴尬。上次见小夏也是在这个咖啡厅,坐的位置跟现在也差不了太多。我问小夏为什么说自己跟我的男朋友不是一类人。他反问我有什么感觉。我抚心自问,还真没觉得有什么太大的差异,无非就是交过得几个男朋友都长得更帅气一些。我并不是觉得小夏长得不咋样儿,只是不怎么会捯饬自己。头发总是乱蓬蓬的,有时候见面觉得挺桀骜的,有时候却比较尴尬了。但是跟小夏在外边儿,我心里是实打实的舒坦,没必要去担心有的没的。交个男朋友就费事儿多了,出个门儿单单是化妆就得花半天功夫。我来例假的时候,脸上总是会起很多小红包。一到这种时候,我就避免化妆,出个门儿啊什么的就给小夏挂个电话。

我实在没想到小夏会有女朋友。并不是说我觉得他交不到女朋友,只是我一直没觉得有女孩子能配的上他。我一直觉得那个女孩子起码得比我漂亮些,比我能干些,比我更有女人味一些。而我也一直没碰到过这样的女孩子,所以就一直觉得小夏没有交女朋友是理所当然的。看着朋友在坐在我对面喝着咖啡,突然觉得我必须马上给小夏打电话。我突然觉得朋友很多事很讨厌,为什么要给小夏介绍对象呢,怎么一直以来都没觉得朋友竟然那么八卦。我心好慌呀,要是小夏不接我的电话该怎么办呢。我已经不那么重要了,女朋友当然要比我重要了。我要是想要出去吃饭找不到他该怎么办呀。我要是再失恋了该怎么办呀。我要是……

”安迪!你想什么呢?丢了魂儿啦?”

“哦,啊,对不起。我突然想起还有事儿。我先走了。”

“你要上哪儿去啊?我还约了小夏跟他女朋友要一起吃饭呢。”

“啊?哦。在哪儿啊?”我心里真是感觉沮丧得可以。为什么这么一个陌生人竟然可以跟我们一起吃饭。我突然意识到自己穿的衣服太随便了。“还有没有时间?我想先回家一趟。”

“晚饭在6点。到时候我去接你。你要是有事儿你就先回去吧。”

到了家我一刻都没闲着。从柜子里拉出了约会时才穿的裙子,拿去了吹干还要熨。高跟皮鞋要擦,脸要做面膜,还有头发要洗要锔油。最后等我一切就绪的时候,已经6点过了。我长发披肩,滑得像丝一样,粘了假睫毛,长长的弯弯的翘翘的,真丝的长裙,真皮的高跟鞋。虽然一切就绪,但出门的时候我心里还是忐忑不安,会不会穿的太隆重了一些,是不是太夸张了一点。但是朋友见到我后,看着她眼睛一亮我就像吃了一颗定心丸一样。

我们去的餐厅是一家私人俱乐部装修过的。就是那种环境好得跟皇宫似的,但是吃的就比地摊儿上的还差劲的地方。进去了后,我第一个感觉就是高跟鞋全无用武之处,踩在软绵绵的长毛地摊上,一点雄赳赳气昂昂的感觉都没有。再等我看到小夏,我就完全安静了下来,连心都不慌了。我觉得心应该已经死了。小夏懒洋洋地坐在餐桌对面靠墙的沙发上。我们一进去就看到他了。而他的女朋友则懒洋洋地靠着他,像个水做的娃娃似的。餐厅的气氛要命的好,而他们俩也要命的般配。女朋友长得很清秀,跟我完全不一样的味道。她没有化妆,头发也是自来卷,穿着淡黄色的喇叭裙,就跟个刚毕业的大学生似的。

“安迪,你来了啊。”还好小夏的声音还是一个样子。他似乎忘记上次我们见面的尴尬。还是说从头到尾都是我自己在闹别扭,他根本没有在乎?

“嗯,我来了。你女朋友?”有些事情虽然明显,但仍是要戳一下。我这种人就是不见棺材不掉泪。

“嗯,这是彭丽。”

“彭丽是中央美术学院的高材生毕业,我上次去她学校采访就是她接待的。”原来真的是毕业没多久的。小夏不会嫌她太嫩么。还是说小夏觉得女孩子越年轻越好?我听不进朋友陆陆续续数落出人家其他的优点了。我满脑袋都是小夏。

“安迪,你怎么了?”我回过神儿来看到小夏夹了一个鸡翅给我。

我脸一红,夹回了给他。“我不要,不想吃。”其实我是想吃的,但是我总是觉得这种需要用手的东西还是在家自己偷着吃比较好。今天过来见他的女朋友,我怎么可以在她面前吃鸡翅呢?

“但你不是很喜欢吃么?”小夏讷讷地看着我。

我实在不知道该说些什么。我看着他的眼睛只想要哭出来。我觉得委屈极了。我是在给你面子呀,我不想要你女朋友觉得你的朋友没有吃相啊,难道你看不出来么。我最终低下头,默默地把鸡翅夹了回来。“嗯,我吃。”但是直到饭后我都没鼓起勇气把鸡翅吃掉。我偷偷地把它埋在米饭下面。

那顿饭后,我就再没见过小夏他女朋友。他们交往了一年,一年期内我跟小夏说过的话大概还没他跟我朋友说过的话多。而一年后,我听朋友说他女朋友出国了,去了维也纳留学。我问朋友小夏被甩了?朋友告诉我他们俩是谈好了说要分手的,而且好像是小夏劝说人家出国的。我下了半天决心,打算给小夏挂个电话。我心想,我失恋的时候都是小夏帮我调理过来的,这次是我欠他的。

“喂?”但是听到他的声音后,我突然不知道该说些什么?说我听说你分手了?他都没告诉我啊。“是安迪么?”

糟糕,他怎么知道我是谁的。“你怎么知道我是谁的?”

“我也不知道,猜的。我一直觉得你应该打了吧,但是一年多了,你现在才打过来。”

“我……我一直都想给你打电话的。但是总是觉得你在忙。而且你也没给我打啊。”

“从来都是你给我打电话。你的电话总是变,你连你现在的电话号码都没给我。”

“哦……对不起。”我觉得自己真是浑啊,怎么连这点都没想到。

“我请你喝咖啡吧。好久都没去了。”

坐在同一间咖啡厅里,我依稀还记得上次我们俩在这里的感觉。那天过后我感觉很别扭,很长一段时间都没给他打电话。再次见到他,他已经跟女朋友在一起了。之后的很长时间,晚上我都会梦见那一天。我总是在想,如果我没有说出那样的话,现在会不会有些不一样?

“安迪,你还记得上次我们在这里说过些什么吗?”

“记得。”我突然觉得死过去的心又开始慌了。

“你问我为什么会觉得你交往过的男朋友跟我不是一类人。”

“嗯,你告诉我那是因为我不相信他们,而我相信你。”

“然后你告诉我,如果交了女朋友就会知道,无论怎样都会相信对方的。就像你相信你的男朋友一样。”我听到小夏用那么清淡的口吻来重复我说过的话,突然感觉脸上热辣辣的红了起来。“安迪,我交了女朋友了。我也明白你所谓的相信了。”

我看着小夏,突然觉得心可能要再次死去。

“安迪,你所谓的相信,只是指泛泛而言的相信。你没有给男朋友很高的期待,所以对他们的信任就随而减低。就好比你相信天气预报说明天会晴天一样。无论晴天与否你都还会照样出门,所以你的相信对你以及对你的男朋友而言都是廉价的。而我所谓的相信,是不一样的。我相信我了解你更胜于你交过的任何一个男朋友。我更相信你需要我更胜于你交过的任何一个男朋友。”

我的心,复活了。听着小夏微颤的声音,我突然意识到小夏也在紧张着。“你既然相信,为什么还这么紧张?”我承认自己心很坏,活过来后就忍不住要揶揄人家。

“因为我不相信自己竟然用了一年多来明白这个道理。”

“而我不相信自己竟然忍了一年多都没给你打电话。”

 

《完》

21

一岁那年我还是个奶娃儿

两岁那年我看到了未来的离别

三岁那年我浅酌了烦恼为何物

四岁那年我品尝了刺猬蛋糕

五岁那年我命名了李阿姨牛魔王

六岁那年我投入了三干所的怀抱

七岁那年我遇到了撒谎的孩子

八岁那年我赞了钱给妈妈买生日礼物

九岁那年我发现了自己的特异功能(耳鸣)

十岁那年我从天堂上摔了下来

十一岁那年我祈祷了356夜,夜夜盼望可以回中国

十二岁那年我进行了偷书活动

十三岁那年我懂得了什么是坏人

十四岁那年我又从天堂掉了下来

十五岁那年我感到了自身的渺小

十六岁那年我尝试了恋爱

十七岁那年我计划了改造活动

十八岁那年我的期盼落了空

十九岁那年我放弃了改造计划,开始了新生活

二十岁那年我吃掉了面团

 

…to be continued

Crushes in the Past

I’m defining crush as a strong sense of attraction for no apparent reason that doesn’t last very long (less than a month in my case).

 

===Elementary School===

刘畅 – 我不记得了。但是后来小学同学聚会的时候被提到说好像是喜欢过,但具体小时候究竟有没有喜欢,我记不太清楚了。我只记得小学的时候他是班上的体育委员,很喜欢踢足球。后来的聚会慢慢地感觉他很够朋友、性格不拘小节、喜欢开玩笑。哎,童年一去不复返。

Ryan or Brian – I can’t remember his last name.. nor his first name. But I’ve narrowed it down to either Ryan or Brian. He’s not the most popular guy in the class, often quiet, has his own group of friends. I’ve never even talked to him in class in my memory. I remember Tracy asking me what do I see in this guy and I replied with I don’t really know. I think it began when I watched him playing basketball. He reminded me of my cousin, which then reminded me of everything in Beijing. He has blond hair and blue eyes, pale and skinny, not very tall. Yes, I still don’t know why I had a crush on him.. But I do remember jotting down his number wanting to call him after school but eventually hid the number behind the poster in my bedroom..

===High School===

David Tingle – I had this crush for a day while dating boyfriend Jonathan. I think I was crying in Physics class and he sang my all time favorite song Green Eyes by Coldplay to me. So yea.. the magic of music. It didn’t last very long though, the feelings faded as I went to bed that night. David has the prettiest blue eyes I’ve ever seen though. Damn, I wish I can have them..

===University===

Albert Chau – He’s my Calculus Professor. I couldn’t remember his name, so I went on ratemyprofessors.com to find him (He’s being rated very high with a hot chili beside his name). Erm.. yea.. I’m not weird.. I think I developed the crush after watching A Beautiful Mind with Tracy. The idea of dating a math prof just became so wonderful over that movie. There are various occasions of flirting using words of wisdom between John Nash and his student soon to be wife (or you can simply call them being nerdy). But at that time I was completely drawn to the idea that math can be very romantic. I’ve actually attempted to pursue my crush by attending to his class even though I’m not supposed to go to his class (I belong to the other section). I then went to his after class office hours just before the midterm to “ask him questions”. After the other student was gone (I really wished he wasn’t there to begin with), we started talking about non math related stuff. Hmm.. I think we talked about KungFu related movies, books, etc. This led him on to mention that he went to a party and met NiKuang‘s son. He also showed me a photo of him with the guy and his wife (apparently she’s a celebrity in Hong Kong).

Ruosi – Again, I don’t remember his last name. He’s my cousin’s friend from Beijing. A international student, I believe. Much older than me.. oh wait, I guess I shouldn’t say that after the crush with my math prof.. But yea, I don’t know why I had a crush on him. He was playing table tennis when I first met him. I guess I just thought he was cute and that he’s adventurous because he went to Mexico for exchange student. But yea, this crush didn’t last very long..

 

OMG was that ALL there WAS? Damn, I’m such a boring person. I thought I’d have more crushes than this. But as I dig through my memory, it seems like this is all there was. My other crushes either developed into something more serious or was too brief and wasn’t memorable enough to stick in my memory. Maybe others can fill me in on this. Because I definitely thought there would be more…

Childhood friend – Wang Ying

As I mentioned before, I feel like I’ve grown apart with my friends in China. And the further away I am, surprisingly the more vivid they become in my memory. For example the recent Sex and the City movie stirred up so many thoughts of my childhood friend Wang Ying. You’d be surprised to hear that the very first time I heard of the show Sex and the City was on a school bus ride home in Grade 8 in Vancouver. Guess what I thought it was? I over heard my two friends talking about it on the bus and I was too shy to ask them about it because I thought they were talking about PORN!

I’m not kidding…

I was thinking OMG they’re brother and sisters, why are they talking about PORN?!

I thought it’d be too weird to ask them about it, so I kept that thought to myself. I was being reintroduced to the show a year later by Wang Ying while I was spending my summer in Beijing. She was in love with the show back then, I’m not so sure if she still is now. But I do remember her wanting to buy a necklace with “Carrie” on it.

The moment Wang Ying popped into my head, a few other episodes of encounters with her stepped through. I remember one summer going back to visit her, she had a poster of soccer player Beckham on her washroom door. I asked if she likes him and she replied, “Hell no, why do you think it’s on the washroom door?” and then she told me that she got it as a gift. The same summer, I went over again to hang out and I noticed that the poster located to her bedroom door. So I asked her if she likes him now, she replied, “Well, the guy I’m having a crush on likes him so he’s on my bedroom door now.”

Another scene that sort of got stuck in my head is when I offered her a sneaky trick. This was back in another summer I went back, but I’m not exactly sure which summer it was. She came with me to a book market to grab some reads. Before we left her house, her mom gave her some money and told her to buy a studying guide and mentioned that she could keep the rest of the money for other purchases. When we got there, she couldn’t find any study guide that she think will be useful. I told her to just the cheapest study guide and keep the rest of the money for other uses. (Yes, I’m sneaky like that..) But guess what she said? “Huh? Why? I didn’t see anything I like. I’ll just give her back all the money she gave me.”

When I was still studying in Beijing, I hung out with Wang Ying a lot. She always strike me as someone who’s got it all. She has the family that I’ve always wanted. She not just lives with loving parents, but I can see just how happy they are together. It’s not the fake happiness, it’s real, I can sense it when her mom offers to cook for us for dinner, I can sense it when her dad comes home late from work and still comes by to say hi, I can sense it whenever she wanted something her parents would go get it for her, whether it’s a computer or a rabbit or a dog. I wanted all of that as a kid, but I never got any of that. Well, I guess I do get some of that, but it’s being segmented into pieces. Like I’d get homemade breakfast by mom, on occasional weekends.

Nowadays I don’t really talk to her at all anymore. I don’t even remember when was the last time I saw her, maybe 4 years ago? The closest connection we have is through xiaonei, how pathetic is that? But as I said before, there’s no way to touch base through emails or msn anyway. I’ll just have to wait till I see her again.. maybe she’ll still be as funny as giving as I remembered her by.. or she might be completely changed to someone I can’t even recognize…

The Story of Nickel and Dime

Nickel and Dime are a couple in love. Nickel is always busy with work while dime is having a rather relaxed schedule. They mostly see each other during the weekends. Due to Nickel’s lack of freedom, they especially cherish the time they can spend with each other. Dime tries to be considerate but sometimes would still fail to realize appropriate times to contact Nickel.

One day, Dime’s building is experiencing a power outage. With little things to do, Dime decided to call Nickel. Once Nickel has picked up the phone, she immediately felt that it might not have been a good time to call him so she asked if he was busy. He replied with no but also mentioned that he’s waiting to grab some food then he needs to get on the bus. Dime thought to herself that he’s free for chit chat so she started mentioning about her plans for the following weekend. Little does she know Nickel did not have time for chit chat and he ended the conversation hastily after he had grabbed the food. Before they ended the call, Dime cried, “What? I thought you said you can talk? Don’t leave me!” which had left a bad impression on Nickel because he was in a rush and he felt annoyed. Dime, on the other hand, felt being abandoned. The couple both upset, but both decided to carry on with their lives.

The next day they had to book some reservations. Dime called Nickel to make the reservations for she does not have the proper credentials. Nickel gave them to her and told her to call because it would be long distance for him. Over the phone, Dime complained about how the deadline is approaching and it would be Nickel’s fault if they don’t get in. She said it as a joke because she didn’t think getting in is a big deal anyway. However, it triggered Nickel’s annoyance at her. He responded with, “Stop complaining. Did you know that when you tried to keep me on the phone yesterday I was so annoyed I wanted to slap you?” Dime felt that was out of the line and very uncalled for, she replied saying that she asked if he could talk first. The conversation did not end well.

At night they started a conversation over msn. Nickel noticed Dime’s unusual low response rate and asked if she’s still mad about the earlier conversation. When she replied yes he started telling her how busy he really is and how annoying she was. Dime felt that if it was a normal day, he wouldn’t have said something like that to her, so she has nothing to apologize. She then thought that he’s being like this because he’s tired and possibly a bit stressed. But it doesn’t matter how she tries to fit into his shoes, she still felt that what he said was very rude. So she said good night to him and left it at that.

Nickel felt that Dime was being pretty immature and ignorant about this whole thing. Immature because she just left the conversation without explaining herself and ignorant because he feels she never understood how busy he really is, no matter how hard he tries to explain to her. He told Dime not to call him later tonight if she doesn’t want to talk about it now and then left the conversation. Nickel felt that every time they have a fight it’s because he got annoyed at her first. He started another conversation with Dime and told her that he doesn’t get mad easily but once he does, he could say really hurtful things. He could be a scary man. Dime concurred. They both hope that day won’t come along. Dime thought to herself that she needs to be more careful, not just to prevent him from getting mad at her but more to protect herself from getting hurt. Nickel asked Dime to bare with him sometimes for he does not want to get her hurt either.

Being angry can be very scary when you realize you can’t control your words and actions. It’s not even about how much you care or not care about the person you’re hurting, because when you are in that state, you don’t realize what kind of damage you’re doing and you couldn’t think through what kind of consequences may occur. Dime hopes Nickel could change that aspect of him but she knows that it’s probably a rather naive thought. For now she’s learning to be more laid back and let little things to slide. There’s no point in getting serious about something unless it’s worth the time. And for other times, being serious just makes you an unpleasant nutbag.

Men who I admire

There are two kinds of men that I admire. One of them is a man who’s single and knows how to handle a rejection. The other is a man who’s involved and knows how to initiate a rejection.

TYPE I

I really have no clue why people would trash their ex, or simply the person who they went after but didn’t succeed. Because wouldn’t trashing them involve trashing yourself? I mean, after all, you were the one who went after that other person. So if that person really isn’t good enough for you, why would you fall for it anyway. How stupid does that make you, huh?

Over the years, I’ve heard certain things from the guys who I rejected said to others about me. Oh yea, people gossip about things like that, which is how I get to hear the things that I’m not supposed to. Some of which are understandable, but others were just plain stupid. There was this one comment that almost made me laugh. It was in Chinese, pretty much a pun intended joke commenting on I don’t eat so I’m skinny as a twig. I get that they were trying to make fun of me and trying to be offensive, but it’s not even achieving its original purpose. Because I’m not skinny and I do eat… if anything, Jim thinks I’m pretty chubby for an Asian girl.

I don’t like meeting strangers knowing that they might know some guy who I rejected before. Because I’m paranoid that these strangers might have heard something about me that I’m not aware of. But that’s my problem to deal with. I realize that if they get to know me better then they’d know the real me, and if they don’t then they’re just strangers and I shouldn’t care how a stranger thinks about me. But it still bugs me. I’d be lying if I said I never care how strangers think of me. And I think everyone cares to a certain degree. But I just feel there’s no need trash talk the person who you once felt attracted to. I’m going to quote Russel Peters, but in a totally different context intended, “Be a man! Do the right thing!” say it with a Chinese accent. 😛

TYPE II

The other kind is rather what I think all boyfriends should do. It’s probably harder for long distance relationships and the ones with lots of temptations. And I’m probably too naive to say this, but I do feel when two people are involved in a relationship, they should be faithful to each other. I think it is natural to feel being physically attracted to others, but underneath it all, it shouldn’t be worth it to risk your current relationship.

I hear stories about my friends’ boyfriends where they’d say things like, “I didn’t like her, she liked me; I didn’t kiss her, she kissed me; I didn’t take off her clothes, she took them off, I didn’t sleep with her, she slept with me…” They just don’t have the guts to admit that they did something wrong. They’d say sorry and doesn’t even know what they did wrong. They’d beg for forgiveness and the next time use the same excuses again. The excuse that they think never goes old is: I didn’t do anything! What they don’t realize is that’s what they’re doing wrong. They should have done something, they should have said NO! They should have been able to tell when the time is to draw the line.

It’s funny how my mom’s boyfriend has the same issue. This is what happens when you have a single mother who’s been involved in a relationship for 8 years and still hasn’t gotten married yet – you need to have a talk with the boyfriend. And that’s exactly what I did. Out of everything we’ve talked about, one of which is how he flirts with other women and it always pisses my mom off. It shocked me how a 40-something-year-old man doesn’t know when to say stop.

So there they are. Men who I admire, hopefully I’ll get to see more of them.

 

 

尴尬

刚刚在随便阅览一些无聊的漫画。发现一部叫做“变身男孩”的,标为18禁。有点儿小好奇地去看了一下,发现其实就只是些微的BL而已。然后尴尬了一下,不知道为什么现在都20了,哦不,快21了,仍然会觉得18禁的书是禁书?

看来还是没有长大的自觉啊。仍然活在18岁以前的境界里。啊~

My new pet: Jim

Me: Jim, can we have a dog and two cats when we grow up?

Jim: …

Me: Jim, can we have a dog, two cats, and a rabbit when we grow up?

Jim: Only if you can take care of them, I’m only responsible for playing with them! *evil grin*

Me: *multiple smack attacks on Jim’s face*

Jim: Why don’t you just take care of me instead. I can be a pet. If you give me treats, I’ll do tricks for you.

Me: *thinking to myself that I’m gonna have one Jim, one dog, two cats, and a rabbit when I grow up*

 

 

Long Distance Relationships

As I begin chatting to my childhood friend LinNan on MSN, bits and pieces of the past start to form vivid pictures in my head. The more I talk to her, the more I felt being left out of her world, the world I used to be in, that big yard with those three green buildings, the people living there. I could say that everything was out of my control to begin with. But ultimately, it was me who caused myself to miss out. I miss my grandparents, but I never call them unless there’s an emergency. I miss my dad, but I rarely write emails nowadays. I miss my friends, but I see them online and never talk to them. The thing is, I feel like if I don’t live in that world anymore, there’s no way to fit in just through a phone call, an email, or a brief chat on MSN.

However, I still like to think that we’re somehow connected, closely connected, can’t live without each other connected. If any one of them were taken away from me, I’d still feel equally as sad as if someone who’s currently living in my world being taken away. There is no difference underneath it all. Is there? I couldn’t help but to wonder, do they feel the same? What does it take for a relationship that’s been long held at great distance to remain the same proximity?

I was talking to Adrian yesterday about a long distance relationship that I sort of held responsible for. I introduced the guy to the girl. During that summer, they fell for each other. But guy left Beijing to NY and thus the long distance love affair began. I think ever since the girl told me over webcam that they got engaged, I started to wait for their relationship to fall apart. I’m not saying I wish anything bad to happen to them. I really don’t. She’s one of the closest female friends I have. Yet I couldn’t help but to doubt their relationship. They spend on average 2 months physically together every year and 10months apart but with a phone call on a daily basis. But here they are, four years later they’re still going at it. Is it strong trust in each other that lasted this relationship all these years or is it enormous ignorance? Or perhaps, it’s just because of what they guy said, “they clicked”? I really don’t know.

Perhaps their relationship is like what I described about mine. Even though they don’t live with each other, they still feel somehow connected with each other. Is it fair to define that the shortest distance is the reverse of what Rabindranath Tagore defined as the furthest distance in the world in his poem? I think there’s a debate about whether Tagore wrote it or was it just by 张小涵.. either way the original is not in English so I’ll have to use my judgement to translate the Chinese version I can find into English: The farthest distance does not lie within life or death, cannot be defined in terms of physical locations, it happens when I am standing right in front of you yet you don’t know I love you. It sounds a lot more romantic in Chinese somehow: 世上最遥远的距离,不是生与死的距离,不是天各一方,而是我就站在你面前,你却不知道我爱你.. if I were to state this mathematically, it would be something like this:

Let d = farthest distance, ld = life or death, pl = physical locations, y = the you don’t know factor, then (NOT(ld) AND NOT(pl) AND y) IMP d. I used the brackets for clarity, NOT and AND will be evaluated before IMP even without them. 

After a whole page of scribble, figuring out what the negate of the whole thing is by applying laws of logic, I realized that I simply can’t define NOT(d).. because NOT(d) is not the negate of the whole thing. I need to introduce something else to the equation. So I’m back to square one again.. it turns out I can’t define what the shortest distance is from what the farest distance may be.

As I stare at the coffee blankly, I feel that I should revisit my previous thought before trying to figure out what the shortest distance is. Why does it matter what the shortest distance is? Now it hit me, what I really want to know is when we have pl, is it possible to have NOT(d)? In logic terms: (NOT(d) IMP pl) EQUIV true? To look at the truth table for this, we see that despite what NOT(d) is, if pl is true, the result is true. Thus it is possible, at least by the laws of logic.

QED 🙂