Maybe that apple was not poisoned,

And maybe, behind that smile was not a knife.

Still, you didn’t eat the apple, nor did you stay to watch the smile fall.

–

Anyway, motherboards are green because of the solder mask, a kind of plastic polymer coating that protects the copper traces during the soldering process.

While we can’t make a computer if we travelled back in time, I have to say that green is a nice colour to have become the norm. Even though green makes for good contrast so silkscreen printed items can be seen, it’s not as if the polymer is naturally green.

Which brings us the question: Why are trees green if the most abundant wavelength of light in terms of energy is green light?

Not that I’m complaining, since again, green is a nice colour to have a lot of. Just a question.

–

I had a writing buddy for the past month or so since we were both watching the same underappreciated drama. If I said which show then I’d end up doxxing myself. That’s a big concern nowadays, seeing as how much of our lives are online and up for review.

Not doxxing in the traditional sense, but the ability to link otherwise unlinked accounts. Interesting is the various personae people take on different contexts. Dr H once said it’s a natural and human thing to code-switch, but still, what and where is the commonality?

We can be as bad as we can be good, but how could either be measured? We cannot expect anything at all.

So we helped each other along, and each new piece we can see the points where we inspired one another, the little name drops that remind ourselves of each other’s writing. It was a very nice feeling to have someone match one-for-one the things that we enjoy reading.

There’s a lot of free time recently, namely because job hunting is more difficult than one expected. In that sense, perhaps we have had a taste of how fearful an adult is when they need a job desperately to keep their finances afloat.

It’s odd, that for the first round, we had birds in the hand but we wanted the one in the bush so much that we let go. One would say that I cannot be blamed since I was promised the bird in the bush: but the truth is that eventually not having that bird makes this one a little bit sad.

Moving on thereon, we have gone out to set traps again. This off-kilter analogy.

We cannot say that we feel the same kind of desperation, since we do not, and to say we are is to lie. It’s something nice to have, a taste of the ‘real world’.

Staying at home is very nice. Doing work and going over to friends’ home’s for the company and doing things like conference prep and making a thousand-piece puzzle are enjoyable things to do.

Sometimes, though it’s fascinating to think that the activity itself is fun, but doing it with friends tempers that emotion into the mellowness of memory.

We are as always, looking for something.

I went farming last weekend, and I realised something after it. Did you know that a changkol, also known as a hoe, comes from a Malay word of cangkul? Could have fooled me into thinking it was from Hokkien or something. But we learn new things.

We have not quite found the thing yet, but maybe it is already in us.

My little sister has decided to sprout/regrow the spring onions we used in last week’s beef kway teow, and they are growing on my window sill.

Like my succulent in the smiling pot that was gifted to me all the way from last year in Vietnam, I’m not sure what to do about them when we leave the country for holiday in the week ahead.

Puzzle-partner was duly horrified at the thought that we’re still travelling out seeing the virus, but I suppose our family has always lived with those chances. If you asked me about the statistical probability, I’d reckon that for us at least, staying home is dangerous.

And people can give you the virus even if you don’t want it. I can hardly shut myself up at home when there are people moving in and out of our home, can I? I think the point about HIV then doesn’t need to be said. A couple years back, there was someone who left needles lying around in the bus to purposefully infect others. It is an artificial situation created by others, not a problem of your own creation.

I digress, you should of course, not take unnecessary risks. Wash your hands often, that may be. But in any case, especially where you live close to other people whose actions you cannot control, you can end paying the price whether or not you want to.

These said and done, she said she believes in karma. I’m not sure I do, but I do believe in unmei, sort of. We should not tempt fate, they also said. For this universe written in numbers, everything becomes a matter of probability.

Still, tomorrow morning I have to wake up to take my little sister out, no matter how my track record of Saturday morning wake-ups is. Because I promised. Because she’s important to me, after all.

–

Someday you will read this,

so to the future we write.

To the you who senses nothing amiss,

for the you in our line of sight,

ending with you who we care for and have come to

love.

Though unmoving and unmoved,

the unyielding and unwieldy,

The I in you and the you in me,

of which neither is true to view.

Still, in my heart where I exist clearly,

what I am saying to the you who is me,

can be heard.

Or maybe because I am you,

there will never be a need to.

 

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