other people's business

indulged in seafood dinner with the family during the weekend in celebration of father's day. it was pretty pricey, what with all those exotic seafood that we were downing, but what the heck, it only comes around once a year. what is the point of earning money if not to spend it on a fulfilling, delicious, warm meal with your family. besides, i don't have any other material longings that i am aiming for.

there were lots of leftover geoduck. all of us have eaten as much as we could, or perhaps it was more of a leaving-some-for-others false civility type of thing. everybody has placed their chopsticks down, everyone shaking their heads and feigning that they have had enough. lady k, who with her daughter has travelled far and joined us for this celebration, asked her daughter to take a little more, upon our insistence that our guests have the last bit. "eat ah, if not you will not have a chance to eat this again for the rest of your life. it's very expensive."

that smarts. i don't know whether it's the you-guys-can-have-this-anytime-you-want-but-we-can't attitude in your face, or the they-are-so-poor-while-we-are-overindulging somalia type of scenario. but she means no harm, the mother. she is not spiteful or mean. she speaks so straightforward from her mind that you can hardly take offence. i think what smarts was the putting down of your own daughter, knowing with such certainty that she will never make it in life. almost like telling her the future is dark and doomed and what you can be at best is mediocre. a simple meal, a simple sentence. maybe only over-active brain like mine reads too much into things, like it frequently does. that's why i propose lobotomy when the imagination gets too rich. but still....never again to eat that for the rest of your life? we are talking about geoduck here, not roomful of platinum or paris hilton type of legacy. for all i know, this young one will grow up with a chain of petrol stations to her name. i almost wish, for her sake, that she breaks out of the mould. anything is possible if you want it bad enough, no?

i hear someone once say that to create successful employees, feed them the best of food, introduce them to brand names and good stuffs, and they will work their bums off trying to reach there because they are used to the good life. so, little one, have another piece of geoduck, won't you?