happened to meet weixiong (army pal) at the central library. what ought to be a cursory hi-and-bye encounter turned out to be something refreshingly memorable as we stood there, chit-chatting for quite some time and covering a lot of ground in the process

Him: Am i holding you up?
Me: No lah, my classes finished liao
later...
Me: Am i holding you up? Shouldn't you be zapping your book?
Him: it's ok, got two hours to zap the [RBR] book mah

with such formality out of the way, we talked. a line in 细水长流 reads 多年以后又再相逢, 我们都有了疲倦的笑容 and i couldn't help thinking how that line was suited for him. weixiong was this guy whose voice gets progressively high-pitched as he gets more excited and is a master at the art of crap talk. many a time had we spent together in the armskote, me deliberately trying to provoke him so that i could get a kick out from hearing his high-pitched voice. the good old days of childish, senseless bickering!

that air of innocence is gone as weixiong is subdued and resigned now. he's stuck in a course (civil engineering) that he dislikes, he's pessimistic about his future (becos of the lack of demand for graduates like him in the economic downturn) and he has just come to terms with his life after emerging from an emotionally low period last year. he has fallen in love with Philosophy though, having enjoyed and done well in an introductory module, and is now taking more Philo modules.

well, it was a bit depressing to learn of his recent happenings. more so as i can relate to how he's feeling, since i used to treat my EL modules as a lifeline to sustain me throughout the horrendous semesters. and i might not even be that passionate about that particular module in the first place

alex, i agree with you about the redundancy of staying on to make small talk after you have said your His. but i do that becos sometimes i need to assure myself in a hypocritical sort of way that intimacy is not lost even if the common ground under us is pulled away. that if we chance upon each other again, we will care enough to slow down our footsteps, dismiss aside all thoughts of "But I should be doing something else...." and have a proper conversation that doesn't feel contrived. that if we care even more, we can simply pick up our friendship from where it stagnated and advance from there

my conversation with weixiong radiated lots of good vibes. so, here's to small talk!