Thursday 29 September 2005

birds of a feather...

well, contrary to the famous proverb, i believe that ppl in a group tend to influence one another to act/think alike. but of course, we'll need to click with one another to allow us to be in a group in the first place. so is this a chicken and egg thing? dun think so...

being good friends with N has influenced me to go for certain brands of clothing of certain style, think in a certain way on some issues, like certain stuff, eat certain food, etc... of course, there are some things which can't be influenced to my preference, such as those pointy buaya shoes that seems to be so 'in' now, or clothes in bright shout-out colours!

on my part, i think my biggest influence on N is the love to read. being chinese educated, N tends to find reading english books a bit of a chore. so i got her started on true life accounts, mainly on chinese ppl. the first book i intro to her was Falling Leaves by Adeline Yen Mah. after that, it wasn't hard to get her to go on reading, coz she was hooked! soon, she's 'graduated' to reading tales of women in the middle east and real police murder cases. now, she's even started to recommend books to me! but she only wants to stick to true life accounts... and for a bookworm who devours most of everything, life is pretty lonely beyond the non-fiction aisle.

along with reading, N has started to be more appreciative of the english language. she loves to use words she's just acquired such as brusque instead of blunt, enquire instead of ask etc and will bug me to death with words which she's just learnt but has forgotten.
N: what's that word for dun care?
me: huh? erm... unconcerned?
N: no no... non- something.
me: erm... indifference?
N: nolar, that's in-. non-something... as in 'he gave a non-something shrug'
me: *furrowed eye-brows, thinking hard* erm... nonchalant?
N: yes, that's it! *proceeds to make different sentences with the word*

she'll also be very curious about some phrases, wanting to know y it's used in a certain way.
N: y 'from the bottom of my pencil case'?? i dun understand...
me: erm... i also dunno lar. that's just the way the english say it.
N: i know, but y? the only things at the bottom of my pencil case are pencil shavings and paper clips and broken pencil leads. y not just say 'from the bottom of my heart'?
me: *looking helpless*

just yesterday, had a leaning-on-the-wall laugh (coz it was in a shopping mall, can't have a rolling-on-the-floor laugh) when N exclaimed rather loudly, "aiyo, these earings here... not the cup of my tea lah!"

5 comments:

lotsachi said...

hahahaha! that leaning on the wall laugh really cracks me up. i guess rolling on the floor laughing is not your cup of tea, huh :P

i loooove that book. i read it, here. it's the first book i picked up (from my cousin's bookshelf) and it's damn touching!

stargal said...

no lotsachi, it's "not the cup of my tea"! kekeke... at least not in a shopping mall anyway...

yeah, i've read it so many times! cried buckets over it!

lotsachi said...

me too! boohoohoohoo... what a determine, strong, great and smart person. could help to reflect her life to mine, her background to mine... gush of emotions turned into flowing tears.

Anonymous said...

Nah, just 300 pages of complaints. Sure, she has a really cruel stepmom but past the middle of the book, it seems to me that she is more of a ranter than anything else.

Or it is just me, coz I rant about this as well, eh, stargal?

-yeswantue's fellow YM ranter

stargal said...

yeah fellow YM ranter, i remember u ranting abt that book to me... but i still stand my ground. it's really good book. hey, u reading in thailand now?