Of Lunches and Laughter

#110: And Of Me Boring Me

Lunch today was at 4pm. Alone. Spaghetti and water. (Because I left my money upstairs and couldn't pay for the Spaghetti-Taco-Soup-Iced Tea combo I originally wanted.) The waiter probably thought I was weird. Which is fine because he's not exactly that far from the truth.

I brought something to read. Articles on the US's competitiveness in the light of China's growing strength...which I didn't get to read anyway since I found it better to stare at rain puddles while waiting for my food. Stare at that silly Coke machine in the middle of nowhere as well. Who will want to stick coins in a machine under the rain to get a bloody can of Coke? Fancy free electrocution to go with your carbonated drink, ma'am?

Dinner was another story. I was with my old officemates and they were laughing at me like crazy. And I was just telling them about my spaghetti. And about our maid who converses with our mynah bird which barks. My dear friend Rachel asked if the people in Coke already know I'm silly. I said they probably have some vague clue but I don't think they get me. (Heck, I don't think they even get the concept of lunch.) This is the first time in many, many days that I've laughed this hard.

Oysters with Spinach and Cheese, Oysters with Spicy Salsa, Oysters till you can eat oysters no more. Then on to anoother place for this dessert called Roma - white mousse with mangoes and caramel drizzles. Good company and good food. How can you go wrong?

A friend asked me why I'm feeling that I'm becoming less and less of who I am. As I was mulling over the answer, I remembered another friend from Globe who asked me this question more than a hundred dinners ago, "If you were a member of the opposite sex, would you like you?" My answer: "Yes. Because I'm not boring." Which elicited a round of applause - part in agreement, part in incredulity at my simplistic answer. (The others rambled on with sentences that ended with 'World Peace.")

And I guess that's what I miss. Laughter. Lots of laughter. Not the ones you squeeze out so you can be polite... (or so you can get the approvals that you need.) Real ones that make you bend over and bend backwards while clutching your stomach with one hand and slamming the table with the other. Also lunches. Lunches with people rather than with books or magazines. Lunches with people you really like. Not lunches with strangers that are uncomfortable at best and torturous at worst. And I miss myself. The funny one that laughs a lot, looks forward to lunches, and can say without batting an eyelash, "Because I'm not boring."

And this is my answer.
Laughter has become scarce.
Lunches have been reduced to meals.
And I have become boring.

And that's just my simplistic version. Wait till I bore you with the comprehensive one.