Seventeen syllables, No. 77

Ramen noodle house--
Where Japanese pleasantries
Are shouted like slurs.

Paper crane folds

I cannot believe that it has been a month since I have posted here. I don't attribute to this my reduced use of the computer; in fact in the last month it has increased. But maybe there hasn't been anything to write about. That isn't true, either; I could've spent dozens of posts solely on what I remember of the last month. So in short, I don't know why I have missed so many days.

I learned how to make a paper crane from a square piece of paper.

Anyway, two things that happened today finally sent me to the notepad. The first one was a clever turn of the phrase that I came up with while I was making IDs for what seemed like eternity. I expounded on smiling at a picture ID thus:

Smiles are like milk: they are sweet, but they turn rancid very easily.

The person who was having her picture taken asked, "Did you come up with that just now?"

At a gathering I attended tonight, I came across a girl I first saw at another party perhaps a year or a year and a half ago. I remembered very little about her save her face and the fact that she couldn't hear. The first time we met there were physical games at the party, so there was very little need to speak.

So tonight as I passed by her, I instinctively waved to her and said "Hi". She did not seem to notice, and I thought nothing more of it as I sampled the food. But I had occasion to pass by her again, and this time I came closer, intending to let her see the hand that I had held up. But this time she took the rest of the steps towards me and encircled me in her arms.

Finally understanding, I did the same and held her close.

The moral to all this is one man's hello is another man's hug. Tonight, I held my deaf friend a lot closer than I would have been comfortable with had it been another person (even a girl) that I knew just as well. But I could have done very little to otherwise show her affection on the level of my normal cordial "Hello" combined with an upraised hand, which she had (I surmise) only a dim inkling of.

It would have worked, but the hug was better.

Perhaps I should save that as a quote as well? ^_^

Thanks for reading.

Song in my head: Robin Gibb, "Boys Do Fall in Love".

Seventeen syllables, No. 71

The plastic wrapper
Crunches in my hand, but the
Rice cracker's long gone.

Seventeen syllables, No. 45

Piano fingers see
Kitchen blade--thud!--Fingers one
Piece; Peking duck two.

Seventeen syllables, No. 41

To ears, the shower
Is indistinguishable
From pan fried fish halves.

Seventeen syllables, No. 27

Night shrouds powerless
Buyers of meat, cans, fruits, time--
A phone flips on. Light.

Seventeen syllables, No. 10

The grain of rice sticks
Vehemently to my spoon
And won't let it go.

Breakfast

It's the first time in a long time I ate breakfast. Pretty good, but I actually ate lunch. ^_^

Song in my head: Wham!, "Careless Whisper". I sure wish I can hear the Freedom Fries version.

These are hard times, indeed, and Pancho-tacos

After some tutoring at the Staircase, I made an unannounced visit to Bohemia. But as I discovered, not as unannounced as I thought. ^_^ But I did get to read to the end of Book II of Hard Times by Dickens, and to cook some pancakes.

Pancho-tacos
Traditional Bohemian cuisine

• 1 cup pancake mix


• 0.75 cup + 1 tbsp water


• 1 scoop ice cream (rocky road, double dutch or any other flavor)


• Butter to coat pan


• chocolate syrup to taste

1. Mix the pancakes and water, stirring until combined. Do not overstir.


2. Coat a medium low to medium high pan with butter.


3. Pour the pancake batter in batches, turning once after about one and a half minutes. Note: To show off to the ladies, accomplish the flip with the pan. Remember: it's all in the wrist.


4. Place the finished pancakes on a stack.


5. To serve yourself: take a pancake in hand, scoop in ice cream, add chocolate syrup over it, and fold into the shape of a taco.

Try it.

Then later that night I became an impromptu emcee at one of my sister's friend's parties, so my voice is gone for today. ^_^

Thanks for reading.

Song in my head: F4, "情非得已 (Qing Fei De Yi)".