i am me

have been meeting really weird people around here lately.

just yesterday, yingwei and i were heading over to the mall which is about 5 minutes' walk from our house when we were sorta 'hit' on by a random dude.

we were just walking along, minding our own business when suddenly yingwei got a faceful of water sprinkles from an overhead tree. so she was busy rubbing it off her face when this guy came from behind and commented that it happened to him too. he fell into step with us and starting chatting. it was all ok and he left halfway to go to the bank.

didn't pay much heed to it. just chalked it up to the ozzie's friendly nature and all.

we stopped at the traffic light waiting to cross and the same dude reappears and starts chatting us up again. it was all very innocent and light. about where we were from, what we're doing here, where he was from, what he works as. incidentally, he works at a TIM TAM factory. so, we shall hereby dubbed him Mr. Tim Tam. he looked to be about in the his 30's. unshaven, head closely shaved though, casually dressed, friendly, approachable, gave information freely, (especially about his weight, dunno why), seemed to be in good spirits, mentioned he could get by with just a couple of hours of sleep a night. *wah...this is how we assess mental status in crazy patients*

so, Mr. Tim Tam was being all conversationaly and friendly and we didn't think much of it. UNTIL he asked whether we had boyfriends. again, we thought it was a casual question, so i mentioned yingwei was attached. and he further probed to see if her other half was in australia. to which she replied no. then...walk, walk, walk, walk. and he asked.

'are you girls free friday night?'

O.o

i came up with the really clever, albeit nerdy excuse that we would be studying since medicine is like the toughest profession in the world.

phew...potential hazard averted.

but...

'do you girls have phones? wanna gimme your numbers so i can call you when you're free?'

urhhh...

again...supergracie to the rescue. told him we HAD a phone. but it was a landline and it was connected yet. said that we had just arrived and haven't gotten a handphone. to which he started telling about getting a prepaid number and then instantly we'll have phones.

dodged that bullet.

and he went on.

'how about i give YOU my number. then you can call me when you're free.'

talk about hardball.

so eventually, he gave us his number and asked our names. i was already in the store trying to get something righted. so yingwei very cleverly said that she was jane and that i was lily. jolly good show. luckily, we didn't bump into him again. thank God for very big malls.

case closed.