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Dear Diary, part 2

Day 18

Actually getting out from work by the clock to make it in time for that train, those 5 minutes before. She was looking lost in thought today, and my train pulled in first. She looked up and directly at me before my train pulled out, the distance between us halved.

Day 19

She has a boyfriend, it seems. He was carrying flowers, and they were standing hand-in-hand.

Day 24

I know I haven’t written about that girl at the station in the last few days; I guess seeing she had a boyfriend threw whatever notions I may have had out of my head and I started avoiding that train instead of looking forward to it. But I was there again today, and this time she smiled at me. Confused. Seems to be something like a high school crush. How pathetic.

Day 25

As I put my ticket into the gate, she was there next to me – I glanced over and realised with a shock that it was her. I looked up at her face, and she looked back, a flash of recognition in her eyes. We were both late though, and ran to make our trains.

Day 27

Was talking to Ryan when she came up the stairs on the opposite platform. I couldn’t help but look over and give her a smile. Ryan won’t let it go now, and is calling her my station crush, to go with my former train crush, bus crush(es), and that crush when I was working at that pizza place back in uni. Ryan must be eliminated; he knows too much.

Day 30

She was crying today. Just quiet and not too obvious, but she was sitting down and had despair writ large over her face. Totally lacking an idea of how to deal with this. I looked the other way, again confused.

Day 31

She was quite clearly sad. Destroyed my mood for the night, couldn’t stop thinking what to do, or what could have happened. Any number of things, and I can’t do anything. I’m a total stranger.

Day 32/33/34

She’s still pretty sad. Weekend ahead going back to visit the family; will ask Emily for some advice.

Day 37

Serendipity, I believe they call it.

Long(er) story. She was standing in front of the ticket gates lost in thought, seemingly staring up at the next train displays. I saw the chance and stood next to her until she noticed. She looked at me after about a minute with a little bit of shock, I think. Her eyes were still rimmed red.

“Whatever made you lose that smile has got to be something pretty terrible,” I said, not looking at her directly, “so I was wondering if there was anything a stranger could do to help.”

She was silent, and then I looked at her. Her eyes scanned my face intensely, and something tripped a neuron in my head. She looks so damn familiar.

“No way…” she said, a note of disbelief in her voice.

I was lost. And then I saw it too, as the smile crept back onto her face for the first time in days. “Oh you’re kidding, right? After 10 years and on the other side of the world? Only you!” I said, laughing. We hugged for the first time in years.

I’ve found my Rachel again.

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What’s all this then?

This weekend’s been an interesting one…

what the

New Design coming up tomorrow or this week sometime, depending on how much of a headache testing gives me and how elaborate I want the design to be. And also Dear Diary, part 2.

Anyone get pranked today? I think I did, in an elaborate trap set a week ago… I was just being paranoid.

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Dear Diary, part 1

Day 1

I saw this girl standing on the opposite platform today, waiting like I was. Almost exactly like I was actually – slouched at the end of day made much too long, iPod plugged into ears, staring off into the middle distance.

Day 3

I saw that girl (from a couple of days ago) again today. We made eye contact for a second across the tracks, but in the usual manner of strangers looked away nearly instantly when we realised eye contact had been made.

Day 5

She was there again (see about 2 days ago). Noticed she had medium length wavy hair. She wasn’t listening to her iPod today, but had a book in hand. Couldn’t tell which book – too far. Greenish cover.

Day 9

That girl at the station again. Noticed she has a gorgeous figure. Spent more time looking at her than down the tracks waiting for the train.

Day 10

She was there again. Eye contact made again, lingered for more than the usual.

Day 11

And again. Couple of consistent days now. She varies her hair daily, but for all that it’s still long and wavy. Intrigued. iPod is back, novel seems to have been finished. Made effort to smile at her, but I don’t know if it came out right or indeed at all, as she looked away without response.

Day 12

Smiled at her today and she smiled back. Small, quick smile, but a simple acknowledgment no less. Looks like I could have some fun here.

Day 13

She was sitting down today; either she managed to get a seat, or was tired. On phone until her train pulled in. Feeling little less happy; weekend ahead.

Day 16

Running late today; arrived just in time to see her disappear behind her train.

Day 17

Saw her again. Announcement came over PA expressing regret at being late, so I mouthed “Not Again” & rolled my eyes exaggeratedly (is that even a word?). She smiled back with a small shrug and put down her shopping bag. Her shirt today was a bright pink that really stood out.

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If I Were A Cop

I found myself thinking yesteday: If I was a cop, and I was feeling particularly sadistic one morning, I would go on the freeway and drive at about 80 km/h, or 50 – depending on how sadistic I was feeling and how fast the traffic around me was going. And then I’d just sit and wait for someone to overtake. Just screw with their heads.

When was the last time you overtook a cop?

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I got nothing

That’s it, I give up. I’ve been trying to write something here which would interest even me, but I can’t. I’m all outta ideas. Taking a break until I can come up with something.

I’ve been poking around Web 2.0 a lot more recently, and that’s keeping me amused. There are some bizzare sites out there, that’s for sure. On the other hand, there are some useful ones – del.icio.us and 30boxes are nearly worth their hype, I’d say. I do have this feeling that while this crash is nearly inevitable, the cycle will be a lot longer this time around, as people hold on to some of the lessons at least.

Anyway, that’s enough from me in a I got nothing post. Y’all lovely people.

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Answers to Tuesday

So I figure I can’t be stuffed waiting a week because no research questions have been asked and it’s practically only two questions on the list anyway.

Answering in order of ease, we have:

  • Jack asks: Do you ever worry that your friends will realise your sister is much cooler than you and one day hang out with her instead?
    Well jack, the answer to your question is simple – I don’t worry about it. I already know it. But I don’t fear it – I’d be perfectly happy for that to happen. I hang out with her friends often enough, and while occasionally it feels like big-older-brother-pushing-in-because-he’s-bored-elsewhere, it’s usually cool. If anything, it’d be even cooler to have a good mix & cross-section of people hanging out together, which I don’t think happens enough. Stop cliquing about, y’all.
  • Kahiti asks: what would you say is the worst fashion fad ever?
    Well Kahiti, I’m not sure if you remember, but in the late 80s and early 90s there was a fashion for what’s commonly called “Day-glo”. It was terrible on a scale that you can’t imagine. With the hangover of the 80s Dallas-esque clothes at one end of the scale and day-glo at the other, everywhere you looked there wasn’t a single stylish and understated option. In fact, practically all fashion between 1976 through to 1996 is enitirely forgettable.
  • Kahiti more relevantly asks, and I’ll answer this second question because it is a deep-thinking one: What is the best thing about true disappointment/”failure”, if there is one, in your opinion? Personally and for humanity as a whole?
    There’s no better way to put this than “good question”. The best thing about disappointment and failure, in my mind, is the chance to pick things up and start over. It’s a chance to wipe the slate clean and move on. However, a lesson must be learnt, or otherwise you’ll be staring down the same barrel again – be it in 6 months, a year, or indeed a decade later – if the lesson isn’t learnt, it will come back. Essentially, the best thing about failing is getting back up afterwards.
    On the level of society, however, opinion generally differs. Society’s failures take a long time to correct, and in the meantime people get hurt, and generations can suffer for mistakes made by a foolish few. One example of society’s failures would be slavery – it took years for that to be effectively removed and its after effects cleaned up. Society through slavery failed to deliever positives for all its members – and that’s what a successful society does.
  • And that’s it.
    Should you think this was positive, feel free to drop a question in the comments or email me (karanj at gmail).

And that’s a wrap. Hope that was informative, peeps.