it's not everyday that one gets to dine with the family and thank god for that, i say! not especially when you have Bible-Presbyterian parents who play the part by the constant dispensing of heavenly advice to every single question to life. though i have to give it to the parents for not being God's Divine Advisers for today.

yes, today being the day after the public holiday when the parents decide to take an off day to prepare for their annual Church Camp holiday in Malaysia. a lot of time was spent not packing their luggages but rather, stocking up on groceries for the children and tying up the loose ends of errands for the in-laws. but more on that in another upcoming post. so the parents, armed with a $20 Pizza Hut voucher and an empty stomach decided to bring us out for pizza and pasta. as usual, both the Teo family sons played their part by exhibiting looks of nonchalance and boredom. but secretly deep down inside, the eldest of the Teo sons was pretty excited because he hasn't had pizza for nearly a month coming (which is quite a long time for him). well, i dunno about the brother because he was really pulling a new record for boredom by not talking AT ALL during the entire dinner conversation.

since the brother was already not contributing to the general flow of conversation, i had to do something to show that i was deserving of my part of the family inheritance. so i brought up the first topic that i found in the filing cabinet of my brain: job prospects. while carb-loading on a slice of Hawaiian pizza, i told the mother about my interest in pursuing a career in writing feature articles. to which she was surprisingly very supportive about. she even agreed with me that the general income for a Registered Nurse is not deserving of the amount of work we put in. mentally, i could envision my relationship points with the mother increasing with each social interaction i have with her ALA The Sims.

the father however, was about as fun as a comforter drenched in saliva and a bit of snot in it. he never outrightly said that he was un-supportive of my pursuit in a literary career, but one could see the look on his face. it spoke of practicality and the fact that i would have to start from the bottom of the career ladder all over again. which is true, but i'm young without any prior commitments like family and a boyfriend or even a bed-ridden relative. on the contrary, he suggested that i follow his footsteps of teaching people how to play the piano. to which at that point of time, i decided to follow in the brother's footsteps instead, shutting off the option of conversation with the parents and not saying anything AT ALL.

the mother then decided to bring up the topic of nursing work. the mother started sharing about her work experiences and how tough and difficult it is. and when it comes to sharing about nursing, i just can't stop myself. it's a bad habit. i love my job too much, i guess. too much that i accidentally revealed that i have been suffering constant headaches for the past few weeks. not really crippling headaches that requires a bored hole into the skull to release one's inner demons, but more of irritating ones that make your head feel like it has been trod on by an inexperienced American elephant tourist attempting to dance the Polka.

of course, the father had his immediate answer to every single health problem i have and am prolly having in the future - Smoking. to which i would have said 'codswallop and bollocks to you, papa!' but i decided against it as it was most prolly an uphill battle trying to defend the honor of the cigarette. i thought that it was very narrow-minded though, to pin-point every single health issue i'm having to smoking. i'll be sure to remind the father to point the finger at smoking the next time i get someone pregnant. correction: IF i ever get someone pregnant.

post-dinner, the family usually has the habit of walking round the shopping mall, idly looking at things yet refraining from making a purchase out of them. the general belief is that it aids in peristalsis, which eventually leads to the post-shopping activity of taking a crap at home. which is all good if you're not a smoker unlike me. all i prefer to do after a meal is just have one stick. which is why i decided to make my planned exit after the parents finished ambling about Watson's, a personal store that attends to your 'personal' (or should i say 'perineal') and daily needs. they generally sell medications, hair dyes, facial products and a whole lot of medications (eg. Lactacyd, hur hur). a bit like your local pharmacy.

just when i was about to sneak out my overused excuse of going to the library to borrow a book, the brother asked me a question. i'm not lying when i say this but this happens to be the first question asked in nearly two months. like i've always said, the brother and i never talk. we interact with a telepathic sense, knowing what to expect from each other when we're alone at home. if somebody's legs are blocking the way, we'll know to lift it up without even look each other in the eye. he will scoop food onto my plate at the dinner table, and i will do the same too. all this, done without any conversation involved. call it brotherhood, but i prefer to say it's more of an automated response after having lived with each other for nearly 20 over years.

regardless, the brother has broken yet another record for today. and for that, i decided to entertain his question of buying some random shower foam that caught his stylish eye. i have to admit that the bottles caught my attention too, but upon closer inspection, they were nothing more than plastic bottles filled with soapy solution that's assembled in China. still, it was very reminiscent of the potion bottles that an apothecary would own. so we started discussing (without any words, no less) whether 'Mango & Passionfruit' or 'Sweet Melon & Ginger' was a better buy. like the homosexual and metrosexual siblings that we are, i picked 'Sweet Melon & Ginger' while the brother made do with 'Heavenly Marshmallow'. the both of us went home with a sense of accomplishment at having made a stylish decision together.

all-in-all this is one of the better family outings. makes me wish i had a proper family. of course, i'm going to regret saying this later. sigh... the things i do for the family inheritance.

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