1. I was on the bus when my wandering eyes spotted someone who looked almost certainly like her. She was leaning against a pillar outside Macdonald's and talking on the mobile phone. Even for the brief moment that i saw her from the bus (which was moving along still), that unmistakable languorous and insouciant air emanating from her gave me an immediate sense of certainty that i did not spot the wrong person. (I later got off the bus and approached her, and indeed i had not spotted wrongly.) At that position where she she was standing, she moved languorously on the same spot, talking into the phone and seemingly oblivious of the rush hour traffic both on the road and around the area where she stood. Amongst the friends that i know, not any of them exudes that nonchalant, almost unbothered mannerisms that i have come to associate with her. When she speaks, however, she is forthright with her opinions and her speech projects a vivacious tone. I am not sure if this aspect is contrasting or compatible with the idly-like quality i find in her movements.
2. He is one of the many people who patronizes the library, a place where during school semester i have no choice but to constantly seek its services. With plain but ordinary looks, he is not someone who would catch your attention if you spot him from afar. Yet there's something about him that makes me want to steal a quick glance at him without him being aware of - because it is with unkind intentions that i have found him worthy of another glance. He has short but abundant hair that is not combed in any parting, and neither is it styled - this is no fault of course. He also spots a mole on his face, though i can't reall now which part of his face it is on. This is no fault either.
Alas, it is the humongous pair of black-rimmed spectacles coupled with the two aforementioned features that make him such a comical and conspicuous sight. The huge spectacles are by no means a fashion statement - they aren't the kind that fashion-conscious people nowadays wear to give themselves a retro look. Instead, i suspect it is a pair that can well be considered an antique, for it is big and squarish on either side of the rim that hold the two lenses, and i dare say it covers half of his entire face - which, if you imagine, is a rather amazing sight. In particular, it is the square-shaped appearance of the spectacles that renders its mammoth size. You wish someone you know were with you so that you could point him to the comical sight. Then something bothers you a little: why does this guy look so familiar? Then you realise why: with his ultra-gigantic square-rimmed spectacles, he is the regular guy whom you always see in the Hong Kong-made movies of the 60s and 70s, like those starring the Hui brothers (Sam, Michael and Ricky).
He notices that you have been looking at his direction for some time and seem to be carrying a look of stifled laughter. As it dawns on you that you could have been looking at him for too long a time to be deemed polite, you quickly turn your gaze elsewhere, not without having secretly relished the sight of a decidedly comical look.
3. It is hard to focus on his lecture and one finds himself distracted and getting bored all too easily. It may not be an exaggeration to say that it takes an effort of will to follow what he says and not lose attention. For others who are taking this course not out of some genuine interest, it is difficult to imagine that they will ever find themselves inspired about the subject, which is all too academic in nature. I try to find an appropriate analogy to describe the lecturer's conduct - which is proof that i am distracted - and my friend concurred with my choice, albeit in a somewhat patronizing way.
'He (who is around 50 years old) speaks like a moving train which stops or slows down every few seconds, all the time while the train journey continues.' You don't get a respite because you are a passenger in the train; you may choose to be unattentive but there's no shutting out the lecturer's halting speech. It is as if he is trying to find the right word to complete his thoughts all the time. Despite his way of speaking, people around me do not seem very affected though, the reason perhaps being that he is teaching seriously - and, really, what other choices do they have? Sometimes, though, the jokes - if you consider them funny - he makes helps to relieve the boredom a little, though this happens sporadically. For example, urging students to familiarise themselves with the university's schedule, which is different before and after the semester break (before the break, the week starts on Monday, which is normal. Then the mid-semester break commences on Sunday and ends on the following Thursday. After which, each academic week begins on Friday till the following week's Thursday), he declares in no uncertain terms: 'This system is designed to confuse all of us.'
One wishes he would give more of such surprising comments in future so that the train journey would be more bearable.
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