I was taking the car to school for the first day of FOC camp last week. I didn't want to be late on the first day, because I was actually rather excited at seeing NTU again for the first time after 6 months. I have to admit that the excitement died about 5 seconds after I set foot in the place though, when I realised that Can 2 still stinks, the toilets there are still gross and the shuttle buses are still irregular. Some things never change.
But anyway, in the car my dad engaged the same old topic I've heard many times before, and since there was like a traffic jam, it was an agonisingly long ride.
"You're entering your 3rd year already right? It's about time you found a girlfriend. See your cousin, he found a girlfriend in his 3rd year. When is it going to be your turn? Next time when you go out into the workplace, it will be hard for you to find nice girls. Most of the good ones will already be taken."
The moment I heard all that I was like thinking "Omg not this again." I started humming a song, and then I told my dad "Don't worry I'll figure it out."
But that was like an invitation for him to continue. "There are so many girls in your faculty. How come you haven't found a girlfriend? I see you ah, you are very introverted. You don't socialise. If you don't mix around, how can you find good girls?"
Sometimes this accusation of being introverted they level on me really grates. If you believe what they say, I'm some whackjob who goes to school, runs into the nearest broom closet and hides in there till the school bell rings. Then I peek out, see if anybody is around, and I tiptoe out quietly to the nearest bus stop and catch the first bus home. Ok maybe I'm exaggerating but they really think I don't talk to people.
Yeah, then what the hell am I doing going to the FOC in the first place so early in the morning right. So I can hide in a broom closet? I might as well catch up on sleep.
Come on man. Everyone knows I'm not a loner. Right? I'll give you a dollar to say I'm not. You can buy um, a can of soft drink. Please? If you see my parents, please tell them weili is very sociable. I'm like so friendly lor.
Okay, if only for the one dollar.
Anyway, to divert the topic my dad had uncomfortably started on, I tried cracking a joke. "Eh dad its not easy la. It's like what they say you know. Girls are like parking lots. The good ones are taken, the ones left are handicapped."
After a few more mutterings about how I wasn't socialising enough, he got distracted by something on the road and thankfully stopped going on about this awful topic. Later on in school though, someone asked me if I was gay because I'd returned from overseas and not found anyone.
If I'm gay your name is Bruno. If your name does happen to be Bruno, can I have your autograph? I don't really want it but I know an eBay opportunity when I see one.
Well, I need money to pay people to tell my parents how sociable I am.