Pragulka

I have two things I'd like to share today. Two very, very unrelated things. Let me try to do this. Let me try to connect the two things.

Thing One.

Russians do this thing that I find very interesting. What they do is get together with a couple of friends, of either sex, and go out for a walk in the park. They'll find a bench and just sit and talk. Maybe have a couple of cold ones while they're at it but that's the gist of it. They sit and talk. 

Weird, isn't it?

They sit and talk. In parks.

And they are not necessarily lovers, either. A few perfectly sound of mind, heterosexual or platonically homosexual, men or women or both parks their milkshakes-that-brings-all-the-boys-to-the-yard onto a metal - or wooden, for that matter- bench and just crap their ass off all day. 

Not weird? 

Think of all the hundreds of thousands of times you hang out with your friends, you Malaysians. We have to be doing some activities, be it bowling or hiking or shopping, to hang out with these friends. The closest we get to this pragulka, as they call it, is us hanging out at mamak stalls, where, indeed we can sit for hours and crap our ass off but while doing so, we stuff ourselves with unhealthy snacks and oversweetened beverages. 

Hell, nowadays, a circle of friends of mine doesn't even do that. We'd sit, yes. We'd talk, oh yes. But sooner or later, someone will bring out a deck of cards and I'm forced to join them in taiti, that chinese poker thing. I can only hold out by saying that I don't know how to play for so long. If I don't join them, they'd be uncomfortable, feeling that they're not including me in their activity.

Why can't we be like these Russians?

We've forgotten how to just hang out with our companions; how to revel in the presence of our loved ones; how to share the little details that, seriously, nobody cares about. 

What happened to being happy just to spend time with friends?

Ooooh, this is quite long, so, I'll postpone the second thing to a later date. 

See ya, my lovelies.

...

No, I cannot pull that off, can I? My lovelies? What the fuck was that? I feel like Phoebe in that episode when she was sick and sound super sexxxay.