She Seems to be Getting Lost + "Seis"

Around 5:00 pm today, I received a call from mother again who then started the same “I saw it wrong” story. What’s really happening to her? Who’s taking care of her condition? In The Book-bag by Maugham, I found the word “seis” of which meaning I am not sure.

Collected Short Stories Volume 4

Yesterday afternoon, I bought Maugham’s Collected Short Stories Volume 4 (20% off). I don’t remember if I have read this collection of stories, some of which are set in British Malaya but it is very likely that I have read it at least once. After I finished the volume 1 at Coffee Beans of T.B. Plaza, I started it at home.

Yakuza Story Concluded

Dewali holiday today. Last Monday (17th), when I was having beer before dinner with my client, mother called me and started repeating the yakuza story as if she had not remembered telling me the identical story. Impatient, I cut it short. And tonight, she called me again to tell me that he visited her today and she found it was all her imagination as I thought it was. On 20th, I attended a seafood dinner party at East Coast Park. There were 14 of us, six Koreans, two Sri Lankans, two Japanese, a Belarusian, a German, a Malaysian and a Singaporean. I didn’t touch chilli crab, fearing a sweat flood from the crown, and bamboo clams, fearing they are half-cooked. On 21st, my client, the Belarusian and I tried a Russian restaurant on Duxton Hill. It was a little too fine to our taste. I had my borrowed DSLR camera with me and found there was no memory card inside. Nothing was recorded.

Maugham's Short Stories Volume 1

Collected Short Stories Volume 1 (W. Somerset Maugham) followed The Razor’s Edge. Mostly I read it on train or in bed. This is my third, or fourth, time reading the book. Now I’m reading Gigolo and Gigolette, thus half way through. This Volume 1 is the first book in English I have read. It should be more than 25 years ago.

SHAME ON THEM

Last night with my client, currently visiting here, I had dinner that perhaps should be described super. Salute to the chef. After the dinner we walked around the area which used to be known for its seediness. It seemed cleaned up though the budget hotels that remain reminds one of its recent past. We decided to hop into one of the lounges for no obvious reason. Inside I found that the untidiness was something that I would see in Chinatown pubs years ago. And it seemed that nobody spoke much English and many of them none. A few poured beer for themselves from the jug we had ordered. I tried to communicate with one of the girls working there in Chinese not very successfully as she told us she was from Chongqin. We only had a jug of beer but it was a waste of time and money anyway. Then, we could, or should, have gone back to our abodes, in his case a hotel room. But we moved on to the by now familiar "Y." Time flowed nicely and we had already settled the bill and been ready to leave when one of the few customers present whom I had not met before stood up and said, "I am going to marry Miss so and so. I want to celebrate this occasion with all of you." Lovely. He offered Chivas Regal in shooter glasses to all of us and we obliged to accept. And after the celebratory toast, he was incoherent totally. So incoherent that no meaningful, or even civil, conversation was possible as he couldn't even give his name. He was behaving very badly going around the place to bother and annoy those who congratulated him in a polite and friendly manner. He then started leaning his body to my client and covering him and even touched his groin. And he did the same to me. He was saying, "I'm not gonna let you go tonight." By this point, my patience was thin enough. I gave a clear warning to him to behave himself as the way he was behaving was not anything I expected of anyone who asked us to stay on for his own reason. Not even words from him for appreciation. After all, we had no obligation to celebrate him and Miss so and so and we were ready to leave. Noticing I was objecting his behaviour severely, Miss so and so started abusing me. She said, "I will report you to the police. You are not a gentleman but a bastard. You took Chivas free from him." Be serious, Miss so and so. I did not ask for the glass. I only accepted it out of politeness and courtesy. She also mentioned the nationality he and I share. Sorry, I see a person as an individual. His nationality does not matter. Miss so and so, furious and unable to win verbally, seems to have decided to use physical force. She attacked me with violence. She tried to punch me and failed. Then she pulled my hair at which point the staff rushed to subdue her, or it seems so. There was another man, who had been drinking with this drunken husband and Miss so and so, and he did nothing to stop his disgraceful behaviour and her verbal and physical abuse. On the contrary, this man joined the fray and also tried to use force against me. Shame on them. I am absolutely sure that I did what any decent person would do in such a situation, especially when he is with his important client.