So the emails have been sent, forms filled and faxed. It looks more and more of a certainty that I will be in Europe in December.

I was only joking in a previous post. Parisian firemen will be safe. I'm not interested. A tells me that he can't believe how easy things are for me, that good things just happen to me. If there is a phrase I can put on my epitaph right now, it will be:-

'She was always in the right place at the right time'

Tadah. I pulled the rabbit out of the hat. That is all there is. No magic.

I wanted to share the news with you today. But there was no one. Just a void. And the aching realization that sometimes we are all that we have, that we can be surrounded and loved by friends but still feel that something is amiss. That there is a fuzzy distinction between caring too much and caring too little. What difference does it make? Oh yes.. one way will make you feel better than the other. I wonder which.

I read today that the opposite of love is not hate. The opposite of love is apathy. Makes sense. I don't want to go down that path though.

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Dinner conversations with biologists [abridged]

R: Man, I hate bittergourd. Its one of my least favorite vegetable.
TGWTTIHS: Well technically it is a fruit. Its not my favourite, but its good for me, so I just eat it.
M: I don't like bittergourd either.
R: So what are your 3 favourite vegetables?

We deliberated and concluded that we could do better with a least favourite veg list (for the record, I don't like 3-in-1 frozen veg. I like peas, carrots and corn, but not together in one mouthful!, I also do not like olives and artichokes). M and R have bittergourd high on their lists M likes Brassica spp... I'm not that crazy about legumes, how we all dislike the hard green peas in cocktail nuts and R and I like the little orange pillow shaped crackers..blah blah blah.. conversation forwarded to fruits..

R: So what's your favorite fruit?
TGWTTIHS: No particular favourite, but we can do favourite drupes, pomes and berries. My favourite drupe is a mango.
M: Don't forget your favourite aggregate fruit too.
R: AAah.. I don't want to carry on with this conversation anymore!

I can't remember what kind of fruit a coconut is. I remember having a deep and meaningful discussion with Applecow about it in Phuket.

I'm not sure if we make good dinner company/conversationalists.