04-01-05: April Fool’s Day: Budding with the enemy

I started the day with no recognition of what the day it was…of course I knew it’s April 1^st…the thing I didn’t remember is that it’s also what we call ‘April Fool’s day’

Ancient cultures, including those as varied as the Romans and the Hindus, celebrated New Year's Day on April 1. It closely follows the vernal equinox (March 20th or March 21st.) In medieval times, much of Europe celebrated March 25, the Feast of Annunciation, as the beginning of the new year.

In 1582, Pope Gregory XIII ordered a new calendar (the Gregorian Calendar) to replace the old Julian Calendar. The new calendar called for New Year's Day to be celebrated Jan. 1. Many countries, however, resisted the change. In fact, some European countries held out for centuries (Scotland until 1660; Germany, Denmark, and Norway until 1700; and England until 1752).

In 1752, Great Britain finally changed over to the Gregorian Calendar, and April Fool's Day began to be celebrated in England and in the American colonies. Some believe it sort of evolved simultaneously in several cultures at the same time, from celebrations involving the first day of spring.

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So I started my day as usual…I went to collected data on PKG815 Term Project…the water vapor transmission rate at steady state by gravimetric method (sounds scary, Eh ?) needed to be check every 2 days…and the isotherm on Tuesday and Friday…for this week, it means that I need to go to packaging building to collect the data every day !

Around 2:30, I met up with Prang and Turk to collect the data together (we share the bucket for isotherm determination)…actually P’Oh’s suppose to be helping Turk when he weight the sample, but she had PKG455 class, so I had to help him out after finished mine and Prang’s…no big deal :)

Then we went to buy the ingredients for Mee-Krob and Kie-Sa-Te which we will bring to International party at Dr.Harte’s house tonight.

By the time we got to Prang’s apartment, Mod was busy cooking Kie-Sa-Te which I single-handed sliced and seasoned 8 lb of chicken myself, yesterday.

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With Kei-Sa-Te cooking in Mod’s apartment, I, Prang and Turk used Prang’s apartment as a head-quarter for Mee-Krob.

Tell you what, if somebody tell me one day I’ll have to make Mee-Krob…I’ll consider them as stranger who don’t know me at all…what am I, a chief ?

Anyway it did happen today :P...and we have learned that we need more than 1 people to make it edible…with Turk throw the dried noodle down into the pan with boiling oil, I wait for the right moment to take the whole thing off the pan and Prang…hold the big tray for me to dump the fried noodle in…

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Eventually, it’s only I and Turk at frying station…Prang’s off for preparing the dressing ingredients.

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Around 5 Pm, P’Oh showed up to help. She said she can hear the screaming, laughing and chatting the minute she turn the corner of the road (the apartment is actually 50 m from the main road !)…and once she had a sight of the apartment she saw the thick band of smoke pouring out from Prang’s window…that’s the case when the oil’s heated pass it’s smoke point.

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Just half and hour after we started frying the noodle, there’s smoke everywhere…and I had to borrow Prang’s glasses to partly cover my eyes…every 20-30 min, I and Turk had to get some fresh air at the balcony and whip the tear from our eyes at the same time.

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It was a nightmare…yet I found it’s a rare opportunity to get to know the people I meet everyday a lot better…especially Turk.

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Prang’s easy going person…probably too easy...

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Mod’s a very determined and demanding one…and the only person Turk listens to…with no objection…at all

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since I met the man, Turk, he’s always sarcastic…yet he’s like a little boy who enjoys praise from other...and if you know me quite well,… you’ll know that he’s not gonna get such sweet words from me :P

so whenever I was alone with Turk, I always feel the urge to run away…not because I don’t like him, it’s because I don’t know what to talk…we have nothing in common.

But when we are with other…Prang, Mod, P’Oh, P’Kate, P’Na, etc…I can always find stuff to talk about him, especially about his romance with Nong Am and Mod (from my point it’s the truth…but I still don’t know him well enough to verify my suspicious :P)…so, he marked me as his greatest enemy.

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but things seem really different today, I had no idea what the heck’s going on with him.

…today, there’s not a single sarcastic word coming out from his mouth…and with the absence of those words, I found a very passionate and fun-to-be-with person…

…it’s probably this new character that made the atmosphere when we went out to get more ingredients and pick up additional tray together (around 5:30-6 pm) a very pleasant situation

It was the first time I can look straight into his eyes…and smile

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I’m not sure you can understand this feeling. It’s the feeling when you found that the person you always think might hate you, was actually like you :)

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well, there’re some moment when we cooking together and when we were at the party together that he said something like…you like me, don’t you ? …

…I looked at him as if to say…what ?...what is the matter with you today ?

…he said that like 4-5 times today…and I’m not gonna analyze what does he really mean…

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It was after Prang told me that she and Mod decided to do something fun on April Fool’s day…and that was to pair I and Turk…just for today…that it struck me…that maybe all that happened today was a lie…

…that I was fooled all day to think that Turk actually like me (as a friend…don’t even think he’ll like me as something else)

…that, perhaps, this whole wonderful day of me getting to know all of them…to finally feel like I might belong here…was just a cruel joke…on April Fool’s day...