An Acute Hunger

An Acute Hunger

Last night Sophia and I had dinner at a pub at the Greenbelt 3 Mall in Makati and later we watched the popular Filipino band Side A perform. I normally avoid live bands because most of them assault my ear-drums but these five guys were great. Their repertoire consisted mainly of light and easy ballads--probably the only kind of pop music which I have the inclination to listen to these days. Sophia was crazy about them; she brought along her favourite Side A CD and was able to get the autographs of all five members of the band.

We had a great time together but because of my early Thursday morning breakfast meeting, we had to leave before midnight. It's Thursday today and it has been a long day for me but I'm finally back in KL--back to my unfinished work, my huge pile of unopenned letters and a list of errands to run. But it looks like I'll have to start checking the calendar again to plan for my travels for the next two months. Unfortunately I don't see an opportunity to squeeze in a trip to Jakarta.

I've been stuffing myself with adobo and garlic rice for the past couple of days in Manila. My Singaporean friends like to tell me how bad the food in the Philippines is but I have no complaints. I actually kind of like some of their dishes like adobo, tocino and salpicao. Filipinos seem to eat a lot of meat and they usually have rice for breakfast. Probably not the type of diet that would appeal to health-conscious people.

Now I'm back to my even more unhealthy Malaysian diet of nasi lemak, nasi kandar and roti canai. Well, maybe someday I'll decide to be a vegetarian and give up alcohol altogether. When that day comes, maybe I'll be too old and too sick for it to make any difference.

But perhaps I have a saving grace--I'm a light eater and I dislike over-eating. I find the torpor that comes with a bloated stomach rather disgusting. And even though I enjoy good food like everyone else, I'm not addicted to it.

I look forward to meal times more for the company of friends than for the food itself. Even eating alone can be fun because you get to do some reading while waiting for your food to be served. So much of my reading is done in restaurants, food courts and cafes. You see, when it's mealtime for the stomach, it's also a convenient feeding time for the mind. And to me, the hunger of the mind is much more acute than that of the body.