Sunday 5 October 2008

A different life

While my dear friend was navigating her way through fallen trees in a thick forest, slipping on moss and getting attacked by insects, I was dodging people and shopping carts at a crowded mall yesterday afternoon.

She was hunting for mushroom in the woods while I was hunting for a seat in a noisy restaurant. Well, she lives in Oregon while I'm in Singapore. How different can our lives be at this moment.

After 5 hours of legwork, she gathered plenty of Chanterelles, King Bolete (aka Porcini), Morels, Matsutakes, all the good stuff.... Mushroom hunting is tough. Identifying the edible species isn't always that easy, plus negotiating the harsh terrain. She lost a knife and a bag of huckleberry (picked along the way) while balancing on the slippery rocks but hey, it was so rewarding.

I wish I was out hunting for fungi instead of glasses. YK had always pride himself in being one of the few in class with perfect vision but lately he has been experiencing bouts of blurred vision. The visit to the optician revealed that he's slightly myopic with signs of astigmatism. I'm not too surprised actually, given the kind of lifestyle we lead here.

My brothers are lucky to have perfect vision till today. I choose to believe it has everything to do with our childhood in the countryside. I began wearing glasses only after working in a publishing firm as a proof reader. Reading small print 10 hours a day was really damaging to my eyes.

Now that my kids are short-sighted too, we're a speckie family. Something I'm definitely not proud of.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

So are we! Coffee as you know, already wears specs... I think she has the same stigmatism as YK... My eyes didn't go bad till university... I think us "city" people have it bad....

WaterLearner said...

Take it easy. Contact lenses are so cheap and convenient. And the option of lasik is always available!

The Real Mother Hen said...

Actually Ting, life in US is getting really tough, I just don't talk about the bad parts only.

And honestly speaking, it's my friends, not me, that are interesting. Every life is boring to a certain extend EXCEPT when he/she is in the right company.

Hey, there may be a Fungi club in Singapore waiting for you :)

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