choonping rings me up so we go to dinner at the sofra cafe at shaw towers. we decide on hummus, cucumber yoghurt, eggplant salad, the iskander kebab and the house specialty: chopped walnuts, tomatoes, cheese and kebab wrapped in turkish bread. rice pudding and sour cherry juice to follow.

choonping: let's order the lamb.
me: exactly what i was thinking. i was last here with su-lin.
choonping: *sympathetic* and we might come back here with her again.

and when the waiter comes to take our order and asks innocently: chicken?

no! we exclaimed simultaneously, and rather too loudly. choonping added: we mustn't exceed our su-lin quota.

so then we get back to the perennial question of whether choonping should learn latin or greek. latin! i say with great enthusiasm.

what would i want to read in latin?
how about ovid?
but i'd rather read homer than ovid.
give me ovid any day.

silence, consideration.

you know that thing they ask mothers? if two of your children fell into the water who would you save first?
yes?
who would you save, homer or ovid?
oh, ovid of course.
ovid or shakespeare?
still ovid.
wait, is there anyone at all you would save before ovid?
yes, thurber.

so we judiciously withdrew the topic from circulation.

afterwards dinner we go to bugis to see about getting me a pink top (choonping: i shall be yen!) so we walk through liang seah street.

hey, we're in hainanese territory!
oh! so we are!
there now! no teochew from you please!
or we could just shout: chicken rice! chicken rice!

i was beginning to help myself to an elbow when choonping said he doesn't want to be the guy, but it would be odder if i gave him mine, wouldn't it? actually considering he's almost a girlfriend to me, holding hands would be most natural thing to do. however, then everyone would just think we were going out. heh. we settled for him on my arm.

and then we discuss the teochew diaspora:

so choonping, why don't you live in hougang?
because my grandparents moved.
how can? i'm only half teochew and i live in hougang.
yes, whereas my ancestors were practically incestuous.
it's not too late. you can apply for a hdb flat in punggol.

we march around bugis, we zoom up to anything pink on racks, we inspect them, and then we sweep out.

choonping: you shop like a man.
me: yes, tonight i do. come back with me another day and i'll shop like a woman.

and choonping proceeds to critcise my boobs.

to be continued, because su-lin is hurrying me.