FUZZY AROUND THE EDGES

Up before six, out of the house at eight. Eye doctor appointment at eight thirty. Forty five minutes later I wandered into an eatery for congee, a fried dough stick and a cup of milk tea (豬肝瘦肉粥、油條，同埋一杯熱香港奶茶 'jyu gon sau yiuk juk, yau tiu, tong maai yat pui yit heung gong naai chaa'). Remarkably, everyone spoke to me in Cantonese. I guess I have reached that age where if people don't look carefully they don't quite notice precisely how profoundly kwai lo I really am. It's hardly likely that they recognize me, because all Caucasians really do look alike.

This is not so much disturbing as it is baffling.

Perhaps it's the complete absence of tattoos, piercings, and eccentric clothing (both artistic AND "ethnic") that expresses how unique, creative, and spiritual I think I am. Which is how many (probably most) Caucasians make sure people recognize that they are deeply unique, creative, and spiritual beings surrounded by butterflies and powerful auras.

Yes, that must be it; I have a bland aura.

Also, I am fuzzy around the edges.


Either that or it's the lack of a man bun and a goth or heavy metal tee-shirt.

It turns out that the left eye is marginally more glaucomatic than it was. Still, the likelihood that I will be able to look someone straight in the eyes when I finally croak a quarter century hence, and exclaim "hey, I know you, you still owe me twenty bucks" is pretty good. This will be because of good clean living, the therapeutic value of smoking Virginia pipe tobaccos, and latanoprost eye drops to relieve the intraocular pressure.


眼壓係眼球內容物對眼球內壁嘅壓力。呢個係青光眼嘅危險。
['Ngaan ngaat hai ngaan kau noi yung mat deui ngaan kau noi bik ge ngaat lik. Ni go hai jing gwong ngaan ge ngai him.']


I think part of the reason for going to eat congee was a notice from Mui Kee in Hong Kong on my Facebook feed about being closed because of a typhoon last week. In San Francisco we usually don't have storms that necessitate closure. Anyway, it probably put the idea of congee after my appointment into my head.

[Mui Kee: 妹記生滾粥品，旺角花園街市政大廈3樓熟食中心11-12舖。Shop11-12, 3/F, Fa Yuen Street Market, Mong Kok, Hong Kong, Hong Kong.]

Chinatown is lovely in the morning. Some old gentlemen puttering about having their first cup of coffee and a smoke, plus old ladies out grocery shopping, or having breakfast with friends. The usual San Francisco bums and crazies are still asleep, and very few tourists out at that hour, probably because of bad hangovers and their addiction to fried food and acid indigestion first thing in the day. Only locals at the congee place.

My next eye doctor appointment is two months hence at nine in the morning.

下次去眼科醫生預約，係兩個月後朝早九點。

Which means more congee.



==========================================================================
NOTE: Readers may contact me directly:
LETTER BOX.
All correspondence will be kept in confidence.
==========================================================================