The Caged Bird

The Caged Bird Chronicle - The venting machine

Recently, i have gotten fond of reading contemporary stuff. The caged bird recommended Em one of his books. 
I got a glimpse of it and decided to google the name. 16 pages of preview read from Amazon later, turns out i had to agree the japanese author wasn't really that bad after all. 
Contemporary reads can be a killer sometimes. Some author would express things very well at the beginning but somewhere in middle, they would run out of air and go flat all the way to the end. 
The dreadful feeling of having to go through the rest of the books in such a manner...i'd usually give up after half. 
Whenever i look back at those books i'm not able to finish, a sense of regret would washed over me. 
It is not a feeling i enjoy having. Anyway, after lunch yesterday i got my new book-The Wind-up Bird Chronicle...recommended by its caged brethen. How ironic.

Today, we sat down for tea after lunch. T was a lil reluctant at first when our chain-bound friend asked to sit down for tea right after lunch but he obliged anyway, just like how he usually is.
Friend got his tea, and both me and T got barlie instead. Lighter on the stomach and they come in a ready to go plastic cups; in case we need to bail before we can even finish. 
Who would have thought the conversation that followed almost brought us to the bottom of our cups when we're done. Friend was puffing hot air again, this time again, about his rental and how he finds it difficult to rent out his room.
Paying much of his payroll to rental is not something anyone would be happy about. He was again venting off his frustration. Sometimes i wonder, could it be that you only feel frustrated after 2 years of relationship?
Whatever happen to happy ever after? Someone once said i grew up watching too much fairy tale...but if love is not based on fairytales, what else can it be based on?
If you have to apply logic and reasoning to love, do you still call it love? The world is a place full of objectives. Everything that we do, we must justify, quantify and reason.


The Caged Bird Chronicle - The high speed train

The tea sessions are becoming of a routine now. Everyday, well...almost everyday after lunch if we have too much left on the minute hand, we would go sit down by one of the local tea house and have a cuppa and talk about whats bothering us in life. The caged bird, being new to our society has been feeding us with inside news of life within the cage. A life whose previously was unknown to most of us. 

The cage has been exported out of the country over the weekend due to work where she would remain for another week or two. The bird is set free for now, and has been doing alot of chirping outside some estranged trees since the last weekend. I suppose this would go on for another week, or at least till he's back in the cage again. Frankly, i think i'm beginning to 'enjoy' these after lunch sessions that we are having. Perhaps i've grown curious of our newly acquired friend, maybe his shroud of mystery will die out once i've seen through the mists of his clouded life. I'm still not quite sure which would that be, but for now...i'm letting my curiousity drive.

I dont remember exactly if it is out of abruptness that he brought up the topic or perhaps we were even talking along those lines. Anyway, that is of least importance. What is; is the fact that he told us he would get married if it is what makes the other half happy. He is in no means or at least having any feel or rush of tying the knot...but if it is what makes the relationship tick, he will do it - i have to quote the precise words, "If it makes her happy, I will be happy too. If getting married makes her happy, i dont mind doing it". Both myself and T looked at each other for like more than a brief sec, knowing not what to say at first. Then our eyes made a solemn pack and we silently gave up on our friend. Maybe he fell into the rabbit hole when he was growing up. He is in Lala land; a place where the genie plays the harp and grants you wishes and cinderalla still wears her polished glass slippers, happily singing lullabies with her fairy godmother waiting to be engaged to prince charming. Sometimes i thought i could be the only one on earth with all these little 'perfect' relationships in my head-which will probably not come true, but today...i feel so dwarfed over by this guy. The wheels of the train is already in motion, the wedding plan has been set off...there's no turning back but to press on and hope for the best. Or he can jump out of the window now and get all bloody or die, which would be foolish. In this world of over 6 billion people; there are generally 2 types of us...one who get married for the love and company. The other, who get married first then prayed that they would gain the effects after. And there are usually two outcomes; either they pulled through alright and live a full, contented life...or they fail miserably, dragging their days till the end and pray that in the next; they might get luckier. There might be a 3rd outcome where you can sever any knots and start off fresh again, but then again who are we to fool? We would eventually fall into the cycle again.