I thought this woman had the most
interesting face, and sneakily took pictures of her

M and I trudged through chinatown and covent garden
then to starbucks for caramel macchiatos
then back home, if only to get ready to go out that night
we went here, and I really liked the place


Compare, above and below?
Do we look alike?
no.

But as I walked up to the BBC bar on Friday,
the bartendar looked at me and gave me a cheery smile
and wave, I thought he was being friendly
in a weird kind of way
later when M stood beside me, he said
"Oh I thought she was you!"
and these are people who've seen her nearly everyday
in 6 years.


I like this pic, because its all
mysterious/futuristic like
gives me a headache
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Friday 6.40pm:
M meets me at reception, and I am tagged
like a cow and herded into the bar

They have all been drinking for yonks
and the place is packed, teeming
she introduces me, same way she always does
(=
"This is my cousin Aja,
but we're the same people "

"Except she's white and I am not"

"And I am smarter"

"But I am prettier"

"But I am taller"

No lah, actually it doesn't go that far.
We tell people about how we never met till I was 12 and when we
did we just clicked and how we've been close since
then, despite, hardly seeing each other.

Later, I tried to discreetly pour wine from
my full goblet, into my water glass
legless, my first night in London
was not something I wanted to be.

M leans over
"You are so totally my cousin," she says, eyeing
the glasses in my hand
"as we speak right now, I am pouring mine on the
floor."

We do this for a few rounds till she snaps
"stop pouring your wine into my shoe!"

Then we go home
and for 5 days, I have her singing
or humming "Close to You".