Streams of Life (26)
Yesterday we spent most of the day re-arranging the house. I brought out from the cupboard the creamy-colored carpet which was brought at IKEA months ago, and put it flat in front of the futon in the office. I jested with my friend that, from now onwards, what the carpet cover would be my territory. After moving all mybooks and other junk to the carpet, the office instantly looked professional.
My friend and I had intended to tidy up the whole house ages ago. But due to theheat the intention had been delayed. It happened that yesterday I went through
an interview, and the guy I talked with was somewhat in a similar situation as us. He was sourcing items for export’s sake. Though living a flat, his office, where I had interview, was pretty tidy and professional. All seemed business-like
, no junk, no unrelated books or files. Sitting in it, you felt the motive to dothings.
Since I have plenty of books, quite a few of which I don’t wish to put in the cupboard, we decided to make a bookshelf off the wood left from making those modular chairs. While my friend was doing the preliminary arrangements, I continued
to tidy up the house: Clean up all the junk accumulated in the kitchen, fold all
the clothes in season at the bedroom, sort out both of our bedside carbine, pile up neatly books in the classroom, sweep away all the junk which stealthily buried under the futon, bed, and ten modular chairs, and in the end throw away all
the blocks of useless wood.
Thanks to the cooling temperature, we didn’t get knackered and sweaty. At one point we even spared some time to make sushi. Earlier on while I went away for the interview, my friend went to Carrefour to get ingredients needed in sushi: wasabi, sushi vinegar, mat, seaweed, vegetables, and sausages, shrimp roll, etc. It was interesting to know sometimes a bit change, even just diet, might brightenone's mood, and the day.
We hadn’t cooked for a long time. The heat of the kitchen made cooking simply impossible. But now as the weather gradually cools down, our appetite, together with our interest in cooking, slowly comes back. Making sushi and then enjoying it was an example. Because I took efforts to get rid of the messy condition of the cooker, the kitchen actually started to look good. Both of us felt the mood ofexperimenting. And because we might talk while making food, the process of foodwashing, boiling, cooking, making was actually quite interesting and enjoyable.
Anyway, after sushi experiment, I cooperated with my friend on the bookshelf again. Since we already had all materials—tools, screws, glue, plywood, hand and electronic saw, making it was only a matter of effort and time. I helped sort themeasurement work out and cut small blocks of wood to support the shelf; my friend did the actually drilling and curved sawing. Though it wasn’t as easy as it
sounded, it didn’t take us too long to finish it. Making modular chairs months
ago, if not helping us get students, had made my friend and me a good working team. At about nine p.m., it was finished.
To celebrate it, we decided to dine out, this time a new restaurant nearby. Whenwe arrived there, it was peopled with diners as usual. The waitress escorted usto the inside room, in which it happened there were already several tourists from France. They were trying to order drink and dishes with efforts. So dramatically I became their dish-ordering assistant. It was the first time that they landed on this country. Everything was therefore new and exciting to them. During the dinner, they talked, toasted, and laughed all along the way. No one noticed the room was too smoky and dishes came too slow. Or perhaps, they noticed but simply didn’t care. Noise from the kitchen and diners tuned with their excitement,
stirring the air with thrill and sort of madness.
Later on the way back my friend talked to me about backpacking. The two-week trip needs lots of careful planning: buy equipments, making out route, calculating
traveling budget, and probably get some functional clothing. We haven’t made out the exact date yet. But traveling, even the idea of it, is thrilling and inspiring. Maybe it IS human nature to hold nonstop curiosity to places far and wide.
Backpacking will be a new experience for me. Besides, by exploring new places,
we may get new inspirations with respect to our business and our future. Who knows? Time probably will tell.
