Last night, I was at the gym when I whatsapp-ed a Singaporean friend and asked if she would be free tomorrow evening (ie tonight) for dinner. She said she wasn’t but would be free that very night instead. So, very spontaneously, I replied to say let’s meet tonight then! She was just out walking around in a park as she didn’t want to head home straight after work to face the four walls of her tiny flat. Ah, the life of a singleton alone in Hong Kong. She agreed to meet and I cut short my workout and promptly headed to the shower for a nice, warm shower. I love such spontaneity where one can just up and go with a phone call or text message. In about half an hour, we met near her home (which is near my office and gym) and had dinner at a Korean restaurant. We had a pleasant evening catching up with each other and musing away about life in a foreign country and, well, basically life in general.
Some people, however, are incapable of such spontaneity. I have a friend who declares that she can’t and won’t come out if you call or text her out of the blue. She needs to know in advance and won’t entertain last-minute requests. She says she wouldn’t come out even if she were free. For some reason, she requires that kind of structure. For me, I guess it depends. Most of the time I’m usually up for anything and good to go at last minute’s notice if it’s somewhere convenient and if the activity is attractive enough for me to make my way there. I don’t usually say ‘no’ unless I’m sick or it’s probably the case where the activity doesn’t appeal to me. And dear reader, what about you? Are you a planner or a go-with-the-flow type?
These days, I’m happy if anyone asks me out. I don’t even know why people have the impression I’m so “outgoing”. I mean, outdoorsy yes, but outgoing? Hardly. Like a hermit in its shell, I think I spend too much time alone, to the point that it’s getting socially unhealthy. In fact, I’m beginning to fear for my spoken English, since I don’t really talk that much to people in English when I’m in Hong Kong. What if I forget how to speak English??? Argh. I should probably try and look for more things to do and meet more people.
But anyway, just so you know, you can always ask me out at the last minute. Happy weekend.