Monkey Business

My mother said while growing up I was a real picky eater. I also reacted to seafood, especially shrimp. At one point I was fed beef and pig's liver cooked in different ways- at least once a day - because I needed the extra iron due to my anemia. But the one thing clear on my mind was how much I loved eating bananas with my Asian rice meal. Now in those days, I didn't know bananas came in different varieties; big and fat, long and large, short and stumpy, small and skinny, sweet, bland, yellow flesh, white flesh. Where I originated, every backyard had at least one banana tree. Local people even cook bananas! Not just for desserts, but as a main dish, too!

But me, I like 'em raw.

Where I now live I only get the "American" bananas. Whether or not they're imported from some hot, tropical island, who knows. I buy them at the store for a dollar and some cents per pound. Compared to the bananas I grew up eating, these GI bananas are smooth, long, perfectly curved like a half moon, and deliciously sweet. I spend a great deal of time picking the best looking bunch whenever I'm doing my rounds at the store.

I recently met my monkey. I adore him. He is ape-like because he has a hairy face (although the rest of his body isn't furry at all). He is like the gentle orang-utan who makes me smile and laugh everytime I needed to cheer up. He has long, slender arms that reach around my body and grab me just like how a parent primate would hold his baby. My monkey also has the strength of a gorilla; he is strong, powerful, commanding, and aggressively sexy. And this adorable, mankey just loves to eat, you guessed it right, BANANAS!

Destiny has its way of showing people linkage. Imagine the significance of this favorite fruit. Of all tropical fruits, the genus Musa showed itself up again in my transitional colorful life totally unexpectedly. I met the lover of my dreams by accident, he became the bestest of my male friends. Although I found him on a website, he provided me an address to directly contact him, and it said "monkey" on it...


Swing in this tree
Oh I am bounce around so well
Branch to branch
limb to limb you see
all in a day's dream
I'm stuck
Like the other monkeys here
I am a humble monkey
- dave matthews band

Spring forward, fall back

Today we switch our clocks an hour forward. Because it's spring, clocks spring forward, whereas in fall, clocks fall back. It is daylight saving time. Saving is used here as a verbal adjective to modify 'time' and to tell us more of its nature, which would be characterized by the activity of saving daylight. It is a daylight saving kind of time. To understand this better, think of book reading time.

This shifting gives people more use of the extended daylight. Others don't appreciate the alteration; simple complaints such as adjusting to a new sleep schedule and the inconvenience of fussing with timepieces. For most people, this is a mere nuisance, but people with sleep disorders find this transition very difficult.

I like change. Change is good, whether it is a permanent or a temporary undertaking. Usually it is brought about by some necessity, or resulting from losses or heartaches. People sometimes fail to realize that change is just another path; another road less travelled. We fall short in realizing that new schedules have to be outlined. Mornings are earlier as the sun peeks out of the mountains prematurely, only to hide lazily at dusk.

Like the 24 hour clock of time, our life is an evolution of circular comings and goings. And even as we age and transform to take on different roles, we remain the same timepiece that preserves its meter with dials and tunings. We wind ourselves to hear the tick-tock of every second, completing a minute, revolving into hours, and before we know it, another day has passed, and thus begins another cycle of time and life.

I embrace change for it reforms oneself and one's life. Circle life continually in its fullest, but take small steps at a time; seconds before minutes. Pause and take heed as you go through the world... my world of colorful and seasonal transitions...