biiiiiaatch

The other day i was eaves dropping on two hongkie kid's conservations on the train (one of my favourite past times). Their whole conversation revolved around gossiping about their common friends. For eg, the guy, (lets call him Pink, cos he was wearing a pink polo shirt), started bitching to the girl (lets call her... shorty - self explanatory) about his housemate. It seemed like he had a pretty convinced audience already and so he continued to rattle on about a list of trivial things that his housemate does at home to "prove" what a stupid cow she is. the list includes, the fact that she wears short shorts at home, the fact that she doesnt close her bedroom door when she sleeps, the fact that she doesnt know how to use dial up internet etc.

Then the conversation moved on to another friend they know from their church (who really seemed more like a frenemy of Pink). And it was more of the 'he said, she said...' ordeal.

And our lives, are filled with such trivial things - but somehow, they seem important and interesting (at least it was interesting to me on the 20 minute train ride). The following day, i bumped into my friend on the bus. i casually enquired about how a common friend (who works with this guy) was going. His reply was "i've heard stuff about her". "oh really?" i enquired (and yes, i was genuinely interested in what he had to say - what was the goss?). Then, to my amusement and disapointment, he proceeded to tell me about some "goss" about her which happened about 10 years ago (literally! - back in our highschool days).

i shrugged and casually commented " yeh, that was a long time ago" in an effort to not dwell on the petty past. 10 years ago. How many mistakes and stupid things we have done in highschool which really does not reflect on the person we are now. how petty to bring up such failings of the ancient past on a simple enquiry of 'how is she going?'. Why not simply say - 'yeh, she's great' or 'yeh, she broke her ankle yesterday?'

This did not stop me from relaying this 'bus story' to my friends, in an effort to convey what pettiness was demonstrated by this guy. And so, the cycle continues. You can never be immune from petty gossip. All of us, guilty as charged.