Hopscotch Anyone?

So I’m sitting across my girlfriend for dinner, just her and me. The whole time I’m thinking, wow, she’s really pretty all grownup. Mom was always right. I’ve known this girl since we were 5. We did everything from hopscotch to discovering Debbie Gibson together. She always gives me a sense of nostalgia and takes me back to a time when she was my only worthy opponent for 象棋, when I use to poke fun at her for her crush on Johnny Wong, and when we spent our bus fare on junk food so that we could instead walk the 10 blocks to YB. It’s been 3 months since our trip to Italy and we finally find time to swap pictures. We chitchat and do catch up… boy, I really made an effort to be here – I am so exhausted… I only slept 3 hours last night. I’ve begun to realize that when you hang out w/ Maestro & friends, you don't sleep. (I won’t get into the 8am false fire alarms.) Anyway, I can’t help but notice how much has changed since our last game of hopscotch. Conversation these days with her is always so grave. Everything said so calculated and drawn from empirical data. I find her slightly cynical. But how would I notice she’s cynical if I am not so myself? I am careful to avoid certain points as to not offend her. Again, how would I know what is offensive if I am not offended myself? And of course, in the midst of all this… I start to wonder, does she feel the same way? I become increasingly self-conscious, almost paranoid. Suddenly, my mind is a terrible place to be in. How did dinner become so complicated? And then eeeeEEEW – a SMS arrives… something about a zit and a priest. Hehe, at least there’s one person out there who still might be interested in a simple game of hopscotch. Blue skies.