Paragons of Wisdom

My friend Abbi was recently trying to mediate a family conflict. I said it's good she decided to intervene, and she said, "Yeah, the cancer helps. People suddenly think you are a paragon of wisdom."

For the record, I always thought she's a paragon of wisdom.

Some guy she had a crush on in high school moved back to her town. I asked her if she still likes him, and she said:

No lol
I don't know why I liked him
And my type has completely changed
To kind people who want to be with me 😅

I tend to set a lot of store by similar interests, sense of humour, curiosity and so forth – and these things are important too. But if you had to narrow it down to just two things, I think this is as good a list as any: kind people who want to be with me.

* * *

In an earlier post I said how my pickleball group has a diverse age range. Here's Oliver (17) and his aunt, who came to play together:

It was my first time meeting Oliver – a sweet, soft-spoken guy who is into boxing and microbiology. In fact he was a bit reluctant to admit to the latter ("I don't want to sound like a geek..."), but I assured him that my friends circle has many geeks.

Later that night, one of the older ladies was teasing me about why I don't have a girlfriend ("Stop being so picky" and so on). I didn't mind; I tease her about various things too. But Oliver took it to heart, and said to me, "Don't worry about what they say, bro, just work on yourself."

My friend Li Ling overheard, and was like "Wow, you got life advice from a 17 year old!"

Shunbun no Hi: Animals by Night and Day

The first colugo I ever saw in the wild was on a night walk in Bukit Batok Nature Park, led by my friend Xiaoyun.

Since then, I've seen several other colugos including this one, with a baby, in Lower Peirce Reservoir:

Lower Peirce Reservoir is also where I saw this female Wagler's pit viper, on a night walk with another friend, Kwang Ik.

A male Wagler's pit viper (they're much smaller than the females, and a different colour) was featured in a previous post.

Wagler's pit vipers are ambush predators, often staying in the same spot for days until they catch some prey. So I went back the next morning to get some daytime shots, and luckily she was still there.

Happy equinox, everyone!

Piscivore Coincidence

In Bishan Park the other day, I saw a grey heron standing in a stream. I was just thinking that if it took off, it would make for a good photo, and indeed the heron obliged, but alas, too promptly – before I had a chance to adjust my shutter speed. At 1/180 sec, there is enough motion blur that it's visibly unsharp, but not enough to look artistic. Oh well.

I saw some other piscivores including a stork-billed kingfisher (I took photos, but none good enough to be worth posting), other types of herons... and otters.

The otters and the heron were competing over the same stretch of water. I even managed to get them in the same frame.

I sent the photo to my friend, and that very same morning, she sent me a pic of a book that her daughter was reading (I Am Oliver the Otter by Pam Ayres, illustrated by Nicola O'Byrne):