Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
~ Robert Frost
***
Yours truly had spent the weekend at Genting Highlands. But what surprised me was the fact that this trip actually felt like a journey down memory lane. Yours truly has been going to Genting since young, and I really mean young. My parents used to bring me and my brother to Genting at least 4 to 5 times a year. We would drive up with my mom and dad’s childhood friends (and said friends’ kids who are defacto, my childhood friends) Back then, I swear I know it so well that I could have been a tour guide in Genting. Anyway, I haven’t been to Genting for ages. This time, not only did I go along, but so did 2 other of my childhood friends.
Genting has changed completely. Everything is different. My childhood friends are different, I’m different, heck, even the roads are different and the buildings have changed. Seriously, as I sat in my dad’s car watching the roads fly pass me, listening to the same songs that we always do when driving to Genting, it’s amazing how much of the past I remembered and how much things have changed. I mean, granted, my 2 childhood friends *K and *C has changed completely, but memories of them are still quite distinct.
*K’s married now and his wife came along. Yours truly can’t help comparing the present him and the past him. It’s amazing how much he had changed. On hindsight now, yours truly wonders whether (a) our parents secretly hoped for a match between us, (b) whether he ever thought that we would be a match (c) whether yours truly was ever mildly interested in him and (d) how different our lives would be now if we did indeed get together back then. But then, on the other hand, yours truly likes who I am now, but this person is so different from *K, our paths are so different that I suspect we are like two souls on completely different planes, parallel lines whose lives would never cross if our parents hadn’t been such good friends. And yours truly must admit, I did find him more interesting in the past, the question is thus, did he change so much, did I change so much or have we both changed so much and in so completely opposite ways that we no longer have anything at all in common?
As for *C, she used to be someone yours truly hung out with in my teens, even though we are quite different and she has some characteristics I would despise in anyone else but being my childhood friend, yours truly gave her leeway, ie, put up with the qualities that I deem quite unattractive. This trip, we didn’t even say a single word to each other. Granted, we did not even see each other over the 3 days, but still, for 2 persons who used to hang out together, and kept each other company as we explored Genting together previously, isn’t this kinda sad? Not that it’s *C’s fault or yours truly’s fault. It’s just that we are so different; our lives are so different that we have nothing to talk about or any inclination to even make conversation.
The question is, does education background really have so a big impact on us? I mean, both *K and *C drifted apart from yours truly after our education paths started to diverge. I dunno. Perhaps, it’s just me. Probably yours truly was already *strange and started growing more into me that we drifted further apart. *shrug*
I did remember a funny episode with *C. *C was into meeting strangers (read: guys) from teletext (this is the forefront of Internet days and back during my teens) and guess who she drags with her usually? *roll eyes* Anyway, at least it is *safer and more prudent of her to have company when she met strangers. Back to the point, anyway, there was this one time when she had a date with this guy and I went with her. The guy came with the requisite flower or something, and oh-my-god, you won’t believe how funny he looked. He was rather big sized, which was fine with me (but apparently not with *C) but he had neon orange hair and it clashed horrendously with the red flower he was carrying and the atrocious neon color bag he had with him. Let’s not even go into his attire, since yours truly don’t really remember except that it didn’t do much for him.
Anyway, *C freaked out and dragged me off without meeting the poor guy. I tried to convince her that its only polite to say hi and leave but she refused and left the poor guy standing there. This is just one of the funnier *dates that I got dragged to during my teens. There were some rather tedious ones, or rather rude ones. *grin*. On hindsight, all these now seem rather funny, but trust me, yours truly was not always so amused back then. But I suppose this mindless *dating highlights how different yours truly and *C were even back then. So I suppose it isn’t surprising that we drifted apart?
Ok. Reminiscing aside, yours truly wants to end off with a grateful grin to dear evilness, for I swear, I am glad that I outgrown the teen that I was back then *roll my eyes* and for choosing to tread the alternate paths from my few childhood friends. Imagine if I had gone the same paths, I might now be married and seeking to live the govt’s way of having 2.5 kids with a 2.2 bathroom. *breath of relief*
Can you imagine the horror?
Me neither.
At least, I try not too.
Thank you very much.
Me.
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