Seeds

I haven't eaten watermelons with watermelon seeds for the longest time. In Singapore my watermelons come nicely cut and seedless, I think (hope, hope, hope) they were grown naturally with some brilliant invention such that they come seedless. Though my mom has always said the food now is more or less modified because most people think of watermelon seeds as an inconvenience.


Spitt-ptui

Spitting out the watermelon seeds was a troublesome act, making sure I do not bite into them, tasting slightly bitter and with the smaller slivers sliding around my mouth, it made the act of spitting it out all the more challenging.

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Having completed my first round of mandarin in-depth interviews, many people spoke to me about their hopes, fears, goals, dreams, expectations from others, fulfillment, happiness. All seeds in their lives we all find difficult to articulate normally. We are subconsciously hiding behind our activities, careers, friends and family. Initially I was shocked and uncomfortable at having a stranger pour out all their feelings, from the normal day irritations to their lofty, imaginative dreams. I felt like an imposter trying to enter their lives, like an stranger that walks into a couple making out on a isolated park bench. Strangely towards the end of the interviews, it felt humbling to be given a glimpse of their individual personalities. Not people, but individuals.

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Just like watermelon seeds, people are nifty shape shifters, always changing what they say to blend into what they think we want to hear or what they want us to hear. It just takes more time and energy to listen to what they have to say. After that, you get the magic spark (for the more rational it's called a 'connection'), people start opening up and most of us can then have a real conversation.