How are you?

Since I’ve formatted my computer (yes, I did a backup file in D:/ but forgot to tell my computer man), I’ve lost all my previous documents. This is a pity as I’ve kept my e-books downloaded and stored there for future readings. But because I never attended computer classes, I guess I’ll just have to mourn my demise with J tomorrow.

So far semester break have been passing by at the speed of a banana boat. With extra cash to burn, I have yet to spend over-my-head budgets. Sometimes I feel like shopping for something bigger, something bolder, like a house, or maybe a car, contrary to the usual spendings on a pen, or a book. It would be nice to be able to pay by cheque, where I can show off my blustering signatures that swish across the page like cornstalks bowed before a violent storm. Yet again, this is subjected to wishful thinking only.

Speaking of shopping, while I was boringly sitting on a bench waiting for M to remember my existence in a mall yesterday, a good looking man came up to me to ask a pretty straight forward question out of courtesy, ‘How are you?’

As I was caught in the act of aimlessly observing the walking crowd, I pretended to look at my watch and told him I was fine. It didn’t take me long to wander off thinking how odd the situation was. I mean, it is of course the first time but I never really thought about the answer to such a simple question so deeply like I did yesterday (this has no relation whatsoever to his charms).

This question would usually just come by easily and I would let it go easily. But from a stranger; it jerked me. My inner realizations hit me that such a simple question, often treated with triviality, can actually mean so much more. Because it always sounded so casual and so frequently abused, most people discard it within seconds. As if one always had a ready answer for it.

However if you could just stand still and ponder for a moment, you would realize that these three simple words are capable of making you think. And when you stop thinking, it makes you dig deep inside your heart for an answer. It will make you take the time to rearrange the correct words so you could clearly explain what you feel. It will make you deduce your own findings of your current status quo and it will make you feel better once you know the answer.

Think about it.

How are you, really?