Sunday, August 03, 2008

Senior Moments


Just home from Sunday School where I realised I'd made a major boo boo last week. I'd been supposed to teach lesson #27 on Salvation but somehow got things mixed up and taught lesson #26 which was also on salvation but slightly differently stressed on Man in need of salvation. When I told my colleagues about it, they said they hadn't noticed but I'm mortified. I've never done anything like this before and for such an important lesson. Argh, my brains are screwed!

A similar thing happened to a woman I was buying vegetables from yesterday. It had been raining heavily and everything was wet and slushy and humid. She's a nice woman and one of my favourite veggie sellers so I bought a half kilo of tomatoes and set down 25 bucks in front of her. Then I picked up something else for 10 bucks which I added to the pile. Then I picked up something else again for 5 bucks and finding I didn't have a fiver to give her, took out a 50 note and took back the 35 bucks I'd laid out.

That's when it hit her. She looked at me blankly and went, "Uhhhh." "It's supposed to be 40 in all so you can give me back 10 rupees," I told her. She went, "Uh, what all did you buy?" I said, "Tomatoes = 25, hmarcha = 10, bekang = 5." She said confusedly, "But you took back the 35." "Yes, so now I'm giving you 50 and you're supposed to give me back 10." She mumbled, "But I'll be losing out if you take away the 35..."

Yarghhhh. I was starting to feel hot under the collar. Nothing I said could blow away the cobwebs in her mind. Luckily, a couple I know well came along looking at her vegetables and broke the impasse. We both explained to the wife our little tango and she told the veg woman it was alright, I'd bought 40 bucks worth of goods and given her 50 so she now had to return me a tenner. Which she did and we parted ways. Finally.

I've often been in that kind of can't work out figures and logic for nuts in my mind mental confusion so she has my sympathies entirely. With me, it usually happens that when I've been away travelling somewhere and getting back to basics at home I get disoriented completely and totally. I can't remember the littlest detail, and figures throw me for a loop as intricate as a figure skating triple axel followed by a double salchow. It's probably because I'm just too physically tired and not rested well enough and my mind shuts down from too much information too suddenly. I'm guessing the woman yesterday too was probably suffering from lack of sufficient sleep and rest since veg dealers get up crazily early on market days.

Ah life.

19 comments:

  1. Don't tell me tomatoes cost 50 a kilo?? This morning we went for our weekly veg shopping trip and bought one-and-a-half kilo of tomatoes for 10 bucks!!

    I can truly understand the miscommunication between you and the veggie seller. I also get seriously confused sometimes with my accounting. I keep with me the house money, my own money and the kids money, and there is always too much trading and borrowing and paying back that by the end of the month there is always a big hole somewhere, and I'm not the kind of person who writes down each and every small expense. Whenever a new month begins I always promise I wouldn't mess up things, but I was never big on keeping promises.

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  2. The cheapest rate I can remember for tomatoes is 20 a kilo. It was 40 last week but maybe inflation hit it this week! I can't be bothered with detailing every little expense either so sometimes I get in a financial mess too. Laziness is sooo bad :(

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  3. Ummmh..Senior moments...Mihring hi upat lamah hian kan cells ho hi a insiam chak vak toh lo a, an in suicide (apoptosised) reng bawk sia a buathlak nih hi. A hrim2 thu ah haihawt te hia a tha an ti ania. Rilru bing chuk chuk leh ngaihtuah fim theihloh lai kan nei theuh an tih bawk chu...Mizo te hian upa erawh kan in ti hma a mawni te ka ti duah ni chu. Forever young tur. lolz

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  4. What one thing is everybody in the world doing at exactly the same time?
    Growing older!

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  5. Old is gold... J hi chu kei ai chuan a shine(tle) tha deuh tawh zawk tur a ngaih a ni.

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  6. keini chuan sweet-16 kan la ti che!haihawt leh khawchhia hi a in rual duh phian an ti ania, chuvang mai mai chu aniang:)

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  7. vana, nangni scientifically speaking ho hian kan brain cells thih loh dan tur te hi lo hmuchhuak ula. Ka ui teh ania ka nei tlem sot tlat lolz.

    Mizo te chu public deuh a inkah nulh nulh kan uar em alom. Kum 25 te mi an kai det det a puipunnaah nula siniar an ti chiam zel a. Hman a kan principal thin 1 poh staff meetingah te hian kan nula siniar te hi etc etc zu tih ching fahran a mawle, mawl hi he reuh asin awww.

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  8. samuapa, a dik thlot. Ka amen thlap.

    elexx, i duh tlet ve deuh leh sitril-uul in nawt la, Brasso in tui hnih roh. A tlo duh mahna :D

    azassk, min bawl in shual. Nia, khawchhiat hi chuan khawvel hi a zim duh eee lom, tiro?

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  9. Love the small cartoon figure at the top!!!! Really sweet, and it goes really well with this post.

    We all have our senior moments. It all boils down to how we deal with it.... Like for example, all of us are forgetful at one point of time, but if we are young, we are just "forgetful", whereas if we are older, then it becomes a so called "senior moment".

    The trick is to handle each situation as merely "forgetful" and not a senior moment :-)

    And belated happy friendship day! See, I forgot about it because I am forgetful and not because of a senior moment :-D

    Smile and the world becomes such a better place.

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  10. tunlai chu ka haihawt over lutuk a kan pa pawn a ngaihna a hre lo top mawle...buaithlak khop in ka haihawt a...

    kan tar ta takxet aniang e...

    ur poor veggie seller...:)...i pawisa pek hmasak khan a ti buai vek a nih kha mawle...

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  11. Tomato chu va han to uih em em! Khilai comment a I sawi, mi zing ah inkah kan ching tih khi lawm kei pawh ka huat chu! 'Si' lah hi kan han inti hma em em lehnghal a. In kah tih vel lam hi rawn ziak leh rawh, ka vei teh ania. A mawl mizia lutuk a, mihring confidence strong lo tan leh phei chuan a healthy lo. Keichu Mizoram ah ka awm rei chuan ka konfi level hi hniam rawih rawih zel..lol

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  12. illu, senior moments are actually a light, fun way of referring to these momentary lapses of memory. As fixated on eternal youth as the western world seems to be, I think they have a better grip on reality and a greater appreciation of age. Come to think of it, we don't even have an old is gold type quote in our culture to speak of.

    Yeah, belated Friendship Day to you too.

    virgo, tar lo in ti ve hman ziah teh suh, ka nau. Nia mawle, ka pawisa nawi pek hmasak khan a ti รข zo ang tih hria ila ka pe tawp lo tur.

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  13. Jerusha, nia ka la ang leh nek ang :P Kan in fiam dan hi a lungmawl thlak thin ltk a, mi rilru ka ti na em, an pawi ka sawi em tih lam ngaihtuah miah lo hian ka fiam e kan tia. Hun leh hmun hre lek lo hian kan ti leh ngheng zel a, kan in tawng pawng ngam thin lutuk hi chu a atthlak ve thlawt a ni.

    Pssst a lil' tip-off, tunlai Aizawl chu it's the older women who're getting all the yum yums ;)

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  14. Pssst a lil' tip-off, tunlai Aizawl chu it's the older women who're getting all the yum yums ;)

    eh eh eh...enge awmxia

    *wink*

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  15. lal virgo, yum yum bubblegum tihna :P

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  16. Senior moments?! That's what they're called?! I've been having those moments VERY often lately (read my latest post) hmmmm. This is scary.

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  17. Just read it lol. It must be catching. Don't worry, it's just an after-effect of the monsoon (hopefully).

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  18. you young folks and your senior moments! those of us who are always senior are learning to cope; when you reach the threshold of factually senior you can ask me how!

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  19. Haha mesjay, I actually laughed out loud when I saw your opening salvo. Been a while since anyone called me young online but yep, I'll definitely come knocking on your door for advice when I get properly senior :D

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