Green Stuff and Thingies

A few months ago a close friend left for Farangland for a few weeks. Since someone had to take care of his adorable potted plants, he brought them over to my house and were thus under my custody. I placed the the seven pots (the plants were small) under my window and I realized they did bring so much life into my tiny, and virtually lusterless bedroom.

I tried my best to water them everyday but still some of them were wilting. I reckoned I should've customized the level of care (or at least how much water) I gave them, but I thought it was too much work. Oh, these details bore me! So I watered them ONLY when they started wilting or drying. Otherwise, why should I bother, right? Eventually two of the seven plants shrank into a dry mess - with brown leaves scattered on my floor - while the rest of them alternated between nearly dead to barely surviving.

My friend returned to Bangkok a couple of months ago and it was only two nights back that he picked them up coz I already panicked that the plants would all die if they stay any longer with me. I was never more relieved that I'm not responsible anymore for them green stuff.

I did miss the plants though, to be quite honest. For about three months they were part of my room; poor, helpless beings (if I can call them such) that depend on me... or at least my mood on either to water them or not. And definitely, the space they left in the room looked like a bleak, barren surface.

Yesterday was a holiday. I went to the flower market very close to my place and picked two large potted plants. I was planning to buy a tall bamboo plant - after all I am Kawadjan - but the ones sold at the market are all deeply unattractive and tired-looking. Is it impossible to find a graceful, healthy bamboo these days? Am I reaching for the stars here? Not really. (Miranda Priestly isdatchyu?)

Searching through the shops at the market, I settled for a small bamboo plant and a tall thingie (I don't have an idea what it's called) that supposedly bears flowers all-year round. Duh, I could never care less if it bears rambutan or durian. (I do smell some flowery scent in my room every time I enter it.) What attracted me to the the tall thingie is it's frame: statuesque, slender and sinuous, reminds me of a supermodel. Fierce!

I'm calling the bamboo Du Juan, after the famous ballerina turned supermodel, and the other thingie shall be called Natasha Poly, who we all know is the current queen of the runway. Both plants are the foot of my bed, watching over me, their mommy, as I pout while sleeping.

This is only the second time that I've seriously taken any living thing under my care. (The episode with my friend's plants does not count coz they were just entrusted to me.)

When I was in the university, I took care of a hamster (and I'm actually FREAKING scared of rodents). Six months later it died of starvation. I know, it sounds harsh. But I actually forgot to feed my pet. I found it shrunken into a heap of fur one day. Is it my fault if it did not know how to strictly follow a diet of paper dipped in fish sauce? I don't think so.

This time, aside from the aesthetic value of the plant, I want to see how many days these plants would survive. To begin with, they hardly need maintenance besides watering. Now given that simple, mindless task, I wonder if I can in fact be responsible for something at all, aside from my trivial, selfish pursuits. It's actually a challenge that I set for my self.

And if this proves successful after a year, let's see if I can take care of a tiny pet (perhaps a turtle or a spider?)... uhmm, something non-high maintenance. And again, if the undemanding pet survives after a year, why don't I try having a boyfriend? Well at least I had two years practice, no?

Makes sense?