cease fire
On Thursday HY and I had a feast of arguments. For starters it was the fresh salad of 'hotel rooms controversy'. The bread was smeared with the butter of 'an annoying junk e-mail'. The main course was the highlight of the meal: scrummy lamb chops of 'job-hunting failure' followed by a side dish of 'tearing' carrots. And dinner is never complete without a strawberry cheese cake of 'other people's job-hunting woes'. To add a juicy cherry to the top, as we left the flat an annoying neighbour got angry at us for accidentally letting his dog out of the front gate. It was mainly his responsibility, for he was nowhere in sight, and we didn't know who the owner was. Another chap beside us was just about to walk outside, so it could have been his pet. Anyways, minutes later the owner rushed out of the building in an aggressive manner, launching into a furious tirade about how bad our attitude was. Such grief! I won't go into details, but after a few exchanges HY actually made the mad neighbour feel sorry for his own behaviour. He apologised, shook hands with HY and assured that all is cool. This is when HY displays his rhetorical gift: to stay calm and good-natured in tense situations like this; the winner is always the one who smiles. Not only is he able to walk away in one piece, he's made both parties feel happy. I've described this minor incident to my flatmate, and he said he would react in a different way, getting angry (and maybe result into a fight) at the unreasonable neighbour. So the question is, does HY's oratorical skills work on me? Oh, yes, it does, and likewise.