the thing about books

Sometimes you randomly click on a friend's Facebook account and you look at the pictures of her back in high school or at a concert or performing for an event or in a garden with who are those people who look so beautiful? and you wonder how much of a galaxy there is behind her eyes. It could even be a good friend - pictures that take you back into a shared experience, as well as pictures of her working at Garrett's (hello dearest) and shopping with a guy you don't know and at a party with more people you don't know. And if it's a good friend, you wonder how much about that person you really know. Even a childhood friend (hello again). If it's an acquaintance, you marvel at the chapters and chapters of stories untold that make you realise she is so much more than she seems. You realise that behind her pretty eyes is a soul that likes crude crass comedies, an avid punk music lover, a DJ at a Chinese pop radio station, a figure-skating enthusiast...and what about her other friends? Maybe she hangs out with music producers and they go for drinks on Thursday nights. Maybe her church friends all own expensive cars and live in Bukit Timah. Maybe she's from a single-parent family and stays in a two-room flat.

What an ocean to explore behind every pair of eyes in the lecture hall. As they stare blankly at the lecturer or raise their hands to ask questions, you wonder what their lives are like. What they're thinking about right now, and the stream of experiences that led to this present thought. 

I wonder if anyone thinks this about me. I'm pretty much an open book and I share pretty openly, so I wonder if anyone thinks I have my own hidden ocean to be explored, or if they think I simply come as I am, an open platter.