This week packs in a punch. Read about a knight in shining armor whose armor isn’t all that shiny! There’s also a single mom navigating her way through the speedy bends, and a grand climax to a night in with friends. Hop in…

That’s the question Adrian has been asking everyone who has ears to listen and a voice to reply. Adrian, who’s still on a mission to set his love life straight, has been doing all the right things when he dates Cathy. He’s opening doors for her, pushing her chair and stuff. But this extra bit of attention got on Cathy’s nerve. Cathy turned on her heels as they were about to enter a mall and Adrian reached out to hold the door open. Her patience snapped, “Just stop it Adrian! Come on, be your normal self. I’m tired of your chivalry!”

Adrian realized he was overdoing things to impress her. This bit of uncharacteristic effort was drawing him out as well. So he grabbed this chance with both hands and dumped his pseudo romantic act. Relieved, he walked straight in and let go of the door, oblivious to Cathy’s presence. The door banged down on Cathy’s nose, doing more damage to his love life than Cathy’s nose! Last heard, Cathy was not taking his calls. Going the Rick-Kaitlin way, aren’t they?

Donna does a fabulous job of balancing office and home with equal ease. The other day Kate asked her how Donna manages to do everything and still enjoys what she’s doing. Donna taught her a thing or two about time management skills. Donna feels that managing time is the only way in which you could get anything done.

“I have always had the habit of doing a number of things,” Donna told Kate. That’s true, friends. Donna has studied at the university and worked graveyard shifts to pay for her bills. After being a mom, Donna’s never compromised on her role in the lives of her children. Her children have always found her a step behind, ready to guide them with a friendly piece of advice. It’s not for nothing that people around her look up to her when they are looking for someone they can depend on. It’s really a great thing to be on Donna’s speed dial.

Someone new is on the dating scene! And I never really thought that she would be in this dating arena so soon. Remember Rachael was given a bunch of flowers by a cute guy in her class? He’s back folks, and this time it’s tulips. Rachael was more confident about it this time. Liz told me that Rachael was not flustered as the last time around. This romantic scene unfolded before the Art class. As soon as Rachael entered the class, this guy turned up infront of her with a bunch of tulips. He went down on his knees in front of the class and stammered before Rachael’s disbelieving eyes, “This is for you!”

The flowers have found pride of place on the mantle in the living room. Rachael refused to have them in her room. But Rachael is being oddly quiet if asked why she took the flowers when she didn’t want them. I think there’s something cooking over here and Rachael’s not parting with the entire story. Rachael is hardly someone who will come home with flowers if she didn’t like the person who gave them to her. What’s more, Liz also saw her water the flowers surreptitiously! Stay tuned, I think we’re onto something here.

It was one of those nights that will always stand out in my memory. There were two friends staying over at our pad that night – Kate and Irina. All of us were stressed out because of our work and stuff. So we decided to put them all behind us and have a great time. All of us love playing scrabble, so out came the scrabble board. We played as teams, Adrian and Kate, me and Irina. As soon as the first word took shape on the board, the drinks and the fries came out and we settled down to play through the night.

The game was moving on fine with me and Irina doing much better than our friends. Yes, my vocabulary was being put to good use! That’s when Kate formed the word ‘chivalry’! There was a deathly silence in the room and Kate looked down, realizing the goof up. We all knew that Adrian and Cathy were fighting on this. I looked up at Adrian. His face was worth a watch. Suddenly he burst out laughing and punched Kate jovially. We followed suit. After that, Adrian remained cheerful all along. Really, what are friends for?

This week’s Zen quote is by Martin Luther King, Jr. It summarizes our spirits that night in the best way possible: “In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”