About thirty years ago, back when I was living in Singapore, I had this Turkish buddy named Ali. Great guy. Complicated love life. He had a wife back in the old country and a stunning Malay mistress on the island. He’d shrug and say, “The wife is for being a wife… the mistress is for tacatacatac.” Two good Muslim women, two totally different job descriptions, according to him.

Naturally, in true Ali fashion, he ended up marrying the mistress. When I ran into him ten years later, he introduced me to his… new girlfriend. Some people collect stamps. Ali collected major life events.