The First 'Friend'

I stand by my earlier statements, I didn't really make true friends until after entering uni. Sure, I had shared the companionship of my fellow classmates and hung out and such but, as I said before, we lacked the mutual sharing of anything deeper than just that: companionship. Still, at the time I didn't know any better and I called these 'friends'. This isn't a slight on any of them, though. They are really cool people too but I wasn't ready to open up yet. Shame. Nonetheless, this step outwards into socialization won't be dismissed as insignificant and certainly not inconsequential as it laid the foundations for the changes to come.

Of particular importance is the first 'friend' I ever made, O-boy. Attendance at a private Christian elementary school had the unfortunate (in my eyes) and unavoidable consequence of assuring my classmates largely consisted of the piano keys of ethnicities. There was a single other Asian in fourth grade but she was a banana and, as such, does not count. I pegged her in the face with a beanbag during gym class once. Hahaha. That's the most vivid memory I have of her. (/>____<)/

Then O-boy showed up in 7th or 8th grade. I don't recall which. He was Filipino but I couldn't really be picky hehe. What made us really good friends, oddly enough, was our shared disdain for the religion espoused by the school we attended. Yeah, our flippant attitudes towards "the lord almighty" didn't endear us to the school's priest but fortunately, and tellingly, none of the teachers were so devout as to care since we were well behaved students, which is what a teacher appreciates most at the end of the day, lack of proper Christian devotion notwithstanding.

It sounds bad to say this, and not a little insulting to him if he ever read this, but it really speaks to how low my standards were back then to have thought of him as a best friend. Or perhaps it was just natural child-like hyperbole.

There was no Facebook in those days, internet itself had only just taken off after all, and we lost touch after graduating. The last time I saw him was at a distance outside a BB&T two or three years later. I didn't catch his attention or anything. I just let him go on his way. We'd had fun times but I would have had nothing to say to him by then.

That's all.