Where's Waldo?

 Remember this guy?

So there was this one time on Halloween, maybe two years ago, I was walking to some shindig and I passed this guy dressed as Waldo. He was talking on his phone, "I think I took the wrong fork, I don't recognize this street."

EVEN WALDO DOESN'T KNOW WHERE HE IS!

Winnie the Prick

You know what I just realized? All my Winnie the Prick images are on my laptop. The one with the burnt graphics chip.

I spent a good long while gathering every single one of those in existence, damn it! Much like my collection of Korean comics, I'm pretty sure I got all of them, too.

( ╯_╰)=3

 All the same, here's one of my favorites.

Oh, sorry. That's when the Hundred-Acre Wood had a swine flu scare.

Here it is.

Friend Requirements

So about relationships. Well, to start, this post won't be about the really interesting romantic kind (sorry Mai). Those will come, yes?

Friendship.

Hakuna Matata, eh?

I have noticed that it is rather difficult to be a friend of mine. That is not to say I'm difficult to be friends with, or so I believe at any rate WAAHAHAhahaha. (>ワ<)ノ I mean to say it is not easy to be counted among my friends. I don't doubt that I sound all kinds of pompous and arrogant for saying so, but if I bent my words and changed my meaning then I'd just be lying to you guys to make myself seem like a different (better?) person, and that defeats the purpose of this blog.

I have a lot of requirements before accepting IRL Friend Requests. I won't give you a list. It might be used by spies trying to make their way into my inner circle one day. (⌐⌐__) (_¬¬)

But yeah. Not to make people who meet me nervous or anything. But you kinda already knew I have a judgmental streak, didn't you?

And if you first thought, "What? Who the hell are you that people have to jump through hoops to be your friend?" Well, no. I never demanded anyone to be my friend. And- Wait a sec, fuck you right back, man! I get to set my own standards for these things, B. We ain't in pre-school anymore. No one's going to push me together with some random kid and tell us to 'make nice'.

All in all, I don't really think I'm all that different from most people in this respect. I'm sure you all have people who you've met and don't care to hang out with. But maybe you're too polite to ever say so to anyone and too polite to say no to them when they invite themselves along. But fuck all that shit, man. Our lives are too short for that crap. And my life is too awesome to stand for his/her crap.

On the other hand, if you want to take it as a compliment, for all the peeps I already consider friends, you guys must be great! Let there be much rejoicing! \(≥ヮ≤)/

I've previously used this comic strip here.

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.

The Impression I Give

Continuing this streak of more personal postage.

This is me now. (From Buttersafe. One of the best.)

I used to be a lot different even just 3 years ago. That might actually be kind of hard to believe for people who've gotten to know me within this more recent period. Going back in time even one year further, when I was in high school, almost unrecognizable personality-wise. I actually had restraint back in those days. Too much in point of fact.

At a certain point though, it just came time to take that trite piece of advice: Be yourself. You know what 'trite' means?

Trite - adj. Lacking in effectiveness due to constant use or excessive repetition.

We've heard it in every feel-good movie, every romantic comedy, most coming-of-age films. But that doesn't mean I took it to heart. Didn't give it much thought because it was easier to just go on the way I'd been going up to that point.

Up until 3rd year of high school I didn't have any one who you could really call a friend. I had people who enjoyed my company or were at least a slight bit more positive than indifferent to it. But to call them friends would cheapen the word. Beyond the superficial traits, e.g. quiet, smart, Asian, they didn't really know much about me and I did nothing to change this.

It took me two years of high school, half way through, before I decided to change. I remember exactly when. It was during Spanish period. Nothing significant happened on that particular day during that particular class, but I spontaneously determined to participate in some casual conversation going on whilst we waited for the bell. I remember feeling perfectly natural doing so. There wasn't any moment of awkward "Whoa did he just talk?!". A few days later one of my classmates did remark that I was talking more. And that was that.

Nevertheless, that was still a transitional period at best. I remained fairly taciturn and reserved. I don't know what it is with me. I went half-way through uni before taking the final turn. That means another two years in. By then I'd met a lot of people I truly thought were 'awesome'. People I thought I'd really like to know better and whom I'd like to get to know me better. While I must admit I didn't immediately throw off all the fetters of social conventions (I still wore shirts indoors! Imagine that.) I finally, at long last, settled into my own body.

I remember the day I knew I'd succeeded, as it were, truly revealed my 'True Form', though it was only in retrospect. It was one of our Japan Club food events, Curry Night. I got there early and sat with a friend folding origami. She had a sketchbook with her and some of her friends were looking through it. Another guy came in at some point. I didn't know it at the time but he'd go on to become one of my favorite people and possibly the one for whom I have the most admiration. He shall henceforth be known as A-boy.

Fast-forward one year. We'd gotten to know each other better over the course of that year through a varied batch of encounters through different social circles. One day I asked him what his first impression of me was. He said something along the lines of "Someone who presented himself as who he was, without pretense." Not his exact words I think but something like that. From this I knew that I'd done it right.

This is one of the reasons I harbor such disdain for P-boy. (Yeah, there's no 'u' in that 'harbor'. I dunno why, k?) He isn't comfortable with himself and it shows. He's kind of a wimp but he tries to put up a manly man front sometimes. This doesn't work because he shows his true self too often. It's different from the change that I went through. To use a metaphor, he isn't rearranging the furniture, he's just putting up different curtains. The irony, as I see it, is that the ability to fly would be perfectly suited to his true personality. The ability to take off and go somewhere whenever he had the desire, that fits fine on him. But it doesn't suit the person he wants to be. He doesn't want to go alone. He wants to be surrounded by friends.

You'd know I had an arrogant streak pretty soon after you met me. I don't hide it. And that's also where that arrogance comes from. I like myself so much hahaha. I won't apologize for that.

Favorite Word #3: Vicissitudes

Vicissitudes - n. the alternating changes in circumstance and fortune in life; the ups and downs.

Although the word applies to both the rising and falling of fortune it's most often used when the fortune falls. For example, you find a $20 bill on your way to your car but find a parking ticket under the wiper when you get there. Some (that is to say, I) would lament "the vicissitudes of life". Loudly. And with much arm waving.

\(T.T\) (/T.T)/

Webcomics

A few of my favorite webcomics some people might not know about. Which would be a shame.

Cyanide & Happiness

Buttersafe

Extra Ordinary

Drawing Board - The spirit of despair is my favorite recurring bit.

Brainless Tales - I have a deep love of puns.