1. Dear Sarah, Steph and Gwen - it's been great to hear from all of you this week. :) People always say that there's nothing better than face-to-face conversation but I think that gives it far too much credit. In times like these when we're diffused spatially and even temporally, "face-to-face" conversation is not just the luxury we can't afford but a remote [im]possibility in and of itself. So while I wait for those select times in the year when you all return - and even then, Sarah you'll be separated by a causeway and Steph...traversing between Jakarta/ Japan/ Hong Kong/ London perhaps? - and we find our schedules all miraculously intersect, I very gladly welcome those emails sent off from different corners of the world :)
Haha strangely enough when I read through your individual emails, I can somehow hear you guys in my head - Sarah, that calm, measured voice which holds even when you're bemoaning your thesis and/or contemplating engagement parties; Steph, that ever-present chirpiness when you excitedly rattle off about the Swiss Alps and then wax lyrical about the Ballet; Gwen, that conspiratorial tone when you gossip about some random hot guy in your tutorial before ruminating about your proposed life of celibacy. Haha hilarious.
So, Sarah - once again GOOD LUCK and I hope your thesis proposal gets approved. What is it about anyway??
Steph - are you enjoying Prague??? You lucky lucky girl. Soak in as much fun before you start work :(:(
And PEA - where are you? I know NTU is in a galaxy of its own but you're missing from cyberspace as well it seems :(
Gwen - I don't really know why I'm even emailing you because technically you are like. In Singapore. In NUS. In FASS. And whatever I've just said about face-to-face conversation, I should be engaging in it with you the most given your proximity. Lunch sometime? After our monster essays are out of the way. And yes you will become the hottest and most desirable nun ever if you do decide to be celibate.
2. Dear Jaesson, you've been away for about 3 months now. Somehow, January, February and March seem to have gone by pretty fast which is not good for me in terms of how close my exams are, but in other ways great because I'll be seeing you soon! But before I congratulate myself for being so patient, I have to remember that you're actually going to remain in UCLA for yet another 3 months, and the wait is only halfway through! @_@ Time is so annoyingly relative depending on where you stand.
Anyway, thanks for calling so regularly. It makes your absence less stark and I get the strange feeling sometimes that you aren't actually very far away...mostly because I still keep hearing your voice - as Ruhan will attest to. And I guess both our nocturnal sleep habits (yours more so than mine) do have some benefit as it renders the 16-hour time difference less of a difference. And yes, I know I should stop being lazy and go get a new calling card :P
So I'll be meeting you sometime in May when I fly over. I obviously haven't seen you in a while except for those random, pixellated moments over skype. You don't post up many pictures of yourself online. I wonder how you look like now? How's the goatee (if you're still going through with that?) Have you, like Brandon says, put on the pounds like a good exchange student? How have those killer hamburgers acquainted themselves with your waistline? Haha.
You know, after listening to your voice (which generally doesn't vary) everyday and having made myself almost believe that you're not on another continent, I think I've come to assume that things aren't all that different; and that you have and will remain exactly the same way you were when I sent you off months ago. I guess that doesn't seem very plausible now that I've spelt it out for myself. Nevertheless even knowing this, I can't help but wonder if I'll feel any kind of disjunct if I see you've actually changed. Haha oh well it was an interesting thought.
So being at quite a loss as to how to define this state of affairs, I will not bother to at the moment. Suffice to say, it is not sad, it is not unfortunate. It is perhaps somewhat regretful that things turned out this way but then again, I suppose it was also inevitable.
When a friend leaves for an extended period of time, it is usually an event met with tearful goodbyes, nostalgic reminiscing, hugs, farewell gifts and other such trinkets to mark the occasion of departure. I have felt sadness at such occasions, standing at the departure lounge. But is it not sadder when the imminent absence of a friend (if I may still call you that) makes no difference whatsoever when they've already been fundamentally dead to you?
Now what should I make of that?
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