Friday Fives.
It's not Friday, but I'm bored and feel like boring you anyway...

1. Do you remember your first best friend? Who was it?
Must have been in kindergarten. I think her name is Carmen, I don't even remember her surname. But I can clearly remember her face... her five year old face... chubby and smiley and dimpled. I still keep a photo of us, taken before she left kindergarten. There's Carmen, all smiles and dimples, and then there's me... pretending to look bored and pouting and affected, giving the impression that taking photos was beneath me. I don't know why I did that! I wish I didn't...

2. Are you still in touch with this person?
No. I don't know where she is now and I would be the least likely person to recognise her even if she turned out to be my next door neighbour or similar.

3. Do you have a current close friend?
Greg's my closest friend. Period.

4. How did you become friends with this person?
Well... you go hiking and running and climbing and kayaking and abseiling together and see where that leads you. Most likely to 3 hour long chats at the hawker centre or jumping on buses just to see where they go or sms-ing till 3 in the morning to keep each other awake while studying for Physics tests. I think that's how you become close friends... taking an interest, talking, trusting and caring...

5. Is there a friend from your past that you wish you were still in contact with? Why?
Plenty! I often wonder what happened to my friends in kindergarten... like Kristin whom I played 'gangsters' with, or Ken who sat with me during story time. I guess maintaining kindergarten friendships isn't expected of you... all the same, its not like I'm doing a very good job of maintaining friendships now. Then there are friends who just one day disappeared from my life without warning, like Adrian who was in my Taekwon-do class, and friends from Standard 6 whom I never saw again the day I left SSP. Even now as I watch secondary school friends spread further and further away like the outer circles of a ripple... I still can't make the effort to contact them. Ironic that globalisation is bringing everyone else closer... not for me. In the words of one wise pighead...

"How maintaining relationship is an art ---- one realised by few ; practised by less ; mastered by none -- and moreover appreciated by all."