New Friends

Having lived in the bible-belt now for six years, friends haven't come quite so easily as the days when I used to live in Toronto as a high school kid; then Indiana, Massachusetts and Arizona for college. It's not as though I had a neverending supply of friends then... but it never took too much effort out of me to find a small group of people pretty quickly to fit in like a glove comfortably. Maybe it's got to do with my age or the city I'm in now... or maybe because everyone here I meet is either hanging on to three unbearable crying kids, or having their own preconceptions about Asians not born in this country are like before they get to know me. ...of course, when they realize I'm just a stubborn heathen and that I'm going to hell, all bets are off about any friendship. They can't wait to run the other direction in case I drag them down with me lol! Either way, I have found it hard to make good friends. When I do, their husband's job will take them away from here within two years. Of course that doesn't stop us from being friends... we just can't hang out on a daily basis like we used to. I don't believe that good friends take time to build. I think most friendships are instantaneously decided by chemistry. You either hit it off or not. Worst, there are the kind you remain acquaintances till you go your seperate ways. Why bother?!

This past weekend, we were in Chicago for the Nokia S60 party and conveniently scheduled to meet up with Ling and her husband, Mark. Having 'been introduced to Ling (online) via my friend Gen (who lives in NYC) who met her initially via myspace - then physically in Singapore (what global people we are lol) when both of them were 'home' on vacation - I took the opportunity to do a 'meet and eat' kind of deal. Well, meet and eat we did. Twice! We are, after all, true blue Singaporeans! As I predicted from all the phone conversations we had, we hit it off with no problem. We've spent hours on end yakking on the phone about everything under the sun. She is as warm in person as she is over the phone. ...and fortunately, even the American husbands found each other interesting enough to talk to. It's always nice and refreshing to meet new friends who are smart, funny and well travelled. The only regret, they live in Chicago and we don't...