On Friendship

i know i'm no expert on this topic. who is? there is no art or science or trick to it. it is a universal phenomenon that just is and be.

i have mentioned in a previous post that a colleague friend of mine will be assigned to an expat post somewhere in a 4-hour trip country away from here. she's leaving this sunday. and there has been a big hoopla in the lab for her despedida/farewell party. i, of course, (for all my eccentricities and idiosyncracy) refused to be swayed to a tempo that is not so my own. and so there i was going about my own business for the last two days and refusing to dive in on the sudden craze of slumbook fever this time. Hooha! for those who know me best, they'd know i am not the type of person to be easily swayed into going along with the crowd. i do not like being bug-bitten by the fad or the 'in' thing at the moment. truth be to tell, i boycotted watching Titanic when it came out back in my College days. i found it totally appalling seeing my housemate go all-a-gaga over Jack and Rose- she even watched it 7 times! (that's seven consecutive weeks of cinematic fever! bigosh!)

and so after having eaten to our fill, i, along with several colleagues, went to queue for up for dessert when somebody started talking. friend jane suddenly laughed and commented out loud, " Aay, may speech pa pala." it was quite comical seeing us scampering back to our seats. then suddenly our hostess for the day declared loudly:
"now you'll know who are your true friends. they are the ones who have written here", indicating to the scrapbook she's been carrying all along. somebody from among the guests, let out: " hey, does that mean i'm not josie's friend? i didn't write there?" to which i seconded: "then i must not be her friend either, too." my close friends there were suddenly poking at me. "Ikaw kasi."

hmm, now let me think. and clearly, i mean.

is friendship really measured by the willingness to succumb to an idea that is not so me? should i ride on all pretense and just write on that scrapbook-thingy so i'd be considered one of her friends? or should i just be? ... without pretense, self-willed, holding onto my own conviction? or would it be stubbornness?

yikes! i actually know the answer to this already. bygollygee.. this is so petty! hehehe...