Friends.

One of the best things about living in Japan in this modern day and age is the internet. I can easily talk to my friends and parents in real time, keep up with world events, watch American movies or television, etc. I don't know if I would be able to take living abroad so well without this technological crutch, this amazingly cool communication tool. This all brings us to today's topic of friends.

Friendship comes in many different levels, from many unexpected places. Over time it can seem like shaking sand through some kind of filter: each grain is a person you've been in contact with in your lifetime, and each little rock or pebble that doesn't slip through the small holes is like a lasting friend. Good friends are rare to say the least, but sometimes they can come from the most unexpected of places. Some people change so dramatically it can become hard to understand how you even got on in the first place... I've seen this happen a few times. Once even to a person who I thought of like a brother. But people change, motivations change, times and places change. As individual humans there is very little we can do to stop it.

A very few friends have been with me almost my whole life. Actually only one, and she probably isn't even reading my blog... JESSICA. But we were friends from the womb where we texted on pre-cellular telephones, our Moms are best friends, we went to the same Private Christian School, etc. Even though we don't always keep in touch with one another, any amount of time can pass and we can pick up as if we had just talked yesterday - I believe that this is the sign of an true friendship.

I think what really attracts me to people is usually personality, intelligence and wit. Sure, looks can have something to do with it, butif after about 30 seconds of conversation you can't hold your own and you bore me, I'll likely not pursue any kind of relations with you. If you're a snob or a jerk in the face of my generally good will, well, then that is also your loss. I think by just being myself, I've driven lots of people away in my life, but I'm totally OK with that: It helps filter out the miniscule specks of sand from the tenacious rocks, the real keepers. I guess any of this might come off as arrogant, but it's really how I see the social realm: There are people who want to play games, lie, cheat, steal, coerce, manipulate and so on; I'd rather just cut the shit and get right to whether or not we can even pretend to have a conversation about something. And after that, can we genuinely get on and enjoy each others' company? And lastly, are we not out to screw one another?

All that being said, I'll bring this full circle by saying that I've always flourished by communcating on the internet - somehow no tone of voice, emoticons and words just seem to express me in a way that ordinary speech can't. And in this blog I can be relentless in ways that I often exercise discretion against in the real world, to avoid the all too unnecessary ruffling of feathers. Of course, all this tends to apply more when I'm around people who can speak the same language as me, which isn't most of the time these days!

Ah, the perks of being a foreigner: you can speak your mind freely when no one comprehends a word you say.