Oh alright, facebook wins!

I am in Blogspot, WordPress, Flickr, Webshots, WAYN (where are you now), Friendster, and Alumni dot com.  But is that enought?  Apparently not.  Because you’re not “in” if you don’t facebook as well. 

I don’t want to be in Facebook.  I have no strong desire to find out where old acquiantances are.  No need to spy old loves.  I don’t need facebook.

I was content with Friendster.  I post my “personal” photos there.  For my friends to see.  Friends I met in person.  People I went to school with, roomed with, shopped with, drank with.  In short people I know.  I don’t actively seek out “new” people to call friends. 

I don’t have a need for Facebook.  Until today.  My high school friends and I are on Friendster.  Apparently, they also can be found on Facebook.  One friend, actually a couple, who I put together – yes my first successful matchmaking attempt – are only on Facebook.  I don’t they think they have any interest in signing up with Friendster.  After all, who wants to go with a sinking ship, right?

Until today.  Until I ask them to email me photos.  And they said, go to facebook, we’re there. 

I have had invites for Facebook.  The same people I call friends on Friendster have pending invites for facebook.  I just ignore those emails. 

But I want to see my friends, especially  this couple.  We went to high school together.  Back then I was more close to the guy than the gal.  I still am I think considering the time and distance.  He is the one emailing, not her.

I used to write his love letter to her.  My first paying job.  I was paid in kind.  He would buy me snack at the bakery, bring me some stationery, etc.  He would walk me home and the whole way we would be talking about her. 

Nothing happened in high school between them, although it was clear to all of us that she liked him too.  In those days and in that part of the world, having a boy/girlfriend wasn’t really the “in” thing to do.  Yeah I know, we were weird, right?

Fate gave them another chance one day after college when they took the same bus home from Manila.  The three-hour ride gave them time to rediscover the friendship.  And upon reaching home at about 9 pm, I got a knock on my door.  It was him, all excited, telling me about the chance meeting with her.  Right there and then, he told me he’s going to give it another shot.  I said I thought that he’s already seen what else is out there (college gals he dated), it’s time to really be serious if he truly wanted her. 

From that time on, I would get weekly updates on the progress of their relationship. Until they decided to get wed.

His mother knocked on my door one night with his younger sis in tow.  She was afraid the lovebirds were rushing to get married.  I didn’t think she would be opposed to the union (she is after all not only a beautiful face, she has a DMD after her name too).  I thought by coming to me, she was not quite happy.  I told her that they were in love since high school and I think they had adequate time to think things out.   (I didn’t tell him or her that his mom came to me that night prior to the wedding.)

So now, I got an email that they have three boys and I can see the family photos on facebook.  What choice do I have?

I won over MY SPACE.  But it seems like there is no winning over facebook.

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L. Vong

There is a blogger out there who’s started to post/showcase her many friends one at a time.  I thought that is an interesting subject to explore.  The attraction of the subject for me also comes from the fact that I have not had “friends” since I left the Philippines.  You know real friends, the kind who knows your insides, knows exactly how your intestines bend and where.  I have made a lot of friends through school—all levels I attended I made bestfriends.  I thought I’d walk the memory lane down to my friends houses.  Would you join me?

Code name:  L. Vong.  I met her in Grade I.  She sat in the same row, she was in the front and I was three or four seats behind her.  What made me remember her [the only thing I remember about her] was the fact that at 7 am she would enter the room with these popsicles [the twin kind], she would eat one right away, and keep the other in her desk[our desk had a compartment for all our things] for recess, which was at 9 am.  I thought that was weird since the popsicle would have melted by then, you know Philippine heat and all.  The funny thing is I never got around to see whether she ate the other one for recess or not.  I reminded her of this later in our friendship but she had no recollection of it whatsoever.

She moved to another school after the first grade.  I met up with her again in high school.  We were in the same class, because of a mix up.  I enrolled in Section 1, but ended up in Section 6 [both are the “good” sections].  The adviser of Section 6 wanted me to be in her class, but all my other friends from elementary school were in Section 1, where we all agreed to be.  Anyway, the separation from my grade school homies proved fruitful as I got hooked up with Elvong and her grade school homies.  We were in the same class for four years. 

Nothing was exceptional with our friendship, we ran around the same circle, went to the same places, did the same things, laughed at the same jokes, and gossiped together, attended the same church, etc.

We roomed together in Manila for one semester. I think that was when we really bonded.  I got to know her sisters more and I learned that she was way cooler than I expected or even knew.  By the second semester we parted ways.  But every free time from school we had, we got together.  I was introduced to her new sets of friends.  The remarkable thing about her is that the saying: BIRDS OF THE SAME FEATHER FLOCK TOGETHER does not apply.  She made friends with everybody.  She was seen with the good girls and also with the Lindsay Lohans and Paris Hiltons of our town and yet people admired her for accepting these women as her friends.

She was overly protective of people she loves and dedicated to her duties.  When her bestfriend, another classmate, left for Germany, L. Vong assumed the best friend’s role as daughter and sister.  I was dragged to the best friend’s house to visit and check their situtation.  The parents were only too thankful that L. Vong was checking up on them, on how the crops are growing, on whether they have been spared of the seasonal fever and cough, those sort of things. 

When she married a boy from our circle, I was only too happy.  They were perfect together.  Plus the boy had suffered enough, we thought.  He waited and waited for years until she finally said yes.  And I was one of the many who was godmother to her first born.

I remember she was the only one who really knew me  that well.  Knew me too much she taught, er showed me how I am.  One day we were having a friendly poker game, she called me out for being way too cautious.  I never realized that I was that way.  You see mathematically speaking, my cards were way too good not to risk a high bet.  Our bets were candies at that time.   There was like a 10% chance that I would lose that hand, still I bet a measely 5 candies, if I remember correctly.  I think that was the first time I heard someone tell me, LIVE A LITTLE.  I remember taking a long pause and saw the whole situation, like an out of body experience (which could really be due to our alcohol conspumption), and I questioned myself why I didn’t take that risk, after all what was I going to lose?  Candies?  Candies that I was never going to eat anyway since I wasn’t into hard candies.  But stubbornly, I did stand by my bet.  You of course knew, I got heckled for being such a chicken. 

Anyway, I remember her today because September is her birthday.  It’s been 15 years since I last celebrated her birthday with her.  I miss my friend.

(Author’s Note:  This was written in September and has been sitting in my draft folder.  I miss her this Holidays too.)