Good times

It's been great, getting some quality time to meet up with friends this holiday. I don't think I've ever treasured it as much up until now. These days, the month of December feels like a season for reunions. Haha.

I think the one thing I admire most about Aaron besides his character as a friend is his ability to tell stories. He's really good at recounting funny stories of the past, and I think that out of all my secondary school friends, he has the best memory of all the times we've shared.

Myself (Yes it's always going to come back to me, sorry folks.)? I am... not so good at remembering. The richness of the past is somewhat lost on me, and my memories are more verbal and logical than visual, haha. Even in Secondary school, my long-term memory was already mediocre, and somewhere along the line, I traded more brain space for short-term memory and madz Dota skillz. the pillz. But anyway.

I've always been of the opinion that we need our friends to remind us, explicitly or implicitly, of who we are and where we come from (sounds like the army, haha), of where our roots lie. These days, when it comes to meetings with friends, the only thing better than recounting all the good times we've had is making new memories with each other, with the full knowledge that they'll be added to a long and meaningful shared history. The best thing is to see people changing, even as they stay fundamentally the same.

Here's to you, my prospective heterosexual life partners.

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Hey guys. I know you all assume I'm a shy and reserved young man, but I guess it's time I come clean.

In reality, I live a double life. By day, I am Benjamin Moey, mild-mannered budding sociologist with a love for books and Japanese food.

By night however, my other friends know me as Maynard, an amoral Casanova whose only love is women in all shapes and sizes. Unlikely as it seems, I use a combination of ruthless cunning, a glib tongue, and my boyish good looks to flatter and seduce ladies to the point that they pay for my lunches and clothes and do who knows what else for me. Maynard's only aim is to test the limits of his ability to juggle multiple women at a time, both literally and figuratively (Okay that last part is really crossing the line of wtf).

So now you know. Stop jacking me for being unattached. Lol.

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I'm in my element whenever I feel calm and tranquil. I think I could go for long periods at a time without exhilaration or trying new things. Routine and repetition work for me, which is not to say that I'm not open-minded to new experiences. I think I'm generally willing enough to explore new worlds... Date new women. Ha. ha. ha. ha. Ha. ...

But I think, just once in a while, I'd like to know what it feels like to ride the storm, to feel the thrill of crossing danger swiftly and surely, just like they do in the movies. It seems like I always have to trip and fall down, badly, before I can even achieve a semblance of a good showing. I had to screw up damn badly at the Q n M, and go back to work for one more month before I could do a job that I was proud of (That day felt pretty good, actually). I had to screw up army damn badly too, before I could finally become... passable (at best), haha. I made some really big-time screw-ups with friendships in the past, and only now can I fully treasure the ones that I've been blessed to have, and find it in myself to do my best to maintain and nurture them each step of the way.

But even after all the big life-changing screw-ups have occurred, I continue to make middle-sized screw-ups in my day-to-day life. And some of them do stay with me, especially if it involves friends or people I look up to. I remember Chef Patrick yelling at me in Q n M. I remember Hall life, the wrong decisions I made, and the consequences that followed.

I especially remember Army. Okay, the 'bowing' ceremony and the 'guard duty first blood' were just plain hilarious. But I remember other things too, things that are just a little too embarrassing to write about. I remember how terribly slow and inept I was at the beginning. I remember how bad I was at stuff involving strings and ropes (Fuck ropes, seriously. And fuck boxes that need assembling from scratch. Whoever came up with these things should be hanged... With ropes...). There were some moments to be proud of, I suppose, but the bad moments stuck with me just as much. I especially remember how my bunk buddy ended up having to tie my helmet netting for me, and how he tried to hide his annoyance, haha (That helmet netting remains in fine shape to this day, haha. Of course, my unit training was very tame).

I'm not particularly proud of my army life. I am proud of the people I met in my unit, and I'm not terribly ashamed of the job I had then, because I honestly feel it was meaningful work that I was given to do, and because there were meaningful things to be learned from that job. It's just that I wasn't a terribly proficient RP (Yes, there is such a thing as a proficient RP, FDS-RP!!! haha). I had, and still have, a lack of discipline.

But even then, there were good days and there were bad days. It was a place for me to grow, in one way or another... The thing that I've always wished I could change... was my time in BMT. I've always wished that I could've been a more reliable bunk buddy. Haha. Even though I do feel I became a bit more reliable at the end, I always regretted not being... strong enough to be a source of support. I also wish I hadn't been so stressed out all the time, so I could enjoy and remember the experience more. Luckily though, we remained friends in spite of that ordeal, haha.

Alex's Dad was best trainee, and Alex turned out to be best PT and Company best as well, haha. It was nice to listen to how his Dad talked about how proud he was of his son, in few and simple words. It made me think of my Dad a little. He was from OCS and I was an RP. I'm not... ... But for a moment, I did wonder, "Have I given him things to be proud of?"