Dear friend,

What does it mean to be "best friends" with somebody? Does it mean you hang out with them all the time, tell them everything about yourself, and share all your experiences with each other? Does it mean you have some kidn of connection with them, deeper than what others can usually comprehend?

If so, it's hard for me to say that I've had a best friend for long, though many people have held this title.

I think it began in kindergarten -- this is where the long line of best friends began. I forget her name, now, but I remember that she was Indian. My mom didn't really approve, but it went on, anyways. We would hide under the bushes at recess and make that our secret house and talk to each other on our banana telephones as if we weren't less than two feet away from each other.

First grade -- Anna. My first Vietnamese friend... However, a few months after befriending her I realised that our brains just didn't work on the same level. Middle of first grade -- Alice. This one's an interesting one, because I don't even think she ever knew that she was my best friend. She was very popular (and much taller than me), and she is probably one of the smartest people I've ever met. I havent seen her since middle school.

In third grade my best friend's name was Cindy. That is, until I punched her in the stomach and she had to go to the hospital. -- Hey, she squished my ladybug house, what would YOU have done?

Fourth grade was strange, because I befriended somebody who had only recently come to America. When we first met, she didn't even speak any English. Her name was Amy. She was strangly wizened for a fourth grader, which made me sad many times. I guess that's what happens when you live in impoverished conditions for so long. I remember she made me cry.

Sometime in middle school I met Carolyn, a neighbor who ended becoming my closest friend in high school... Though we never called each other 'best friends'. We went everywhere together, liked the same things, we even dressed alike.

----

Through all this, I don't think I really learned much about friendship until I met Kim. She became my close friend in high school. Even though we go to different schools now, we don't share as much with each other, and we see each other only a few times a year, I still think of her as my best friend. Sure there are people that I hang out with all the time, people that I tell my problems to, but somehow I can't forget her friendship.

What does it mean to be best friends? Does it mean you hang out all the time? Have all the same interests? Talk with each other about everything in our lives?

It seems like that's the way it should be. But that's not the way it is.... How come, then, does Kim still feel like my best friend?

How come every time we see each other it's like we never left for college?

I think a best friend is more of an essence, a feeling that you get when you're with someone that makes you feel bonded with them further than just an aquaintence, further than even a friend, but something so close it's like having another sibling.

Yeah, like a sibling. I miss you Kim, my silly close as a sister all the way in berkeley, best friend.

Dear friend,

Just like I had nothing to put on Live Journal, so it became my place for poetry, I had nothing to put on Xanga, so it's become my place for a collection of short stories. They're all going to be about people's lives that I've lived vicariously, but written in a first-person point of view.

I think that it's always important to look at someone's situation through another point of view in order to better understand what they may have felt during the event or to piece together answers that lay hanging in my head.

This project has really good potential. I just hope that I can keep myself motivated.

Dear friend,

So my computer was broken for a while, but now it's fixed so there's nothing to worry about anymore. As you can see, I have a brand-spankin' new layout [what else is new?]. This one, though not as creative as my last, feels a lot better to me. Don't ask me why, I wouldn't be able to tell you.

Nothing much has been changing in my life as of late. Which, I suppose, is a good thing. Although it would be nice to have excitement sometimes. Perhaps I will try a new hobby or something. HA!

Been pretty wrapped up with Circle K. You'll often see me here. Yeah, I'm a nerd, I can't deny it. ^_^;

Somehow, I feel I've changed, but I can't put my finger on it. I want to write about it, to express it from the bottom of my heart as I have in the past, but my skills have withered with time, it seems.

Incidentally, I don't feel bad about it.

Dear friend,

Today I rediscovered what it means to actually *listen* to music as opposed to just hearing it. How long has it been since I have actually just sat still and let a song penetrate my brain and not just graze the surface? Too long.

It's easy to hear a song and like it, but to be able to tolerate a song while listening to it is another matter. In this case a catchy tune and a repeated chorus is no longer enough to keep my attention. Somtimes I might even dislike hearing a song but enjoy listening to it.

Why is that?

Music is such a mysterious medium. Lyrics can bring a smile to your lips or tears to your eyes. A tune can be so poignant that your whole body shivers -- like the pain in your chest before you start to cry or with the pleasure of knowing that such art can exist.

Music can inspire you, depress you. The right song can motivate you to move faster or stop you in your tracks, closing your eyes to enjoy the moment. It's a comedy, a story-- a drama that's so sad that you can't turn away from it. Music is an art that is always perfect but can never be perfected.

Music is art.

Dear friend,

It's amazing how with bad luck, even the easiest things to take care of can die. My boyfriend got one of those living ecosystems with the shrimp for his birthday. You know, the ones where you don't ever have to feed them or change the water -- all you have to do is leave them there.

It all started with one shrimp. All of a sudden he fell dead! (WTF), as if that wasn't sad enough, the next day my bf woke up and then 2 more were dead.... And then the third day all of them were dead!

What gives? How could he have done something wrong? The shrimps are in a glass egg w/ no holes and no opening and you CANT feed them and you CANT give em water... So sad, so sad.

On a brighter note, he gets an exchange because they're guaranteed to last at least 6 mo.

Dear friend,

I am so cool!! I made a new layout and it looks like an aquarium!