...we've got some straightening out to do...

.fresh-haired.camwhores.

Glen Waverley Station Bus-Stop, May 30 2008

Deep-fried fish fingers and seafood sticks with tartar and sweet-chilli sauce for dinner YAY! *jumps around*
Alright that would probably make the most unhealthy dinner menu but whatever. I'll live for another day I'm sure.

Oooooyeah. And this is so gonna be a freezing cold night.
Was walking home from the bus loop and my breaths were leaving traces of vapor again. Well not that I'm complaining about that. I just wanted to address my shivering pair of ungrateful legs with a little dose of slight relieving pleasure. *laughs*

I saw this random Chinese guy sitting some few seats away from me when I was on the bus on my way home earlier this evening, and strangely enough, his somewhat nerdy appearances reminded me so much of a particular long-lost friend whose presence used to be appropriately semi-existent sometime during my far-forgotten early-adolescent years.

Well I guess I should take extreme care in avoiding to mention any names here for personal reasons, as I have no idea if this person would approve of me mentioning his name and stripping his perhaps-not-so-shiny history bare for all to see here.
Whew. Go easy on the exaggerating words part, JJ.

But really. After all this time I've gone on with my life and not being in touch with any lingering memory I have of him in any way, somehow my encounter with that random Chinese bloke in that 8:44 PM, 631 Waverley Gardens bus hit me with this instant recall of this very person's presence.

Alright let's together take a slow walk down the memory lane shall we? *winks*

For the record, he used to be this very tall, well-built, ruffly-haired, milk-white-skinned, loopy-smiled handsome guy of Chinese-Dutch descent who happened to be my classmate in one of those boring academic and language-aid after-school classes I took during my junior high school years. Extreme nerdyness alert, don't say I didn't warn you. *sighs*

Anyway, yeah. I remember him as this very unmotivated but surprisingly funny lad. He was really, REALLY quiet when he first started attending the course, often coming late, rushing to the classroom gasping for breath, and sitting at a corner far back after nervously apologizing to the helpless tutor. But then after a while I took the chance and made the effort to start talking to him, asking him to join in my usual discussion-and-hang-out group, even asking him out to join us in our weekend mall-raiding sessions, and in no time we were getting along like old friends. I didn't know that he had his own unique, wacky sense of humor up to that turning point.

I also knew him as a happy-go-lucky, smiley guy who had a strong tendency to skip classes whenever he could so that he could set off to a nearby Internet cafe and spend his time playing online games. Lame, I know, but that was how most young Jakartan teenagers in the early 2000's spent their time obliviously going online in a non-sophisticated way. *sighs*
He was friendly, he was shy, he was random, he got embarrassed very easily, and I remember that he had the most dazzling lopsided smile. He was very popular with girls, especially the ones who were in my class. Well d-duh, go figure, what with his good looks and all. But I guess his utter shyness just drove them away from him.

After all, he was a really good buddy. It was always nice talking to him, cracking at his jokes, taunting him of his clumsiness, laughing at his blushing face, doing all sorts of stupid stuff together as a group. I still remember the days escaping with those friends, including him, to the building's topmost level, just sitting there chatting, enjoying the warm winds and the shining afternoon sun.
And that was all like, what, FIVE years ago?

Damn I feel ancient.
I find it hard to believe that many years had passed since then.

I was quite shocked when one day the tutor told the class that he had dropped out of the course. Apparently his parents caught him skipping classes, and he got grounded or something. Hadn't heard much from him since then. Saw him once or twice, talked briefly here and then, but as days went past we lost contact with each other. And now that I'm living in a totally different continent at the other corner of the world, God knows when we're gonna see each other again.

Oh well.
I never knew that his existence really mattered much to me up till that very moment. On the bus. I guess this just gave nighttime bus-trips a whole different meaning.

Just now I tried looking up his name in the Friendster network, hoping that at least I could get a glimpse of how he would be like today. After a few failed attempts of desperately trying to spell his Dutch surname correctly, I finally found his profile, displayed proudly on my screen. *grins in satisfaction*

From the looks of it, I can conclude that he's still staying in J-Town. He's at uni now, and it's evident that he's gained some few kilograms during his five years of absence from my life. But his old features are still apparent, undoubtedly. I wonder if he's still the wacky ol' handsome joker that he was during his younger years. People change, and I've changed a lot in many aspects, so I guess ideally he would be different, in the sense? *raises eyebrow*

This might sound gay, but I do miss him being around me.
My junior-high-school best-friend used to joke that in an ideal world, she would definitely fall for him if only he wasn't that quirky and clumsy, just because he was drop-dead gorgeous. But then again thank God she didn't end up hitting on him; he would've made a terribly BAD boyfriend. *laughs*

So I guess that's the end of my rant for tonight.
Dear long-lost buddy, wherever you are, if you're reading this, which I'm bloody damn sure you aren't, please do make the effort to contact me, yeah? It would be nice catching up with you somehow, somewhere, someday, if that ever happens.

For the time being, I bide you guys adieu.
Have a pleasant Winter weekend! =D