Be good to your friends

Three years ago today I lost one of my best friends in a mountain climbing accident, and three days later, sometimes about 9-10pm I came across an email from a close friend of ours telling me to call him at any time. Stupid me thought it was good news. And it was only when I had to re-read the email to get the second phone number (he had listed three different numbers) that I realized the instruction to call him “at any time of the day” was not an indication of good news.

Patrick Wang was my first friend when I moved to the US. His house was about a 10-15 min. walk from my apartment, though later on getting to his house became a matter of crossing the backyard of my apartment, someone else’s backyard, that same person’s front yard, and then across the street and a few houses down the left.

I still remember the first time I had to call-in sick and miss school for a day. Pat was the person I called to ask about homework (all I remember is the awkward English I used, specifically, “… from what number to what number?”). I remember being so nervous as I was speaking a foreign language, despite the 2-3 years of classes I had already received by then.

But that was all in the distant past.

A few years later we developed a close friendship (especially after the infamous “Doc Project” for our Advanced World History class in 10th grade) and he was also the first person I called and got in touch with after moving to Alabama in the summer between my 10th and 11th grade. He was “quite honored” I recall him saying over the phone. And since then our friendship was nearly exclusively phone/email based as we were always quite a distance apart, though we were geographically nearby when I attended university in Connecticut and him in our hometown State College, PA. However, where I ended-up in Boston after graduating, he ended-up at first in California and then Oregon. And so our phone/email friendship continued.

Actually, now that we were on our own and could afford our own phone bills the “phone” portion became a bit more noticeable though it was still mostly all emails. And to this day this is where I really feel that I dropped the ball.

When I still lived in the US he called me up once a month (almost religioiusly) but sometimes I avoided his call. And now, now I can only wonder what he would have thought of Sydney as he was set to visit around mid-2005.

So today, on this day, I promise and hope to be a better friend to all my friends, many of whom I know I’ve neglected. Just as Pat called me up once a month, then maybe it’s up to me to keep in touch with some of you.

He was a friend, a rock star, a nerd, an Intel engineer, an adventurer, a traveller, a photographer …

… a dear friend whom I sorely miss still.

Recently …

Well, the return of my interest in politics was decidedly short, and probably for the better for most people. After all, who’d want a sane person actually running the country. Ron Paul may not have been the most charismatic talker or most uplifting, but the man is a damn genius, of sound mind, and … well, just too good for the American public. My good friend Mr. Pengo provides a far better discourse on this topic over various entries at his blog. Check it out if you’re interested.

That aside, I finally got Guitar Hero 3 for the Wii last week. Not sure about elsewhere, but here in Australia Activision recently released a “limited edition” double-guitar set for the Wii and with a 15% pre-Easter sale I got the whole thing for AUD 170 (it was 169.something). Not a bad purchase especially as it already had a chance to liven-up a party.

Also of recent interest was my work trip to Tokyo. Not much to say as I was pretty much working every day but I did get a free day on my day of arrival (Sunday) and an old friend from Wesleyan, Janice, was kind enough to take me around Ginza, which happened to be just next door to where I was staying, Marunouchi. My last night there, a Friday night, was mostly a blur with much drinking and laughing capped by a 4.30am trip to Tsukiji Fish Market for some fresh sushi breakfast. Unfortunately for me I was rather ill after staying up the whole night and just managed to wolf down my food. But yes, it was fresh.

On this trip I discovered that Banana Republic now has a store at Paragon in Singapore and also at multiple locations in Tokyo (one of which was practically across the street from my hotel)! Now if only their American website will ship internationally.

I attended the Easter Mass this past Sunday but was mostly bored and falling asleep as I stayed-up rather late the night before watching The Prestige and it was standing room only at St. Mary’s Cathedral. Thankfully I had a pillar to lean on. I have to admit I still have mixed feelings about attending a Novus Ordo mass, even if this was a “Solemn” Mass (is there any other kind?) which apparently meant that much of it was sung (in English). I can only imagine a Latin High Mass being celebrated inside St. Mary’s–it’s actually quite a decent cathedral.

The SonyEricsson W910i phone is a pretty damn sexy phone, especially the red colored one. I got one for my girlfriend as her old Nokia guaranteed a one-sided conversation for anyone whom she called (or called her on) from it and now I can’t help but drool over it every time I see it. Between the crappy 5MP camera on my new K850i (the old K800i produced far better images than this) and the stupid firmware issues SE has with this phone I wish I could exchange it. The biggest reason though is the little “H” icon at the top of her display that I see all the time. I switched to Telstra as I was getting fed-up with Optus (for a variety of reasons) and also because I wanted to get on their NextG network (their branding for HSDPA). Telstra, however used the 850 frequency–unlike all the other local provider or most of the world for that matter–so I had to make sure my phone would be able to use the 850 frequency. However, ever since I brought this phone back from Singapore all I see is “3G” and “H” only very rarely. Her phone (which is only capable of using UMTS 2100), on the other hand, is always showing “H” on Optus’ network. -sigh-

Remembering a friend

This is one of my favorite Ayu songs (though I still haven’t figured out if this song was dedicated to her grandmother or father) for a number of reasons, one of which is that parts of the song really captured, if not mirrored, my own sentiments toward the passing away of one of my best friends two years ago today.

(Lyrics lifted from Divine Ayu: Lyrics page)

Memorial Address ~take2 version~

I remember I went to sleep late that night feeling uneasy
And had a very sad dream
The phone started to ring in the morning, breaking the silence
And the premonition became a reality
Leaving an unfading scar on my heart
You became a star by yourself

*Sayonara — You have gone to the place where we can never meet again
I can’t accept the coldness of the eternal parting
I wish I could have heard from you
That I had certainly been loved by you
Only once, even if it had been a lie

The sorrow I had thought to be endless came to an end
The season has changed, I feel bitterly cold
I will never forget that first day of summer
The sky kept on weeping instead of me this year
I feel as if I were living in the continuation of the dream
And I can’t even cry now

Sayonara — Even my last words don’t reach you
I’m made to realize the coldness of the parting
I wish I could have heard from you
That you never regretted the days we had spent together
Only once, even if it had been a lie

Why did you do it this way
Leaving memories only to the very end?

(*) repeat

Please tell me this is only the story of the continuing dream
And that I’m not yet awake

*raises glass*

Here’s one to you Pat!

Happy Easter everyone

I didn’t sleep at all last night as I’m still suffering the absolute worst jet-lag ever. Because of that I found myself walking down toward St. Mary’s Cathedral early (reeaaaaaally early!) this morning to catch the 7am Easter mass. I arrived there around 6:20am and found that the front of the cathedral had a temporary doorway placed in front of it with two signs (one on each side) pointing to a non-functional door: Cathedral Entry.

And so I walked around the side and saw two Asian women sitting on the steps in front of one of the side doors.

Also locked.

I have to say I was confused. After all, it is Easter we’re talking about here. Wouldn’t the appropriate thing to have the Church doors be opened sometimes during the night with no witnesses around?

Anyhow, after about 10 minutes of sitting on the steps leading toward this side-door that was also locked I told the two ladies that I was going to have another walk around to check what’s going on. I tried another side-door and it was locked. The temporary doorway was still sealed shut. However, when I returned to the side-door where I had waited for awhile I found that it was now open and the two ladies gone!

Well now, wasn’t that more appropriate? Solid, strong object blocking entry to an enclosed space moved by an unseen force to allow passage.

Now that’s an Easter experience!

Anyhow, I’m back from Africa and currently working through my pictures. After I finish that I’ll be going through my journal notes and write-up a few things and post them here.

Happy Easter!

Back in my own domain again!

Sweet! WordPress finally allows its users to map their own domain names to their wordpress.com blogs.