A Birthday Ode to the Familiar Stranger

today was your birthday.
it's been two birthdays since ive spent it with you - the passage of time jolts me into realizing how we've got on so well with our new skin, shedding the old without tearing our flesh along with it anymore.

new lives, new hearts, new loves.
i like it better this way.

Happy 22nd, dear familiar stranger.

***

'i was wondering how close you can ever get to a person? by closeness, i mean the complete comprehension of that person's psyche, knowing what he thinks and how his mind works, what makes him tick, tock. ok, and also how much you can tell him your innermost thoughts and all. i guess its hard! thats why so many marriages end up in divorce, some friendships too.
it really bugs me to this day,that i cant find anyone on this planet whom i feel close to! isnt that amazing? and i bet lots of you are thinking in your head "wot about tarnima?" its really bizarre, but most of the time, i feel like we're more like two perfect strangers who get along pretty darn well rather than two close best friends. we are on a constant learning curve about each other's characters and personalities. we are also constantly amused by each other and thats why we never get bored of each other's company. but ultimately, both of us are so independent that we cant be considered 'close' to each other. at least, not by this definition. i guess what im trying to say is that after all these years, my innermost self has been preserved (i sound like a prune) which i've never really truly devoted to any single one. i've never given myself up totally to anyone. maybe thats why i cant ever begin to fathom myself attached. the idea, as the years pass, is becoming more and more foreign.'

Notes
1. Tarnima is Shooby's bestestbest friend, all the way back from ACJC.
2. Shooby has never been attached.

Credits

Shoobydooby [http://www.xanga.com/home.aspx?user=lifewithfleur (6th April 2005)]

***

ser wonders why i utilise these various items at my new place;

1)bathrobes - as a buffer between the aircond-ified-induced cold and that bare skin
2)sunblock - since curtains are non-existent as of now and my UV phase is still ongoing and forever will be
3)shades - the rays, the gleaming rays! n my poor squinting eyes (courtesy of her own suggestion too)

we made a makeshift curtain to block out the morning sun (the sun incidentally acts as a sort of a natural alarm clock for me, since the heat settles in on me by 8 am and hence, the early bird rises)(and hopes she catches the worm).

our props;
1)ladder
2)foldable mats
and voila, the early bird gets a good morn rest without roasting.

***

i became Surrogate Beaver. Passing by the Beavers one fine day (and with them, its always coincidental, never intentional) (and on that perhaps u might want to rename me Phantom Beaver), Princess Jasmine had a birthday on so we (jas, me, fir, eleine, jeza, von) trooped down to Holland's Essential Blue and had a fishy affair and some more fishy affair in the form of Fir-ry and his beautiful (no less, only more) harems.

check out http://www.fireeks.net/ (entry on 5th April 2005) to satisfy your voyeuristic tendencies in relation to this Beaver-citing Fishy-fying affair.

***

im glad that with friendships, there's no such thing as counting the cost. thank you for understanding, for your dear concern, for basically still wanting to give me that big beary hug at the end of the day when ive been too busy being a terrible and non-existent friend to you.