friends

last night two fun things happened - i had a chance to see one of my best friend's, howard, freshly returned from mit for the christmas holidays, and there was an absolutely fabulous karaoke party at at charles's place.

since september, i have definitely been spending more time with my medical school classmates - but let's backtrack a bit...

a little more than a year ago, when i started medical school, i was a mess. i could tell that my relationship was slowly disintegrating into oblivion and while i had pined to come home for years, more recently i was pining not to come back to edmonton (too much elitism, timothy, sigh). luckily, my close friends were all still in edmonton, and it really was a treat being back with them. and so, a little more than a year ago, i didn't much reach out to my classmates - because i wasn't sure what to make about being at alberta, and because i wanted to cherish whatever time i had left with my closest friends.

this past summer, four of my best friends moved away - one to vancouver, one to boston, one to hong kong, and one to croatia, the four corners of the world so to speak. i was sad to see them leave, but perhaps not that sad since i had gotten used to saying goodbye to good friends,. i didn't really expect this, but with the free time i had on my hands i began spending more time with my classmates; while this has been refreshing, enlightening, and enjoyable, i often find myself asking what is the nature of friendships?

what i'm trying to get at is that even though i value friendship so strongly, even though (i think) i try very hard to keep in contact with the friends around me, it seems almost inevitable that they disperse and leave. and when friends do leave things do change, no matter what the idealists will have you believe . all these relationships - they seem so transitory sometimes.

which doesn't mean they shouldn't be enjoyed!! life's pleasures seem so fleeting sometimes :(