I'd Have Laid Down My Life For Wotsisname
An interesting dilemma popped up in my mind a few days ago. Imagine this; you're alone in a courtroom, and your best friend is on the stand fighting for his very life and you have two very distinct options to choose from. Give your friend that shaft and save your own life, or shaft yourself in the jail cell with him for committing perjury on his behalf. Oooh, so many choices, so little time.
On the one hand, society cannot function without honesty, so therefore you know it's right to offer your services to the prosecution. But then again, friendship is supposed to be an unshakeable bond which cannot exist without loyalty. So it is also right that you should keep shtum.
Well, I thought about this long and hard in the shower this morning and I've decided I'd squeal like a baby. Because you know something? Friendship is like a gigantic sand dune, seemingly huge and permanent, but one day you get up and it's gone.
Back in the college days, I spent pretty well every single day with the same group of friends in a stylized cafe across the road. We laughed all the time, we were on a first name basis with the crew, we sang, we drank way too much Iced Lemon Teas and we even had our very own 'Rumble In The Bronx' bar fight. We knew with the sure fire certainty that night would follow day and that we'd be mates for ever.
Had one of them been accused of gouging the waiter's eyes out with a lawnmower, I'd have told the police that I hadn't seen a thing. I would have taken the heat on his/her behalf had push come to shove. Which would have made me feel awfully foolish today because I have no idea where two of those friends are, and for the life of me, I cannot even remember what the other two were called.
How did this happen? Presmuably, when I said goodbye for the last time ever, I really did believe I'd be seeing them again the following weekend. It wasn't like we'd had a row, or that they'd all grown beards or moved to Kathmandu. We just went home and never saw one another again. Last I'd heard, one of us had chosen the holy route and became a Monk.
And this happens all the time. I went through my old dusty address book and there are countless people, friends, muckers, soul mates and former colleagues who I never ever see. Bar Friendster of course.
Here's the problem. What most of us like doing these days, is sitting in a gormless stupor in front of a telly or a good book, munching some pringles or some decadent chocolate bar.
Going out means getting up, getting dressed, arguing about who'll drive and getting your wallet to lighten it's load a wee bit further. Of course it's worse if you let time pass you by, simply because the longer you wait to call on the people you haven't seen in ages, the harder it becomes to find a reason to ring them for. I mean if someone you haven't heard from in ten years suddenly telephones, you know full well that it'll be for one of two reasons. He has gotten married. Or he's getting a divorce.
I suppose it's one of life's little ironies. You know full well you can't live alone, yet for months at a time, that's basically what you end up doing until all of a sudden all hell breaks lose and you lose sleep and food over some late night gatherings at dingy restaurants with bills which are funnier than Harith Iskandar's stand up routines because, when translated into Malay, it generally came to 700 ringgit. You glance over the receipt and your eyes go all white when you realise that an Iced Tea, all on its own costs 25 ringgit. For that money i'd have expected the damn thing to get up and do a song a dance routine. Instead it just sat there, the lemon floating restlessly in what i can only assume is an expensive piece of glass.
I don't care what you think about 'fine dining' restaurants, but these prices are preposterous. Thankfully i've just recently found an enclave where you can dine in comfortable, plush chairs straight out of a Friends set, with teas costing no more than 3 ringgit and meals no more than 15 ringgit a pop. So if you need to bring a friend over, especially those you haven't seen in years..give me a ring. I'll show a place where you can have an epic time for a reasonable amount of money. Then'll we all do the whole "Prisoner's Dilemma" routine together.
On the one hand, society cannot function without honesty, so therefore you know it's right to offer your services to the prosecution. But then again, friendship is supposed to be an unshakeable bond which cannot exist without loyalty. So it is also right that you should keep shtum.
Well, I thought about this long and hard in the shower this morning and I've decided I'd squeal like a baby. Because you know something? Friendship is like a gigantic sand dune, seemingly huge and permanent, but one day you get up and it's gone.
Back in the college days, I spent pretty well every single day with the same group of friends in a stylized cafe across the road. We laughed all the time, we were on a first name basis with the crew, we sang, we drank way too much Iced Lemon Teas and we even had our very own 'Rumble In The Bronx' bar fight. We knew with the sure fire certainty that night would follow day and that we'd be mates for ever.
Had one of them been accused of gouging the waiter's eyes out with a lawnmower, I'd have told the police that I hadn't seen a thing. I would have taken the heat on his/her behalf had push come to shove. Which would have made me feel awfully foolish today because I have no idea where two of those friends are, and for the life of me, I cannot even remember what the other two were called.
How did this happen? Presmuably, when I said goodbye for the last time ever, I really did believe I'd be seeing them again the following weekend. It wasn't like we'd had a row, or that they'd all grown beards or moved to Kathmandu. We just went home and never saw one another again. Last I'd heard, one of us had chosen the holy route and became a Monk.
And this happens all the time. I went through my old dusty address book and there are countless people, friends, muckers, soul mates and former colleagues who I never ever see. Bar Friendster of course.
Here's the problem. What most of us like doing these days, is sitting in a gormless stupor in front of a telly or a good book, munching some pringles or some decadent chocolate bar.
Going out means getting up, getting dressed, arguing about who'll drive and getting your wallet to lighten it's load a wee bit further. Of course it's worse if you let time pass you by, simply because the longer you wait to call on the people you haven't seen in ages, the harder it becomes to find a reason to ring them for. I mean if someone you haven't heard from in ten years suddenly telephones, you know full well that it'll be for one of two reasons. He has gotten married. Or he's getting a divorce.
I suppose it's one of life's little ironies. You know full well you can't live alone, yet for months at a time, that's basically what you end up doing until all of a sudden all hell breaks lose and you lose sleep and food over some late night gatherings at dingy restaurants with bills which are funnier than Harith Iskandar's stand up routines because, when translated into Malay, it generally came to 700 ringgit. You glance over the receipt and your eyes go all white when you realise that an Iced Tea, all on its own costs 25 ringgit. For that money i'd have expected the damn thing to get up and do a song a dance routine. Instead it just sat there, the lemon floating restlessly in what i can only assume is an expensive piece of glass.
I don't care what you think about 'fine dining' restaurants, but these prices are preposterous. Thankfully i've just recently found an enclave where you can dine in comfortable, plush chairs straight out of a Friends set, with teas costing no more than 3 ringgit and meals no more than 15 ringgit a pop. So if you need to bring a friend over, especially those you haven't seen in years..give me a ring. I'll show a place where you can have an epic time for a reasonable amount of money. Then'll we all do the whole "Prisoner's Dilemma" routine together.
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