Jess

• Everything is double edged isn't it? There's really no such thing as something that's all good is there? Anyway, I feel quite good inside lately. What with all the sweating and good company I had the past few days, I have every reason to feel good. Which makes me kind of wary. You know the saying,"When everything is going well, it's an ambush" ?

• I am learning not to take anything for granted now. At least I try not to.

• What's this thing that's making me feel quite good? Friends of course.

• Old and new friends. One friend in particular, whose company I enjoy immensely. Because of her, I'm not beset with boredom and the nagging loneliness that sometime grip me. Yeah, I've been seeing her a lot. At least once a week for lunch and for happy hours. I've known her for 5 years now but she hates Tiger of which I have no problem with. She sometimes call but she understands when I have to do my drinking alone.

• In our somewhat repressed conservative society, being close to someone of opposing gender is frowned upon in some circles. Especially if the said female friend is just a 'friend'. It's 'unhealthy' according to some.

• I beg to differ. Simply put, there are certain things that women will understand better simply because they are women. Guys know guy things because they're guys and they do those things. What better source for a girl to ask but from a guy? Like the time when she asked me what was so great about a one night stand. Ditto vice versa. Men and women are equal, but men and women are also fundamentally different. Hence all the misunderstanding and the cockeyed lopsided biases.

• It'll go a long, long way to dispelling some myths and promoting respect and understanding. Look around and see how misunderstood the different genders are from the other gender's perspective. Why? Because we don't talk enough.

• I know many, many people who have no platonic relations with their opposing numbers. And it's always these people who have skewed perspectives about men/women.

• I remember one conversation I had with a buddy recently when he asked me why I spent so much time with this one girl. Obviously he doesn't know I have many friends of the female persuasion and I do spend a good many hours with some of them. I told him she was my good friend and yes we have gone out, lunched and had beer's. He insisted that men and women can't be friends and there was something I was not telling him. He wanted me to tell him that we did the horizontal lambada. No amount of convincing could change his point of view.

• He, obviously had no female friends.

• See? Skewed.

Thanks Jess for being a good friend. By the way, any chance of me getting into your pants???