yeah....Things will only get better

Had a pretty interesting encounter with a musician from a neighbouring country. Well, the language barrier was there, however, with a little of this and that and of course, with music as the universal language, all's well.

His laptop was playing this particular piece from Phantom. Wonderful piece. I recall the days when S was playing this practicing this piece on her piano and well, I had to sing along. I don't consider myself a good singer; in fact , far from that. But somehow this piece sort of stuck with me. The wonders of music, make that good music from the magical The Rt Hon. The Lord Lloyd-Webber .( That's what I understand to be his full title )

The last time I heard this piece was again, on the piano. But well, W was playing it. SL wasn't too interested to sing along with his wife who by the way has wonderful vocals. Dug into my laptop, combed through every MP3, and yes, I have it. =)

Song of the moment-

Phantom Of The Opera - All I Ask Of You

No more talk of darkness,
forget these wide-eyed fears;
I'm here, nothing can harm you,
my words will warm and calm you.
Let me be your freedom,
let daylight dry your tears;
I'm here, with you, beside you,
to guard you and to guide you.

Christine
Say you'll love me ev'ry waking moment;
turn my head with talk of summertime.
Say you need me with you now and always;
promise me that all you say is true,
that's all I ask of you.

Raoul
Let me be your shelter,
let me be your light;
you're safe, no one will find you,
your fears are far behind you.

Christine
All I want is freedom,
a world with no more night;
and you, always beside me,
to hold me and to hide me.

Raoul
Then say you'll share with me one love, one lifetime;
let me lead you from you solitude.
Say you need me with you, here beside you,
anywhere you go, let me go too,
that's all I ask of you.

Christine
Say you'll share with me one love, one lifetime.
Say the word and I will follow you.

Together
Share each day with me, each night, each morning.

Christine
Say you love me...

Raoul
You know I do.

Together
Love me, that's all I ask of you.

Anywhere you go let me go too

Love me...
that's all I ask of you.

R leaned against the wall, staring blankly into space. In his arms was his ever precious Bible and a string of rosary given to him by a dear friend.

The silence was broken by message tone. Almost instantaneously , he reached into his pocket and retrieved a E51. It was the weekends and he was eager to know if there were any invitations to any functions. The text received was just another publicity stint by some credit card company, eager to push their sales volumes. He tried to locate the very last message from someone he would consider his friend. They just doesn't seem to around anymore. Taking the initiative, he keyed in a few words and hit the send button.

******************************

Stacks and stacks of files awaited him. He had little difficulties in clearing all that has been laid before him. Or so it seems. That was the past. Haven't we all immersed ourselves with tonnes of work when something didn't work out right in other aspects of our lives?

"Things just don't seem to be the same anymore..."


*******************************

He has close to 1000 contacts on his contact list, but he would not consider all of them his friends. Then again, nobody would. I'm not too sure who would you consider to be the most popular person on earth, then again,whoever he or she might be, I don't think he would have 1000 close friends?? I know I don't.

"Give her a call, just for a chat or to see how she's doing?" I pointed at a name randomly.

R pondered for a moment. " You know, we used to be such good friends. But ever since she got attached, we seemed to have drifted apart. Well, I can understand why..."

"Do you have a wonderful guy friend that you have always been close with? A good buddy or sorts?"

He nodded. " Similarly, we grew apart ever since he found a girlfriend."

Oh well, this is so familiar. Hands up those of you that have had a similar encounter.

I remember a certain J back in my JC days. Not the best looker around, not the best in EQ too, stepped on some toes but nevertheless a sincere person. We use to hang around quite a bit, studied together, went out sometimes so on and so forth. This carried on till NS days.

Then all of a sudden, he disappeared. Vanished into thin air.

Several months later, I was taking a train from Boon Lay back to Bishan (yes.. after book-out la.. what else)when I noticed this very familiar person. He was with a girl. Hugging her in fact...Lovey-dovey. Yes it was him alright. I refrained from calling him but he saw me nevertheless. Almost immediately, he shifted his gaze.

His gf was the one that realised that someone was looking at them and asked him if he knew me. Sheepishly he turned around and introduced me to his gf.

Fast forward 2-3 years. I received a call from someone whose name that did not ring a bell. After some exchanges, I realised that it was from his gf. Well, ex gf. I shall not go into details of the breakup but that phone call was basically asking me to spend time with J.

I gathered some close friends organised some outings and very soon, he's back with us. It was awkward though but somehow we make do. We accepted him and very soon, all's well.

But as the story continues, some 1 yr later, this friend of ours pulled off another magical escape. We soon found out that he's seeing a mutual friend of mine. Well.. happy for him. But well, what so amazing is that both of them decided to play this vanishing act as a couple. Phone calls unanswered, sms not returned so on and so forth.

I'm not sure what so shameful or why is there a need to be so evasive. But you know.

Fast forward another few more years, yeah... got to know from the press that they're married. Some lavish and spectacular wedding. Glad to know they tied the knot and doing well. But sad that this friendship had to go in this very weird direction.

************************************

R sighed. He nodded.

" You know Mal, I fear of losing my friends too. There are 1001 ways to make friends but they are just as many ways of losing them. Weird ways included too.."

************************************

Yes, indeed. Have we been too caught up with some other "pursuits" and neglected the people around us? All it takes is a little effort from everyone... it might not always be possible to get everyone together , but it's the thought that counts more.. really.

*********************************

Thank you for another wonderful lesson in life