Part One - June 23 / July 16 Correspondence

On June 23, I decided to start a blog series with my very good friend Angela. I had been meaning to come up with something different, I was missing Bekasi, my friends, my old life and so one fine Sunday, as I was browsing through my old e-mails, I noticed that Ange and I had such loooong e-mail exchanges which are too blog worthy not to share. So I sent her below e-mail and I am also printing her unedited response - with her permission, of course. Here goes our first entry.

Hi Angela!

It's been a while since I sent you an e-mail. Words, like a battalion of crafty escape artists had been dodging my attempts at pinning them down. I've been trying to get them fall in one line so I can come up with cohesive, or at the very least, linear thoughts. Thoughts that do not wander from one neurosis to another, or those tweet of ideas that flit from real to imagined - really short and whose veracity (is this word applicable or too shift + F7ish?) I highly doubt.

Anyway, I am writing this e-mail to let you know that I am thinking of starting a new series of blogs, kindof like the 20+ -entries-worth Bekasi Diaries, which I did while I was living in Indonesia.

I was reading through some of the old e-mail correspondence we had while I was assigned in Laguna, which inspired me to collaborate with you. While our topics would conveniently shift from the annoyingly shallow to profound; or the mundane to the whimsical, I just realized there were too many original ideas (well, at least in my book, they are original – screw universality of thought and all that!) that might interest one or two free spirits roaming around the blogosphere. In short, I do believe some of our ideas are too good not to share. Feeling amputs.

I do hope you will agree to join me on this one. Looking forward to get your response soon!

On July 16, Ange replies, which delighted me like anything!

Dear John,

By my standards, this is an embarrassingly late response to your letter. There are no excuses for late responses, at least in my book. The busiest people, caught up in the looping playlist of work-home-work-weekend-work-home-work (get the picture) still have time to check their Facebook accounts each day. I myself have engaged myself in so many versions of online real estate that I'm struggling keeping up with them all - usernames, passwords, not to mention updating them with worthy content!

I started thinking about communication and the many ways it keeps good friends connected. We used to send little emails back and forth, then little instant messages would pop up on our office computers (and these exchanges would last the rest of the day), and then of course there came our longer email exchanges. The spawn of our mundane and deep thoughts. No, I don't think we are the struggling-to-hit-shift-f7 type, we just write how we feel (whether these were mean thoughts to put evil little smiles on our faces, or cheesy thoughts on life and how it's moving forward too quickly for us both). I love that we both have a strong Psychology background, which nurtures our penchant for analyzing people's thoughts and motives. Allow me to share with you a recent experience and series of thought bubbles.

I have come to realize that being away from the people you hold dear makes you cherish meaningful conversation, even in electronic mail form. In my attempt to re-kindle communication among some close girlfriends, I decided to send an email with 'real' conversation, something that did not involve the creation of weekend plans at 'Republiq' (which I hear is a snooty new club). The letter shared some updates on my life here, and requested them to do the same. Unfortunately among the dozen girls I emailed, only two replied with meaningful updates. Both girls (one in Manila and the other in San Francisco) updated us on their lives and loves, and requested everyone to do the same, as no one seems to really update anymore and this is the only way the out-of-towners can feel at home. What disappointed me was not the thought that people are too busy to read or reply to emails, it was the thought that some people believe they are 'too busy' to dig deep into their minds and write something more meaningful than 'see you on Saturday, I'll reserve a table.' The latter response was just one of many similar responses to the yahoogroup thread, by the same girls who didn't respond to my original personal email thread.

I don't like becoming cynical or disillusioned with my friends, I guess no one does. As with most bad vibes, I brush it off, and focus on the brighter side. At any rate, I am over it, and the experience just made me wonder: have we become so accustomed to gleaning updates from Facebook profiles and news feeds, that some no longer feel comfortable with personal emails? What has become of communication? I am glad that for us, we can still sit down and write.

I hope life has been good to you lately. Remember, one must learn to love the now, in order to learn to love tomorrow.

Take care my friend.

Angela