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9/16/2006

TNDC...!

Good times, good times...

I do miss all my buddies in business school. Half of them I can see at TNDC; the other half I can see at Chinatown. Which brings me to some of my thoughts on making friends.

When I applied to college, I wrote about how I hoped to find a true identity for the boy who counts in Chinese but speaks in English. Ten years later (!!!!), I could write the same piece. I still count in Chinese, and English is still my default language. Just take a look at my circles of friends. At Chicago, I have, on one hand, the American friends. The crew hangs out at bars, talks (real talking) in school, studies moderately, and always has fun doing whatever. On the other hand, I have the Chinese crowd, separated into China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. These crews hang out at each other's homes, says hi and bye in school, studies hard, and always seems to be serious.

Makes me wonder a bit... if you are not committed to one crew, can you still make true friends out of both groups? If on Thursday night I choose not to go to TNDC (hence missing my American friends at the bar) because there's a poker game (or killer - arg, I hate that game) at a Chinese friends' house, or vice versa, would either group think less of me? Surely it makes some difference, right?

Hm... just writing this makes me feel young.

2 comments:

shmoo said...

1) I'm interested to know what you mean by "real talking" because it might play into a conversation I had this summer. I'll tell you about it next time I see you.

2) I don't think your friends would think less of you if you went to hang out with a different set of friends, unless you missed something really meaningful, like a wedding or something.

Anonymous said...

why not consider mixing the two...inviting your American friends to a poker game for example...