Humanmetrics & Appreciations

undecided, so am I ENTP or ESTP? what are you guys? take the test and let me know!

This past weekend was a packed emotional rollercoaster for me:

I went to the GrX 2005 retreat, experienced a great All-In Thanksgiving service, congratulated WC, managed to blabber and tick off someone I met recently ... found out how nerdy I really am relatively to my circle of friends, and received a heart warming letter from a friend far far away ... (I think I will post a separate note about the retreat and the service later.)

Today I just wanted to share what a miracle an encouraging note from a dear friend can do to one's spirit! Because I did a whole bunch of stuff, and managed to catch a little cold over the weekend, I definitely woke up on the wrong side of the bed on Monday morning. As I am wrapped up in my USB project, I realized I am behind schedule since I didn't get back to work on Sunday night. Oo yes, I was stressed, not to mention being behind on my Japanese studies. Later that day, I received a caring note from someone far far away that completely uplifted my spirit! Apparently the care package I sent out last minute managed to get there on time for a special occasion. My Friend (MF for the purpose of this blog) is really happy and touched by my gesture. In return, MF's note also reminded me of our friendship and mutual understanding, and the writing was very honest, sincere and encouraging to me.

MF proceeded to continue on the topic of spiritual matters we started a while ago, and I found out that we are both in need of spiritual encouragement though we are in different situations. Some of the things we struggled with are similar in different disguises: (heavily edited version)

"Things have been a little bit difficult lately spiritually and emotionally for me. I don't know, maybe it's the ... and maybe it's spiritual attack, but it has been a trying time lately. Spiritually it has been kind of dry and good devotional times with God has been infrequent. ... about hitting "The wall" ..... It's at a point where you are no longer in the honeymoon period where everything is ... exciting. Instead, you are left with the thought of what are you doing here and now..., would it be better for you to be ... , are you really doing or contributing anything .... I would appreciate it if you could pray for me regarding this. ..... Please pray that God will be speaking His words through me."

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This prompted me to start thinking about my own posses, and along with the thanksgiving spirit of the holiday, I just want to say that I am really really appreciative of my circle of friends.

Chatting with LC last night on GoogleTalk, we were both lamenting that it's much harder to build new friendships after college, everyone's sort of settled in their own crowd and we hardly meet new people nowadays. Even when we do, it's hard to find people we click with right away! I've met quite a few acquaintances since I moved to CA, some of those friendships are very short lived. At times I get close to people but we inevitably drift apart after the initial "new friend" stage is over; some times we grow apart, other times we just never traverse beyond the "glass" wall.

So I am especially appreciative of my "real" friends, those who were there before, are there now, and will be there for me in the future! They were there when I was emotionally and spiritually weak, they spent time with me when I wanted to share and listened to me patiently, gave me constructive advises, lend me shoulders to cry and rest upon, as well as played games and watched anime with me to keep me entertained. They *cared*, listened, supported and prayed for me. I really can't imagine my life without them and I'd be bored to death. Most of all, one thing that really bonded us together is the harmonious mutual understanding between us, that our values and our backgrounds are very similar. I am lucky that I have met a few cherished friends like these, I pray to God that our friendships will continue to deepen in the future and we will be looking back and laugh at the way we were years from now.