Making Friends
Had lunch with LK & KY today. In fact, we walked out of the lunch place without paying, each thinking the other had paid for it! Then, after they sent me back to get my car, I got a call asking if I paid and I said “No, I thought you paid …” and LK said they’d go back and settle the bill.
During lunch, LK commented that I make friends easily. Which surprised me somewhat cuz I’d always thought of myself as someone who is very cautious about making friends. It takes a while before I warm up to a person. Or so I thought. Perhaps I’ve been reckless recently.
Anyway, she cited a couple of examples why she thought I make friends easily. In fact, before I met up with her and her SO for lunch, I had coffee with a guy I’d never met before.
I thought about her comment for a bit before answering.
Shared interest.
Take the guy I had coffee with earlier today. The shared interest is the AlphaSmart 3000, which he bought recently, and from the Malaysian distributor’s web site had found out about me, got my email and decided to write to me cuz we’re both in Malaysia (and to ask if I had something he needed … ).
So, yes, shared interest. Especially, in the case of AlphaSmart products, I’d be happy to reply any emails about them!
Now that I think about it, some friendships made in recent years have started online before progressing to face-to-face meetings. One of such friendships which has endured for seven years (and which, I hope will continue for many times seven years, God willing) is my friendship with Chet & Beth Chin. To this day, I remain in touch with them, especially Beth who has lent me her ear many a time and offered good solid words to help me get over some difficult times in my life.
Around the same time I met Chet & Beth, I also met up with a group of people I’d gotten to know through an online writing site. So, another shared interest is writing. Other shared interests? Gadgets.
Going back to the guy I had coffee with this morning (I also met his wife, so that’s two new acquaintances made today). Looks like we have more than one shared interest that will keep us in touch. In fact two. One is a shared faith in the Lord and the other is a shared interest in writing.
I’d been asking the Malaysian AlphaSmart distributor for a list of contacts that he’d sold the product to, with a view to getting in touch with them to meet up, etc. But never received the list. Well, T, the guy I had coffee with this morning (sorry I keep repeating myself), said today’s meeting may very well be the start of the Malaysian AlphaSmart users’ writing group that I’d been trying to get going for a while now.
To commemorate the occasion, we took some pictures with my Zire 72 camera, which I’ll post up as soon as I receive his permission to do so.
Stay tuned …
