Last day in Hong Kong...

Well, this isn´t really my last day in Hong Kong as I´m already in Madrid but I was having such a great time catching up with old friends that I rarely had the chance to sit at a computer for more than a few minutes at time!

My first week in Hong Kong was spent at Ravi´s house, and his parents were the most gracious and generous hosts I have ever stayed with. Mrs. Choithramani fed me so much that even Mr. Choithramani said I gained weight after a week! (There may have been other beer-related factors, however.) Her food was so good-- samosas, dhosa, curries left and right, my mouth is watering just thinking of it all!

I also crashed a couple of nights at my old friend Francis´ place as well, and things haven´t changed since we used to shoot pigeons off his balcony with our bb guns. (Unfortunately, we didn´t get a chance to that again-- he doesn´t have a balcony anymore!) Despite his busy schedule as a ¨banker wanker¨ we spent some quality man time together. I can´t tell you how many conversations began with, ¨Remember when we used to -insert almost illegal adolescent act here- ¨ or ¨Remember when you used to like -insert girl here-¨ Ahhh...the memories.

It was also good to catch up with Shari, whom my mother nicknamed, ¨Crazy Chicken¨as a term of endearment a long while ago. So, we cooked dinner one night and while I was chopping up some garlic, I realized the knife was not doing its job. At first I thought it was just a really dull knife, but lo and behold when I picked it up, there was a slight crescent moon-like curve to the blade! Shari, I really think it´s time to get rid of that thing....

A bunch of HKISérs got together one night in Lan Kwai Fong and it was truly a blast catching up with everybody that night, including:

Howard Tang-- still as sharp-witted as before, both Cantonese and English I might add.

Danny Lung-- glad I got to play basketball with him again, in the same court right below Estoril Court! Too bad we didn´t win the second game...

David Leventhal-- I remember very clearly my first day of school at HKIS. I hated the world, hated my parents for uprooting me from my beloved Los Angeles, hated the apartment I lived in, pretty much anything you can think of, I hated. So if you can imagine any kid´s first day at school-- I was not in the best of spirits. I recall carrying a tray of fries and a soda and spilling the whole freakin thing in front of the entire cafeteria full of students. I not only heard a needle drop, I think I also pissed my pants. Anyway, it was a pretty embarrassing thing, and I retreated to some back table, hating everything even more so. David came by my table and introduced himself to me, and he officially became my first friend at HKIS. Good thing, because as it turns out, he was THE Dodgeball King, and I never had to play against him!

Michelle Hoeppner, Shari, Francis, Ravi, Pravesh, Rizwan Farooqi, Faith Fischer and few significant others were also there that night, and for the most part, everybody is doing well and I´m really happy about that.

So, going along with the G.I. Joe theme of what I learned... The friends I grew up with during that awkward pubescent/adolescent stage are the friends I have the fondest memories of, and consequently, have the strongest affinity towards. It really was refreshing to see everybody again after all these years. And the recent earthquake tragedy in Sichuan, China, simple reinforces the fact that it´s never too early or too late to reach out to some old friends you haven´t seen. I truly dislike using meaningless cliches like that, but really, if you´re sitting back reading this right now, please call up one old friend you haven´t talked to in years. You won´t be disappointed.