In Continuum.

It was April, Lionel, Kerri, Naz and - surprisingly - Kania. Kania hasn't been out with us ever since October last year for Lars and the Real Girl, due to various commitments as well as those untimely ailments that seem to strike whenever we decide to head down to town for a movie or dinner. The fact that she agreed to come with us to the Daily Scoop was a shot in the dark on my part, but I was pleasantly surprised that she said yes to coming. Either way, the lot of us somehow managed to squeeze into April's car, with the original intention of throwing Kania into the boot - which she has apparently done before two semesters ago. The first semester, when everything was so innocent and simple, when the sight of Kania sitting in the boot and the lot of us going down to town to have a good time was a common sight on every Friday evening. It just seems like as the novelty wore off, so has the innocence that we brought to school on a daily basis so long ago. The first semester now feels like a distant planet to us, which made the little outing today that much more special. 

Sunset Way is a common retreat for the bunch of us if we want a good reason to gorge ourselves with ice-cream, since there is a spot for those in every one of us. There is a flavor of ice-cream for everybody, and nobody can ever say no to it - ever. Luckily for us, The Daily Scoop was opened when we got there, unlike that other Monday when my trek from the bus stop with Joel to the same outlet was met with closed doors at the very end. The smell of ice-cream and freshly made waffles welcomed us with opened arms, and I literally dashed to the counter to give myself a sinful snack for the afternoon. Double-scoop ice-cream cone, simple vanilla and "Kookie Monter", the perfect way to be good to myself after weeks of self-pity and accusations. As portions of the ice-cream slowly melted and dripped over the side of the chocolate coated cones and onto my fingers, the lot of us talked about the present and the past, and had a good fun laughing our heads off for the first time in a long time.

We talked about the first semester mostly, about our first impressions of each other on the first day of school. I remember who was in line in front of me on the first day of school, it was Lou and Peter Mark who struck it off with each other pretty quickly. Kania was in front of me as well, and I remember her turning around to ask for a dollar from me because she was one dollar short of the orientation fees. I seriously don't remember her returning that one dollar to me afterwards which she claimed that she did, but I guess one dollar is hardly anything when compared to the great friend she has been since that day. That was the first impression I got of Kania, the girl with the giant glasses who asked me for a dollar on the first day and - debatably - never returned it. Then throughout the rest of the semester we seldom talked though, save for the brief moments during our paintball games when I complained about her near-death fight with her flu. Never would I have thought that the girl we that strange accent and last name would end up as one of my closest friends from school, a fellow movie freak at that. Amazing.

I don't remember Naz, in fact I have little recollection of him for the most part of the first semester. He was the guy on the left side of the class, the man who always liked to make fun of Albert and that story about how he met his girlfriend Khadi over the internet. He also played "Sinaz Cowell" during our music project, but our interaction was still minimal for the most part because the group had too many people to begin with. It was, strangely enough, during the Low Li Jing's class when we started to know each other a whole lot better, and it does get a little creepy sometimes how we tend to think about the exact same things regarding the exact same issues involving the exact same people. Nonetheless, I see Naz as my counterpart, my accomplice and most of all - a friend that took a while to be found. 

Kerri was officially known as Vortex's Sidekick for the most part of the first semester until she decided to break away from her company. Due to sensitivity reasons, Vortex's identity shall not be revealed, but let's make it clear once and for all that I came up with the nickname - not anybody else (cheap thrill, to be proud of the fact that I came up with somebody's nickname, I know). Kerri was, and still is, somebody who gave great care to the wardrobe and accessories she wore to school, and that habit naturally gave people a distance between herself and the others. I used to think that Kerri belongs to a different world from me, in a different ballpark of a different league altogether. You know how it is with first impressions, they are always either awfully right or awfully wrong, and it seems that my deduction of Kerri belongs to the latter. It all changed when Kerri came over to my table in the lecture theater with a giant bucket of caramel popcorns and started offering everybody a bite. I was there thinking to myself "Well, she is going to pass it to everybody but me". That was until her shadow loomed over me and held out the bucket of popcorns, saying, "Want some?". I stared at her in disbelief, and all I could say was "Really?" How silly of me, but it's true. Kerri suddenly became one of the nicest people I have ever met, and she still is by every possible measure. I don't write random letters to random people, only people that mean something. So I guess in a way, more than the words in that letter I wrote to her, it is a token of my appreciation of her, being her.

Lionel was the chameleon, Lionel was the enigma. Lionel changed his hairstyle according to the time of the day, and his laconic nature provoke a sense of wonderment amongst the people that didn't know him very well. Still, it was not difficult to see that he was a cool person, but the fact that he hung around with N so much certainly wasn't helping out with his image much. But then again, his carefree and nonchalant attitude towards the world is probably his most admirable personality. I must admit that when I first saw his pictures on the Friendster profile as a woman completed with a cleavage, I had serious doubts about his sexuality, but apparently he is just a guy who possesses the mastery in make-up, photography, baking, to name a few of his talents. Lionel is my "new friend", I know as much about him as I do about my neighbor whose doors are perpetually shut most of the time. But I guess he is also the most interesting, most easygoing one of all. 

April, or Eh-Bro, or Muffins, is the girl for me. Ever since the second night of orientation in that shady chalet room, I realized a connection between myself and her. A supposed enigma to my personality type (ISFJ) according to Jung's typology test, there is a strange feeling that I have known April forever. Yet, she never fails to surprise me on so many different levels, some deeper than the others which I shall not elaborate here. Nonetheless, April has transformed from the person who somehow found my blog through Google, to the person who talks to me every night about anything under the sky and beyond. We've both seen each other through some of the most difficult times, and survived a speed bump at top speed just a little more than a month ago. I guess there are just some things that cannot be broken, something that cannot be changed despite all the odds. She isn't one of my favorite people from school for no reason, but there is just something about this special lady in my life which I hold dear. It doesn't matter, at times, if she doesn't believe the things that I say about her. In fact, she is probably not going to recognize some of the things that I have said above either. Still, what I think of her is really my business, and to me - she is wonderful. 

So yes, ice-creams and friends, it is probably the best combinations in the world and the greatest escape. An escape from life, from that stifling life that I have known for the past two weeks. I have the essay for Dr. Asante to finish, the UGC essay to vet and edit, the COM225 write up to complete a bunch of other readings to catch up on. But then with ice-cream in my blood stream and my friends with me, it's all good now. It's all very, very good. Till the next meeting at the Daily Scoop.