Meeting An "Old" Friend For The Second Time.

We meet friends on the road of life, we meet them as early as the moment we learned to crawl. They could be our neighbor, our classmate in school, a family friend, a colleague, an org-mate, someone we sat beside the bus, or someone we've heard their names of. We befriend people we met in person. However in the 21st century, we can have virtual friends---those we meet through SMS or through the world wide web. Haven't tried the former though, but gaining friends online didn't hurt. When the social network Friendster's popularity was at its summit, I gained plenty of friends including from outside the Philippines especially there were very few "real friends" of mine who had an FS account then when I first joined the social network. Then, I started blogging more than five years ago and gained some readers, some were "real friends" some were new. Blogging allowed me to share bits and pieces about myself even to strangers, and reading theirs too made me feel like we've met a long, long time ago. The world is indeed so small because little did we know that those people we met online can somehow be related to us by blood or can be a friend's friend. 

Just like Nimai, I met her through my Multiply account. I remember when she first added me, I thought she was my friend Ni'ma because aside from the rhyming of their names, her thumbnail photo has some resemblance with my friend. When I read her page, turned out she's a whole different person I never knew. Like I said, it doesn't hurt to meet new people so we read each other's entries. We dropped comments at each other, found some common interests and common friends as well. Until I learned we exist in the same city as she's an accountancy major in MSU-IIT. This girl don't just have a pretty face but she has a brain that totally rocks!! Late last year, she went to the States for a short course through the Global Undergraduate Exchange Program. Prior to that, she borrowed a book from me (The Zahir) and that was the first time that we met and had a short talk. It was a very brief meeting as we were both in a hurry. Then she flew to the United States. She came back last June but I wasn't able to arrange a date since that was my OB-GYN days at GTLMH. Earlier this week, she tweeted me and asked about my vacant time and pronto! we set the time and place!! We had a long conversation like we were old friends!! 

Iftar at Peek 'n Berry. Not until we noticed that the restaurant was closing on us, we wouldn't stand to finally go home. :)

She returned my book added with extra post card from Massachusetts and an antibacterial hand sanitizer from VS, which I think of just keeping and not using. :)

This is what she wrote on the card.

You're so welcome Nimzy!! My bookshelf is open for you (feeling ko rin marami akong libro eh 'no? LOL.) You know you're awesome!! InshaAllah, we can achieve our dreams. Go rock the world, girl!!

On the other hand,

My buddy Juey, who is also a great fan of Jane Austen and her book Pride and Prejudice, got her attention caught by this book. She lend it to me. So I guess I gotta fast-read this one as I need to get back to my med books. We'll be saying hello to Pediatrics in two weeks' time, hence, I gotta make the most out of my "vacaye" days. :)