Before I go on a ramble, I think the following is best reserved for those that are willing to listen. To be quite honest, I really dislike listening to people ramble on about how “horrible” their situation is, when in the grand scheme of things it could be worse; but I just feel the need to do this to relieve some pent up stress (and maybe a bit of anger)…With that being said, brace yourselves:

Although I’m glad that most of my education is paid for by the VA, I’m extremely pissed at the fact that I have to take out student loans and that I’ll still be walking away with less money in my pocket every term. The Post 9/11 GI Bill is supposed to pay for the entire cost of tuition, but in this case (my case in particular), I’m going into debt (~$1800 per term) just because I’m attending a public university, 10-15 (driving) miles away from my house. It’s ridiculous to be honest, but I only need to put up for it for another two terms before I get more money to assist my situation. I’ve already mailed my governor and congress woman, but of course nothing’s changed… What are they getting paid to do, again?

On the brighter side of things, my friend Saki has helped me feel a bit more sane recently. She’s been assisting me with understanding more of the things I don’t quite understand in Japanese, as well as opened my eyes to the idea of friendships. We met about a year, or even closer to a year and a half ago, but I wouldn’t have called us friends until more recently. ‘Friends’ isn’t a term that I throw around very loosely, but I tape that up to the fact that people consistently tell me that I have an “old soul”. I don’t entirely understand the meaning behind the phrase, but I would have to say that it probably has something to do with the fact that I (try to) act mature. I believe that it’s assumed that people with ‘old souls’ have lived countless reincarnations and just have a tendency to act differently than their ‘juvenile’ counterparts. Who knows, to be quite honest…

Anyway, the stress was kind of getting to me so I vented to her and I feel a lot better about my view on certain matters now. I haven’t seen my really close group of friends for well-over a month now, due to the brand new school term, but we’ll all be seeing each other again next weekend (if all things fall according to plan). Our plans fell through a couple of weeks ago, as well, but we’re all tentatively hoping that all of our schedules line up.

I don’t believe that friendships really has to do about quantity. I’m sure that a person can have hundreds of ‘friends’ and still feel alone After finding the right people and inviting them into my life, however, I honestly can’t picture my life without them. I believe that I categorize everyone that I meet… Often times I categorize them into “stranger”, “acquaintance”, “classmate”, “co-worker”, “friend” and/or “family”. To be quite honest, most people rarely reach my “friend” category.

I remember when I was younger, I was always curious about the definition of “friend”. After some research, I discovered that the root word for friend came from an Old English/Germanic word: freond, which almost literally translated means “loved/loving-[one]”. After discovering this, it became a lot easier for me to dicipher who my acquaintances were, and who my Friends (the people I Loved and vice-versa) were.

I don’t really know how I went from ranting about school to friendships, but I guess that’s what this blog’s rant is leading, so I guess you ought to brace yourselves for this kind of spiel instead…

I believe friendships are interdependent relationships. It’s not a situation by which you’re entirely dependent on the other person, but you can both rely and depend on one another, without fear of being neglected, replaced or shunned. Overall, I think friendships have a great amount of reciprocity and an endless amount of affection towards one another. The friends that I’ll be seeing next week are the epitome of these things. I can probably write another completely separate blog about how awesome they all are.

When we get together, we have no problems communicating with one another. Often times we break into groups to talk to each other, and then casually flow into each others’ conversations and switch gears in such an evenly flow. Often times, I feel like many people are missing out. I feel like we’ve come to a day and age where we don’t really communicate with one another very much anymore. Afterall, what’s the need to orally communicate with one another, when digital communication is the new “thing”. I think that’s the other thing I thoroughly enjoy about my friends is that when we get together, we pay more attention to one another, than we do to our cell phones.

I believe it was my aunt that actually told me about a new game people have played when they go out to dinner in groups that involves everyone placing their cell phones at the center of the table. The general premise is that everyone pays for their own bill unless, or until someone at the table reaches out and grabs their cell phone first. Then, in that case, that person pays everyone’s tab. I think it’d be a pretty awesome game to play because reaching for one’s cell phone seems to become more and more of an involuntary action, than a voluntary one.

Anyway, I’m just glad that my friends can communicate easily without those kinds of distractions. It’s past midnight now, and I need to wake up early tomorrow for a fun-filled day. Much love.