B and me have been buddies since Secondary 1.
Right up to JC2 and now we're colleagues in the same organization. So we go a long way back, about 20 years I reckon.
Well ever had people wonder aloud why you two are best friends when the both of you seem so different on the outside? Its like that with B and me. Chalk and Cheese, at least externally.
B's a smiley bloke, the epitome of diplomacy. I, on the other hand, am loud and brash. When presented with a problem, he'll be on the defensive and I'll be on the offensive. B listens to you attentively, eyes fixed and head nodding gently to the rhythm of your sentences. While you would be lucky if I don't cut you off in mid-sentence and present you with MY preferred solutions =)) And B would excuse himself over a meal to call the wife and kids to ask if they would want to
tapao some bites. I would excuse myself over a meal to go outside and have a bite, of my ciggie.
So you see, a SNAG and a FAG-HAG. Strange bedfellows really =))
Although we work in the same organization, we hardly see each other nowadays. Well its a big place and the departments are spread out all over our tiny little island. B's in HQ, closer to the gods, and I am exiled way up north in my not-so-little fortress by the Straits filled with plankton. Our careers have also taken different tangents, with his on an adminstrative-managerial track, while mine in a more operational-leadership direction.
So B and me met for dinner and coffee yesterday evening. And as usual, we just mossied along from where we left off, a good 6 months ago. I felt a tad guilty updating B about my life since then. There was pretty much to say and he was surprised, rather shocked in fact, that it took me half a year to come clean.
But after I had finished with all my sad updates, I was reminded of why we are still buddies after 2 decades. He listens while I rant. I don't need quick-fixes really and he doesn't pretend to know-it-all. And in all his Zen-like calmness, I usually find my own solutions. He's sorta like my Shrink you see, bringing balance to the Force =))
And its not like I don't have a lesson or two for him on tempering diplomacy with a sense of acute urgency. There were times when I had to pluck B out from the merry-go-round of pleasing all-and-sundry and making himself upset in the pantry. A case of stripping away some of the Mr Nice-Guy veneer and getting him to swash-buckle that Light-sabre abit to get things moving along. He doesn't make people feel pain enough =))
At the end of the day, I think we are both complementary. I won't use the term 'opposites attract' because I think its disgusting in the male-male context =))
But that's what good friends are for ya? They play the part of the person you are not.
On demand =)