The one with real friends in it.

Louis Hamilton telah menjuarai Formula 1 China semalam dan telah meninggalkan pencabar terdekatnya di tempat kedua - Info Sukan Era yang dibawakan khas oleh My-eG.

Ayat paling redundi (which is the Malay translation of redundant, according to my brother), yang aku pernah dengar kat radio. Dah kalau dia first, pencabar terdekat memang la second. Nak kena pergi belajar dengan Cikgu Fauziah Hanim jugak Mimi Azira ni.

***

The term best friend is an oxymoron. If one is a true friend, one should never compare his friends against another. People always define a best friend as the person with whom you share your problems, tell your stories, to whom you go for help, and seek for refuge whenever you're feeling fragile. Which is wrong because those are the definitions of a friend. If a so called friend does not fulfill these criteria, then, he's just an acquaintance or a colleague. Right?

So that is why I always say that I do not have any best friends. I have good friends. I will never add any superlative adjective to any of them because if all of them deserve it, then why bother comparing?

Speaking of friends, have you ever tried to think back as to when was the first time you met your friends (or best friends)? Sometimes, it's simply amazing to think that because of that moment and that place, by doing that thing, you're both forging one of the holiest thing in life, silaturrahim.

See examples below. These are the people whose stories I find interesting enough to write down (or at least the ones that I can still remember).

G (known since 1991)
We were on our way to Port Klang on a train (no commuter at that time, mind you) for our Tadika field trip. I forgot to bring a cap, and so the girl who sat besides me gave me hers. Since then we were friends, although sadly, we have lost contact since I went to Jasin.

D and A (known since 1993)
We took the same bus to school. D is one of my longest-known friends with whom I still keep in touch. Last time I saw her was last Saturday. A would've been one too had he not disappear (literally) when we were in Form 2.

Q (known since 1994)
I was playing at the Sekolah Agama playground when suddenly someone fell on a rusty swing while playing kejar-kejar and tore half of his face. The next day I found out that he was actually from the class next to mine in Sekolah Rendah, and when he came back to school after his medical leave, we became kejar-kejarmates. The next year we were in the same class until Standard 6. We then went to different schools and went seperate ways. Some other friends who also know him from somewhere else may recognise his scar, but I was there when it happened.

L (known since 1997)
We were both PTS students and knew no one in Standard 5. When I arrived in class on the first day I saw an empty table beside another taken table, but didn't see whose was it. I put my stuff there and went out somewhere and came back to find that the person has shifted his stuff a row behind, but I still didn't know who it was. A loser that I was (Ha freaking Ha), I too shifted my bag a row behind. Only when the bell rang that I met L. We hit off since then. Though I remember how he was always pissed off when I borrowed his stationeries. I still have his 15 cm white ruler with light blue measurements with a yellow car picture on the left. I think my brother is using it.

Z (known since 1999, started talking in 2000)
The first thing she said to me was 'Kau ni skema' while we were working in a group for BM. Sheesh. You know who you are.

U and K (known since 2002)
Okay, this may sound weird but we hit off during a Forum Perdana Ehwal Islam recording at Dataran Jasin. Hahahahaha. The three of us went there to escape boredom of Saturday night... in our hostel.

S (known since 2004)
Us new-comers were in the International Relations office of our IUT in Colmar, when S walked in. One of us made a comment loudly "Ni ke orang Malaysia? Selekehnya. Pergi uni pakai seluar separuh tiang dengan selipar je".

R (known since 2007)
We were in a group giving out teka-teki during our Rebriefing programme by Petronas, when this guy came up with his "Bila kancil jadi babi?". Hahahaha. We're now working in the same company.

W (known since 2008)
I was walking towards Sentral after getting off the bus from PD when I saw him walking in front of me. I was walking fast to chase after buka puasa time, but too slow to actually overtake him and ended walking beside him. I couldn't just not say anything so we struck up a conversation. Turned out we were in the same training group, and got along eversince (cheh macam dah lama pulak bunyinye)

Lela, Tia, Shina and Mayamin (known since 2002)
Not sure how I end up with them, but somehow we just clicked.

P/S The people listed above are all represented by letters as to conserve their identity. Their names may not begin with those letters, but do contain them. This applies to all except for the last four, kerana mereka tidak kenal erti malu.