Change

Friend H, over the last half a year or so, changed a lot. He used to be the charismatic, bubbly founder of our JC ODAC's "bacehelor's club". Over a period of a few months, he took on several personalities, most of them being of the silent and withdrawn archetype.

The most notable of these was the "L" phase, when he mimicked L in so many ways. He'd squat on chairs instead of sitting, he'd drink lots of coffee, he'd suck the tip of his thumb when he was thinking and he'd pinch his mobile phone and hold it against his ear. (His hair already looked like L's before the episode, and thankfully, he didn't start wearing mascara.)

However, he became that same friend I knew about 2 months back. He's now more content and fulfilled. Gone are the L behaviours.

Friend F has been with his girlfriend for close to a year. He's spent about the same amount of time trying to change her. F reckons that she often likes things done her way, and even though F has given in to her a number of times, he wants to show her how to consider others' opinions.

Acquaintance K joined our bachelor's club activities a couple of years ago. Friend I brought him along. Unfortunately, K didn't quite fit in. It's not that we were being difficult; we really are quite a bunch of misfits. Birds of a feather flock together, but K probably fits closer as a reptile than a bird.

We couldn't understand why he'd ask the stupidest questions. Stupid questions like "Eh, so who from ODAC did you think was pretty?" from N, we could still handle. But K is a different animal. "I don't get the joke. So are you saying you'd rather jump off a building?" in response to a totally unrelated joke about fire extinguishers.

We couldn't understand why he'd never shave this long curly hair growing from his cheek. We'd tell him, "K, it looks gross. Could you please cut it?" The next time we saw him, it'll still be there, attention-grabbing as ever.

We tried. We showed him that beer should never be sipped, it should be gulped. We told him that old, fuzzy t-shirts shouldn't go beyond a certain distance from his house. We asked him why he kept asking such painfully lame questions that creep up our nerves and send jolts to our heads.

Recently, H asked K to come along for one of our outings, something he hasn't done in a long time. K was still the same. Same whiskers. Same dress sense. Same questions. Long fingernails, long toenails.

Some people change. Some of them change for the better, others become worse. Some people help others change for the better. And yet there are some people who stay the same. -Jimmy