Phone conversations

So my friend "J" called me today... the "J" who I once described as "an awkward version of the Chi" but instead of finding an excuse to get off the phone with him, I talked to him and had a rather pleasant phone conversation. Awkward though he is in social settings, J is genuinely a nice guy and I do accept the fact that he considers me a friend, one close enough just to call up and say "hi."

We have been friends for years after all, as we were in neighbouring villages in Japan and he was really one of the first non-Japanese people that I met there. We definitely shared a bond back then because we were both Canadian, both Chinese, and both lived in a very rural part of Japan. So it was nice that he called and it was funny that he asked me, seemingly out of nowhere, if I ever get homesick living out here. I found myself opening up to him... because I do get homesick, I know I do, even though it's not the same kind of homesickness that I felt when I lived in Japan, or the kind of homesickness that I felt this past March... and it was nice just to talk about it, cuz even if he didn't really "get it", it made me feel good to just explain it to myself...

My second phone conversation of the evening was with my best friend, who also called just to say "hi". I don't even remembered what we talked about... we just made small talk, and caught up, and laughed a little... but I was just so happy to hear from him, especially because we've always had such an amazing phone relationship. I've always been so comfortable with him on the phone, in fact, I think that if we didn't have the phone to talk on, we probably would've never have become friends, or at the very least, not "best" friends. These days of course, phone calls are fewer and farther between than those high school days when we were on the phone for a few hours every night.

It's a sad phenomenon that we don't, okay I admit it, I don't, call anymore. In fact, this is common with all my friendships. I confess that I've simply lost the desire to call people... it's probably due to some lack of initiative to make conversation and it's just become so much easier to email, or instant-message, or these days, post a message on my blog... but that's not to say that I don't absolutely LOVE it when someone calls... especially just to say "hi".