Anyone Seen My Self-Esteem?

Who said only girls are mean?

So you’ve seen girls bitching around each other in ‘Mean Girls’ (the memorably and wickedly funny flick starring Linsday Lohan), or just about any typical movie involving raging-hormone adolescent girls. Big deal.

Enter the real life world of ‘Mean Boys’ – starring me, my close friends, and an antagonistic guy from South.

This moronic friend happens to be quite close to me. Now you might wonder why I’d describe a friend to be ‘moronic’ as friends aren’t supposed to be saying bad things about each other, especially in such grand splendour over the ubiquitously wide internet-land. But this guy, he just makes me plain mad. And ‘mad’ is such an understatement. He’s infuriatingly annoying to the bone to the point his irritating ness feels like nails scratching against my very bones. Argh!!

ANYWAY, (before I get carried away bad mouthing this so-called friend of mine) he claims to have a ‘split personality’ whenever he’s around me & another poor friend of mine (whom also find his annoying ways nearly as equal to the scratching-nails analogy). 30% of the time, he (whom we shall call ‘Z’) appears to be a normal friend – frequently coming over to my place, hunting for DVDs to watch (pirated movies of course, nothing hanky-panky), finishing up my water/food supply, talking about stuff. And the remaining 70% is where his ‘true colours’ seem to be flaring – my friendly enquiries are met with rude responses, which to my chagrin is a source for amusement for him; he NEVER seems to be saying ‘Thanks’ after borrowing my stuff or eating my food or me doing him a favour; he excessively take pride in his everything – his so-called muscular physique, his ‘taller than average’ height (at 175cm, someone tell me does he REALLY have anything to brag about?), his ‘cutely boyish-slash-attractive’ face, etc. AND at the same time belittling my gut, my ‘midget height’, and my ‘metal teeth’ (maybe from where he’s from, he’s never heard of the word ‘Orthodontic Braces’).

If this isn’t the definition of the friend from hell, I don’t know what is.

Yet, he seems to be bothering me most of the time, as if we’re the closest of friends. Occasionally he’d share his experience growing up as a fatherless kampong boy of 11 elder siblings. I’d usually find it interesting that he seems to know how to do very basic but acquiring skill & practice stuff – he can cook (Johorean cuisine seems to be his flare), he sewed up a ‘baju Melayu’ with the help of this mom (I can’t even stitch up an unhooked button back into place), and he knows a lil’ bit of reflexology and traditional medicine (he helped relieved the pain on my ankle when I injured it wall climbing about a month ago). He seems to be sharply dressed anytime, anywhere (seeing him going to class everyday is like watching a fashion show!), and to top it all off, he can dance a traditional Johorean dance called ‘Zapin’.

Too perfect for a 19 year old guy?

The make-girls-melt appeal that seems to be getting him anonymous messages and requests from girls to ‘get to know him’ seems to be useless to him since he already has a faithful girlfriend whom he met during his high school years back in down South.

So why am I still friends with this jerk-cum-perfectionist-from-tip-to-toe?

I have no idea. No matter how mean he is to me, he’d sometimes make it a point to tell me that underneath those layers of mean-ness, he really appreciates our friendship, only he doesn’t know how to show it. Many a times I’d angrily dismiss these words as bullshit (if someone treats you like shit, do you expect to easily forgive him when he says such thing? I don’t think so). And I still do think he’s full of crap.

But over the months of contempt and bitterness, I’d learn that some friends just can’t help themselves from having a certain attitude towards someone he appreciates and is close to, especially in the case of friends like Z who has problems showing his appreciation (guys with their egos, is it of any wonder?). And the fact that he keeps coming over and messaging shows that he really means what he said about him truthfully cherishing our weird friendship, even if it’s hard to believe. You just know.

After all, he ain’t that bad – he can detect whenever I’m having a shitty mood and he’s not ashamed to ask me why, and offer some advice and consolation. And the times when he’s not being a mean asshole to me, I enjoy hanging out and playing sports together. At least he knows how to be a friend, unlike some of my other friends who just don’t seem to get a clue or care about my being.

Friends should learn to appreciate the good qualities of their friends, and forgive the shortcomings that came with the package. No one is perfect, right?

I’d appreciate it if any Hollywood moviemaker, who magically happened to be reading this blog, to give Linsday Lohan and her ‘Mean Girls’ flick a run for their money and produce ‘Mean Boys – The Movie’.

As if.

9.56pm

,

15/1/2007

This entry was posted on Monday, January 15th, 2007 at 6:16 am and is filed under Previously Written Entries. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.