A buddy called me up out of the blue and asked if I wanted to hang out today. It was a little surprising because I know he is normally very busy, but come to find out, the temp agency he works for decided to pause his work schedule for roughly a month so as to not pay him any benefits. I've never heard of this, but then again, I am also not surprised at all. He's not happy about it either, and hopes he can remedy this in the near future. For now though, he was like, "Hey, wanna hang out today?" Guys are so funny that way, where we can just go "Hang out? Right now? OK!"
We also don't live close anymore, so we decided to meet somewhere halfway, at a city neither one of us have ever been to, which is also rather amusing to me. The main reason why we picked that particular city is because it has a mall, which means getting to hang out indoors with air conditioning.
Despite that, it's clear this mall is pretty run-down. Well, all the malls these days are struggling. Even the best mall in my area has vacant spots. Still, can't beat free air conditioning.
We got to catch up over bowls of pho. It was heartening to find out that he's doing well, and so are his kids. Yeah, he's the same divorce buddy that I had talked about earlier, and it seems the dust is finally settling. His legal fees and debt level from the divorce is ridiculous, but overall, he is in good spirits though.
July 23rd, 2026 at 02:11 pm 1784815917
Since we've met there at least 3 or 4 times now, doing lunch at a different restaurant each time, we've gotten to know it fairly well and it is a pleasant little town with a lively downtown, a bike rental place we have used to ride the trails and a small museum that's always closed when we're there.
July 23rd, 2026 at 06:25 pm 1784831156
I feel like life is this slow journey where, little by little, over time, people you may know start to either drift away, or if you’ll pardon me, they get ill and pass away. As a self-proclaimed homebody, I myself don’t make a habit of even going out too much. However, when I do, it’s nice to see and catch up with friendly faces. I don’t want to make a frequent habit out of it or anything, but I do cherish those moments, especially knowing that those moments will be finite.
July 24th, 2026 at 09:13 am 1784884414