Write-offs

I wrote off a friend today. This is the 2nd one in 2009. How did I do it? By passing an accounting entry:

Debit Write off as friend
Credit Friend - XX

I wonder if growing old has anything to do with me being more and more particular about intimating a person as my friend. Perhaps I am getting jaded and expect more from my friends. Perhaps I don't need so many of them as I grow older and become more discerning in my choice. Some might wonder if there's a need to draw the line? Afterall, the more the merrier, no? Perhaps I am just a stickler for being specific. And I believe that an acquaintance doesn't deserve to be accorded the same treatment as a friend, hence the importance of distinguishing between the two.

The first so-called "friend" of mine was mean, petty and verbally abusive. I tried very hard to disregard his/her bad qualities and focus on the good ones. But he/she was mean one time too many and the niceties I showered on him/her was simply not reciprocated. At one point, nobody wanted anything to do with this person but I was still defending him/her. He/she continued to abuse me sporadically, until I woke up to a bright and sunny day and decided that enough was enough. I deleted him/her from Facebook and MSN, and that's it. Bye bye, please don't contact me again and I won't too.

The second, well let's say he/she is a fair-weather friend who talks to you only when he/she needs help or wants certain information you are privy to.

Oh but hang on, is a fair-weather friend a friend? What is the definition of "friend" anyway? With such curious thoughts circling in my head, I turned to the merriam-webster online dictionary, which defines a friend as

a : one attached to another by affection or esteem
b : an acquaintance

I never knew that friend meant acquaintance! To me, a friend and an acquaintance are two very distinct individuals, one for which I feel affection for, and the other I probably couldn't care less.

If I see these people on the street or at the mall, would I avert my eyes? I don't know, really. I was at Taka over the weekend and saw 3 familiar faces. For all 3, I chose to walk away without saying hi. P was shocked at my behaviour as I'm more often than not over-friendly than unfriendly. But I confessed that I felt tired and didn't feel like engaging in small talk.

Maybe it's the onslaught of age afterall...