Sometimes, I really, really hate farewell parties. I know that having people leave, move away or go home is not really the end of the world but sometimes it really kills me. So I may be selfish in wanting company, who isn’t?

It’s also a paradoxical nightmare: On one hand, you are really happy that the person leaving is doing what they want to and is probably taking themselves one step closer to their goal. On the other hand, you envy them for having the guts to put their money where their mouth is.

I feel that moving away can be seen from a few perspectives. It’s a new world of opportunities that calls out to your inner adventurer; to go forth and explore! That’s the me that believes in all things shiny and new. I believe that we should break away from our routines and constantly challenge ourselves in order to improve and gainer a wider perspective of things.

The professional cynic in me sees people running away. Before I carry on, let me clarify; moving to go back home is not running away, it’s going home. Now, for some people, moving away is used as a platform to indulge in things that they are restricted to doing here. For example, you always wanted to pick up smoking but cannot do so because of family disapproval. Moving away is then used as an opportunity to pick up this bad habit. No family around to see it, right? Hah! There are of course, a myriad of examples that can be inserted here but I shall resist.

Over the last month, I attended several farewell bashes; Kiat’s ridden off to be a cowboy, two of our interns finally ended their tenure, I got completely wasted at Carol’s, my mother’s off to NZ for the next few months, Fuzz is finding some roots in KL and Mike’s gone in-house. Then there are the overseas chums...

While I do realize we can use MSN and blogs and stuff to keep the communication channels open, there is no substitute for the simple pleasure of just hanging out with your buddies. Or in my case, corrupt them with more irreverent vocabulary ;o) I miss trivia, late night conversations, wakeboarding, hanging out at the watering hole, great martinis, debates over the most weird topics and I miss every single one of you who went away.

Paying them a visit would be great but unless I suddenly won the 4D or made it big on Deal or No Deal, I don’t think that’s going to be a very practical course. As it is, I’ve already done Beijing, Sydney, Tokyo and Vancouver. In the coming months I’m going to make it to Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur (for some reason I love KL) and maybe some funky island nearby. I haven’t considered year-end yet, so we’ll see how it goes.

The absolutely great thing about having friends around the world is that, no matter what time of the day it is, someone is always awake to lend a listening hear and give a quick word of advice. They may not completely understand what the hell’s happening but there’s always a listening ear.

And you can live vicariously through them =o) .

So no more weird experiments at work, no more picking out songs to sing to, no more banana cake for Mike (I can make it but I’m super lazy) and no more dancing while waiting for the MRT or doing weird steps in front of gawking aunties…thanks y’all for the fun. I’ll miss all y’all and will of course, see some of you sooner than you think.