I'm so bad at maintaining relationships... No, I'm not talking about romantic relationship. I'm talking about friendships.

Yesterday, I called one of my long time best friend. We haven't spoken for a while. I like to email, but she likes to text. So when I email, she didn't reply, when she texts, I rarely reply. After a while, I have no desire to write her emails. Same goes for her, she has no desire to text me.

Phone calls are rare. If we do talk on the phone we talk more about another person, who is also our best friend. We were like a group of friends that used to do three-way emails.

So about the phone conversation I mentioned earlier. After a few small talks, we were both at lost for words... I was feeling very awkward, I don't know if she did too but she ended the phone call by saying that she didn't want to interrupt my dinner. (I was in a restaurant for a family gathering, but I was still waiting for other people to come.)

I was reflecting on this little happening in my life this morning and I realize, how I have lost contact with many of my friends, just because we aren't walking in the same path anymore. The separation was mostly a sentimental one. We were saying we'll miss each other and that we'll keep in touch. Then for a while we did keep in touch. Made a few visits. Then reduced to phone calls. Then reduced to just emails. Then... like the story above. Nggak nyambung... (lit: not connected, bad chemistry, etc.)

So, how can people still connect with so many acquaintaces? Do you have a how-to-keep-a-friendship-going kind of article?

On Monday, I had to get to a course I'm taking in my church right after work. That day I didn't drive because mom took the car. The other one was in repair. It was raining hard and so the traffic wasn't smooth at all.

I called mom to make sure she got home already. If that was the case, I was going to head back home first and clean up. Turned out she was also at church, having arisan. Since my route back from the office passed the road close to church, I usually walk to church if time doesn't permit me to go home first. But that day was raining. Wetness wasn't an encouragement to walk even a short distance. So mom said to get off the bus and wait for her under the bus shelter and she would pick me up.

So I wait. A few minutes passed... In my opinion, I have waited too long and I started to get into a bad mood. Finally mom showed up and I got into the car where a box of nasi campur, or rice mixed with meat, was waiting for me. That get my mood into a slightly better turn but not much since the box doesn't contain a spoon or anything for me to start eating!

After a long fight to get through the chaotic traffic, I got off the car with my box of rice with 15 minutes to spare before my course started. I borrowed spoon from the church worker and found a table to eat my dinner. When I sat down, a friend of my mom who was the course committee said to me, "Your mom loves you so much!"

And THAT made me realize how I often took lots of thing for granted. Including having a loving and caring mother....

Mami, thank you ya buat nasi campurnya. I love you!

And also, thank you God for the reminder that You have given me a wonderful mother.

Get an alarm clock and turn off your cellphone at night! Turns out having a cell phone next to your bed can downgrade our sleeping quality!!

A study conducted at MIT showed that:

exposure to electromagnetic radiation resulted in disturbed sleep patterns, potentially affecting your body's ability to recover from a day of stress. This news is an eye-opening finding for gadget fans who have trouble nodding off at night, especially those who use the alarm clock function on their phones.

I was planning to get a real alarm clock anyway. But this will definitely remind me to get one SOON.

Studies show that people who sleep between 6.5 hours and 7.5 hours a night, as they report, live the longest. And people who sleep 8 hours or more, or less than 6.5 hours, they don't live quite as long.