Friends

A friend is a gift you give yourself.
-Robert Louis Stevenson

Leaving places and starting over is such a big part of life... And God knows, I've had my share of leaving and moving and starting over. The good thing that came out of it is that now I am blessed with a lot of friends all over the world. I wish I were better at keeping in touch with everyone.

Some countries (from) where I have good friends:

Belgium

Brazil

Bulgaria

Czech Republic

France

India

Israel

Italy

Japan

Pakistan

Russia

Singapore

Spain

Sri Lanka

USA

Lots of pictures and links to come here soon. Eventually, the pictures will go to their own pages, but for now it's all together. There isn't much to divide, anyway. Keep checking.

Well, we can't chose our family (and not everybody is as lucky as me), but we can choose our friends. I am so thankful that I have a lot of good friends - those who are far, those who are near... those who are old friends, those who are new ones... A friend is someone who knows the song in your heart and can sing it back to you when you have forgotten the words.

"A true friend is someone who is there for you when he'd rather be anywhere else."
-- Len Wein

Pittsburgh, at the fountain, some time this fall (2001). I have to ask some of the guys for the specific date - I think it was end of September. On the top stairs from left to right: Xuerui, me (St. Elena), Bubba. Ricardo and Yiheng are at the bottom. Matteo is the expert photographer. We had so much fun that afternoon - first, a picnic at the river, and then frizbee. We should do that again!

Another picture taken the same day. This is somewhere in the park, near the fountain. Again, the photographer is Matteo (yes, he's fond of B&W pictures). We are all eating grapes (yes, even Deepay, although you can't see that). And we all seem to be enjoying them a lot!

This one was at home, when we had a big CALD cooking party (13 Oct 2001). This time Anna is the photographer. Going around the circle, the people are Pippin, Yiheng, Matteo, Rande, Deepay, Krishna, Xuerui, and me. If you look closely, you can see the delicious pasta Matteo had made for us, Xuerui's mushroom dish, and my salad. Pippin's desserts followed, but I have no pictures documenting that.

And this is Matteo, sitting on one of my chairs, the same day. Actually, this picture is not very representative. Here he looks serious, but the truth is he is always laughing. He's a great guy and a good friend (or a good guy and a great friend?).

Matteo likes: movies, piercings (doesn't have any, though! *yet*), cooking (especially pasta!), coffee, foos, pockets, girls with short hair, grey socks

Matteo doesn't like: peaches, coffee with creamer, eating pasta with a fork and a spoon, "And the most disgusting thing... hot milk... both the taste and the smell" (and for some strange reason this makes him also dislike the smell of microwave popcorn - it's good he's never lived in a dorm!)

A little later, at the same party: me, trying to capture everything for posterity, and someone else trying to capture me.

16 Nov 2001 - Pippin's 25th birthday party! We are all actually sitting on Pippin's kitchen table for this picture... long story. Pippin must be the one taking the picture. The people from L to R are me, Ricardo, Deepay, Matteo, Krishna, and Marty. Oh, yeah - and the date stamp is totally wrong, just ignore.

Deepay likes: Iron maiden, Mountain Dew, Linux, Darjeeling tea (*the* only tea that's worth drinking, according to him), Netrek (likes? he's addicted to it!), free pizza, and, of course: "Die, Die, Die!"

Deepay doesn't like: mornings, broccoli (but who likes that, anyway?), romantic movies.
[Note: Deepay filed a formal request to change the "does not like" to "HATES". Request granted - Deepay HATES mornings, broccoli, and especially, especially, romantic movies. Yuck!]

Krishna likes: LaTeX, big stuffed animals, statistics, ping-pong, "Friends", lentil soup, surprise birthday parties, skating (ouch!)

Krishna doesn't like: cold weather, people talking while brushing their teeth, broccoli (I told you no one likes that ... umm... stuff), too much perfume, crutches (ouch!)

Ricardo likes: dancing ("the vertical expression of a horizontal desire", as the sticker on his desk says), barbecues, Bayes Nets

Ricardo doesn't like: snow, heat (these confused Brazilians!), free veggie pizzas (the 'veggie' part, not the 'free' part, obviously), parsley

And here's a slightly different one - Pippin looks really happy that she finally got to be in the picture. But, really, the happiest one seems to be Marty. On the other hand, Ricardo for some reason seems like he is trying to get out of the picture - I wonder why? Everyone else is pretty much the same way. Oh, and you can see the table now. Photography courtesy to Deepay.

Marty likes: swing-dancing, breathing fire, debating about the difference between "seeing each other" and "dating", proving theorems in his head

Marty doesn't like: people who point out the capitals he doesn't know (that's me, sadly), people who make a big deal out of the books he has not read (ok, guilty as changed...), people who think he thinks too much (this time, NOT me)

Pippin likes: playing the piano (you should hear her play - she's really good), making fudge (and we like that, too!), her cat

Pippin doesn't like: people who suggest cooking her cat, meat, racquetball (yes, unfortunately we failed in making this sport lovable to her)

And this is a picture of Jessica, my friend from Sewanee, who, together with Pradheeshan, came to visit me in Pittsburgh for Thanksgiving. She is explaining a charade, as Benoit is looking at her in a puzzled way (I think the knee and the hand are Matteo's). My guess is she's trying to explain "wild" ... or maybe that was on another day? Too many charades... it's hard to keep things straight. You can see the sangria on the table. Mmmm - was good. The recipe was courtesy of Daniel, my Spanish friend - an awesome guy and an excellent sangria-maker. Thanksgiving 2001 (22 Nov), Marty's place.

Jessica likes: sleeping on the floor, making Christmas fruitcake, old toy rabbits

Jessica doesn't like: maggots in her kitchen, Germans (and before you get offended - she IS German)

Pradheeshan likes: bossy women, fantasy books, cooking *really* hot dishes (and not admitting it, as in "Oh, no, it's not hot at all - go ahead and try it!"), dressing in orange pants

Pradheeshan doesn't like: being tickled

Daniel likes: washing dishes, Ramen noodles, languages, poetry, strange movies, being called King Carlos

Daniel doesn't like: crazy people, long-distance relationships (OK, I know - I am not very creative so far...)

These are my (crazy) friends I was hanging out with during Thanksgiving this year (2002). We went for a walk in the park the day after (and to play frisbee), so this picture is taken when we were on our way. I think we went to see a movie later that night. Amelie, maybe? Don't remember. From L to R: Ricardo, Jessica, Marty, Benoit, Pradheeshan, and the crazy Italian (a.k.a. Matteo).

This is Gergina (a good friend from high school) and I. And I have this slightly insane look - I think I am glaring at the photographer and trying to hurry him up. Gergina is a great girl. She's also a budding poet, it turns out. If she consents, I'll put some of her works here. The picture was taken this summer in Sofia, some time in August (2001).

	Gergina likes: poetry (writing), astrology, French, and (more recently, German)
	Gergina doesn't like: inconsiderate people, waiting in lines, Chemistry

This is Sasho, a very good friend from Bulgaria, Veronika (his girlfriend), and me. The picture was taken downtown Sofia. Actually, I think this was the first time I had met Sasho's girlfriend, although I had heard about her for more than a year before I met her (and seen pictures). She's very nice and they seem happy together. Sasho is a great guy and in our time we had these endless conversations about all the important things in life. Ah, high-school, high-school....

	Sasho likes: playing cards, walking, MTV, chocolate (on an almost professional level)
	Sasho doesn't like: hurrying, taking crowded busses (can you tell that we used to go home from school together?), and eating vegetables

And, since for some strange reason I can't find even *one* picture of my very-very-very good friend Rayid, I'll temporarily put here the one from his on-line resume, with the promise/hope to replace it with a less formal picture soon (actually, this one is from Sewanee and I was standing next to him in the original picture, but I guess he cut me out - why? Don't you think I, too, would have looked good on his resume?).

	Rayid likes: his job, Harry Potter, impossibly fiery hot dishes (cooking and eating), Kandinsky, cricket, "Frasier", me (as a true friend, he likes me, even though he knows me)
	Rayid doesn't like: when people say "thank you" to him for what he did, dogs, slow computers, pieces of metal in his body (ouch!)

Vasco

This page was last updated on 03/19/02 .