paint vs. stain

This guy who's new to selling the software product I support sent me an email last week asking to audit my class. I was like sure, what's one more rabble rouser.

I'm glad he came to my class. I'll call him S. S is from Lebanon, so right away we had a lot to talk about because I am fascinated by the middle east. I didn't even rip his head off too badly when he started dissing the jews (I just saw a documentary about the golan heights, yeah, I kind of see some of his points). S took me to dinner for helping him and we had many interesting discussions over the course of the evening. It's funny that we were looking for a bar to go to and we both wanted to find a place quiet enough to talk. That's not my usual MO for people I'm hanging out with. I usually don't talk much at all when I go out.

I found out how S met his wife. We discussed persian music, babies (he has a three year old), what he thinks is wrong with me (he has a minor in psychology), middle east politics, political prisoners, torture, enterprise architecture, wines, how to illegally ship a laptop over seas, Greece, diving, bungee jumping, and our favorite place to vacation (Lebanon for him, Turkey for me).

Then I started thinking about how I never go out (S said that's kind of fucked up, but, given my track record, I think the world is safer when I'm at home). But I don't go out that much because I feel weird. With S I was comfortable. We could get into a political argument (he started defending the palestinians and I was like don't EVEN go there with me) and it was fine. We had a conversation about ideas instead of the usual gossip. I was reminiscing about Greece, and he was reminiscing about coming to the US and ending up in, of all places, fucking Nebraska, and having drinking buddies there, and he said to me "A true friend sees you through hard times when you are down. Most of friends are not like that". I was thinking about chemo days and I said "Friendships, for the most part, are like paint. They chip with wear and tear. Most of my friendships are like stain. They'll always be there."

The next day, when I got to my classroom, S had done research at my company (he's worked there for 10 years) on how I can publish a book and get my company to pay for it. He contacted people he knows to inquire about the best way for me to write a technical book, and what the best topics would be. In turn, I had made him a CD of my favorite middle eastern music (I was disappointed to discover that some of it was religious).

Anyway, when I'm in Florida I am going to meet his wife and kid. On tuesday I'm introducing him to some consultants that can help him out. I wish every work relationship was like this. We're helping each other instead of trying to stab each other in the back to make a buck.

There was no point to this blog. I'm just waxing philosophical while getting drunk.