This week my friend Kevin Ueda, whom I met while on the Union staff at El Camino College, will be in town visiting from Long Island, New York. Kevin and I were cool friends even after we transferred from El Camino and went our separate ways. He stayed local and graduated from USC while I went south an hour-and-a-half to San Diego State. Ironically, when I came back to Los Angeles Kevin soon found a job in New York and once again we were long-distance friends.
The great thing about this whole situation is that even though we have been friends longer than we have ever lived close to each other, Kevin is one of my dearest friends. Much like my friend/roommate Robert, there is nothing I can’t talk to Kevin about. We can hold deep, intellectual conversations about life and what it means to be a good person…or we can get lost in random discussions about music or authors that we enjoy.
The amount of gmail chatting, emailing or text messaging that we do, makes me miss the physical proximity to my friend. I have only played chess once and it was with him, during Kevin’s last visit less than a year ago: We ate pizza in Brooklyn during my only trip to New York, as the Mavericks beat the Heat in the NBA finals; and he even came to my cousin’s wedding back in 2004. We have even ventured through the streets of Oakland in search of late night snacks and drinks.
I am blessed with many great friends. Some of whom I see often; others that I wish I saw more of. This weekend I look forward to hanging with one of those friends I wish lived closer. Maybe we will check out historic landmarks or we might visit different bookstores; we will definitely drink insane amounts of coffee and I’ll make sure to stuff with enough Mexican food to hold him over until his next trip back. Whatever it is, it will be great to ramble on with my good friend Kevin.