Hanging Out

Happiness is seeing the girlfriend find so much joy and contentment with her partner. There's a happy bubble within when I know that her partner is cool to hang out with. At lunch, I was glad that my partner didn't misbehave, did his usual couldn't-be-peeled-off-hand-stuck-to-phone stuff, and still randomly piped up comments now and then.

We don't have to be all best friends. Not possible. The dynamics are too complicated to contemplate. I don't care that the man might not like all my girlfriends. But so far, he hasn't hated anyone, while I've put my foot down at refusing to go out with some of his friends because I think they're better off alone on a boys' night out rather than a group outing. The man has a lower expectation of me. WHEWWW. He doesn't expect me to hang out with his friends or their partners. He knows I'm very badly behaved and shouldn't be trotted out often. Hahahahaha. Very pleased about that. That's how it goes. His friends are nice, some I 'click' with, the others I don't; their partners are lovely, but I don't 'get' them. Vice versa. So it's perfect that we don't see one another on a protracted basis. No way I'll travel in a group of friends, like be with one another 24/7 from departure to arrival and back. Unless our definition of group travel matches. That's going to be tough. The trip to Seoul was a pleasant surprise.

While some of my girlfriends and I are not keen to have guys tag along on our girlie dates, others are open to having partners come along once in a while. So for the occasional double dates, I'm appreciative that we can sit down to a meal once in a while (don't need to be regular!) together even if our partners seemingly might share nothing in common. I don't know what men usually talk about. But I know my partner steadfastly clams up when it comes to certain popular and stereotyped topics that men are supposed to talk about. He's not sociable that way. And neither am I. Not quite liking gender stereotyping, especially the part at certain dinners when we have to adjourn, and the host herd the men to a corner, and hostess chaperone the women to another nook. That's usually our cue to bid a hasty retreat.

Often, it's just more fun to hang out with my girlfriends rather than with their partners in tow. Still, I shudder to think of what happens if I hate my closest girlfriends' partners. Note, 'closest' indicates that there aren't that many partners to contend with. As for the rest, I can't be arsed. Thank gawwd that has never happened. Should I add 'yet'? I think no lah, choyyy! Like we're still 18 years old.