bff

janette just called. before i answered, i knew i was in trouble. she's a very vigilant friend, and i'm... not. so i actually thought about not answering, but while i may not be vigilant, i'm not a jerk either. besides, she's my bff.

me: "hi janette, long time no talk!"

janette: (after a brief pause, probably from surprise that i answered) "OH MY GOD YOU'RE ALIVE!!! NILO (her brother, who was in the car with her), SHE'S ALIVE!!!"

me: "very funny. i nearly died of the flu a while back" (ok, so i never had the flu)

janette: "did you get my invitation? we're having a birthday party next weekend for poknut, you better be there. you're her godmother!!"

me: "um, ok." thinking: oh dear lord, more gifts. MORE GIFTS!!!! >:O

[side note: actually, the gifts part i don't really mind, despite the fact she has a bazillion family members who are constantly having birthdays and holiday parties and weddings, etc. and i am constantly buying gifts for said birthdays and holiday parties and weddings, etc. it's the fact that she lives soooooooo faaaaaaar away. beyond my parents' house. my idea of comfort zone and where i will happily travel w/out complaining is between halsted and the lake for east-west, and chicago ave. and adams st. for north-south. on the few occasions when we travel north of north ave., it's like canada to me.]

janette: "i'm serious, you better show up. your birthday gifts and your x'mas gifts are still sitting under the tree. actually, they're not because we took down our tree. now they're under the sofa. mama toka asked who they were for the other day when she accidentally kicked them."

me: "i know, i have your gifts too. i don't remember which ones are birthday and which ones are x'mas though. originally some were wrapped in birthday paper but around x'mas i just wrapped them up again in x'mas paper with the birthday paper still on. you'll have to peel through layers. it'll be fun for you."

janette: (laughing) "that's what i did too!! your birthday presents all have birthday wrapper with x'mas wrapper over it. you better show up on saturday so i don't have to bust out the birthday wrapping again. and whatever i bought you is no longer trendy. all of it's on clearance. the gift receipts have all expired. if you got fatter from the holidays you're going to have to diet because if it doesn't fit, you can't return any of this shit."

me: (laughing) "ok."

she's a good best friend. she's the kind of best friend who, even though she was 8 months pregnant and working and tired as all hell, she still set up a myspace account because i asked her to, even though her initial reaction to myspace was, "i don't have time for this space shit."

best friends should make you laugh, right? she really does.