This one is for CJ

I've decided that each of my really close friends deserve a blog post.  So here it is, the BFF post.

So CJ is my best friend, like THE best.  Suffice it to say, we have an epic friendship.  We have been friends for over 20 years, which most cannot lay claim to in terms of friendship.  I mean, come on, how many of you people have been friends with someone for that long that wasn't related to you?

I don't exactly know the entire story of how we met but it is something along the lines that our mother's knew each other, (those Filipinas know everyone) and CJ and I would play together when we were kids.  My mother used to watch CJ when he was young which is how we became friends.  I believe I met CJ when he wasn't even a year old so we've grown up together.

For as long as I can remember we have had a love for many of the same things.  The chief love of all things was in Star Wars.  We both had this fascination (erm.. obsession) with Star Wars and later Star Trek.  Now, Star Trek is bigger to me than Star Wars is but I think Star Wars was more accessible when I was young whereas Star Trek I needed to grow into.

We've also both loved video games.  In fact, we had a very strange friendship when we were young.  You see, we would go over to each other's houses and play video games, but not together.  Generally we each played our own game, usually in the same room, but definitely not with each other.  We also wouldn't talk to each other while playing these games but we still considered it hanging out.  Yeah, it was definitely strange, but we both value a rich single-player experience.

CJ and I have played our fair share of games together though.  We've spent enormous amounts of time playing Diablo 2, Starcraft and virtually every Halo game except for Reach which we are currently working on.  He introduced me to Super Smash Bros which would consume my life in my pursuit to be pretty good at it, at least better than all my friends.

And because we used to be boys with vivid imaginations, we had a pretend Star Wars game.  This is super embarrassing and I usually don't tell anybody about this, but CJ and I still talk about it and have ultra fond memories of it.

In addition to video games we also had a thing for Legos.  I mean, what boys don't have an interest in Legos?  We were both awfully creative and would build all kinds of masterpieces.  The awesome things I have constructed include an Arwing from Starfox and an Akira-class cruiser from Star Trek.

Power Rangers were a huge thing to us as well.  CJ was fortunate enough to have all the Megazords from Power Rangers so we spent many a time playing with those.  I always liked to be the Red Ranger, call it a leadership complex.  Another things that makes CJ awesome is that he would always let me be the leader, because he is a bro and an excellent wingman.

Other huge parts of our lives were Beast Wars Transformers and Roughnecks: Starship Troopers.  Basically, we've been into everything nerdy under the sun and more.

His family has always been close to me.  They consider me to be their second son and I consider them to be my second family.  We used to have sleepovers all the time, almost every weekend before I went to Snow so we spent a lot of time together.  Hot Dogs, Eggs and Rice became a regular diet for me because that is typically what we ate at CJ's house.

When CJ went on his mission I completely supported him.  I went to his farewell, wrote him every week for two years and met him at the airport when he got back.  The best part is that he hasn't changed a bit.

I could talk for days about our friendship because it is a truly long one.  But, as this is a tribute to my best friend, I think I've said enough.  Go meet him, he's alright in my book.