ÐnA | Family Affairs

It's a good thing that when things get too hectic in my household, I can sneak away for some privacy here in my room and conenct with my friends on line. Because I meet new acquaintances all the time, whether in person, via Internet, or even through this blog, it is in fact the older friends that I've neglected.

But one of them in particular, I've been avoiding. See, he's always on line. I see him there, "Available"...but when I get on line, I set my own status to "Busy", or "Be Right Back", or even worse, to "Invisible".

Of course, he always knows when I'm trying to hide from him. But is it an okay excuse to say I've been putting off chatting with him because I feel there's just so much to say, so much catching up to do, that I don't know where to start?

Or...is it just that I am too embarrassed to admit to him that I've actually been "Available" all this time--just chatting up other friends and surfing other sites and occupying my time with other things?

Honestly, it's not that I don't wanna talk to him...in the back of my mind, I know it's familiarity. He's always there, he's always on line; he never goes into "Idle" mode or "invisible". Sometimes, it's as if he never sleeps.

Once in awhile, I'll send him a quick message: "Hi, hello, what's up....oh well, I gotta go..." or, when I need his advice terribly(he knows me so well) I'll bug him with questions and needs. See I realize I only chat him up when there's something I want from him.

Today I realized my own selfish insensitivity when I recieved a call from him this morning. Over the airwaves, he reminded me that his birthday was coming up soon ("Well, it's still two months, but plenty of advance notice for you!" he quipped) and that the only gift he was hoping for from me was a little time out of my "busy" schedule to hang out with him...even just a few quality moments...

That's all he wanted and I felt so bad and so ashamed. I have been acting too busy, too okay, to pre-occupied for my very good friend.

You know I love you, Jesus, and I'm sorry.

No....not just a good friend, but the BEST one I have ever had.

So, to my most valued Friend: If You're reading my blog again today, I just want You to know that I'm available to chat. It's officially my day off and I want to spend it with You. And I hope that by the time your birthday comes around on December 25, I'll have given You the gift You wanted most. (Or lots and lots of them.)

Introducing PRONTO, the condom for the new millennium.

Condoms, which promoters say can be put on in just one second, are going on sale in South Africa this week.

"Using an ordinary condom is a real pain," says Pronto condom designer Willem van Rensburg.

"By the time the condom is on, the mood is halfway out the window." Pronto condoms do not need to be unwrapped.

"If you're slow, it'll take you three seconds. You can really do it in one," Mr van Rensburg's former business partner Roelf Mulder told the AFP news agency.