Thursday, September 13, 2007

The exodus of friends - maybe I'm causing it?!

The friend I referred to in my previous post (IC) is just the latest friend to have left Brisbane to head either interstate or overseas.

# The first "exodus" started in 2003, when a YF friend headed to Sydney to do the Ministry Training Strategy program.
# Then another friend moved to Sydney, for work.
# Then in 2004, a friend I met at uni went overseas, to the UK. She's still there, & the impression I get from visiting her blog is that she's having a ball of a time over there.
# Not long after, another friend returned to Singapore. Initially, I did keep in touch, but it has tapered off, & I think I should send her an email shortly.
# Then around the end of 2004, a rather close friend moved to Melbourne. He's one of the fun guys to hang around with. Since moving to Melbourne, he's come back to Brisbane a few times (at least twice) & I've managed to catch up with him.
# And then came a period of time where one friend after another (these are from YF) started trickling towards Sydney.
# Last year, a close friend moved to HK for work. She's enjoying herself, & has since returned to Brisbane for a visit.
# In the middle of last month, another friend (reasonably close, too) moved to Melbourne. That came as a bolt out of the blue. Just a couple of weeks before his move, I got an email from him informing me of the move. He later told me he felt a need for change of surroundings & I always knew he likes Melbourne (that's where he was from before moving to Brisbane many years ago).
# Now, as I previously posted, IC has just gone to Sydney, for work.

Have I missed anyone?

Who's next among my friends to be leaving Brisbane? Oh yeah, I can think of a couple who's heading overseas early next year, but they said they'll be back in Brisbane within say 18 months. Anyone else? Imagine if one day, I'm the only one left in Brisbane....


Anyway, I was talking to IC the other day about my "exodus of friends". IC joked that it's because of me that people are leaving Brisbane. I then wondered, maybe there's something about me that's driving these people away. We laughed about it. But then, I think someone once said that there's some truth behind every joke. Hhhmmm....



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