Dinner with ICSI people is always a riot. Toggling bewteen light banter and sarcastic jibes gives us all a kick until we're all laughing like hyenas. Topics range from weight gain/loss, PMS, female body parts, make-up and boys, to the detriment (but perhabs advantage) of Balbie, our only male officemate whom we call baldiva, balbina, bhalbie, balbhie, balbieeh or bossing.

When people find themselves "clicking" with colleagues, it's easy to get very comfortable talking about anything. And even though you're together in the office 8 hours a day, 5 days (sometimes 6) a week, you still have to go to some kind of gimmick just because they're good company and it's fun. Friendships in the workplace is a tricky thing though. Amid the wackiness and sometimes the juicy-ness of the conversations, there are still some things left unsaid. People skirt over personal issues unless information is voluntarily supplied. The curiosity is palpable. It is like the microscopic dust you see when a beam of light strikes through space. It's there but only when you look closely enough.

Forkfulls of mudpie, oreo and cheesecake and tiramisu later, my apettite was fully satiated but my curiosity wasn't. I dismissed lingering questions though and concentrated walking to my house. It was a long slow walk and in the middle of it all, since chocolate makes me melancholic, I got myself wondering when will the time come when somebody walks me home. Just as I shove the thought aside, I see someone waving at me and I smile. It's always nice to see Lemony Snickets. There's this easiness about him and I never feel shy or threatened talking with him although we were only in the same class for a sem.