On friends abroad

After I posted inquiring after Ryan yesterday afternoon, I spoke to Ryan's girlfriend via MSN. He's okay. He has said that Ivan was the most horrific thing he's ever experienced, but he's okay. At least physically.

And favourite director Aimee survived the recent Japanese earthquakes, typhoon and a flash-flood relatively unscathed.

Thank goodness!

Both of you are still in my thoughts.

Also in my thoughts is the Eleanor Wachtel interview with Hungarian director Istvan Szabo that aired on CBC Radio One last night. You know what? I really like Szabo. I think he'd be great to just kick back and discuss art with. But you know what else? I wonder if I like him only because his ideas on art seem to agree with mine?

I know they say that opposites attract and I know that for me personally, one of the men I've been most attracted to predominantly antagonized and infuriated me. Still, I can't help wondering, do we, in friendship and in love, want nothing more than to be reflected?

This was suggested to me years earlier--during a first year Comp Lit lecture, as a matter of fact--but, until now, I had never wondered if it were true. Until now, I had always dismissed the idea as cynical. But now...?

Are my most intimate relationships nothing short of narcissistic?