against all odds
- joshlynyjavier
- Mar 5, 2025
- 4 min read
you chose fact. initially, i struggled to figure out what i should write about, since i’ve known you for so long and i feel like we have a million memories together - i wanted to properly convey the magnitude of our friendship even in our mundane or quiet moments. i found myself thinking about not just how our friendship has endured, but about how we even became friends in the first place.
so thankful for something so amazing coming from such a strange place. love you longtime friend!
dedicated to THE seung yun choi
it was the third or fourth day in a row of rehearsal for our upcoming performance. you and i had been on the same dance team for an entire season, and were definitely friendly. we had shared some laughs and saw each other at rehearsal or at hang outs outside of the studio, but i didn’t know much about you beyond the fact that you were pretty quiet, funny, and really good at dancing.
a small group of us was gathered in a separate room from the rest of the team, tasked with going over the cleans for the section we were in. but it was summer, and we were hot, bored, and mildly burnt out from the last few days of 5 hour long practice.
we were all starting to mess around, everyone queuing any song except the song we were supposed to be dancing to. if a good song came on, there were a few of us that were absentmindedly freestyling or just messing around. all of a sudden, a song that i least expected to hear at the studio came on.
“you called me out, upon the waters…”
mildly shocked, i turned my head around to try to determine who played this song. to my knowledge, nobody else in the room was even mildly religious.
“who queued this?” i asked questioningly.
“i did,” you said.
we both looked at each other, knowing what we had to do in that instant. without exchanging any words, we both began to vogue and whack to the music, our flamboyant and sassy gestures largely inappropriate for the music we were listening to. in that moment, i remember thinking “wow, what are the odds”
fast forward to my first year at a&m. my freshman year memories are largely associated with spending a lot of time with you — from giving you chick fil a swipes in the dining hall, to dance rehearsals for modern, eating pb&j sandwiches with you in your apartment after rehearsals.
i also remember recording songs we came up with on the spot for various friends, who involuntarily received and delighted in the three minute - long videos of us rapping or singing about our victims to whatever chord progression you felt like playing in the moment.
although these memories all blur and blend into one collective memory, there’s one night in particular that stands out among all of them.
over our pb&j sandwiches, we began talking about religion. by that point, we were both familiar with the others background, being raised in the church and then our respective distancing and departures from. we had never really talked about why we had left or began questioning the church. as we both shared more, we were shocked to realize we had so many of the same questions and doubts. what started as a casual conversation about some of our confusions turned into us on the sofa at 4am, debating the entire existence of gods, humanity, the afterlife, and general conspiracy theories.
i was amazed. by that point, you were someone i thought i knew very well. i considered you a close friend, and with that how much time i had spent with you, i was caught off guard by the reality that were still things about you i was discovering. truly, what are the odds that someone seemingly very different from me, would share so many of the same questions that i pondered frequently?
sometime after that night, we were both at a friend’s apartment for some event or hang out. eventually, the conversation turned to personality types and quizzes. everyone began taking engram and myers briggs tests in front of each other. i took my phone out and began taking the myers briggs personality assessment, fairly confident that my personality hadn’t changed much — i was severely extroverted in high school, and college was all of the freedom i had been craving so desperately in my adolescence, so i was expecting to be even more “e” leaning, if possible. i knew you were pretty much the opposite of me, since you were the one who had explained the concept of a “social battery” to me, even having to call on a mild friend break for a week with me at one point due to my overbearing nature (oops, sorry again :p)
as you watched me fill out my answers, i looked up to see you with a quizzical look on your face.
“what’s up?” i ask, worried that i answered something wrong.
“i’m literally on the opposite end for all of the questions you answered. how is that possible? how are we even friends?” you asked in disbelief.
despite all odds, the friendship has persisted. i was constantly amazed at how much we could share together between dance, art, politics, fashion, music, and both our sorrows and joys with the other. while i’m glad we share common hobbies and interests, i’m brought so much comfort by the fact that we continue to get along not because of circumstance or proximity, but for a genuine care and respect for one another. i love the way that we inspire each other to try new things - whether i'm learning muay thai techniques from you in the corner of a party, or you’re reading a book with me for our bookclub. it's such a privilege and honor to experience life with you, in case i don't tell you enough! i’m so glad that at the end of the day, no matter how far apart we are, you’ll always be someone that feels like home.
thank you for always inspiring me and being a great friend :,)
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