Maybe... four days after that or something?? I think this past Thursday??? I called him to ask him for advice about negotiating for more scholarship. We were on the phone maybe 40 minutes. We talked about scholarship negotiation for a while... then I started telling him about the bigger picture of my questions about my direction in life and the school, etc etc. he made some very insightful observations. He said that it sounded like I hoped they'd give me more money because then I might want to go there more, and also, that it sounded like I was afraid of making a decision, afraid it would be wrong decision. I laughed and told him he was right on.
He also said something that struck me-- that when he looked back at his life and reflected on all the decisions he'd made that now he beats himself up over [or something like that], he has to remind himself that if he hadn't made those decisions he wouldn't be where he was today, even if he wished he'd made different decisions. Something like that...
The tone of the conversation was different--I don't know if he was tired (he had just gotten back from an insane weekend of rehearsing and performing somewhere in Ohio) or just fatigued of me using him to process my deepest Big Picture Questions, but while he seemed receptive to listening to me, he wasn't as eager to ask me questions and discuss as in the past 3 lengthy conversations. So I am definitely going to take a break from bombarding him with requests for Professional Career Advice.
He told me he needed to get going because he was supposed to go to a birthday party but he was so tired he wasn't sure if he wanted to go ... we joked about this. then something like this happened:
T: Hey, I'm sorry I keep calling you and having the same sort of conversation about my future over and over. I just really trust you and feel like you understand me and your advice is really valuable, so when we start talking I feel like I could talk to you for hours and hours, but maybe it isn't fun for you to always talk to me about my future! B: (sort of chuckling) No, it's OK. You're a good friend and it makes me smile [that I was struggling with my decision, and turning to him about it]. I'm really glad that you feel comfortable calling me to talk about it.
