Functional Fren

My female owner and her Potahto have relinquished their bond as Chopstick Sisters, primarily because they have both put on so much weight that they no longer look like a pair of chopsticks while walking together. They are now considering rename themselves Banana in Pajamas.

Anyway, despite my female owner having a 50% essay deadline in 13 hours, they had an extended MSN chat and the topic soon centred around a common friend, also known as my female owner’s Functional Fren.

Some people have a natural knack for sensing emotional distress and providing crisis intervention at the most opportune timing. Functional Fren is one such person. He is a trained counselor and has always shared with my female owner his passion for helping people on the ground. He was also the friend who supported her through her entire application process (he referred to that support as being my female owner's "inner talk") and unsurprisingly, was the first person she called when she got the news of acceptance. My female owner has seen him in action a number of times, both as a beneficiary of his skills and in his regular job. Although he hardly initiates social contact, he would, if he senses that you need help (as verified by Potahto).

He is effective in his counselling, whether it is face-to-face, over the telephone or through MSN. My female owner had never failed to benefit from those sessions. Not to mention, Functional Fren is also highly intelligent, creative and visionary. These qualities helped to make him into the invaluable counselor that he is.

For a while, Functional Fren had been having self-doubts about staying in the counseling field. My female owner has been quite concerned because he certainly has a gift for listening and helping people to suss out the main issues. Recently, he rekindled his passion and my female owner is really happy to see him fired up once again.