Compliments and Apologies to My Friend Wandāwaisu

The first thing i remember about him was when he messaged me in my whitehat days. At that time, i barely replied to anyone’s message. I don’t know why. Was i just too shy? Was i so busy trying to improve my tates that i simply forgot to reply to almost anybody? Well, anyways, today i have to apologize to who i have found to be an amazing friend - which i had only discovered when i started replying to him.

I flipped back in our PM history and found that he’d sent me, what, two or three messages about my tates before i finally replied, thanking him for congratulating me on getting editored. Then, a few days later, he got modded and i sent him a congrats message, and that broke the ice i had so rudely created with my habit of forgetting to reply. Sorry again, bro :/

Something i noticed about Wandawaisu back then was that he had a huge amount of respect for other people, whether they were hierarchically placed above him or below him. Even though i was (and still am) an editor, he’d tell me about some of the things the mods discussed to see what i thought so he could post a non-mod’s opinion in the mod forum to see how that would help the discussion.

That made me feel so happy, Wanda, you’d have no idea. Growing up in a family with a hierarchical tradition, my voice never really mattered. But you made me feel like not only my opinion, but myself as a human being mattered, and that meant a great deal to me. It still does to this day, my friend. :)

(Since this compliment piece is supposed to be organized, i have to write it in chronological order rather than in order of RANDOMNESS for you Genius people to understand better in your point of view. So now, you shall watch an online relationship between two Geniuses develop through passing time.)

So the weeks went by, and we’d discuss all sorts of stuff. I took note of how much we messaged each other compared to how much i messaged other users - in fact, that is still significant at this moment as i am going through our PMs again (#clickingmoreforever) to find ones i can talk about on this page. We talked about potential editors, then coaching threads, then if i could post personal stuff on Genius, then...hold it right there - i discussed if i could get verified with this guy, and a year later, verification is the heart of our projects together? Time flies, man, and i didn’t even realize i was the pilot this whole time.

I remember seeing a tate Wanda wrote about soccer/football, i think it was on an Arsenal goal, and there was an animated GIF. It’s a pity i wasn’t interested in football back then, but if i had been…

Anyways, the whole football issue came up on June the 19th, when i messaged Wanda saying exactly this:

Hey, I’ve been watching FIFA lately so I could do some annotations on that with you! You’re really good with this sports stuff.So he replied asking me what team/page or whatever in particular i would like to annotate. Well, that led to the root of almost everything Wanda and i now talk about:

I’d annotate just anything that I can understand, haha. Soccer language is not really my thing yet. But yeah, I’m most interested into Messi’s work in this world cup. And anything else that’s related :)Well, after that, we talked about almost nothing except for football. Wandwaisu revealed himself as a very experienced fan with tons of knowledge and general XP on the sport, and i revealed myself as the very opposite. So, naturally, he did everything to help me integrate into the world of Messi, Barcelona, and football in general too. I’m so grateful for that - without his help, my opinion on Messi’s awesomeness wouldn’t be nearly as strong as it is. And he came up with some really amazing GIFs like this one:

Then...as they say, with the good days come the bad. Sunday, July the 13th, 2014. The World Cup final in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Those were the most depressing messages we’ve ever sent each other. Looking back on it now, the fact that i was so self-indulgent in my messages made it even more depressing - he was talking about how his love for it all kind of “died”, and then i’d start saying random stuff about how i wrote this random page and whatever. How did Wandawaisu stand my selfishness? The present me would at least TYPE LESS and maybe try to console this person who’s supposed to be my friend - being as self-indulgent as i was at that time is not a good way to treat a friend.

It’s amazing how this guy tolerates all these sins in me, though. Really, if i were talking to this person i was on July 13th and they kept telling me all about THEM and didn’t say too much about all the messages i sent them about feeling so broken, i would’ve screamed at the computer screen in disgust and vowed to never become friends with someone that inconsiderate.

I might’ve improved myself over time, but that doesn’t really repair my mistakes from the past. Still, i now consider my past self unthinkably inconsiderate.

Here’s a list of the many flaws in me that Wandawaisu has tolerated well:

- Not replying to his messages and pretending that was not rude in the following messages
- Being self-absorbed when he was feeling down
- The emotional, also self-absorbed rants i send him when i’m feeling stressed
- Understanding very frustratingly little about football
- Being too busy to help him with football pages most of the time

There isn’t one flaw in me that he hasn’t tolerated. I really don’t know how he can be so patient.

But today, i would like to thank this great friend i have had the fortune to meet, one of the best friends i’ve ever met on Genius. I was blessed to see you on Genius the same time i was on, and the day that we will have to part will be a very sad one indeed. We’re not just two fellow football fans - there are bonds stronger than that.

The day we part will be a sad one, i repeat, but that doesn’t mean i’ll ever forget him. The emotional bond here is too strong to be broken by loss of contact.

Wandawaisu is a good friend because he’s patient, kind, tolerant, intelligent, honest, and so many other things. He’s humble, too, never bragging about being good at anything. (In fact, the reason i wrote this compliment piece for him is that he said he was bad at writing these.) He never talks down to people, never acting like “I know so much more about football than you” to me, even though that is true. He has a good sense of humour when he’s in a good mood. Wanda is respectful enough that even though i’m younger and much less experienced than he is, he talks to me like he’s a friend, not a pioneer teacher.

There are many things in life i’m yet to experience, but the feeling of being someone who matters i know of now, thanks to Wanda. Maybe i’m not the greatest Messi fan, maybe i’m not the smartest when dealing with Messi’s haters, but i still am a true Messi fan, and Wandawaisu has shown me that.

I will repeat what i wrote earlier in this text that i feel still hasn’t been emphasized enough:

You make me feel so happy, Wanda, you have no idea.I hope this is enough for you to forgive me for all the unbeneficial things i’ve done in the past, Wandāwaisu Majuera.

Forever grateful,
Forever Culé,
Forever will remember you,
Forever your friend,
Forever wishing i could be as awesome as you,
Jess MaQswell <3 <10