Thank You for Being a Friend...

Yes, I'm referencing Golden Girls, but no, this has nothing to do with the show... despite it's timeless humor and awesomeness...

You know, I will be the first, second and third to admit that I'm not the greatest friend in the world... I have much room for improvement.  Granted, I am a giving friend- if I have it, it's yours.  I would give my friends the shirt off my back if they asked for it.  And if I ever have money, I wouldn't hesitate to let a friend in need borrow it.

But I always find myself thinking, "who ARE my friends?"  On Facebook, you can now mark people as friends or acquaintances, although I wish there was an option for "complete strangers," but maybe that's in the works.  But there are people that I consider expendable, and I am sure 98% of my Facebook friends feel that way.  When I moved from my hometown to Cedar Rapids, I considered there to be 3 friends that I would truly miss.  Once I moved, I probably only spoke to one of them on any semblance of a basis.  Now that I am closer, out of those 3, I probably will only ever hang out with on of them.  She and I have NOTHING in common on the surface, but deep down we do have things that make us lifelong friends.  And one of the three hasn't responded to my texts in months and blows me off all the time... whatevs.

Then there's the friends in Cedar Rapids.  I have a friend there that I consider to be one of the truest friends I've ever had and it is amazing because so many people tried to tell me that she used me and wasn't a good friend, but I knew otherwise.  I understood the kind of person she was/is and overlooked any flaws, as we should all try to do.  She was nice to me and if I was in pain or having an emotional crisis, she would have been by my side in a heartbeat.  Since I've moved, she's made it clear that she is not gonna give up on me easily.  It is an amazing feeling.  I other friends who I will definitely keep in touch with and I have friends who still think of me and communicate with me when I was sure they would have forgotten my name once I left town... hearing people tell you that they miss you just because they actually do... makes me feel like I may actually have had a positive impact on their lives.  It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy on the inside.

And finally, there are those that I have long since forgotten that when it is clear I am a wreck or bouncing off the walls with anxiety, I will get a random text, a random Facebook message and their concern, friendliness and just outright acknowledgement of my existence stops me in my tracks.  But to this I start feeling a smidge guilty for not checking in on them.

I guess there was no real point to this blog, but I think that sometimes the people that we think are our friends really aren't as good of friends as the people we have shrugged off as acquaintances.  I definitely wish I were a better friend and hopefully some day I can be, but in the meantime, I think I should try a little harder to appreciate those that I have...

Tuesday Rant

Okay, so since starting on my Lamictal (shout out to GlaxoSmithKline), my rant sessions have been few and far between.  In fact, despite my wanting to rant right now, I feel pretty calm... and pretty dang tired, but I blame that on my friend's cats that are temporarily bunking with me and my boyfriend's nephew waking up 30 times last night.  Anywho, onto my rant:

First, the heat.  What... in... the... freak?  I mean, 100 degrees and humid??  Are you kidding me???  I don't mind the warm weather, but the humidity makes me want to take a sledge hammer and pound some skulls.  I'd eventually like to move to Maine, I think, but I'm thinking it is humid there as well.  Although the Atlantic Ocean is quite chilly, sooooo... I have wanderlust, boo.

Second part of my rant will not involve names.  I just find it humorous that I received a voicemail the other day (ON MY PHONE) where I was told that said person was trying to get a hold of me all weekend, but since I had blocked them on Facebook, it was not possible.  Okay, let me get this right... you are able to call my phone, but you can't get a hold of me any other way than Facebook??  And I was informed that if I unblock them, they can get in touch with me... *smacking forehead* Oy vey! 

Third rant:  why can't people just do what I want when I want and not be upset about it?

Well, that's my rant for today.  I'm always here to listen to your complaints... or pretend I did and nod in agreement.

The Wonderful World of the Wide Wide Web

Isn't technology amazing? If you think back to all of the things that you now think you couldn't live without- cell phones, computers, internet, dvr, satellite and then wonder how the settlers did it, I'm sure you would cringe at the thought. I have been alive pre-internet, but just can't imagine what life would be like without it. I've done several semesters of college on the internet, blogged, ebayed, facebooked, socialized, made purchases... all things I couldn't have done before those crazy people (NOT Al Gore) created the information super highway.

I love meeting new people. I love getting new followers on my blog and on twitter. It makes me feel good to know that people care about what I have to say- something that is few and far between in real life.

Thankfully I don't have to worry about getting sucked into a life based solely on the computer, though. As aforementioned, I love meeting new people and hearing their thoughts and having pleasant conversation, but it's like having two sets of friends- and these are ones that go away when I shut my computer down at night, lol. No 3am wake up calls because their husband is out cheating on them!

Anywho, just wanted to share this random thought that I had. You can now go back to playing solitaire.