Joined: 2 Dec 2006 Age: 40 Gender: Male Posts: 153
31 Jan 2007, 4:15 am
By RL ("Real Life" as opposed to online) friends I mean people who you do activities with ("for fun") outside of school or work. For me, it will be 10 years ago this spring, meaning that I have not had an RL friend since I was 13.
I find that even maintaining online friends is also very difficult, and they usually do not last very long for me, even with people who I have a lot in common with and seem to get along with fine while chatting with them.
Joined: 25 Feb 2006 Age: 36 Gender: Male Posts: 28,897 Location: Lancashire, UK
31 Jan 2007, 5:26 am
There's people who I know in the pub who I would count as my friends but not anyone who I would share anything with, if you see what I mean. I'm quite happy as I am actually and have no real wish to change now.
Up until about three years ago I never really had any friends whatsoever. Then something changed and now I've got quite a few good friends and even a boyfriend, which is something I never thought would happen.
Joined: 3 Jan 2007 Gender: Male Posts: 2,877 Location: Here and there.
31 Jan 2007, 10:14 am
I get together with 4 RL friends every week to play Dungeons & Dragons. Most of us met in college, and the weekly schedule of getting together helps. One of the 4 just moved in to the 2nd bedroom of my apartment.
Joined: 22 Nov 2006 Gender: Female Posts: 409 Location: USA
31 Jan 2007, 11:28 am
I have 7 very close friends but only one of the lives in town. (where my family lives) The rest are friends from all the different places I've lived so most of the I have not seen in 8 years or more. However, we do keep in contact with each. (We all are really bad at emailing, writing letters and calling each other but we stay in contact!) However, to say I have someone to do fun stuff with at my college, the answer would be no.
I have co-workers that migrate into the friend category for a short time. I get reminded by my SO that they constitute "friends" but it doesn't quite feel right. Still, I nod and agree. My SO is the only friend I've had in nearly a decade, so I'm thankful that she tolerates me. Prior to that, I had a couple of (non-girlfriend) friends in high school but the relationships were built out of necessity (being in a band) rather than any sort of connection.
Now that I think about it, the only meaningful relationships I've had were with people I was sleeping with.
Joined: 18 Oct 2006 Age: 34 Gender: Male Posts: 457 Location: Brooklyn NY
31 Jan 2007, 3:07 pm
I've been actively working on it since November of last year... the first fruits of progress are coming, albeit slowly...
But that's a ways away, still. Good relationships are like wine...
(...uh, I'm 16. How would I know?...)
...they take time to mature.
The last time I had a friend my age was either 2003 or 2005, depending on your definition of friend. If one has to do activities outside of school to be considered a friend, then it's 2003 - but if a friend is simply one to whom you can be brutally honest as a person, then it's 2005.