Making (and Keeping) Friends

Moving out west has been trying for me as a social person. It was incredibly difficult to leave the 'family' even though the family has been dissipating out of Pittsburgh for a while now. I miss a lot of people very much, and I'm trying real hard to keep in touch through Facebook, Myspace, chats, phone calls, email, and so forth. I think maybe I haven't felt the need to blog as often because I've been fairly successful at this.

The only friend I've kept in touch with from my camp days once told me matter-of-factly that "we're not drifting goddammit." I've tried to apply that dedication to the maintenance of friendships for the past few months, since I somewhat regret losing some high school and camp friends that I used to be very close to. Of course, I realize that it's a two-way street, and that you can only keep in touch with people who will keep in touch with you. The key, I think, is in the little things. It's the seemingly mundane details that make you feel close to people, along with trying to communicate frequently. With the internet, there's no excuse for that not to happen. I get so sick of hearing, 'well, nothing really interesting has been happening.' If you're my friend even the little things of what you did this week are interesting. Let me know about it.

Having K2, Jenna, and Drew out for Thanksgiving meant a lot to me. That they'd take the time and expense to come out even for just a few days on such a family-oriented holiday.. well, I don't have the words (and that's saying something) to express how important that was. I'm really looking forward to spending a few days up at k2's cabin with some of the family. There are some notable absences, though, but hopefully being in Pittsburgh for a week will remedy some of those.

BUT! clearly I had to make new friends when I got to Olympia. I took a rookie-recruiting approach, announcing to the whole cohort every time I was going to be doing something, then making personal efforts with the ones who responded. Result: a group of about half a dozen good people to hang out with. We go dancing about once a week, have 'study sessions' that are more distracting than anything else, and I created a 'Dinner Club' concept in which we rotate hosting a dinner party. We invite more people than come, but it's effective. We have a pretty good time.