The Friendship Thread

[Halo Infinity]

I didn't know where else to put this and it really seemed to belong here. Anyway, I just wanted to say that I'll miss when making friends through hanging out and getting to know somebody was as easy as getting a phone number and making a call to invite them over my house on any random weekend or vacation. (And you'd also think that would be easier with Facebook.) I still wasn't the most social child growing up, but that's how I hung out back in elementary school through high school. Heck, if I even had a great rapport with tons of things in common with somebody, I think I'd still be even up for sleepovers, but at least at 2 days tops. I noticed that even 3 days got to be a bit too much for me even when I a kid.

As an adult, it seems like I have to either wait for an actual occasion, or go to a social setting outside the house. I just didn't realize how hanging out indoors without any occasion isn't really a thing for adults, even though I've seen many acquaintances and friends stop that when they were even as young as 16-22. It wouldn't even have to be all day either. I wouldn't mind just hanging out for a few hours to chat, play video games, watch DVDs, surf the Internet together, and then head out to eat at a fast food restaurant or such before parting ways. To me, that seems to be the ideal way to spend random weekends and vacations socially, as I've always preferred smaller groups, or just one-on-one interaction in my home and the local areas surrounding it.

Then again, part of that hanging out meant to also have the time to talk about life, but I could see why even that would be a hard opportunity to find since it's always best with a close friend willing to discuss some things in depth, that also likes most if not all of the same exact stuff you do with the same level of interest as you do, or even more.

I'd often assume that the best way to be a close friend while getting to know them in depth would be to bond as if you're siblings or cousins, but there also seems to be no time and/or interest for that as adults. (And I don't mean every weekend or vacation. Just planned ones that are feasible.) Of course, there are exceptions, and that serious relationships, marriages, and families inevitably put an end to that really quick, but I had this explained to me, and it really does seem to be true. I've known about this before, but it also took me a long time to accept.

Pardon me, I'm just venting something that's perplexed me for quite a while that had something to do with the topic of friends and friendship and the changes of socialization with age. I guess it's better late than never to learn such a thing.

Ah, I suppose I just haven't outgrown hanging out that way at all, and probably never will. If I had the chance, I'd definitely do it all over again.