He's a ranger, suh.

Last night, I went with a friend to see the Hometown Sweethearts (an awesome cover band) at a local club. This friend is pretty new to my life (I only met her this year) and I’m already sure that she’s one of the coolest people that I know. As we walked there in the cold, she told me about this party that she has every November called Friendsgiving and guess what? I’m invited to it! So, as she’s tells me about the food that she’s gonna make (tons and tons of pork, thank god), a thought stuck me:

At this point in my life, I have more friends than I’ve ever had before.

This is extra amazing when I think back to when I graduated high school and how lonely I felt with all of my acquaintances shipping off to out-of-state schools. Spring break was always exciting because it meant that I’d be going out at night rather than just watching T.V. Even though I looked forward to hanging out with these high school kids, I never really felt connected to them. All they ever did was a) smoke pot, b) watch T.V., c) drink bad beer out of cans, or, as was usually the case, d) all of the above. These are things that I never liked to do in high school, let alone as a young adult who considered herself wise beyond her years.

We can even go back before that. In my early high school days, I remember going to sleepovers and feeling so isolated that I would leave early. When friends were having parties, I would usually stay home and watch What Not to Wear with my mom. I always got along better with my parents’ friends than I did my own. Freshman year, I wrote a friend a note that said, “Are we best friends? We hang out a lot, so I think that we are.” I did call this girl my best friend for years, but, in the end, it boiled down to convenience on both our parts. When my cousin was killed in a car accident the summer following my junior year, she didn’t find out about it until I had flown back from the funeral in Portland. I didn’t tell her and she didn’t wonder where I went for a week.

After high school, I picked up a few friends at work or at the ol’ tech school. I was surprised to find that these people didn’t simply put up with what a weirdo I am, but actually seemed to enjoy it. I changed jobs from retail to restaurant and picked up even more friends. The restaurant industry is good for that. People are generally booze fueled (and not on that canned crap) and thus more likely to laugh at my incredibly vulgar and childish jokes.

This year, I’ve been particularly driven to make friends, which is great because, for the first time that I can remember, there are a lot of people that I really want to be friends with. The thing is that I get terrified when approaching friendly acquaintances about maybe taking things to the next level (I mean a deeper friendship, not handjobs or anything). This is the girl who has no problem standing in front of a crowd of people and humiliating herself for the sake of entertainment. That’s totally fine, but calling someone to see if they want to meet up for a platonic drink? Nuh-uh, son. But this year, I’ve been trying harder and it’s paid off. I get along super well with my roommates and I’ve become better friends with coworkers, better friends with people who I’ve been extremely intimidated by in the past, and better friends with people that I’ve known for years. I’d even describe some of these friendships as… dare I say it? Kismet.


On a complete non sequitur, I’m going to Las Vegas on Tuesday! While you know that I’m a gamblin’ woman (this is a complete lie as I actually grip my money with an iron fist), this is not a gamblin’ vacation. My step dad’s parents actually live out there (surprisingly, they’ve made their residence at the tip of the Eiffel Tower at the Paris hotel) and we’re going to spend Thanksgiving with them. This is the first vacation that we’ve taken as a whole family in a long time, so it should be a blast! It feels like I have a million things to do before then. Here’s a brief list:

-Buy 3 oz. bottles for shampoo, lotion, etc.
-Get hair cut.
-Get hair dyed.
-Learn to walk in new high heels
-Choose adorable outfits for brief time that I’ll be there.
-Go to bank.
-Withdraw all money for cards and hookers.

Okay, bed now.


P.S., I definitely have some childhood friends who will always be near and dear to me. If your reading this, I hope you know that I still have nothing but love for you.