h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Every now and then, I find myself looking at the people around me and kind of wondering with how many of them I should really invest my time and energy towards cultivating a friendship. Aside from the new acquaintances, and friends I grew up with but don't really see now, friends seem to fall into two major categories: Fair weather and Foul Weather.

Fair weather friends are never there when you need them. Although, you are probably first on their list for a sympathetic ear when they need to be heard. Fair weather friends never notice what kind of day you are having, but they will be more than happy to tell you all about theirs. In fact, I've had a few foul weather friends who did nothing more than make some days worse.

Foul weather friends are always around if you need them. And, they may be next to invisible the rest of the time. One such friend, dropped everything some sixty miles away to hitch a ride home the minute they heard something was wrong, twice in a month, for two different people.

I try not to be a fair weather friend. Thing is, it's exhausting(physically and emotionally) trying to be a foul weather friend to everyone, including the fair weather friends.

Oh, I know just what you mean hun! There're some fair weather friends that seem to do little else but make things worse...or bask in the glow of any good fortune that comes their way, which again makes things (at least seem) worse when things aren't going right for you.

I've pretty much always tried to be more of a foul weather friend than a fair weather friend...but you're right, it Is exhausting - moreso with some people than others.

Maybe it's time to spring clean the address book and friends list.

I don't mind when people bring some good news around. No reason for them to be miserable just because I'm having a bad day. Then again, there are some I wish would bring some good news around. It's the ones that only bring bad news and never even ask how my day is, never once considering my day might be bad or even worse than theirs.

I have this one foul weather friend who mostly laughs when she has bad news. Thing is, she has had so many bad things happen, that now she just laughs it off instead of crying. First time I noticed that I thought she was in hysterics.

I divide people into high-maintenance and low-maintenance.

I don't have enough energy for the high-maintenance ones.

There are also lo mein tenants, which can be a good thing.

I'd rather divide the high maintenance "friends"...

Divide them into what?

Jokers to the left and clowns to the right...

here I am, stuck in the middle with you!

Cha cha cha!

Ba-da-bing!

I really ought to buy the Steve Miller Band's Greatest Hits cd.

Wait, wait...I was confusing songs. Somehow I thought of Stealer's Wheel's "Stuck In The Middle With You", but right Steve Miller also mentions jokers/clowns, doesn't he?

I don't know what song that was, by name. I have another song stuck in my head and it won't go away...

What's the big idea, Evangeline? How dare you run around casting aspersions at all of us overly-sensitive-guilt-ridden paranoid individuals around here? May I ask, have I made the cut on your newly-modified shortened 'Friends List'?

*prods Evangeline with a sharp stick for the fun of it*

*snip...snip*
Ouch!
What was that? Oh... um...
I was only cutting the fair weather friends, not the overly-sensitive-guilt-ridden paranoid individuals... Unless of course, the guilt fits. In your case, AW, it doesn't.

I've been artfully taught to feel guilty for merely breathing.

Afterward, paranoia is a natural.


Evangeline

I've met some who *should* feel guilty for breathing.

While I have y'all here, I have a question. If something needed to be said, but the person it should be said to wouldn't like it... should you still say it?

If someone is still wearing a comb-over after all these years, then YES!! You'll be making the world a better place.

If the subject matter involves something that can't be helped, like low breeding for instance, then maybe you should hold your tongue.

More like "Haven't you done enough stupid things for a while?".

Weeeeeeeelll. Personally, I believe in allowing adults to make their own mistakes unless they ask for a better idea. Everyone should have the right to choose their own *special* path of stupid.

Frankly, most people ruin their lives by the time they're twenty-three. If they're lucky, they'll learn something from the experience and still have enough time left to fix some of it.