[gumpzilla]

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whats taken out of context? when you were younger one of the main reasons you had friends was to validate yourself socially, correct? If I took something wrong, I apologize. Ive never felt this way, so maybe I dont understand it, but my friends are my friends because I enjoy their company, and I assume they enjoy mine. Its fun to be around your friends, I just assumed thats why everyone had them.

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Yes, it is fun to be around them, and of course that is the point. However, one can certainly be more or less active in going out and trying to solicit new friendships. These days, I'm not going out of my way at all to try and make new friends, and so it doesn't happen very often. When I was younger, and just starting college in a new setting where I didn't know anybody, I felt a lot more urge to try and have many friends. At the time, it sort of seemed like the thing to do. A few months later, I found myself having settled down into a niche where I had a couple of good friends, and a large number of people I knew casually and socially, which was fine by me, and then settled down into my current pattern of not really pushing it. (EDIT: Also, I was getting laid steadily, which obviously was part of it.) That's more what I meant.