Flying the coop

I’ve mentioned before that our apartment is amazing.  I love living here, and I love the girls I live with.

Out of the four of us, only one has been in a serious, healthy, long-lasting relationship this year.  (note the qualifiers.)  She and her boyfriend are great; they’re fun to be around, and they’re a ridiculously cute couple without making you feel like an awkward third wheel.

And… this weekend, they got engaged.  (!!!)

It wasn’t a surprise by a long shot, but it was certainly sweet and loving.  I’m quite possibly too happy for her, except I don’t know that that’s possible.  She deserves every good thing in life.  Twice.  (She’s one of my favorite people in the world.)

It is bittersweet, though.  They’re talking about a summer wedding and that’ll be it.  No more roommate.  I knew that I would probably be the last roommate she’d have, but it’s still sad.

So congratulations, roommate and fiance!  I’m blissfully happy for both of you!  (and a little sad for our apartment.  we’ll lose an amazing roommate.)

The Friend Collector

You know who they are.  You might even have one right now.

They’re people who know how to charm.  They have an innate sense of how to appeal to each individual, and use it to get on your good side right away.  A few encounters, perhaps hanging out a few times, and you can see that they’re good company, fun to be around.  They immediately strike up deep conversations, and you feel surprised that they would be willing to be so honest and open so soon.

Only later do you realize that you’ve begun to feel irritated when they show up.  You think about it, and discover that they have put virtually nothing into the friendship besides talking about how very close you are, how well you understand one another, and urging that you hang out, meet for coffee, go out for drinks, etc.  Strangely enough, the events never occur.  But they are somehow hitting you up for favors all the time, on account of your “great friendship.”  They expect you to bend over backwards for them, and act surprised when you refuse.

These are Friend Collectors.  They build a tenuous foundation with lots of people in strategic places, and go around using their connections for their own benefit.  (You know, the guy in your World Civ class that only showed up to take the test, but would make friends with a few people in order to have “study sessions” or just copy the notes.)

I ran into a few of these in college, and thought I’d be done with it once I graduated.  Funny how life tends to follow you around, right?

Don’t take advantage of me just because I like to be helpful.  If you’d just asked for what you wanted instead of manipulating me to get it, I’d have done it gladly.  Instead, you’ve pissed me off, and damaged our “great friendship” irrevocably.  Good one.  Is it so difficult to just ask?