Relationships As We Get Older

Currently I'm trying to strengthen a friendship that has been strained due to multiple reasons (distance, non-communication, basic social retardation).  I had a pretty good conversation with that person over a few hour period and began working through a lot of core issues we had.  I felt like we broke a lot of ground and we have a lot of potential to kickstart an era where we get along much of the time and actually connect.

After reaching out a couple of times in the last 10 days, I finally put my pride to the side and got blunt on the last voicemail I left. I said, "I've been waiting patiently by th phone for you to call me back.  So, yes, I want you to call me.  Call me.  Call me. Call me. Call me. I want to talk to you."  I think the time for hinting heavily is over in this relationship.  I have to be blunt until we have an lexicon of understanding between us where subtlety can be used.

I feel a bit juvenile in my train of thinking ("Oh, that person should know what I mean") but I realized that many of us are not used to having to work a bit harder to maintain/build relationships. We can't read each other's minds and some people aren't as sensitive as I am in reading into things. 

It got me thinking about my own issues with making new friends as of late.  I still have practically 0 male friends in Chicago.  I've reached out a few times to a few people but it seems that I can't do much follow up.  Perhaps it's the alpha-male in me not wanting to compete with others or just ineptitude in making connections with guys.  I'd like to have more male friends but not sure as to how to a) make them and b) foster them into viable connections. 

Perhaps I need to find new male friends who can be just as candid and blunt as I am with my old ones :)

OK...So...I Like Netflix...

I have to admit that after a very long time of holding out on getting Netflix, I really enjoy it.  I've caught up on a ton of movies and TV shows that I previously shunned and I get access to shows that aren't easy to find on bootleg websites.

So, I like Netflix.

This Is Some Inception Shite Going On...

I don't know what the fawk I ate last night but I had some weird but cool dreams.  I want to jot them down before I forget them to see if there's any theme amongst them:

• A friend decided to send me artistic black and white nudes of her and her husband.  Most of the pictures didn't really have nudity in them except one.  When I ran across the one that did I thought, "Why would she send these to me now? Why not when we were younger?" Then I woke up.
  
• I was in the middle of an improv class being held on a Fear Factor type obstacle course.  There was this couple there getting ready to take the course.  At the starting point, the boyfriend was stretching but hyperventilating at the same time; it was quite obvious that he was freaking out.  The girl the entire time was badmouthing him telling him he was no good and that he was lucky to even be there.  He was doing his best to ignore her but obviously this behavior had been going on for some time.
  
  I went over to him and gave him the best pep talk I could.  He seemed to receive it well and started the course.  The course was sort of a relay where he had to reach her starting point in order for her to continue the rest of the course.  I don't know what I said to him but he took off!  He made it across the course in 30 seconds even with a few fumbles in logic he had trying to get gates to open along the way!  Once he got to the girl, she started her part of the course and made it to a section featuring monkey bars over dirty water.  She made it there, stopped, looked down, and noticed there was a 30 foot drop to the water.  At that point she started freaking out!  I'm yelling at her from the sideline to encourage her to go but she ends up timing out. 
  
  I leave the obstacle course on a bus with a bunch of people from Salsation.  They can see I'm troubled so I start telling them how jacked up that obstacle course was and about this couple I was counseling.  They all agreed those people were idiots.  Then I woke up.

 Yep.  I agree.  Weird.