Today on the Max I was unfortunate enough to hear a rather depressing conversation. During rush hour if two people are talking next to you and you don’t have headphones on you don’t really have much choice (I keep forgetting to bring mine). The conversation started out innocently enough talking about a guy that they both thought was good looking. Then it shifted to insulting the man’s girlfriend saying she wasn’t really attractive. Shortly there after the cuter of the two girls just cuts into the other one. It was absolutely brutal. I looked up from my book at that point and it looked like this girl was about to cry. Over the course of my life I’ve had a lot of female friends and I can say it was the first time I’d heard anything so unexpected, brutal, and uncaring. The girl saying this was commenting about the other girls face and how plain and simple it was because she never wore make up and didn’t know how to wear it anyway. Of course, the one making these comments was wearing plenty.

I can say that I’ve never had friends like that. This has really made me appreciate all the friends that I’ve had over the course of my life. I’ve had to say good-bye to so many because I’ve moved around several times. In some cases it’s been easier to keep in contact than others, but all of them have had a huge impact on my life. It’s my friends (wife included obviously as my best friend), that really make me work to become a better person. Dan of KBMOD fame has been and continues to be one of the major inspirations for my blogging. My friends over in The Netherlands encouraged me to write and really enjoyed it as well.

It’s because of these people that I’ve been successful and hopefully continue to be. In my most recent move in the US, I’m really beginning to realize how lucky I’ve been with my friends so far. They are fantastic people. I’ve been in Portland for 4 months now and this has been the hardest I’ve had with making new friends. Partially this is my fault because of where I live and how little time I have after work. Partially, it’s a lot of work to find people that you really want to be around. In a place where you have no family, it’s your friends that become your support network. Building the right kind of network is tough.

Friends are such a powerful influence in our lives and I think we underappreciate them too much. I’m glad my friends are who they are and I’m really glad I don’t have vicious negative people in my life. It would make life much less enjoyable to be around people that hurt you because they can.

Thanks for being who you are, you jerks.