Tag: #Friends

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Make New Friends But Keep the Old #OpenBook Blog Hop

  By Open Book

April 7, 2025

How do you know you’re going to become friends with a new person you’ve just met?

My criteria have changed as I get older.

It’s a matter of broadening my social circles, things I learned during the Covid crisis, and the political climate in the US.

It’s sad, but I don’t trust people as much as I used to. I’m friendly with lots of folks that I wouldn’t call a friend or seek a long-term relationship with. The fear of betrayal has grown, so I am more closed in revealing my deeper thoughts and feelings.

That may have stemmed from my involvement in computer security, and seeing how naive people are. Not only did I have to protect myself, I had to protect others as well. (And yes, I can take myself too seriously.)

But I have an escape in my writing.

It is also a shield of sorts. A safe topic. Even when people don’t truly understand what I do, it’s always an easy – and perhaps forgettable – subject of discussion.

So, back to the original question. How do I know if someone will be a friend?

You’d think at my age, the signs would be obvious, but I can’t give you a list. Despite my outgoing public persona, I’m an introvert. (Well, most of the time). True friendship grows slowly. And that’s on me. It’s even harder to maintain those friendships. I can be too clingy or too distant. Finding the right balance is difficult.

And the title? It’s from a song we used to sing around the campfire in Girl Scouts. (In rounds.) Even then, I didn’t quite fit in. The song advocates for a great philosophy, but it’s hard to follow when age and miles keep you apart. (And that is on me as well. If you follow this blog, you may remember that I’ve moved all over the United States.) I’ve never gotten good at maintaining friendships over the internet.

How about the other authors on this blog? How do they know when a new acquaintance will become a friend? Check out the links below to find out.

And, as always, until next time, please stay safe.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

April 7, 2025

How do you know you’re going to become friends with a new person you’ve just met?

Who’s Coming To Supper? #OpenBook Blog Hop

  By Open Book

Dec 27, 2021

If you could invite anyone in the world to be your dinner guest, who would you invite?

This should be an easy answer. But sometimes I think too darn hard, and this is one of those times. Out of anyone in the world, who would I invite for dinner?

I started by eliminating a few people from the table. I wasn’t in the mood for a political discussion, so poof! Every politician was off the list. And for sake of efficiency, I decided to not include folks who are dead. There are a bunch of kids who I’ve worked with in the past, and I’d like to know how they turned out, or even if any of them remember me. But all I have to go by at this point are my memories and my imagination, so I’ll pass them by for this discussion.

Then I came up with a great idea. I’d love to throw a dinner gathering for all those wonderful people who helped me in my many careers along the way. I’m going to use fake names to protect the privacy of a few of them.  How much fun would it be to have ‘Ann’ who gave me my first job as a waitress in her little restaurant chatting with ‘Jerry’, my current boss in IT. (Okay, I know Ann died a few years ago. So, I am breaking my own rules. Oh, well.)

Or how about ‘Jane’ who insisted I come work for her in a law-enforcement field talking to ”Randy’ who hired me away from that agency? And ‘Jeanine’ who hired me to work with a youth organization hitting it off with ‘Paul’ who ran a local community newspaper back in the day?

Can I throw in some of my favorite coworkers from along the way? What a mix of people I’d have! The state-licensed alligator trapper ‘George’ and ‘Daryl’, who restores old cars in his spare time. I don’t know that I’d ever get a moment to eat, I’d be so busy catching up!

Who else can I add? The unnamed lady who made costumes for dead roaches and mounted them in displays? No, I think she needs to stay home and far away. Very, very, far away.

Well, now that I know who I’m going to invite, I have to figure out how to organize this little adventure. Actually, I think I’ll pass that on to someone else. The headache is starting just thinking about it!

Who would you like to invite to dinner? Let us know in the comments. (And you don’t have to play by my rules. 🙂 ) To find out who the other authors are inviting, just follow the links below.

Until next time, please stay safe. And have a Happy New Year1

Dec 27, 2021

If you could invite anyone in the world to be your dinner guest, who would you invite?

Rules:
1. Link your blog to this hop.
2. Notify your following that you are participating in this blog hop.
3. Promise to visit/leave a comment on all participants’ blogs.
4. Tweet/or share each person’s blog post. Use #OpenBook when tweeting.
5. Put a banner on your blog that you are participating.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

 

More Than Sharing Stories #IWSG

  By IWSG
 
February 3 question – Blogging is often more than just sharing stories. It’s often the start of special friendships and relationships. Have you made any friends through the blogosphere?
 
The awesome co-hosts for the February 3 posting of the IWSG are Louise – Fundy Blue , Jennifer Lane, Mary Aalgaard, Patsy Collins at Womagwriter, and Nancy Gideon!
 
I don’t have a huge following on my blog. I watch the page views trickle in some days. Shoot, some days I avoid looking at the number of visitors because it’ll only make me depressed.
 
But I share a blog hop (not this one!) with a few other authors, and we’ve bonded over some of the topics we’ve discussed. We’ve written about places we’ve been and places we want to go. There was a post about the mistakes we’ve made in our writing. We’ve discussed marketing tips and what works for us and what doesn’t. Along the way, I’ve made friends.
 
Well, as much as “talking” strictly over the internet allows us to be friends. We don’t always agree with each other, but we try to be respectful of each other’s opinions. The group includes writers from a variety of countries and backgrounds, which can lead to interesting discussions in the comments. If you’re interested in seeing what do, scroll down to other posts.
 
If I were wealthy, and there wasn’t a world-wide pandemic, I’d love to meet these other writers in real-life. I don’t expect either of those roadblocks to change in the near future, so I’ll keep having conversations with them via the blogshere, or on the other social media we use to stay connected.
 

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

How about you? Have you made friends through your blog?
 
(Shameless plug: I’d love a few more followers. There’s a link to the right where you can sign up to be notified of new posts!)
 
Until the next time, please stay safe.