Are you my friend? I think so.

I have an uncanny ability to decide on the spot whether I like someone or not and find out later I was totally off the mark. I can’t tell you how many of my real friends I started off not liking at all.

I won’t say which ones because well, I like you NOW and that’s all that matters. Not my initial impressions which were wrong. I can’t trust my own judgment! I suck at reading people.

I often “friend” people on LJ or twitter or Facebook based on whether or not someone I do like likes them. If so-and-so likes NewPerson and I initially cringe, I friend them anyway and try to get to know them better. Why does so-and-so like them? Is there a different person in there than the one I’ve met?

I think I make a lousy first impression myself. Maybe too abrasive tinged with a bit of obnoxious. Or I turn wallflower and barely open my mouth. But people tend to like me once they’ve hung out with me for a while, right?

Sure, there’ve been a few people I’ve met where the consensus has been rolled eyes and shudders, but I’ve learned (from my friends BTW, I wasn’t born with this ability) to be nice and civil and just hope the encounter doesn’t last too long.

On top of that, there’s this whole social networking friends thing that tends to lump real-people-you-can-count-on friends equally with I’ve-met-them-a-few-times-and-I-like-them friends. Someone once called their real friends “funeral friends.” Who would come to your funeral or at the very least send a huge bouquet versus those who would mumble a sincere “ain’t that a shame” and get on with their life if you croaked?

And then there’s the short list of people I absolutely can’t stand and even that one gets fuzzy. That list is topped by my mother and yet I talk to her at least once a week – damned duty calls. Another person on that list was actually very nice to me yesterday so I’m going to have to rethink his position in the lists.

Is the word acquaintance out-of-date? I have friends and I have acquaintances. Except on LJ and twitter and facebook and myspace and countless other sites, everyone is a friend.

hmmmmm.