What's Your Social Life Like?

[BTM]

Do you REALLY want to ask that?

Okay, here goes... I don't really have one, to be brutally honest, most of the time I'm a VERY sad and lonely person.

I have two friends from work, who, unlike me, get a lot more hours than I do and don't have time (or perhaps the inclination) to hang out with me too much.  One of them seems more into his video/computer games than actually interacting with real people (and I thought I was a nerd). 

I'm not a church goer or a drinker, so that puts me out of church and bars, which is pretty much all there is to do in this area.  (Plus, I'm low on money right now, had to even cancel my Netflix, so even if there WAS something to do, I don't have money for it.)

I'm not married, no kids, have nieces and nephews, but they live about an hour and a half away, so I don't get to see them as much as I'd like.  Haven't had a girl friend in a loooong time, and just don't seem to be able to have conversations with "normal" people very well.

So, did I top you?

God, now, I'm depressed....

[Shadow]

I moved away from the area I group up in, and have no friends in this area, nor any real desire to make any. I still keep in contact with a couple of old friends and see them now and then, but I learned a few years back that I actually prefer to be alone most of the time. Then I met my wife and realized letting one person into my life wasn't so bad. She is the only one I hang out with. Our social life is limited to playing with our dogs, watching movies or TV, dinner out and the occasional day trip somewhere.

[Ash]

It's funny...
Andrew mentions in the rules of this forum that we often share pieces of their lives with one another.
That's so true...

Here's a piece of mine.

For years I was a total party animal.  I had tons of friends, always had a girlfriend and was constantly out and about doing this or that.
Going to bars, clubs and parties with friends was what I did every single weekend.
Getting drunk, hitting on women...sometimes getting lucky.  That was the norm.

That all changed in 2001 when my fiancee and I decided to call it quits.
Then, less than two years later, my only younger brother died in a motorcycle accident.
(Here's his Myspace memorial page:  http://www.myspace.com/corychapman1 )
That one-two punch of losing my fiancee and my brother dealt me some serious damage and caused me to spiral into a horrible depression.

After his death, I stopped going out.  I stopped dating.
I stopped doing everything but drinking, surfing the net and watching movies & TV.

Like RC, I know what it's like to have alcoholism take hold of you.
Granted, I don't drink the hard stuff like RC did, but I used to drink a 12 pack of beer every other day for at least a year after the loss of my brother.
I would tell myself to stop...but I just couldn't.
My mother would always warn me about how my paternal grandfather died from cirrhosis (sp?) of the liver because of his struggle with alcoholism.  He died when I was a baby so I never knew him.  Mom would tell me that she didn't want him to hold me because he was drunk 99% of the time.
Needless to say, alcoholism runs in my family and I inherited it.

In the past, I barely remember writing half of my posts here on this forum because I was so s**tfaced.
Thankfully, my drinking has declined over time.
Now I only drink on the weekends...staying up all night alone getting hammered in my apartment.

All of my friends are married with children and they're busy doing the family thing so I don't see them as often as I want to.
When I do hang out with them, I get that feeling that we're totally different now and can't relate to each other like we once did.

------------------------------

And I've purposely estranged myself from my father.
Haven't spoken to him since November of 2006.
My dad was one of those fathers who was there for me...but yet he wasn't.
My stepmom Cindy, whom he married in 1983, has never liked me.
Oh, she tolerated me...but only because she had no choice.
She did everything in her power to make sure I was never a part of the family.
And did my dad stick up for me?
No he didn't.
He didn't do anything.  He just let it happen.
Years of that built up serious resentment in me and when she insulted me over the phone in Nov. '06, I told her to f**k off and haven't spoken to either of them since.

I've estranged myself from my father to teach him a lesson.  To show him what life is like without his only son. 
Yes, one of these days I will inevitably re-insert myself back into his life.  But only on my terms and when I feel like it.  Sure, I agree that it's a selfish thing to do, but I don't care.
The scary thing to me is, I don't really miss him.
I should, but I don't.
Other than looking very much like him and having almost the exact same mannerisms, we have absolutely nothing in common.
He lives just outside of town and even has his auto repair shop not far from where I live...so I could go see him at any time.
But I choose not to.  Not yet at least.
One of these days I'll just show up at his business.

------------------------------------------

I have only 3-4 good friends left out of almost 30+.
And since we all work different shifts and they've got the family thing going on, I rarely get to hang out with them.

I do talk regularly with some people from this board.
And when I say that we talk, I mean we do it using microphones and actually speak to one another.
RCMerchant and I have talked over the phone several times.  The last time we got to talking, we shot the breeze for over an hour.
RC's an awesome guy!  I tell you this, you'll never talk to a more down to earth person than him.  
Skaboi & I talk several times each week because we both play Day of Defeat Source together.
Mofo Rising is on my Xbox Live friends list and we've talked a few times over the headset.
They're all cool guys!  I'd hang out with any of them anytime.

As for girlfriends, I've dated off & on but like someone else mentioned here, when you get to be over 30 years of age, most of the women you meet have kids or are divorced etc...
And I don't want to date single mothers.
I've been there and done that.  Can't say I liked it much.
Finding a women close to my age who has never been married, has no kids and is still attractive is like finding gold in them thar hills.
And I'm not one of those guys who will just "settle" for any woman.
I know what I want and I won't stop until I find her.
And if I don't find her...then so be it.

So yeah, my social life isn't the greatest right now.
My depression is gradually subsiding.
But I do have lofty goals and believe that I will get to where I want to go...eventually.

[RCMerchant]

Ash-

I TOTALLY understand the father/stepmother thing...that was about the situation I was at from the age of 7-16...than I ran off to NYC. I rarley talk to my Dad...and he lives about two towns over. Not even 25 miles. I could call him,or him me...but he doesn't. When I got our house,I invited him over to see it. He never came. That was in August of 06. Weird thing is...I don't even know why. I dropped all the resentment I had about my childhood years ago....maybe he's on a bad guilt trip...I dunno.

Someday-you won't even be looking-it'll just happen-BAM! You'll meet the right woman. Life has a way of dropping sh1t (good and bad,as I'm sure you know) right in your lap from nowhere...it's what keeps it interesting. Not always fun...but-interesting.

[CheezeFlixz]

I haven't seen my mother in years, no idea where she's at, and I'm to the point I no longer care. That is a entire story unto it's self. Far as finding the right women goes ... yeah you find one some day that you can tolerate, but after 20 years you still have days you want to kill them.

[asimpson2006]

My social life is nothing.  It's always been that way in HS b/c I ended up working the weekends when I was a senior and before that I didn't drive so I ended up just staying home.  In college I worked just about every night and was poor.  After college, got an illness and really can't do anything except maybe except watch a movie, or eat so that pretty much limits me on what I can do.  I think the last time I went out and did things with people other than my family was on Black Friday last year, I went to a bar with some friends after work and that was the last time I did anything really enjoyable.

[AnubisVonMojo]

My social life's really nothing especially noteworthy compared to a number of the sad stories we're hearing so far.

I have a fiancee, we get along great, we've been together for over 8 years and we're planning to finally do the marriage thing when/if we hit 10. I have very few friends, but I prefer to keep it that way. I dislike trying to be friends with a large number of people, because I'm very dedicated to the ones I do have, so the more is never the merrier, just a damn burden. I was part of a social "group" in high school, but once we were no longer required to go to the same building every day of our lives, we just kinda grew apart like most high school friends do when they go out into "the real world". I talk to my parents every other week or so and head back to my hometown for a week every other month to see the people in person that I generally talk to regularly on the phone or internet anyway. You wouldn't call how I live "social" in the least, considering I rarely leave my house for recreational means. I'm perfectly considerate when people ask me for directions or other help when in public, but the only people I ever really see "publicly" are the people at the local GameStop or Blockbuster and even then the conversations are usually kept to a 5 minute maximum and consist of comic book or movie talk. I'm about 5 people away from being a hermit, but to be honest, I like to make my free time just that: mine.

Like I said, nothing really interesting going here. Meh. 

[AnubisVonMojo]

Someday-you won't even be looking-it'll just happen-BAM! You'll meet the right woman. Life has a way of dropping sh1t (good and bad,as I'm sure you know) right in your lap from nowhere...it's what keeps it interesting. Not always fun...but-interesting.

As cliched as that is, RC you're 100% right. The minute I stopped looking for love (and decided to just start looking for sex, heh heh), I met my fiancee. 8 years later and we haven't broken up since. Not always the case, but as our resident Bela said, stop looking and something interesting will happen. 

[Sister Grace]

Far as finding the right women goes ... yeah you find one some day that you can tolerate

It can be almost as hard for some women as men..
I was lonely for a long time, it went past the point of loneliness, to almost a numb feeling of 'this is it, and i am somewhat comfortable with it'. I've always had trouble meeting people, also i consider myself pretty self-sufficient and don't need alot of contact to be happy . I just don't seem to get along with the general population, most people either bore or confuse me. my intrests are considered obscure by some, and that can throw people off a little. I gave completely up on dating. Most guys seem to think i'm a wierdo..i don't fit the mode of 'cheerleader girlfriend'.while i never fit the profile of a beach bunny, i've been told i'm classy..most guys don't want classy. But then again, how can you grow with someone who only cares if you look like you came off the cover of Cherry magazine everyday. I get that 'wow, you're really smart and hot, and will make someone a great girlfriend, you're like a SISTER to me..."
but when you least expect it, you do meet someone..now i have a great guy, and like me, he's socially awkward and just as much as a nerd, which i think is totally hot. He never complains when i make him sit through hours of bad movies and even laughs at the same cheesiness that i do. He doesn't mind that i'm disabled and have a slight gimp, he never notices and if he does, maybe a nice rack makes up for it.. ..i guess all in all, what i am trying to say..when you meet the right one, it won't matter if you aren't a social butterfly and don't have a large expanse of friends..he/she will make up for it..even if you make them sit through XTRO...

Also, I joined this site a few months ago, and i have to say, i feel as if i have learned more about you guys from this thread than any other..yeah, alot of us share some of the same intrests and tastes, but its nice to see the 'human' side of some of you, not just words on a screen.

[AnubisVonMojo]

Also, I joined this site a few months ago, and i have to say, i feel as if i have learned more about you guys from this thread than any other..yeah, alot of us share some of the same intrests and tastes, but its nice to see the 'human' side of some of you, not just words on a screen.

Actually, I'm only human from the waist down. The rest of me is literally a large screen that generates random words like "aardvark" and "colloquialism". Occasionally some numbers will pop up from time to time too, but not very often...  heh

[Ash]

Hehe Anubis!
Karma!   

[Patient7]

I don't get out much, there's just too much on t.v. 

[AnubisVonMojo]

Hehe Anubis!
Karma!   

Whoa Ash, who'd you p**s off?! I karma-ed you back and you were at 151, now I come back two hours later and you're at 149! What'd I miss?

[RCMerchant]

Hehe Anubis!
Karma!   

Whoa Ash, who'd you p**s off?! I karma-ed you back and you were at 151, now I come back two hours later and you're at 149! What'd I miss?

I just gave him a plus....Ash is very honest and plain spoken... -if I was to give a negative to someone...I'd have let them know it. Kinda sneaky,I'd say.

[Andrew]

Whoa Ash, who'd you p**s off?! I karma-ed you back and you were at 151, now I come back two hours later and you're at 149! What'd I miss?

He's been peeing in the sink again.

(At least that would be my suspicion.)