There is one major requirement in my batch of camaraderie  that I cannot go without. True and utter originality with a heavy dose of bona fide concrete realness.  If you can't keep it real, we cannot keep an attachment.

The gift of genuine is without a price tag. 




As a self admitted terrible friend, I'm the worst at birthdays, phone calls, and following up. Most of my friendships are held together by the other party, but one thing in left in the seams, we both are honest about who we are. I keep a small circle, most of which are current or former work buddies that     remain connected even after the work place setting changes. The small pool is dominated by people who do not attempt to be something else for anyone else. It's the naked truth or nothing at all.

I am drawn to the characters of the world and their bold steps in doing whatever they want. The best of buddies are the words who live outside the box and aren't scared of your judgments. The oddest pair of shoes , the boutique find tee shirt, or the thought process unlike any of the rest.

The odds are its somehow gay related. Spending most of your youth trying to figure out how real you wanna be to the public is all consuming, so why would we not be drawn to similar beasts. As I grow older, there is a super sense of identifying who is giving you the honest, and who is pretending their hardest. Call it judgment, call it profiling, its a super sleek direct line driving through the bullshit of one's public persona. Clear, smooth, straight-forward, and open. We spend most of lives pretending that random things don't bother us. How he cuts his meat , how she snaps her fingers, how she can't bring herself to say one honest thing ever. Is there anything more incensing than someone who is trying too hard? Don't we wish for someone who actually tried....less? 

We are forever connected to those who see the brutal side. The raw nature of seeing some of the bad , or the deepest darkest places means there is something there we can relate with.

Some of my best are frank and candid. (  I have no friends named Frank or Candid FYI ).