So, who's the oddest friend you ever had, or the oddest relationship with a friend?--Al

-- Al Schroeder (al.schroeder@nashville.com), November 20, 1999

Answers

It's a tossup between the red-haired gay Wiccan who thought reality was consensual, and the Vandy sports fanatic whose spirits went up and down with Vandy's sports fortunes. (It's a wonder he didn't commit suicide.)--AL

-- Al Schroeder (al.schroeder@nashville.com), November 20, 1999.

One I ended tonight. A mother-sister-friend-therapist-enabler thing that was more like having your brain sucked out of your ear by a well- meaning and extremely egocentric goldfish with razor teeth and a pretty smile.

I'm a little bitter. *ahem*

~E~

-- elizabeth of Atropine :) (gypsy@moderngypsy.com), November 20, 1999.

Well, when I was a kid it was always a thin line between love and hate ... but the strangest friendship was probably with this girl that I used to propose to every half year or so. None of us really wanted to marry the other - in fact we did not even sleep together - but we loved to sort of pretend romance. We would go out together and all, but in reality we were just friends. I seem to have a tendency towards these kinds of friendship, but that one was pretty extreme. :)

-- Magnus Itland (itlandm@netcom.no), November 20, 1999.

One of my closest friends is on the surface the exact opposite of me. I'm jeans & tshirts & no makeup.. she's hairdresser every week and very meticulous. She has a reputation as a flighty gossip and busybody but when I was going through the roughest time of my life I sought her out, confided in her for months, she saved my sanity, and nobody to this day understands our bond. (She never betrayed my confidence, either.)

-- Paulineee (paulineee_@hotmail.com), November 24, 1999.

In 7th grade I knew a guy who was either desperately trying to figure out his sexuality, or desperately coming on to me and I was naive as a stick and didn't see it. We spent a bunch of time wandering around school talking about what the varieties of sexuality were. I was still trying to figure out exactly how to ask girls out so I didn't place any specific emphasis on how this discussion might apply to me.

I saw him over ten years later playing Dr. Frank-n-Furter at the UC Theatre's version of Rocky Horror... for some reason, I wasn't surprised to see him in fishnets et al.

-- Colin (cfmckin@uswest.com), December 02, 1999.

it was odd in a way, in 1986 i was separated from my wife (due to alcoholism) was living in a low rent apartment. at AA meetings i became acquainted with a scuzzy looking englishman who was extremely intelligent, he sat and crocheted (?) dainty runners, doilys, etc. while listening to meetings. it wasn't long until i found out he was on the street to make it short we became the strangest roommates that i know of. in a short time it worked out that he did the housework and the cooking and i worked a job and we went to AA meetings together. his street smarts and different slants on life taught me, calmed me and led me to be a reasonable human being. when i went back home, after a short time, i could no longer find him, nobody knew where he had gone. i would have liked to keep in touch with him. the last i heard he had obtained his green card, so maybe he found a job and decided to move on.

-- ici jongleur (ionoi@webtv.net), January 05, 2000.