Laughter is balanced with lemons

It occurred to me the other day that if the guys I like don't like me back, and the guys who do end up liking me are usually guys I'd never taken any special notice of, maybe I'm just really bad at flirting. Obviously, it's not attracting the guys I use it on. And the guys who do like me like me for my natural, unflirting mode self. I'm not sure whether to find this whole situation more tragic or humorous. Perhaps 'Commence flirting' is not good advice after all.

Sometimes when people want to be friends with me, I'm not sure at first if I want to be friends back. Their enthusiasm makes me wary. But frequently they turn out to be very nice people and I warm up to them and between our joint efforts we become good friends. However, having accepted them, put energy into the relationship, and come to enjoy and rely upon their friendship, it's very upsetting to seem them pull away. When it seems to happen for no reason (which is frequently the case) I'm left wondering why they were so determined to be friends in the first place if they were just going to drop it. Or I wonder if it's something to do with me. Did I do something to offend them? Did they realize on better acquaintance that they didn't actually like me? Is their something wrong with me?? For many of us, it seems to be natural to assume that things happening around us are somehow related to us. And you can say that that's a very egocentric view, and we need to get off the idea that we are each the center of the universe, but in a friendship, where the relationship is strictly between you and that other person, it's hard to believe that a change in that relationship has nothing to do with you. Obviously, I know there are lots of factors that go into these things. People have a lot going on in their lives that can affect how they relate to other people, how much time they have, what their priorities are. But it's hard to see the resulting separation, and not understand why.

Having become a rather experienced person in the venue of nap taking, I've come to the conclusion that mid-morning naps are by far the most peaceful of the lot.