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View Full Version : Help me! My friends are lame


DandyFop
06-15-2006, 04:47 PM
I fucking hate drama to the nth degree. I can't really handle some of the drama happening between my friends right now, and I can't handle being in the middle either. Not that I'm not guilty of being a part of this mess. Being the messenger often means trying to influence people one way or the other also.

A close friend of mine feels somewhat alienated from the rest of the group. It's hard because I see things from both sides of the story. She's totally obssessed with soccer now (Salt Lake just got a pro soccer team last year), and honestly she is more happy and healthy than I have seen her in years (not having a debilitating crush on a total dumbass who occasionally uses heroin is a big part of it). But the problem is that she talks about it constantly, because it's always on her mind.

Obviously, that makes sense, when you are really into something you talk about it a lot. I am truly guilty of this, like my recent thing with The Office, or if I really like a boy, etc. But when most of the people you hang out with can't really relate much to what you talk about 80% of the time, it can be hard and it can get annoying. And even if she didn't talk about it that often, you can tell that she wants to, and that most other conversation she's giving just so it can seem like she's not talking about it that much. Does that make sense? I don't know. Yet at the same time she's one of those people that you always feel the need to please, so I try to get a little involved and know what she's talking about. It's working out pretty well that way. I still feel badly though about talking about it behind her back - about how annoying it is that it's all she talks about. I'm not doing it as much now, but a month or so ago was awful.

It got to the point that, one night, we were all hanging out at someone's house, and she wasn't there. The previous evening, she'd ran her mouth off about the soccer team the entire time (and she was being rude also which didn't help), and I just was sick of hearing about it the next day. So we decided to sabotage the situation slightly, and when we heard she was coming over, we decided to play a board game we knew she'd have absolutely no interest in. When she could see that most of us weren't interested in hearing her story about something to do with the soccer players, she left. It worked, but it was fucking ridiculous and childish that we had to do that. On both ends.

So this has turned into something else, which is another friend of ours who is also somewhat childish, who has decided that she has replaced him with other friends now, etc. I tried to tell him to please just realize that it's good for her and it will be okay but he doesn't seem to think so. As a result, there is some division happening in my group of friends, to the point where people aren't getting invited to things, and in general it just seems awkward. People seem annoyed sometimes that I want to hang out with my boyfriend as much as I do. But a big reason is because he's so laid back and I don't have to deal with any of this bullshit. It's stressing me the fuck out. I got my diploma in the mail today, but I'm too stressed out about what's going on with my friends to be happy about it.

So I'm going on strike, for this weekend at least. I'm asking all who are in this circle of friends to refrain from calling me, because I just don't want to talk about it anymore. I have a lot of things that I'd rather do for myself that don't involve this. I'm hoping some kind of communication can start between people, or something.

But what the fuck else can I do? Sorry I know this is a long post, and there are many details left out, but you get the general gist. So frustrating being in the middle of this kind of stuff. But that's what happens when people don't actually fucking COMMUNICATE. Argh.

Advice?

kll
06-15-2006, 05:14 PM
I think the backing off and going on hiatus for the weekend is a good idea, but you shouldn't have to announce that you are. It's good for everyone to do their own thing. I think if you announce it, it will create more drama, so just do it. Don't talk about it. In regards to the drama - this too shall pass.

DandyFop
06-15-2006, 05:16 PM
Yes, but if I don't, I'm not sure that they will get the point of what I'm trying to do. Plus I'd rather just have everyone know that they shouldn't call me, etc., instead of me having to ignore everybody's calls.

kll
06-15-2006, 05:19 PM
If you make the point of expressing what you are trying to do - that in a sense creates its own drama. If they have the time to talk about the soccer friend, then this will turn it to you. "What makes Dandy so cool that she can just tell us when we can or can't call her?" "What? Is she too good for us now?"

DandyFop
06-15-2006, 05:24 PM
Oh, no, that won't happen. And even if it did, frankly, I'd be happy that they were talking about something else. I know how lame that myspace message looks, but I'm fed up. Ah well. Thank you for your input :/ I would be inclined to also say that this drama will pass, but it's been going on for about two months.

kll
06-15-2006, 05:25 PM
Oh, no, that won't happen. And even if it did, frankly, I'd be happy that they were talking about something else. I know how lame that myspace message looks, but I'm fed up. Ah well. Thank you for your input :/ I would be inclined to also say that this drama will pass, but it's been going on for about two months.


Two months?

Yeah, you are in dire need of some new material...

Videodrome
06-15-2006, 05:29 PM
If you make the point of expressing what you are trying to do - that in a sense creates its own drama.i totally agree. it would be best to just do your own thing and let that bullshit sort itself out. this should be your time to celebrate your diploma not deal with this drama yo!

jabumbo
06-15-2006, 05:30 PM
my friends don't have drama, they are just lame


i've gone on several little weekend trips this summer, and have a bunch more to come, and i pretty much have to beg people to come at all. and half the time i end up going alone

enree erzweglle
06-15-2006, 05:33 PM
I wouldn't announce the weekend plan. I would just go my own way gradually...branch out and make some more friends. But it might cause a backlash with the ones you've got now who want things to stay status quo.

When I did this with a friend who I'd known for a long time (things were getting bad for a bunch of reasons and nothing helped) she resisted with force. I still did stuff with her, but not as often. So she got terribly...weird. She got a paranoid sort of suspicious, which was crap because she would accuse me of the most bizarre and indefensible stuff. Eventually (with time) she gave up on that with me and made other friends and things between us evened out. She was just way too stuck on me.

About feuding friends or groups that get divisive, I used to have a hard time with this stuff because I tried to stay neutral, lending a caring ear but trying to stay passive. That didn't work because ultimately, one of them would ask me to get involved or ask me to be the messenger or to take sides and eventually, someone would try to stake their flag in me and claim me for their side before the other side did and then I'd get accused of being disloyal if I took even the slightest misstep. So when friends/family feud, I stay way the hell out of it and I tell them that right up front. Otherwise, it's lose-lose-lose.

kll
06-15-2006, 05:35 PM
my friends don't have drama, they are just lame


i've gone on several little weekend trips this summer, and have a bunch more to come, and i pretty much have to beg people to come at all. and half the time i end up going alone


add some alcohol to the lame mix. duh.

DandyFop
06-15-2006, 05:37 PM
I still sent those involved a message saying that I was taking a break, but I took off the myspace bulletine (way too lame).

enree, I am totally that way...I'm always trying be neutral with everything. Ugh. I am going to start calling up some people I have always wanted to hang out with but never had the chance. But when it comes down to it - these are my best friends in the whole world. And generally it's because things like this don't really happen in our group. So when they do it's super stressful. Ah well...hopefully it will dissipate soon enough.

enree erzweglle
06-15-2006, 05:50 PM
I still sent those involved a message saying that I was taking a break, but I took off the myspace bulletine (way too lame).

enree, I am totally that way...I'm always trying be neutral with everything. Ugh. I am going to start calling up some people I have always wanted to hang out with but never had the chance. But when it comes down to it - these are my best friends in the whole world. And generally it's because things like this don't really happen in our group. So when they do it's super stressful. Ah well...hopefully it will dissipate soon enough.Who was it who said something like, "I don't know the secret to success but the secret to failure is trying to please everyone." Something like that.

That the neutrality thing works only if I tell both sides that I'm doing just that. If I don't say it outright, then I get grilled and blamed and they'll look at me funny and then I become the focus of their energies and they start to invent problems that weren't there.

Works so much better when I just tell them that I don't want to hear it, talk about it, discuss it, offer an opinion about it. I don't want to do any verbs about it at all except ignore it. Sometimes they accuse me of not being a good friend by not listening, but I ride that out too (because they're usually just hurt and are trying to bait me into any kind of an argument or any kind of discussion that involves that off-limits topic).

jabumbo
06-15-2006, 08:01 PM
add some alcohol to the lame mix. duh.


they will just say something about how they actually have to get up and work in the morning and will tell me we should do it on the weeked. then i will say how i asked them to go on a couple weekend trips and they said no then too

Sarky Devotchka
06-15-2006, 08:08 PM
I dunno, I usually just back away without making a big deal out of it and if the person sticks around, then you kind of just get used to it. my new roommate and I have never been very good friends, but everyone else she knows pretty much left her, so she just has me and cort. we have some things in common, but she's kind of an odd duck. she seems to be mellowing out though. she's just kind of boring and doesn't have fun doing anything it seems. some of our other friends make fun of her and say she's a robot. she always talks about the same things and doesn't listen to you when you talk...so now I just kind of forget about it and focus on my other friends.

yeah, I don't know. maybe soccer-girl should just start hanging out with other soccer fans, and come back to you guys as needed.

SobaViolence
06-15-2006, 11:38 PM
get new friends.