Der Fünftens Freitag Fünf
Would you say that you're good at keeping in touch with people? When it comes to touching base / not losing contact I'm pretty good. Lately my participation in the Pan-Mass Challenge has helped me stay in touch with some folks I otherwise would have no reason to contact. But when it comes to daily interaction I tend to go off on my own and assume other people will indicate when they're interested in getting together. I think that kind of passivity is a common problem for young adults.
Which communication method do you usually prefer/use: e-mail, telephone, snail mail, blog comments, or meeting in person? Why? Snail mail's worthless, and my blog is not for social trivia. I absolutely despise talking on the phone. Meeting in person is great if it's feasible, and if it's one-on-one or in a very small group. Parties are absolute anathema. Email and IM are just about the perfect communication tools, IMO.
Do you have an instant messenger program? How many? Why/why not? How often do you use it? One: AOL AIM. I used to live on ICQ, but it didn't work behind firewalls, and then I started getting messaged by 2-3 different Brasilian high school students per day, so I left ICQ permanently. I tried Yahoo! Messenger, but it was barely functional. I got over my prejudices and installed AIM because it was the system most of my co-workers were using. It became a very pervasive thing at work; in fact, I was constantly running at the maximum Buddy List that AIM would allow me to have. I've never considered the multi-system aggregators like Trillian, because everything I've heard depicts them as flaky and fragile. And until recently, you could use a secret back-door trick to shut off the ads that AIM downloaded. I have it running virtually all the time.
Do most of your close friends live nearby or far away? Mixed. Many of my closest friends are writers or former writers for my magazine, and they're all over the globe. But other than that, most of my friends live out in the suburbs of Boston. Many are former co-workers. I really haven't retained many friends from my youth growing up and going to college in Maine.
Are you an "out of sight, out of mind" person, or do you believe that "distance makes the heart grow fonder"? What the hell is that supposed to mean? Who cares? All I can tell ya is Absynthe makes the heart grow, Fonda!