And now for something completely different. It's.....
 

SS and Flinty - working together?
Monkeys invade the Indian embassy in Nepal.

Friendship
 

Exactly!

You're a major Peeping Tom, aren't you?

pamela
 

I didn't realize you and the big guy were so close.

Friendship
 

Just as another data point:

Of my three best friends, one each is from high school, college and law school. None live nearby, and I see each about once a year. Couple of good friends from work places. Most other friends (not including my imaginary online friends) are originally friends of baltspouse, mainly because she's from the area and I moved here after meeting her.

Friendship
 

especially is you include seminary school grads...

pamela
 

What, you have Shape Shifter on ignore or something?

Then again, I didn't see your name on the cc: list when he told the rest of us our respective expiration dates. Weird that.

pamela
 

Kid Rock?

emotional affairs
 

A little truth in advertising, please -- there were absolutely no tips or ideas on how to hide stuff from your spouse. I want my money back.

It did provide a good board motto, though: "Are you meeting new friends on the Internet without your partner's knowledge?"

pamela
 

Yeah. Shape Shifter's always had a thing for me. I won him over with Katy poetry.

drat! beaten to the punch by Atticus!

emotional affairs
 

My partner knows and likes my internet friends. Now the partners at my firm might be another matter...

Friendship
 

I dig your tendency to be a smartass. But it doesn't work quite so well with something like this.

1. Stating a thesis on how friendships begin and work and expecting people to disprove your "general" conclusion or "usual" result is just plain dumb. No one on this board is going to point you to empirical evidence proving or disproving your brilliant thesis. All other theories will be based on anecdotal evidence.

So...

2. What you actually want is anectdotal evidence. If everyone on the board responds to your thesis with "That's total bullshit because in my experience..." then you have the numbers that will enable you to come to a conclusion on the accuracy of your thesis, don't you?

3. If anecdotal evidence is irrelevant, why did you spend so much time telling us about your personal experience (which I presume is the foundation for your thesis)?

So, what has my experience been? My closest friend is male*. I would not put my wife (when were close) in the category of "friend," but we're not talking about that distinction here. He has been my best friend since we met in 3rd grade (public school). We stopped going to school together beginning with high school and took entirely different paths thereafter. But he will always know me better than anyone not related to me (and in many instances even better than they) and I him. We can talk to each other about subjects that I wouldn't want to share with anyone else, but we don't do it that often. Most of the time it's unnecessary because we know exactly how the other person feels about whatever issue it is anyway. He would do and has done anything for me and vice versa.

There have been times, like college, when we weren't in touch as much as you would think best friends would be, but it made no difference because we were as thick as thieves on breaks. That's the way it is with guys. It's a different type of friendship than the one your wife believes makes up a close friendship. But it is no less strong and we are no less close than your wife and her best friend.

Most of my friends are from grade school and junior high. I have a few from high school, but our interests and experiences have changed enough and our friendships weren't strong enough for me to be very close with any of them. My roomate in college is still a close friend. And the friends I made in law school were mostly female and won't stand the test of time.

I would say that of the people I know who have gotten married, the best man (if not a brother or something) goes farther back than college or law school. Out of most women I know, their friends tend to be women and they go way back too. Exceptions are few in my experience.

TM

It's the perfect blendship. When other friendships go up in smoke. Ours will still be oak.

Friendship
 

Oh my god. Does this actually happen? What does he tell his wife when he sneaks out to see you? Does he <gasp> lie?

TM

Friendship
 

she was on your side in the debate. I think something is wrong with the marriage if he is lying to the wife to see the ex (I'm not saying it is completely something wrong on his end, but if she is irrationally jealous he is not helping matters by lying). but I'm guessing you already knew that.

Friendship
 

I know. It was a cheap shot at you and Fugee.

Yez. I'll refer you to the "beaten to death" comment in your last post.

TM

govt coverup
 

Apparently there have been encounters with UFOs. I learned this from OddTodd (his daily fact of Monday):

http://www.oddtodd.com/dailyfact.htm