on the topic of how rare it is to find people you can really relate to

join the fucking club.

The trick is t meet people like you, not people EXACTLY LIKE you. "Enough of your interests" -- Am I wrong to assume that the 'Enough' in this phrase means 'Totally?'

At a certain point one must reach adulthood, and the most unfortunate and tragic consequence of adulthood (now referred to as 'setting down') is dealing with the consequence of a spouse who is not your ideal --- inconceivable a century ago, when noble studs had their pick of the whitebread litter--- it is truly a burden for the offspring of the hipster class to mate with the sows and hogs of the uneducated and common base.

At best we can hope for some variety of miscegenation which leads to a superior breed of idiot. Then, and only then, will the human race rise to its true potential - the primary producer of unlistenable music for the universe.

PS I am HAMMERED. OH MY GOD I AM FUCKED UIP_ but I didnt woant= to delete this bcz it was to funky to let it die/

I'm not sure I'd agree with having similar interests as being a key part of friendship, with my pals, it's that I've known them for years and we've got to know each other. Maybe, we share a world view more than anything else.

I'd always considered myself fortunate to meet this lot, because I'd not met many people over the next two decades who suited me nearly as well. Very soon after coming here, I felt as if I'd suddenly found dozens more. When I was coming to my first FAP, almost exactly a year ago (it was the Sunday before the Champions' League final), someone pointed me at some photos of a London FAP crowd, and my first reaction was that they even looked like my friends - not on an individual basis, but collectively (though you lot are younger). I guess a common breadth and depth of cultural interests is the thing. I remember, for instance, meeting John Cooper-Clarke one day and talking to him for about 45 minutes. I went into work the next day and mentioned this, and no one had heard of him. I like being somewhere where I can take it for granted that at least most will know who I'm talking about. I have been the cleverest and most culturally knowledgeable people in most circles I've moved in, but that's not by any means the case with my old friends or here, and I like that a lot.

I can't honestly claim that any ILX people count among my closest friends, nor would I imagine any of them would call me one of their best friends, but it's early days and it might happen as time goes on. I hope so.

''But the thing I wanted to mention is that it isn't necessarily based on shared experiences or common interests. Sometimes it's just that indefinable something''

yes and yes. I have two close friends but i don't have lots in common with them (they don't really know much abt music). it's just that i met them at college, and, even though we have gone on and done diff things since we still call each other but even then i only see them once/twice a year i think.

or maybe I must just think I am.

oh yeah this OTM but it is always nice to have someone to chat to once in a while i suppose (though that's prob not 'close' to some but it is fine to me).

But I feel a lot less "alone" now than I did as a kid (and ironically, I had more close friends back then).

I find it to be extrememly rare to have more than one or two people in my life, at any given time, that I feel completely at home and in tune with at all times. I've many buddies and pseudo-friends, but few who are what I would consider to be "close." And I'm fine with this.