Both Freya and Rikkuffx: Y'know, if she expects you to drink with her all the time, and can't accept that you don't want to do that, then she doesn't particularly make a very good friend anyway. Sounds pretty self-centered.

Personally, I've been blessed with very good real life friends. They have a very quirky sense of humor, they're all patient people, and they all care about one another. If someone's doing something that pisses other people in the group off, they will actually generally talk about it with the person, or get after them about it if it's particularly annoying/bad, instead of just deciding "I don't like this particular behavior. I'm not even going to tell you that I don't like it, though; I'm just going to stop talking to you," like some people on this very forum have suggested people do before (don't get me wrong, though; there is also a bit of butthurtness and talking-behind-the-back that goes on. Just generally, what is said behind the back is at the very least hinted at to the face, as well.)

That all being said, I generally don't lose friends. Sometimes people grow apart from me or move away, but if they come back, we can be friends again (although I might be shy towards them, what with not really knowing them anymore and having to get used to them again.) I can't think of a time where I've lost a friend in real life (ie not the internet, where it's happened plenty of times) but there was one friend I almost lost; he worked in Yellowstone with me. In fact, we were roommates.

That is probably what almost got us, sleeping a few feet from each other. We realized we had differing tastes on a lot of things, and our personalities would clash sometimes. He would use my stuff a lot without asking, and as time went on, I became less tolerant of it. Particularly when whenever I'd tell him not to use my stuff, he'd be somewhat indignant about it. I was also homesick, and he didn't like me being homesick. So one day he exploded at me, telling me I was "fucking depressing," among other things, and I very sarcastically told him he was a "great friend!" among other things.

We apologized and got over that, but then later on he got a girlfriend there, and she started staying in our room at night. Initially I said it was okay on some nights, if they kept it down, but then it started happening every night, and I just couldn't do it; they were right there, and I heard them, even though to their credit, they were trying to be quiet. So I asked him to stop having her stay the night, and he very sarcastically told me "No." We had one final argument, he stopped talking to me, and I moved into another room. Then people from back home tried to get us to make up, so we did, kinda. I still felt really bitter for months afterward, though, until he apologized again. And now we're fine and can hang out and be friends again; we just can't ever be roommates again (particularly since he married that girl, and they have a kid now.)

So yeah; losing a friend does suck, though I haven't experienced it frequently (except on the internet...) A lot of times, I'll be friends with two people who aren't getting along at the time, and that's a lot of fun, too... Anyhoo...

Wuv, Yer Mom