Friends...?

Can I call anyone a friend these days and mean more than simply "acquaintance" or "co-worker"? Have I ever had friends that mattered? ("Mattered" at what level, Iohann? Many have, actually.) Have I systematically cut myself off from friends and possible friends? Who can I relax with? Who can I open up to? Who can I go to when I'm upset? Family only. Perhaps that's appropriate at my age.

The Bling and the Bleak

BLING & BLEAK!!! These are the two heads of modern American testosterone-fueled barbarism - "bling", ornament, shock, attitude, success, and "bleak", nihilism, winner-ism, crime-as-way-of-life-ism, "get over it"-ism. Not so different from other places, other times.