Friday Five

1. Would you say that you're good at keeping in touch with people?
No, in fact, I'm pretty hopeless. My time always seems to limited to do everything I want and need to do, especially in the summer when I work two jobs, and keeping in touch with any but my closest friends is one of the first things to go. And I always, always regret it, but I don't seem to be able to change the pattern.

2. Which communication method do you usually prefer/use: e-mail, telephone, snail mail, blog comments, or meeting in person? Why?
I think I communicate best by IM... I'm a fast typist, if not always that good a one (but at least I can spell). Failing that, e-mail and blog comments. Love to meet up with people, and surprisingly enough, I usually find that I *do* like people in person that I've liked online--I didn't realize that would be the case quite as often as it has been. I hate, detest, and frankly, fear, the telephone. There are maybe 3 people I don't mind chatting with on the phone--the rest of the world can just lose my number. I've had a phobia about phones since childhood, and since I have to work with them full-time, I'd just as soon avoid them entirely when I'm on my own time.

3. Do you have an instant messenger program? How many? Why/why not? How often do you use it?
I use AIM, mostly because it worked well for me initially (when most of my friends either had AIM or AOL) and I've never had a reason to change it. I like ICQ, especially it's skinnability, but I had lots of problems with it crashing, and just never went back to it. Maybe once I upgrade the computer. I've used Yahoo Messenger, but it seems like just a riff on AIM. Eventually, I imagine I'll go to one of compendium programs that works with the major IM programs--I forget the name of the current most popular one.

4. Do most of your close friends live nearby or far away?
I have a few close friends who live relatively near---none so near that I see them every day, but close enough that I could see them every month (although since I don't drive and we're all busy, that doesn't always happen). At least 3 of those folks would be amongst my best friends wherever they lived, and a few would probably fall into the "good friends but not bosom buddies" list except that they're close enough that I get to spend more time with them and thus get to know them better than I might have otherwise. I also have a slightly larger number of close friends who are scattered all over the country, and a few of them all over the world. As stated above, I regret that I don't keep in better touch with them.

5. Are you an "out of sight, out of mind" person, or do you believe that "distance makes the heart grow fonder"?
I tend to move from B to A as time passes--I miss folks like crazy for a while, but I will eventually move on if I have to.