Last night, I got something of a wakeup call. No, not 'something'... I made a horrible mistake. The other person involved seemed to laugh it off, as is their right, but the truth of the matter is that it took me and profoundly shook me awake. I do a lot of complaining about the days when people promised me they would stay forever, but right now, I wouldn't blame them for leaving me--if they came back, seeing me like this.

I've gotten far too comfortable. I have a circle of friends--the Djynn-clex-ess-haya-chu-kya-peeples--but I haven't tried, actively tried, to break out of the patterns of those friendships in a long time. (Not that you all aren't WONDERFUL people. I love you all.) However, I haven't been exposed in a long time--not to a crowd of people, or to chat rooms, or to groups of people outside that area of familiarity.

It's corrupted me. Not in the 'oh god, here he goes on another six month puritanical I-know-better-than-you' binge way--in the way that I have stopped remembering the most fundamental and important rule there is. Several such rules, in fact--one being to never, ever make assumptions. I've been missing something serious--perhaps it's time to give myself a reminder that things are never universal. Or pleasant, always. Or peaceful. All we can try to do is make it that way.