Passion Play

I just had an insight: I don't have friends who share any of my passions. I have friends that I love, that I share intellectual interests with, that I can have fun, interesting, deep conversations with, who care about me and will listen to me and respect me when I say that something is important to me. But the music that gives me chills, the characters who are real people to me, the stories and books that I wouldn't be the same person without, the art I love, the joy that I feel in finding patterns and connections in math or linguistics...none of my closest friends really share any of that with me.

My friendship with Catie was based on our joint obsession with the Beatles; my friendship with Lindsey, among other things, on the songs we sang together, and, in a way, on John. And where are they now? Off somewhere in the world not answering my facebook messages. Perhaps in a way friendships that don't rely on sharing passion for something are more durable and solid; my friends are my friends because they care about me, not George Harrison, or John. Liz and Holly have endured, but we hardly talk about Yugioh anymore; everyone else from the forum has faded away. And Andrew...even Andrew does not share in any of the things I truly love. Is that a good thing? I think it might be.

However, I feel the absence of that kind of relationship sometimes, especially when I see my friends sharing passions with each other that I am not a part of. I want friends who know that Budapest and Misery are two of the most amazing songs ever written, and that no character can quite match the intensity of Seto Kaiba or the subtle wisdom of Yugi, and that when you're feeling sluggish there's no better remedy than early Beatles music, and that the best thing to swear an oath on is the Great Book of Gummi, and that Inspector Gadget and Alvin and the Chipmunks are forever to be boycotted because idiotic people get them confused with the masterpiece that is Rescue Rangers, and that finding Galois groups is intrinsically fun and satisfying.

Well, I'm working on the last one, I suppose. But then, will my friendships with the people I know through math disappear, like Catie and Lindsey and Lady and Ma'at and athena and Lisa...? Probably, I suspect. And that makes me sad.

And now, a word from Ian Anderson:

Do we have problems of communication?
There's something I don't know and you can't explain it to me.
Let's talk the secret language of birds...