Kindle stuff + friendship thoughts

Kindle Review:

• Very good. I downloaded A Dance with Dragons, the 5th in the Ice and Fire series. Good book and I like reading it on the Kindle.
• Don't care for the price of the covers though. The cheapest through Amazon is $35 (up to $85!) I found a dust cover at Target for $30. There were full zip up covers too, but I like the 'book' feel of the dust cover. It's about the size of a small slimline bible.
• A really wants to use it. Gotta get kids books on it for them now. And make them talk like pirates...or is that commandeer...
• I charged it when I first got it and haven't plugged it in again. The battery indicator has only dropped about 20%. Haven't spent a lot of time browsing the store though. I guess leaving the wireless on drains the battery faster.
• I did find out some books are free, but they're free from the publisher, not Kindle, so Amazon doesn't advertise that I guess.

To get some rattling thoughts about friendship out:

Friendship is not an easy thing for me. I know some people who just tend to attract friends. That ain't me. I've been told I come across as cold and a little distant. I can see that. Not sure what to do about it, but I understand.

Thinking back over my adult life, I have a hard time seeing any 'great' friends. I spent quite a bit of time with a guy in CA, but it was friendship by association with my ex, and I think he just liked me for my access to an auto shop.

Then there's the guy I thought was my friend here in WY, but it's become fairly obvious I'm just a tool for him too.

I don't think my ex was ever a great friend either. Which explains some things I suppose.

Developing great friendships is a skill. One I don't have. But I also know I'm not alone in that. There are a bunch of single lonely guys out there. My mom was talking about a male cousin of mine the other day, saying he doesn't have any sort of social skills and that's why he can't keep girlfriends. I wonder how similar we are...

The key is effort. I don't put any in and don't expect to get anything out either, but by doing that there's no learning. I'm not learning how to get out my rut. Get out of myself, so to speak. For 10 years or so most of my friendships were closely tied to my marriage, in one way or another. It's not that she got the friends in the divorce, she actually alienated some of them. But that association made it pretty effortless to make friends, or at least find people to hang out with.

I wonder how much of this I inherited. My parents never had a lot of friends. They might know a couple or two that they played cards with every once in a while, but we never entertained. We were all content to do our own thing I guess.

I dunno. Just something I think about. Not too worried about it. Certainly not getting depressed about it. But I'd be lying if I said I didn't want a good friend or two. Or at least someone to hang out with and cook for every once in a while...