These people are not your friends. It's a mantra of sorts for me. Something I have to remind myself every time it seems like I'm letting my guard down. It's something in the past few days I've had to remind my self several times as I seek not to judge the behaviors of others. There are several reasons for this, but I'm just going to put it into perspective. Each con is good for helping put that back in focus. The difference between friends who care about you and you trust, versus people who are just friendly with you. You got to know the difference or your gonna get burned. I'm going to be honest not many people actually make my friends list. A lot people wonder, do I consider them a friend. I have a simple answer for that, how much time and effort have you put into me personally. Not me as an artist, not faving my work, or talking to me about my art. How much effort have you put into seeing how I'm doing, talking to me about whatever, seeking to spend time gaming or interacting. If the answer is not much, then it's a good bet that I don't consider you my friend, you're just... friendly.

I've been burned a lot and have had terrible experience because in the past I couldn't make that distinction. Gullible and naive was I many of time feeling everything that shines is gold and the people who seemed nice and friendly to me were my friends. This just isn't the case, even people who are you friends are mostly as loyal as their options and everyone else are varying degrees lukewarm commitment and self surviving tripe. When you go to a convention, prepare yourself. You may not always know who really considers you a friend and if you go into it with false expectations you're going to get your feelings hurt. People ask me why I'm pretty distant. Well all bullshit aside, I've danced that dance and I've heard that song a million times. My feet hurt and I'm not a masochist; so I'll leave the dance floor to more qualified dancers. I know where I stand as a person and have a good idea where I stand with people. That stance is generally on the outside looking in, it's not ideal, but it's honest and it's manageable. I don't want people pretending something is what it ain't and I'd never do that to another person.