When People Come Back.

Tonight I met up with an old friend from college that I hadn't seen in years so I figured it would be awkward, I'd drink at least 3 too many drinks to make up for it and that would be that. I figured I would ask about the people that we mutually used to hang out with and, after a well placed talk from another friend about me mentioning the show Intervention at every chance, I'd try to avoid letting him think I'd turned into a complete disaster that spends most of my time watching people on meth.
What ended up happening was: We got along. Really well. I hardly had to use any of the conversation points I had thought up on the way over. Everything just flowed smoothly.
He asked me how my writing was going and if I still carried those notebooks around with me everywhere. We still liked the same books and he remembered how I used to walk around downtown aimlessly for hours on end along with the dumb stuff like the night his friend threw up in my sink. I came to the conclusion that somewhere in my early twenties I was actually letting people get to know me. So well that years later they still knew who I was. The second conclusion that I came to was that it is the professional world's fault that had changed. I had learned to laugh on command, hide awkward topics, and erase lingering silences during those first awful jobs I had to keep those new career contacts at arms length that I think I forgot that not everyone new that I meet is a coworker.
So anyway, out of that meeting of old friends I got some great conversation, and a big piece of homework. Learn to distinguish the difference between career acquaintances and potential actual friends.