January 15

One of my biggest griefs about Facebook is when I get a friend request from someone that I thought I was already friends with. I lead a very simple and monotonous life, so I get excited when someone new has found me and I will be able to see what he or she is doing with his or her life. There are very few things in life that are more disappointing than discovering that a new friend is simply an old friend on Facebook. I almost get angry at the people that do this, but when it happens more than once from the same person, I get livid and I take action.

The first time someone did it, I didn't think too much of it. Maybe something happened with his list of friends and he had to go around and add people again. Maybe he went through a bit of an emotional crisis linked to his Facebook and he decided, "To hell with it" and canceled his account. I've been in moods where I just wanted to delete it and rip myself away from the meaningless daily activity that keeps me from doing anything productive so I could sort of relate.

Anyway, I accepted his request and put the matter behind me. Very shortly thereafter, I received another friend request from the same guy! I couldn't believe it! I gave him the benefit of the doubt, and this is how he thanks me? As a punishment for not being able to make up his mind, I left his request in limbo and didn't respond to it for a few weeks.

If you want to be my superficial friend, that's fine, but I'm not going to encourage this kind of behavior and let you continue to rebuild your list of friends in its entirety over and over again. I'm pretty sure my little lesson sunk in because I haven't received a request from him and I still see his Farmville progress on the main Newsfeed every day.

The next guy that did this to me wasn't so lucky. I didn't (and won't) play his cat and mouse game. I just clicked the ignore button when I received his second request. This guy must have been keeping tabs on his pending friendships because the next day, he had the audacity to try again with me! Ignore.

Let that be a lesson to all of you out there. I love all of my fake cyber friends, but I can only play this game so long. If we've crossed paths in the real world, I don't have a problem being friends in the fake world. But don't think that means I will always be willing to accept your friendship. It should be an honor to be friends with Brandon Paul Roesler from the Chapman Alum network. Don't take it for granted.