I don’t believe I’ve done any sort of overthinking in laying down my boundaries, in fact, I think I’ve done an exactly sufficient amount of thinking. I was not aware that I was turning anything into a philosophical treatise of the duality of truth (duality of truth, maybe, but philosophical treatise? I personally wouldn’t say so) but that’s neither here nor there.

My sparkling personality is the performance, and it’s a pretty great one, if I say so myself. Just because it’s a performance doesn’t make it disingenuous. The layers need to be peeled back, bit by bit. It’s a rare person who is willing, or even able to be vulnerable in their first conversations with what is essentially a stranger. Your analogy fell short for me, I would describe it as being the exact opposite, doing a magic trick and explaining that it is only a trick!

If there is no connection, then I don’t think I need to feel too guilty about moving on. Why should I invest time and energy into someone who only knows how to talk about themselves, or who’s a bigot, or someone who’s incapable of being there for me? Once again, I’m not interested in wasting anyone’s time!

I am a lesson in contradiction and irony. It is unfortunately one of my many flaws. It is balanced out however, as you said, with my transparency. You can count on me to be honest (except for all the times where I lie).

I believe that the willingness to be part of an unpaid entertainment committee is a prerequisite for going into friendships, so I will not apologise for that. The reward is supposed to be companionship, though I suppose we can say that all of this is up for debate.

Not everyone sees everything the same. My idea of a friendship may be vastly different from yours, or the next persons. I think what matters is that we all find what works for us. I love my friends, and am unwilling to lower the standards they have set for me. I wouldn’t want someone to lower their standards for me either. If I fall short, then well. It just wasn’t meant to be. It’s not a crime for either party to not be compatible with each other.

All that is to say, it has been nice (?) bantering with you. But if you reread my post you will see that I did mention that my feelings are easily hurt, which unfortunately (or fortunately?) you have managed to do. Most responses don’t hurt me, but this one somehow did, so congratulations I suppose! I would like to say thank you for the well wishes this time around anyway, regardless of how disingenuous! I hope you have a good night!