Maybe I shouldn’t be so harsh with my friend. I mean, with web 2.0-social networking-ubiquitous ad placement monetization-etc., and our concurrent poverty of attention and time, isn’t every relationship and interaction becoming something to be “leveraged” and capitalized – in the truest sense of the word? If you click on my page or download my friend’s song, me and my friend and many other middle-people can make money…and it’s so scalable!

Sort of makes the Mary Kay’s of yesteryear look tame (pink cars and all).

Or – maybe the nature of friendship is changing? A few days ago I had a girlfriend I hadn’t heard from in nearly 5 years email me out of the blue…she’s not a real emailer…and it was such a pleasant surprise that she just wanted to see how I was doing. Oh, yes, she did also want to “share” with me about a new business she is in and how exciting that is…

I admit, my response – “sounds great but – is it multi-level marketing?” – may not have been the most tactful one. I told her how tired I was to receive “check in” notes from my friends really wanting to sell me skin care or travel products….sure enough, it was the former behind her “let’s get in touch” email. I explained I was beholden to another one of my 8? girlfriends selling that line she was starting…but would still love to hear from her. She said she’d try over the weekend. It’s now 9:43pm Sunday (past midnight in her time zone) and I’m trying to stay positive.

Because it’s really all so exciting!!