on "overlap."

I had a friend over for lunch today and I made spaghetti and we had a picnic on my living room floor. The more interesting part, at least to any reader that doesn't care what I cooked for lunch, is the ensuing conversation we had about the concept of "overlap" and how I pretty desperately try to avoid it.

The basic concept is that I generally seek to avoid drama in my life. And the greater degree of "overlap" you have with your friends, the greater likelihood of drama, unspoken or not.

Here are examples of overlap -

1. You sleep with someone. Your friend makes out with someone. That's overlap.

2. You both sleep with someone. That is definitely overlap.

3. You both make out with the same person. This is overlap, but under certain circumstances, can be arguable overlap.

Any activity at first base or forward is overlap, and the further the base, the more disturbing the overlap.

I've overlapped with someone I know at least three times, and it disturbs me. She probably still doesn't know of any of it(and it'll stay that way!). But it's still aggravating. Oddly enough, with the exception of her and as far as I know(although I might just be being naive), I don't think there is anyone else I have had cause to overlap with. Which is really pretty awesome!

A good way to avoid any sort of overlap, and a rule of thumb I subconsciously follow, is to only date one person within any social circle. Sure, that severely limits dating possibilities...but hey. Besides, I'm really not sure I could conscientiously date within any social circle more than once, anyway. Social circle incest is almost always cause for drama, anyway.

So, I suppose I will have to disagree with the Spice Girls, who once said "If you wanna be my lover, you gotta get with my friends."