I’m sorry a boy did something that aggravated you. People are prone to be aggravating. Here are some ways to be aggravating: lie or exaggerate, do something after being asked to stop, fail to listen, break confidences, mind others’ business, brag, complain unproductively, argue frequently, take credit for someone else’s idea, talk over someone, keep silent about what’s bothering you, explain as if someone else is clueless, make broad indefensible generalizations, forget a date or appointment, assume the worst of someone else’s behavior, be quick to aggravate, pretend innocence after doing something aggravating… do any of these sound familiar? Let’s all make a solemn vow to minimize how much we do these things, & we’ll all get along a little better.

Making friends is very hard – so many things have to go right. As you grow older, you spend less time with a given group of people, and that makes it even harder to find friends. In high school, there’s tons of opportunity to make friends since you’re with (mostly) the same people for hours a day. In college, that’s less true. All you can do is continue to join clubs and put yourself out there. If you’re feeling lonely or depressed, you can also reach out to Counseling Services which might be able to give you more personal advice: bit.ly/BC-counseling.

Many people (including Bill and Hillary Clinton) have found love in a library, so you’re choice of location has promise. Otherwise, picking up someone in a library doesn’t differ much from anywhere else. Make eye contact and determine if the other person is interested in you. If they might be, start a conversation with some general questions to see how interested they really are. Leave the area if you make them uncomfortable (you don’t want to become a stalker). And if you’re trying to pick up a librarian, here are some lines that don’t work (bit.ly/pickup-librarian)