Philos

Can I have a friend-girl? Catechism says. Yes! Philos is friend-love, and you can have as many friends as you like.

One of my first real friends ever, was a friend-girl. I went to Catholic school when I was young, and when I came home I spent almost all of my time building model airplanes. I built 112 airplanes before I was 11 years old. I specialized in the luftwaffe, the airplanes of world war II. Although I also deeply enjoyed the B-17, the P51-D and of course the RAF Spitfire. So I didn't get out much. When I finally emerged from my lab (the Attic) I found these two girls playing near my home and somehow they and I became fast friends. We spent every day together (when I wasn't building) and they and I had alot of fun. We even went to see "Tommy" together one night. When the only other option is a severe beating for one, in the middle of the playground - you tend to go where people don't give you a hard time and lets face it playing with girls is softer than playing with boys at that age. Especially if you are in Catholic school. (What lunch money? I don't have any lunch money.. )

Is having a friend, who happens to be a girl - cheating on your wife? Well.. there's the fantasy life, and then real life. Fantasy life , the friend-girl is your girl-friend and you're a studly guy who can handle it. After all, every high functioning male on the planet has had more or less the same fantasy about two women at once. Right? Here's the fix: Just imagine yourself doing the chores that two women would assign to you, at once.

What is it about friendships between girls and guys that so often end up frisky? I blame the human genome.

But the Proteome - that structure thats responsible for creating all the proteins your body uses - might be the structure that makes sleepovers between teenagers so much of a hassle to chaperone. Proteins are very sensitive to small changes in their sequence, and in fact, how they fold may also determine whether or not they're even going to do the job they were created to do. As a result, the parts of the genetic structure related to protein synthesis we'd think are fairly isolated - are probably what are really in play. These are very sensitive structures and they are behind alot of hormone regulation.

Friendship is a really practical thing. Game theory pretty much predicts it will happen, and most people can make friends fairly easily. What's fun about having a friend, who happens to be a girl - is you can tell her about how your wife is beating you up all the time and she won't laugh at you. And that will keep your serotonin level up.

But if she's a cute redhead, I promise you. There will be blood.