I've had many friends over the years, but with a lot of them I've had the problem that they just disappear over time. Like I'm the one who's always initiating things and realize it's always me, so I stop after a while and realize that they never contact me back and don't bother to put up any effort on their end. In a way it makes me mad since I'm always making the effort, but then again everyone has their really close friends that they always do things with. Plus, it's nice when they DO remember you exist and want to hook up again to catch up on things.

Getting back to making friendships, I usually initiate them if I discover that we have something in common. For example, I'm not going to be too enthralled hanging around someone who digs country music and hangs out in bars that play it. But I find out that they have a keen interest in Star Wars or Star Trek, and suddenly we've got something to build on (even if they DO like Star Trek: Voyager).