[em-bee]

Ich weiß von alters her, daß man entfernten Freunden gar nicht schreibt, wenn man darauf warten will, bis man ihnen etwas zu schreiben hat.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

i know for a long time that you don't ever write to distant friends if you want to wait until you have something worth writing about.

i found this in a collection of quotes. i don't know if it is verified as genuine, but that doesn't matter. the sentiment expressed makes sense either way.

i sent that quote to a friend that i haven't talked to in a while, followed by "how are you?" which then led to a nice conversation catching up.

the thing is that doing this is a lot easier than suddenly talking to someone because you actually want something from them.

compare for example the discussions here on HN on how we need to build a network to help us find jobs. the part that i am struggling with is that i don't usually keep in touch often enough with the people in my network so that asking anyone to help me find a job feels rather awkward. i'd rather just message people out of the blue for no reason at all instead of waiting until i seriously need their help.