9% of Canadians are Friendless

There was a study saying that 9% of Canadians have no friends.  It got me thinking; what constitutes a friend?  Could I be classified as friendless?  I have 182 friends on Facebook.  I've stayed in contact and have Skyped several times with a couple old friends from Katimavik, but I haven't interacted with them in the "real world" for like, two years, so do they still count?  I make sure to get together with my old friends from high school after I've been away and if they're in town, but that's really occasional. I have neighbours and old work buddies that I'll stop and speak to, and I've been in most of their houses at one time or another just to hang out, but where does someone turn from being an "acquaintance" into a "friend"?  I have an old employer from back when I was doing odd jobs that I now visit semi-regularly, and a couple of old employment counselors that I make sure to stay in touch with, but they're not really "typical" friends.  In a similar vein, I'm pretty close to some of my family, but do they count?  I don't have any friends that I'll call up and be like "Hey, what are you doing? I'm bored, wanna hang out?"  Really, do I just have a wide net of close acquaintances?

I messaged the people at Residence to see what my chances were of getting a place there, since last year's payment deadline was about a week from now.  Turns out I'm #33 on the waitlist.  They said they will message me when they have a place for me.  I have no idea how bad a person's chances are when they're #33, but I'm not loving that number.  Looks like I should start coming up with a backup plan.

I got the phone number of a guy from Karadie.  Hopefully, I'll now be able to confirm that my package made it's last leg from Bamako to Karadie.  My host family didn't have a cell phone, but I'm sure if they got my package, the news will have spread throughout the village.