^ this.

im not so sure. as for op, I have a new girl at my school, so if you now live in fremont, ca; message me if you want

Yeah, my best friend and I joke around all the time. Don't worry OP, I'm sure you'll make at least one friend

Why would you want to act as something you're not just to make friends? It reminds me of the girls who cake on tons of makeup to attract a guy. Sooner or later that friend or guy would realize the person is not who they made themselves out to be. As said before, be yourself OP. There's nothing better than a friend who accepts you. Considering you already have a good friend, I'd think what they said was in jest. This deployment is killing me btw...I'm on 14 hours days...ugh

I think people need to act like the best version of themselves. I went to a knew school and reinvented myself. I was the same person, but I didn't act like the shy person I was before. I actually talked to people, shared their interests, talked about my own life, and didn't have the same negative attitude I did before. I acted confident and people were a lot more open to me. But I didn't change who I was on the inside. I know a lot of people lie and make up better lives. There is nothing wrong with acting nice, acting more confident, and not being the shy person you were before. Those sort of things actually lead to you becoming more confident. But if Op changed everything about herself... that would be bad.

I think one of the factors that determine the strength of friendship is how hard you can rag on each other. In this case, I think they're pretty good friends.

Yeah that's true but it can get really annoying when he or she doesn't know when to stop. In this case I think OP should take it as a joke and be herself.

Even more importantly: YOU will know it's all an act and that all the 'friends' you are making like someone who doesn't exist. That always ends poorly.

I disagree completely. You should always be yourself.

Toning down isn't necessarily not being yourself. I can be pretty kooky around people who know me, people I feel comfortable with, but I'm a lot more toned down and reserved around people I don't know well. I think most of us have aspects of our personality that we don't necessarily show right away until we're comfortable with someone.

I think you have to learn to tone down your personality and have different fronts to be a healthy person. No one is the same with each social group. I don't make sex jokes around my parents, they just would not accept or enjoy that sort of talk. I am very focused on school and many of my classmates seem to think I am rather soft spoken, focused, and smart. When I am with people I am really good friends with, I am loud, proud, and very perverted. I make jokes, talk about comics, curse, and become rather childish. But that is how our friendship works and I love it. I also have friends I talk about certain things with. Anyways, sorry for the novel. What I am trying to say is, maybe Op has trouble knowing when to do one thing and when to do another. If Op has qualities other people might not understand, but the best friend likes, then Op should try to be a bit different. It is all about learning limits and what is appropriate.