Pumpkin's rant of the day: 'Best' Friend is a Nosy, Bossy Dictator

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Edited version because I forgot a bit. I wonder what best friends are supposed to be. The person who calls herself my best friend is just someone who has known me for the longest (over 30 years). We don't really have anything in common. She's nice enough but very odd (and I don't mean in a good way!). People think I talk a lot but, well, even I hardly get a word in edgeways when she's chatting. She'll even ask questions and answer them for me. She'll tell me all about things I know as if she knows more. She doesn't so much ask questions as state her own assumptions. Of course, she never stops talking long enough for me to give her the actual answer, or correct her assumptions when they are wrong. She often tells me about what my friends are doing, even tells me about my family sometimes and, believe it or not, even about myself and my own life as if I don't know! Well, last time I was out with her, we'd gone for dinner and a quiz. Well, the quiz wasn't on anyway but we didn't know until we got there. It was my friend who had decided that we would do that. Of course, I don't mind. It's nice to go out sometimes and I only see her about once a month (that's about the most regularly I've seen her since we were at school and even then we didn't actually socialise). Anyway, I'd said several times that I wouldn't mind going to karaoke as that's something I had been doing regularly on a Thursday and I'd missed it. I enjoy quizzes as well but we had been to one quite recently. But my friend completely dismissed the idea and pretty much told me that we'd be going to the quiz and for dinner. While we were out, she was telling me something about her friends. Friends whom she met through an ex of hers whom, in turn, she met through me. Now, you might think that's perfectly normal to make friends in such a way. Of course it is but, it's hard to explain, it seems she kind of tags on to friends and then moves onto the next friend although she does keep in touch with others. She told me that these friends of hers were having an event and she told me of a couple of people who might be there. Including people who used to be my friends. I don't know if this will come across as jealousy on my part but it's not. Basically, my best friend sees more of my other friends than I do (whether they want her to or not). To explain further, I'll continue with my story. My birthday is coming up next month. I have decided what I would like to do and I told my friend this. I had thought about going to karaoke as I did that for my birthday last year (with a bit of a Doctor Who theme) but one reason I did that last year was because my birthday happened to fall on the day I would have been at karaoke anyway. Well, my friend seemed to decide that, although she wouldn't otherwise come to karaoke with me, I should do that for my birthday. I had decided on something different. My friend basically said that I should do karaoke in case people can't do the other thing. Well, I think I'm too old to care about having more than one birthday night just so I can see more people. The thing with my friend is that she often says she might not be able to do things. That's usually because she's expecting to be invited to something else (and when I say 'invited', she has been known to turn up at occasions when she's not been invited but has asked questions as to when, where, etc. and turned up anyway because, I suppose, she could get different bits of information from different people, or most people wouldn't even consider that she's fishing for an invite). Where was I? Oh yes, that's it. I've often had responses from her which equate to basically that she'll turn up if she has nothing better to do. Now you'd think an actual best friend would want to make the effort to turn up. If they've already got plans then that's one thing but waiting to see if someone else is doing something (unless it's family or having to check work and suchlike), that, to me, is just rude. Especially when, for example, there's a possibility that my son's cousin might be having a party for her 7th birthday during the same weekend as I'm planning my things (as her birthday is the day before mine). So, it seems, my 'best friend' has decided that I have to do something I wasn't going to do because she and her partner might not be able to make the thing I am going to do because they might get invited (or she'll invite herself) to a party of a child who has nothing to do with her. So, yes, that's my best friend. Always wanting to know everything about everybody, thinking she already does, and telling people they have to do things because their intentions might not be convenient for her. The thing I forgot about before - well, my friend tells me all about everyone's life including my own. She even told me what it must be like for me to have a disabled boyfriend. Well, of course, I wouldn't know what it's like to be with my boyfriend, would I? :P She said she didn't think she'd be able to handle it, which is fair enough. I know a lot of people wouldn't, that's one reason why my boyfriend has such a long list of ex-girlfriends! But, yeah, my friend didn't even stop talking long enough for me to tell her what it's actually like, or to let me explain (as I attempted to begin doing so) that it's all worth it and that it's the other stuff that makes the relationship, not just his disabilities.