There was once something that my best friend back in California and I had in common. We both knew a good number of girls, but we never got anywhere with them. Now this isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it can be a little frustrating at times when you know some of the hottest girls around (and believe me, I know some very attractive ladies) and all you end up in is the friend basket.

The friend basket is actually a term that was given to my friend when he was asking out this one girl at his work. Now, this was a very attractive lady as well; she had four separate offers to star on a Spanish soap opera (and the women from this kind of show were known to be incredibly sexy). Now when my friend, Danny by name, tried to ask her out, she immediately said to stop and told him straight off that there was no chance for him. Why? Because he was in the friend basket.

Women usually have some rough way of classifying men they know and meet: the "date" basket, and "hate" basket, and the "friend" basket. In my friend's case, this lady had most guys in her date or hate basket, but no one really in her friend basket. She usually had men moving from her date basket to her hate basket until Danny showed up.

Now if you know my friend Danny, you know he is a very likeable guy. He was so likeable that he ended up in the friend basket with this girl. She admits that she doesn't know how he got in there, and that no one ever gets into her friend basket, but by some flux in reality has Danny found himself in the friend basket and that was it. Well, she probably wasn't his type anyway.

As for me, I usually… eh, I mean always find myself in the friend basket. As I said before, this isn't necessarily a bad thing. It is a curse and a blessing for us both. You get advice and opinions for women that you can't get from guys. You get to hear some stories that usually circulates only among the female (and unfortunately some of these stories are things I really did not need to know, thank you very much!). You also get more chances to explore and embrace your feminine side that you really don't get when you are hanging out with the guys.

Still, I wonder how long I'm going to be in the friend basket. I wouldn't mind going into the date basket every now and then, even if I do turn up in the hate basket afterwards. Of course, maybe it's that mentality that prevents me from getting into the date basket in the first place. Maybe women see me as non-threatening. Maybe they think of me as incapable of being a sex object (scary thought as that may be). Maybe they think I'm gay, which I'm not (at least, I don't think). Hell, I might as well be gay since my love life has been non-existent.

Just recently, I got word from my friend Danny about the happenings back home. Other than the usual, I heard that he finally met a girl. We had an ongoing joke about the both of us being in the friend basket. But it seems that I will be the only one to carry on this joke a little further. Oh well, it was getting to be a bit too crowded in the friend basket anyway.

• The Friend Basket