I'm impressed that you talk to your close friends once a week. Are all these friends in the local area, or do you talk to them online? I think only seeing friends a couple of times a year in real life has led to us not talking much anymore.
Yes, most of my friends are in my area. I communicate with them online/text and we try to set up things to do (even if it's just grabbing some lunch).
I think the hard part is that it takes time to develop close friendships, especially with a full time job.
I keep in touch occasionally. A few of my friends I try to call (no one ever seems to call me). Mostly we IM on Steam, or sometimes I hop on Ventrilo. They're usually gaming, and while I've tried to buy the same games so we could kind of hang out, they keep different schedules, and anything with a leveling component they get really far ahead because they play all the time.
When I head back for whatever reason we generally try to meet up, even if it's just grabbing food.
That actually seems to be a big disconnect. Among my friends who play games, it seems like all their close friends play games too.