For those of you who don't know, my beloved and I met online. We didn't use a dating service or anything of that sort, because we weren't looking for potential mates. We crossed paths once in a chat room on MSN, then "met" again almost a year later in another MSN chat room for trivia buffs. We didn't know at the time that we had a mutual friend. Her name is Nikki, and she is a dear friend to both of us. We got to know one another pretty well while we were yukking it up in "To Quizinity and Beyond", and the three of us met in Memphis on one of her visits to the states. She's from Australia and had come to the US to meet a few of our trivia buddies, and she graciously accepted my invitation to stay with me for a week. Carl and I had just met in person that weekend, and Nikki arrived in Memphis the day he was leaving. The three of us had a grand old time that day sightseeing, snapping photos, and laughing nonstop. Nikki and I saw Carl off, then headed back to my apartment in Arkansas.
She was a wonderful houseguest. I couldn't take off work, so she was basically stranded in Hooterville until I got home each day. There is no fun to be had in Hooterville. In the evenings, we'd go to Little Rock or North Little Rock to find fun, and even that was a stretch. I grew up in Little Rock, but on the southwest side, sheltered, if you will, from all things cultural and cool. In other words, I was a dork. Okay, make that am, but... well, now you know why. Pretty much, we'd just go out to dinner and then for a walk. The highlight of her visit, I'm sure, was the night we went to Outback Steakhouse. Yes, I did take my vegan Aussie friend to Outback. Well, we were running out of options, and she hadn't been there before. And yes, she still laughs at me for that.
She is now happily married to one of our other trivia buddies and living in Washington state. They are the proud parents of one adorable little boy. We will get together again one of these days, this time on her turf, because obviously, I am the most-boring-ever hostess on the planet. Or at least on 2 continents.
We chat every now and then on MSN messenger, which is one of the ways that Carl and I stayed connected while we were dating. Yahoo! messenger is another. Sometimes we'd do both at the same time. We'd also talk on the phone while making faces at each other on our webcams. Barb asked me in her comment on this post about the webcam. Yes, I did get the webcam so that Carl and I could see each other. Because who wants to be seeing this or this
while typing sweet nothings to a computer? Really. And the cool thing is I'm not half bad looking in comparison. Although I do wonder about his affinity for little old ladies. Not that I'm worried. I'm already halfway there.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
7 comments:
OK. Those two "this" things made me jump, they're so scary. My gosh, Carl must have thought you were Venus when he saw the real you! What a neat way to meet. How amazing is it that you two met in cyberspace and had such a great friend in common? This is just one of those amazing stories that makes you shake your head in wonder. I need to take lessons from you - your posts are always either laugh out loud funny or amazingly thought provoking. And here I am talking about the best way to keep track of your remotes!
xoxoxo
Barb, that is too funny. Because I was looking over my posts thinking I must seem a little manic-depressive to my reader(s). Thank you, by the way.
I thought those profiles would ward off the weirdos, but can you believe I still had guys sending me instant messages? Crazies. Especially Carl. That man's a NUT.
xoxoxo
hmnn...
its nice that the chatroom thing worked out, but, i would think of giving a first good impression, and I'm a totally different person in chatrooms than in real, (dual identity?). But thats the let down of Chatrooms. You are left to fill in the gaps ur self, often filling them with what you want, not what is real. (e.g. "he sounds like a really smart guy. must've studied at university")
Brenda, he HAD to be really persistent not to let those pictures put him off, I tell you! LOL
It's gonna show on your sitemeter that I was on here for ages, because I just got an email from another blogger friend who may be coming by to visit me on the way back from a family reunion. I have only been online since Nov. of last year, and I can't believe how close I've gotten to some of my blogger friends. I actually talk by email and comment on their blogs more than I talk to some of my family and friends. So I don't find it odd at all that you met Carl online. I'm meeting new friends all the time, and you're one of them. :-)
I'm glad the on line romance worked out so well for you. I've heard and experience vicariously some horror stories!
Yes, there are scary people out there, both online and in real life.
Now let me get this straight. Our random visitor thinks giving a good first impression is important, but he's totally different in real life. I assume then, that he MAKES STUFF UP, which means he's not being honest. Plus, he can't (or refuses to) spell "your", which tells me he's NOT MY TYPE. or typo even.
Ya gotta be careful.
Yes indeed, Brenda. Careful. That comment made no sense to anyone anyway. However, YOUR comment about being manic depressive? Nah. I think most of us think you're pretty normal since we're all about the same. :-)
xoxoxo
Post a Comment