I owe my current happiness to Al Gore. At least, that's what he'd claim, right, since he invented the internet?
Over a year ago, one of my college buds invited me to a website called Orkut - a free friend networking site, not unlike Friendster. (Side note - when I invited my Dutch friend to join, he kindly informed me that "kut" is a very not nice word in Dutch for part of the female anatomy.) And so I got on it, had a bit of fun playing with the profiles and checking out what my friends wrote about themselves. I wrote a couple cheesy (I like cheese, see the theme?) testimonials about them. And then I joined a few of the fun online communities, like "AnyoneButBush 2004" (didn't work out so well, but I'm sure I got myself an FBI file for it) and "Knitting" (swapped a few stories about socks) - even joined a community for people that like soil (more on that another time).
I can't remember exactly what triggered me to do it, but I randomly emailed someone. I remember feeling a bit frustrated at the time because I was not meeting anyone new. I was out of grad school, moved back home with the p's, hanging out with my college and high school buds - but it seemed like our circle never grew. And I also kept hearing about people trying out internet dating. I met someone who was engaged to someone he met online. Anyway, all of these circumstances culminated in my deciding to just search people in the Chicago area for someone I might have something in common with, even just to make a new friend.
Greg and I talked for a couple of months online before we met for lunch. I remember making sure it was a very public place, and giving all the info I had on this internet guy to my sister just in case I should mysteriously disappear. I didn't tell my parents for ages how I met Greg, because I was sure that they'd be weirded out by it.
It may seem a little weird to use the net - perusing the profiles just like comparing CD's on Amazon or something. And then there's all the stigmas - I had a friend who dated a guy she met on the internet and he said, "Hey, if this works out, we'll just have to tell everyone we met at a concert or something cool like that." And of course there's the visions of 40 year old predatory men with unibrows and pocket protectors typing away and giggling like schoolboys on the other end - you never know what you're going to really get until you meet IRL (in real life).
But weirdness all vanishes when you meet the right guy. Anyway, what's weirder than meeting a drunk guy at a bar while you're drunk, and giving him your phone number? From such humble beginnings, many a happy knot has been tied ...
But I have to say, thanks Al. And much thanks to my alma mater, the University of Illinois, since they are the ones that really invented the internet, of course!
Update: We broke up. Never mind! I still like Al Gore, though.
Tuesday, July 26, 2005
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