I've met so far, 5
noders. One writes me from boot camp, another left a confession on my
canbox, one I met for 5 minutes, and I'm dating another. The fifth works with the fourth. Now I'm
setting myself up to meet another. I guess this is more normal than not, considering the popularity of the E2 get togethers, but for me it has always been a
one on one adventure, and none have left me disappointed.
Will we talk the whole time we're hanging out as he tours me through his hometown? Will I laugh too quickly, or talk too fast, as I have with all the other noders? Will I second guess my wardrobe, wanting to be the most complete and concise version of myself as possible? Will I have made another friend, or are we already friends in the electric sense, the sense that has gotten too eerily familiar?
It's still strange to me that I regard these internet relations as being so real, but again it's a struggle against realism, against what I have always been told about human interaction. The longer I go on into this, the more I am surprised by the tenacity of the human condtion to reach out, albeit with a smirk or smarminess, to others. We pretend to be aloof, to not care so much, and maybe that's the truth. There's always more than what we admit to. Always.