Sept Ans

Today, I have accumulated seven years of blog.

So, I've got the itch to blog. To mark this day in the only way I can - online.

It's been a while. I got into the game a lot earlier than most people I know. The internet used to be just a place to find out things, not "Find Friends" as social networking sites suggest that I do, every time I log in. I never used to be all that open about forming friendships online, in fact, I still don't tend to talk about it because unless you give an acceptable context, many people would still find it strange. It is strange.

In this modern world of a working girl, I have no friends that I see particularly regularly: on a daily, or even weekly basis. Most of my close friends live in a different locality to me; trains are a pain and travel is awkward. You don't take a two hour round trip, just to sit for an evening in front of a TV with someone. So I don't see most of my friends all that often, no doubt the meetings will dwindle further as people do the growing up thing - get married, get mortages, get munchkins. Our interaction is largely limited to a virtual presence and how is that all that different from people with whom I initially began interaction that way? 

I've been in touch with people from the internet for longer than many people in my life now; since before I went to university. That's not to say I know them better than people I've had physical contact with; it doesn't even mean I know them all that well at all. But I've known them a long time, and history counts for something. As does frequency - I have less direct contact than I used to, but still, a significant percentage of my time is spent getting to know people I have never met. It's kind of odd.

Having said that, I have actually met many internet faces in the past year or so. It is weird, and slightly awkward. You don't have that common ground to start from, even though you may have more contact with them than many of your other friends. It may also transpire that the reason you work so well on-line is because your interaction is confined to the screen. You don't need to say more than you want to; you don't need to deal with awkward silences; you can easily evade uncomfortable questions. That all changes when you take away the phone lines and you're faced with...a face. So. Bizarre.


I have enjoyed meeting people. Sometimes you get lucky; sometimes you get cake. It's hard to describe how someone you've known for years is different when you meet them in person, but it almost always is slightly tweaked from the mind's eye image, and it is weird. 

It  is weird. I am weird. It's all totally weird. Right? 

Happy Blogday, Flix

Flitterbox: Youth Group - Forever Young