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TalkingConversation has a kind of charm about it, an insinuating and insidious something that elicits secrets from us just like love or liquor. |
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Saturday, April 18, 1998
This morning I went to B&O Espresso to meet with some MS singles folks. I'd never been to this coffee house before (it's really more like a restaurant, with table service and all), but I've driven by it many times. There was one other woman, Kirsten, whom I've met before, and Ken and Sean, who were both familiar names. In fact, Sean is on my team at work and his office is right around the corner from mine! I'd seen him around, and read his postings and email, but had never really connected the two!
It was a very pleasant morning. We all talked for quite a while. Sean had a former existence as a music promoter in Los Angeles, but he is much happier now in Seattle. Ken is a 3D artist who works at the Redwest campus. Kirsten has even been to a Cacophony event before!
I went home and checked my email. I was pleased to see a message from X----! My invitation to an opera preview on the MS campus had gone unanswered for several days, so I had wondered if he was giving me the brush-off. But I had re-sent the invitation on Friday, and indeed, he said he hadn't got the earlier email. So that was good, although he can't make it to the preview.
My afternoon was so great! I got a call from online journaler The Admirable Burr (the journaler formerly known as Carl), who was in town for a job interview. He has been a special online friend since last summer, when he said some very nice things (Sept. 4, 1997; Sept. 6, 1997; archived copies) about me. Admiration naturally disposes me in a person's favor, and I really admire his writing style and design sense too.
I walked down to Twice Sold Tales, the used book store just off Broadway, and met him. I had never seen a picture of him (his journal is very anonymous) but I had read a description of him from another journaler, and he told me on the phone that he had long hair and was wearing a green sweater. This isn't a distinguishing description in Seattle, but I knew that he knew what I looked like. I found him in the science fiction aisle, gave him a hug, he bought the book he wanted, then we walked to the Habitat coffee house.
Where do we get ideas about what people look like, when we have no evidence to go on? I experience the same phenomenon when seeing someone whom I know only from the radio. We develop some idea from somewhere, maybe originally from a random image.
Anyway, I didn't feel shy at all. It was easy to connect the online person to the real man in front of me.
We had a lot to talk about. My life happenings (he is privy to some details that haven't been in this journal), his recent move and possible future job, his journal and mine, other journals we love or dislike, technology topics, life in Seattle, on and on .... We finished our beverages, then walked to the north end of the Broadway shopping district. He expressed a desire for a beer in a nice brewpub, so we turned around and walked to the other end of the district, the Pike/Pine corridor, which is where the Elysium Brewpub is.
The original intent of this afternoon had been for just a brief meeting, but my time was flexible, and the relatives and friends that Burr had originally thought he might need to connect with (he called them at various times during the afternoon) all were either tied up with crises at work or not at home when called. I didn't mind this at all, of course!
The brewpub was very pleasant: open, airy, and light. with window walls on the north and east sides. Not too smoky in the middle of a Saturday afternoon, and some very comfortable couches for lounging on (in addition to the normal tables and chairs), and tangy ginger beer for me to drink (alcohol makes me sneeze, so in consideration for others, I usually don't drink it).
Burr called me the queen of email, because I make it a habit to send mail to people when I have a comment on something they have written. I like to avoid the "usenet nod" phenomenon, where you read something you like or agree with, nod, and move on. People are much more likely to write and argue with something they disagree with, but writers need positive feedback too! But he thought I must get a lot more email than I really do. So feel free to write me!
It's true that the "connection" theme is a big one in my life. I have a mind for details, and if I remember a link someone might be interested in, I send it, or if there is a group someone should be involved in, I like to tell that person about it. I get a kick out of the online journalers that I have bugged into writing or into joining Open Pages, or the people that I have introduced to Vanguard or Cacophony.
Finally Burr's uncle arrived. When he spoke of his uncle I had been thinking of an elderly man, but I think the uncle is just a few years older than I am! He has a strong resemblance to Burr: both are tallish and slender, strong-nosed and big-eyed. Burr is about ten years younger than me, I think. While Burr and his uncle finished their beers, the uncle talked to us about the acting class he'd been at that afternoon. I introduced myself as an online friend of Burr's, but was careful to say nothing about journaling.
Finally it was time to go. What a great afternoon! It was so nice to make a real life connection to this online friend.
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