Being Far Away

[spacemonkey1310]

When I'm in the USA my social network basically breaks down into two groups. The first group are my soccer players/parents/coaches/board etc. Usually this group consists of very fine individuals who share a common bond but also have the propensity to err on the side of their particular child/team/club. An occupational hazard but one that is usually worth the trade off.

The second group is you. My online friends. People who I''ve never met (in most cases) but people who I feel an understanding and common bond with.

Very rarely do I say thanks and let people know how important their friendship and interaction is for me. But from a guy who is very, very far away from anything even remotely considered IRL, you guys rock!

Thank you.

[JustDee]

Being a transplant from another world.. I mean state.. I understand where you are coming from. Obviously, NY is only a 12 hour car ride from where I am in TN but believe me, in every other way, they are worlds apart. Everything I know is there in NY and it has been difficult at best to allow myself to seek out new life and new civilization.. sorry, my trekkie started to show.

seriously, it is so hard to start all over again, especially at my age, to make "life long" friends.
What is even harder on me in particular..lol, is that I have not really kept in touch with my friends and family from back home. I don't know why, it doesn't even matter, geez, I can make just about anything about me.

Anyway, I understand what you mean and you are right, it is nice to have this place to come to to share and have these people give you the love and support that they do.

now.. about me... JUST KIDDING.

[pendragon]

Howdy spacemonkey1310
Greetings from Not-Europe
Friends are where you find them. Being the perpetual tumbleweed, I’ve taken to considering “home” to be my skin.
Q: “Where are you from?”
A: “Earth,… and you?”

[JustAnotherUserName]

Online friends are the best because they're "perfect!" You show up when you want, you leave when you want and you are in total control of the pace and extent to which you let them in.

Once you know someone in real life and spend actual time with them, their warts and foibles eventually emerge. I don't mean those lovely one-time-visits I've had with many of you here (with one notable exception!) but eventually the "real" people will emerge and leave their online counterpart behind.

Don't get me wrong--my online friends have been my absolute lifeline for that very reason. They get to be forever perfect--words carefully measured by the luxury of the delete key, my house can always be a mess when they visit--24/7, and they love everything I do and say. Of course, the same applies in reverse as well.

All the right ingredients for a perfect friendship!!

Last time I put forth this opinion, I kind of got jumped (in the friendliest possible way, of course), but I have this kind of odd hobby of going out of my way to meet people personally that I've met online, even waaaaaaaay pre-LV days. So it is based on my considerable experience with online vs. IRL relationships. I'm not saying online friendships aren't real. I'm just saying they're only as real as they can be under the circumstances. That doesn't make them any less valuable.

No wonder we all like each other better!!

Keep blogging, SM :-)

[LtAdams2247]

In most cases we don't connest physically to people. It's minds we connect to. So IRL, online, same diff ;-)

[photo2010]

Online friends have been my lifeline to the world in many ways. Several years ago when i could travel, (long before LV or Ark days), I made two trips from my home in CT to meet groups of online friends. Once to NYC, and once cross-country to Las Vegas. In both cases, my IRL experiences were better than I imagined. The program we all had met on was called CU-SeeMe, a very basic videoconferencing program that I found online just surfing one night. I agree with Spacemonkey, you all mean more to me than you'll ever know!

[Kat.Ballou]

motc just went all "kat.ballou" for a second.

I like internet friends as a completely seperate yet completely reliable outet. Never thought I'd use the words 'internet' and 'reliable' in a sentence. but BAM.

[SydTheSkeptic]

Dude.

[SydTheSkeptic]

It's been- like...two years now, right? How many people have we seen come and go on these sites? Lots.

But we're still standing after all this time. That's gotta mean something.

[BlancheNoE]

I consider you a part of my soul-family. You realize that means you'll have to come visit me in the e-home for the non-criminally insane in a few years. Bring me an e-twinkie, would ya'.

[Jim]

Even if you all were just artificial images inside my monitor, I would still get a hell of a kick out of interacting with you. But it's fantastic to know that you have real lives somewhere out there, and even so, you still choose to come over to your machines and talk to me once in a while. THANK YOU! :'-)