The internet really is a great thing.
I play a game called EVE online. It's a good time, incredibly complicated, but basically you fly around in a spaceship and blow stuff up. The cool part is you play with about 300,000 people from around the world on the same server; meaning that any one of those 300k people can interact with any other of those 300k people at any time, in any number of ways. If I remember correctly, about 40% of the player base is american, 30% is british, and the rest are scattered through the rest of the world with a fair portion being from norway, iceland, or russia. Needless to say, you can meet some pretty interesting people :)
I had this conversation with a newer member of the alliance that i'm a member of, and i just had to share it. How often do you get to have a casual chat with someone living in eastern russia? It started in a channel called 'local' where basically everyone around can see and was stuff to do with the game, and moved over a private conversation where we just talked about life in general. I'm posting the private convo, last thing he asked me in local was where i was from.
2127814079
Channel Name: Private Chat (GreyJade)
Listener: Celeritas 5k
Session started: 2008.01.19 04:29:48
---------------------------------------------------------------
[ 2008.01.19 04:29:59 ] Celeritas 5k > figure we won't clutter up everyone's local
[ 2008.01.19 04:30:10 ] GreyJade > oh ok
[ 2008.01.19 04:30:14 ] Celeritas 5k > but grew up in northern kentucky, goin to the university of louisville now
[ 2008.01.19 04:30:45 ] Celeritas 5k > yourself?
[ 2008.01.19 04:31:03 ] GreyJade > I see. I live in Russia, Far East
[ 2008.01.19 04:31:11 ] Celeritas 5k > ahh, that's cool
[ 2008.01.19 04:31:13 ] GreyJade > Vladivostok city, near Japan
[ 2008.01.19 04:31:17 ] GreyJade > ^^
[ 2008.01.19 04:31:26 ] Celeritas 5k > ever been to japan? i hear it's an exciting place
[ 2008.01.19 04:31:51 ] GreyJade > yes, i 've been there 2 times
[ 2008.01.19 04:32:11 ] GreyJade > in yokohama and tokio
[ 2008.01.19 04:32:40 ] Celeritas 5k > that's cool... i've been in america my whole life, except i traveled to england to visit a friend one time
[ 2008.01.19 04:33:47 ] GreyJade > I've been to South Korea too and this summer going to USA
[ 2008.01.19 04:33:54 ] GreyJade > to San-Diego
[ 2008.01.19 04:34:01 ] Celeritas 5k > haha, california's a good time
[ 2008.01.19 04:34:09 ] Celeritas 5k > never been there myself, but have friends who have gone there
[ 2008.01.19 04:34:09 ] GreyJade > ;p
[ 2008.01.19 04:34:31 ] GreyJade > I will work there from may till september
[ 2008.01.19 04:34:34 ] Celeritas 5k > been to oregan, just north of california
[ 2008.01.19 04:34:41 ] Celeritas 5k > awesome, what will you be doing?
[ 2008.01.19 04:34:52 ] GreyJade > Summer work, as mover
[ 2008.01.19 04:35:19 ] Celeritas 5k > that won't be too bad... bet you'll have a lot of fun
[ 2008.01.19 04:35:40 ] GreyJade > Yeah, indeed.
[ 2008.01.19 04:35:56 ] Celeritas 5k > i'd like to travel a bit, a few friends of mine were talking about backpacking through europe at some point
[ 2008.01.19 04:36:18 ] Celeritas 5k > i'd love to go see italy
[ 2008.01.19 04:36:30 ] GreyJade > I want to see spain =)
[ 2008.01.19 04:36:45 ] Celeritas 5k > had a friend from spain who went to school here
[ 2008.01.19 04:36:58 ] Celeritas 5k > really funny guy... much different culture from american
[ 2008.01.19 04:37:06 ] Celeritas 5k > which i'm sure is very different from russian culture
[ 2008.01.19 04:37:18 ] GreyJade > I'm studying spanish ;)
[ 2008.01.19 04:37:28 ] GreyJade > and want to have a practice with it
[ 2008.01.19 04:37:33 ] Celeritas 5k > yeah
[ 2008.01.19 04:37:40 ] Celeritas 5k > so you're tri-lingual? that's really cool
[ 2008.01.19 04:37:48 ] GreyJade > yes, of course, all cultures are different
[ 2008.01.19 04:38:04 ] GreyJade > Yup
[ 2008.01.19 04:38:20 ] Celeritas 5k > hehe, i'm one of those stupid americans who only knows english
[ 2008.01.19 04:38:32 ] Celeritas 5k > thoug i plan on learning german once i get out of school, maybe before
[ 2008.01.19 04:38:53 ] Celeritas 5k > i may get the opportunity to work in a research lab in germany before i graduate, i'm really excited
[ 2008.01.19 04:38:54 ] GreyJade > its nice anyway
[ 2008.01.19 04:39:19 ] GreyJade > oh
[ 2008.01.19 04:39:22 ] GreyJade > very nice
[ 2008.01.19 04:39:54 ] Celeritas 5k > yeah, i work for a company that does cardiovascular resarch
[ 2008.01.19 04:40:10 ] Celeritas 5k > do most of the grunt computer work that nobody else wants to do :)
[ 2008.01.19 04:40:22 ] GreyJade > :))
[ 2008.01.19 04:40:38 ] Celeritas 5k > but i learn a lot, so i'ts cool
[ 2008.01.19 04:41:02 ] GreyJade > I'm a student, studying international relations ;)
[ 2008.01.19 04:41:34 ] GreyJade > don't work yet
[ 2008.01.19 04:41:34 ] Celeritas 5k > i can understand your interest in travelling then
[ 2008.01.19 04:42:14 ] GreyJade > hehe :)
[ 2008.01.19 04:42:50 ] Celeritas 5k > what kind of job wouuld you take with a degree in international relations?
[ 2008.01.19 04:43:30 ] GreyJade > will work in diplomatic field, maybe would be sent in some russian embassy in another country
[ 2008.01.19 04:44:10 ] Celeritas 5k > sounds like fun, you'd learn a lot that way
[ 2008.01.19 04:44:13 ] Celeritas 5k > see most of the world
[ 2008.01.19 04:44:58 ] GreyJade > yeah, but i am afraid some, coz one one my friend finished university 2 years ago and he was sent to Africa ;))
[ 2008.01.19 04:45:51 ] Celeritas 5k > i have an uncle who lives in africa, doing charity work
[ 2008.01.19 04:46:15 ] Celeritas 5k > he likes it, and does a lot of good, but yeah i can see why you wouldn't necessarily wanna live there :)
[ 2008.01.19 04:46:32 ] GreyJade > :))
[ 2008.01.19 04:47:00 ] GreyJade > it seems i've lost you in some system =)
[ 2008.01.19 04:47:19 ] Celeritas 5k > yeah, i've already bought my cerberus and it's waiting for me a few jumps away from jita
[ 2008.01.19 04:47:38 ] GreyJade > ahh, i am going to rens, dont like Jita =)
[ 2008.01.19 04:47:47 ] Celeritas 5k > yeah, i'm hoping to stay away from it
[ 2008.01.19 04:47:56 ] Celeritas 5k > saturday night jita... bad idea
[ 2008.01.19 04:48:01 ] Celeritas 5k > wait, it's friday night :P
[ 2008.01.19 04:48:10 ] Celeritas 5k > but where you are... is it saturday morning?
[ 2008.01.19 04:48:18 ] GreyJade > in your place yes ;)
[ 2008.01.19 04:48:23 ] GreyJade > saturday day
[ 2008.01.19 04:48:29 ] Celeritas 5k > heh
[ 2008.01.19 04:48:38 ] GreyJade > 2.45pm
[ 2008.01.19 04:49:24 ] Celeritas 5k > so hopefully it's not too bad
[ 2008.01.19 04:49:33 ] Celeritas 5k > 11:45 here
[ 2008.01.19 04:49:46 ] GreyJade > will go sleep soom ;)
[ 2008.01.19 04:49:50 ] GreyJade > *soon
[ 2008.01.19 04:49:53 ] GreyJade > *you
[ 2008.01.19 04:50:01 ] Celeritas 5k > haha yeah, should probably be asleep already
[ 2008.01.19 04:50:05 ] Celeritas 5k > luckily not much to do tomorrow
[ 2008.01.19 04:50:22 ] Celeritas 5k > sleep, get homework done
[ 2008.01.19 04:50:32 ] Celeritas 5k > aww man, i have to work... just remembered
[ 2008.01.19 04:50:32 ] GreyJade > :)
[ 2008.01.19 04:51:05 ] Celeritas 5k > so i guess i do have stuff to do tomorrow :P
[ 2008.01.19 04:51:07 ] GreyJade > work always come when you dont expect it :)
[ 2008.01.19 04:51:11 ] GreyJade > lol
[ 2008.01.19 04:51:15 ] GreyJade > *comes
[ 2008.01.19 04:51:19 ] Celeritas 5k > i know, i completely forgot i had to work the other day
[ 2008.01.19 04:51:29 ] Celeritas 5k > they called me... "hey, did you know have to work today?"
[ 2008.01.19 04:51:30 ] GreyJade > hehe
[ 2008.01.19 04:51:35 ] Celeritas 5k > i'm goin 'well shit."
[ 2008.01.19 04:51:58 ] GreyJade > :)
[ 2008.01.19 04:52:07 ] Celeritas 5k > but that's life for ya
[ 2008.01.19 04:53:02 ] GreyJade > Ok, i have to go, because asked me to go with her to the shop :)
[ 2008.01.19 04:53:08 ] GreyJade > *my girlfriend
[ 2008.01.19 04:53:14 ] Celeritas 5k > that should be fun
[ 2008.01.19 04:53:18 ] Celeritas 5k > it was a pleasure talking to you :)
[ 2008.01.19 04:53:29 ] Celeritas 5k > and i'm sure i'll see you around
[ 2008.01.19 04:53:32 ] GreyJade > for me too ;)
[ 2008.01.19 04:53:44 ] GreyJade > i;m sure too
[ 2008.01.19 04:53:52 ] GreyJade > ok bye-bye
[ 2008.01.19 04:53:55 ] Celeritas 5k > later
I had this conversation with a newer member of the alliance that i'm a member of, and i just had to share it. How often do you get to have a casual chat with someone living in eastern russia? It started in a channel called 'local' where basically everyone around can see and was stuff to do with the game, and moved over a private conversation where we just talked about life in general. I'm posting the private convo, last thing he asked me in local was where i was from.
2127814079
Channel Name: Private Chat (GreyJade)
Listener: Celeritas 5k
Session started: 2008.01.19 04:29:48
---------------------------------------------------------------
[ 2008.01.19 04:29:59 ] Celeritas 5k > figure we won't clutter up everyone's local
[ 2008.01.19 04:30:10 ] GreyJade > oh ok
[ 2008.01.19 04:30:14 ] Celeritas 5k > but grew up in northern kentucky, goin to the university of louisville now
[ 2008.01.19 04:30:45 ] Celeritas 5k > yourself?
[ 2008.01.19 04:31:03 ] GreyJade > I see. I live in Russia, Far East
[ 2008.01.19 04:31:11 ] Celeritas 5k > ahh, that's cool
[ 2008.01.19 04:31:13 ] GreyJade > Vladivostok city, near Japan
[ 2008.01.19 04:31:17 ] GreyJade > ^^
[ 2008.01.19 04:31:26 ] Celeritas 5k > ever been to japan? i hear it's an exciting place
[ 2008.01.19 04:31:51 ] GreyJade > yes, i 've been there 2 times
[ 2008.01.19 04:32:11 ] GreyJade > in yokohama and tokio
[ 2008.01.19 04:32:40 ] Celeritas 5k > that's cool... i've been in america my whole life, except i traveled to england to visit a friend one time
[ 2008.01.19 04:33:47 ] GreyJade > I've been to South Korea too and this summer going to USA
[ 2008.01.19 04:33:54 ] GreyJade > to San-Diego
[ 2008.01.19 04:34:01 ] Celeritas 5k > haha, california's a good time
[ 2008.01.19 04:34:09 ] Celeritas 5k > never been there myself, but have friends who have gone there
[ 2008.01.19 04:34:09 ] GreyJade > ;p
[ 2008.01.19 04:34:31 ] GreyJade > I will work there from may till september
[ 2008.01.19 04:34:34 ] Celeritas 5k > been to oregan, just north of california
[ 2008.01.19 04:34:41 ] Celeritas 5k > awesome, what will you be doing?
[ 2008.01.19 04:34:52 ] GreyJade > Summer work, as mover
[ 2008.01.19 04:35:19 ] Celeritas 5k > that won't be too bad... bet you'll have a lot of fun
[ 2008.01.19 04:35:40 ] GreyJade > Yeah, indeed.
[ 2008.01.19 04:35:56 ] Celeritas 5k > i'd like to travel a bit, a few friends of mine were talking about backpacking through europe at some point
[ 2008.01.19 04:36:18 ] Celeritas 5k > i'd love to go see italy
[ 2008.01.19 04:36:30 ] GreyJade > I want to see spain =)
[ 2008.01.19 04:36:45 ] Celeritas 5k > had a friend from spain who went to school here
[ 2008.01.19 04:36:58 ] Celeritas 5k > really funny guy... much different culture from american
[ 2008.01.19 04:37:06 ] Celeritas 5k > which i'm sure is very different from russian culture
[ 2008.01.19 04:37:18 ] GreyJade > I'm studying spanish ;)
[ 2008.01.19 04:37:28 ] GreyJade > and want to have a practice with it
[ 2008.01.19 04:37:33 ] Celeritas 5k > yeah
[ 2008.01.19 04:37:40 ] Celeritas 5k > so you're tri-lingual? that's really cool
[ 2008.01.19 04:37:48 ] GreyJade > yes, of course, all cultures are different
[ 2008.01.19 04:38:04 ] GreyJade > Yup
[ 2008.01.19 04:38:20 ] Celeritas 5k > hehe, i'm one of those stupid americans who only knows english
[ 2008.01.19 04:38:32 ] Celeritas 5k > thoug i plan on learning german once i get out of school, maybe before
[ 2008.01.19 04:38:53 ] Celeritas 5k > i may get the opportunity to work in a research lab in germany before i graduate, i'm really excited
[ 2008.01.19 04:38:54 ] GreyJade > its nice anyway
[ 2008.01.19 04:39:19 ] GreyJade > oh
[ 2008.01.19 04:39:22 ] GreyJade > very nice
[ 2008.01.19 04:39:54 ] Celeritas 5k > yeah, i work for a company that does cardiovascular resarch
[ 2008.01.19 04:40:10 ] Celeritas 5k > do most of the grunt computer work that nobody else wants to do :)
[ 2008.01.19 04:40:22 ] GreyJade > :))
[ 2008.01.19 04:40:38 ] Celeritas 5k > but i learn a lot, so i'ts cool
[ 2008.01.19 04:41:02 ] GreyJade > I'm a student, studying international relations ;)
[ 2008.01.19 04:41:34 ] GreyJade > don't work yet
[ 2008.01.19 04:41:34 ] Celeritas 5k > i can understand your interest in travelling then
[ 2008.01.19 04:42:14 ] GreyJade > hehe :)
[ 2008.01.19 04:42:50 ] Celeritas 5k > what kind of job wouuld you take with a degree in international relations?
[ 2008.01.19 04:43:30 ] GreyJade > will work in diplomatic field, maybe would be sent in some russian embassy in another country
[ 2008.01.19 04:44:10 ] Celeritas 5k > sounds like fun, you'd learn a lot that way
[ 2008.01.19 04:44:13 ] Celeritas 5k > see most of the world
[ 2008.01.19 04:44:58 ] GreyJade > yeah, but i am afraid some, coz one one my friend finished university 2 years ago and he was sent to Africa ;))
[ 2008.01.19 04:45:51 ] Celeritas 5k > i have an uncle who lives in africa, doing charity work
[ 2008.01.19 04:46:15 ] Celeritas 5k > he likes it, and does a lot of good, but yeah i can see why you wouldn't necessarily wanna live there :)
[ 2008.01.19 04:46:32 ] GreyJade > :))
[ 2008.01.19 04:47:00 ] GreyJade > it seems i've lost you in some system =)
[ 2008.01.19 04:47:19 ] Celeritas 5k > yeah, i've already bought my cerberus and it's waiting for me a few jumps away from jita
[ 2008.01.19 04:47:38 ] GreyJade > ahh, i am going to rens, dont like Jita =)
[ 2008.01.19 04:47:47 ] Celeritas 5k > yeah, i'm hoping to stay away from it
[ 2008.01.19 04:47:56 ] Celeritas 5k > saturday night jita... bad idea
[ 2008.01.19 04:48:01 ] Celeritas 5k > wait, it's friday night :P
[ 2008.01.19 04:48:10 ] Celeritas 5k > but where you are... is it saturday morning?
[ 2008.01.19 04:48:18 ] GreyJade > in your place yes ;)
[ 2008.01.19 04:48:23 ] GreyJade > saturday day
[ 2008.01.19 04:48:29 ] Celeritas 5k > heh
[ 2008.01.19 04:48:38 ] GreyJade > 2.45pm
[ 2008.01.19 04:49:24 ] Celeritas 5k > so hopefully it's not too bad
[ 2008.01.19 04:49:33 ] Celeritas 5k > 11:45 here
[ 2008.01.19 04:49:46 ] GreyJade > will go sleep soom ;)
[ 2008.01.19 04:49:50 ] GreyJade > *soon
[ 2008.01.19 04:49:53 ] GreyJade > *you
[ 2008.01.19 04:50:01 ] Celeritas 5k > haha yeah, should probably be asleep already
[ 2008.01.19 04:50:05 ] Celeritas 5k > luckily not much to do tomorrow
[ 2008.01.19 04:50:22 ] Celeritas 5k > sleep, get homework done
[ 2008.01.19 04:50:32 ] Celeritas 5k > aww man, i have to work... just remembered
[ 2008.01.19 04:50:32 ] GreyJade > :)
[ 2008.01.19 04:51:05 ] Celeritas 5k > so i guess i do have stuff to do tomorrow :P
[ 2008.01.19 04:51:07 ] GreyJade > work always come when you dont expect it :)
[ 2008.01.19 04:51:11 ] GreyJade > lol
[ 2008.01.19 04:51:15 ] GreyJade > *comes
[ 2008.01.19 04:51:19 ] Celeritas 5k > i know, i completely forgot i had to work the other day
[ 2008.01.19 04:51:29 ] Celeritas 5k > they called me... "hey, did you know have to work today?"
[ 2008.01.19 04:51:30 ] GreyJade > hehe
[ 2008.01.19 04:51:35 ] Celeritas 5k > i'm goin 'well shit."
[ 2008.01.19 04:51:58 ] GreyJade > :)
[ 2008.01.19 04:52:07 ] Celeritas 5k > but that's life for ya
[ 2008.01.19 04:53:02 ] GreyJade > Ok, i have to go, because asked me to go with her to the shop :)
[ 2008.01.19 04:53:08 ] GreyJade > *my girlfriend
[ 2008.01.19 04:53:14 ] Celeritas 5k > that should be fun
[ 2008.01.19 04:53:18 ] Celeritas 5k > it was a pleasure talking to you :)
[ 2008.01.19 04:53:29 ] Celeritas 5k > and i'm sure i'll see you around
[ 2008.01.19 04:53:32 ] GreyJade > for me too ;)
[ 2008.01.19 04:53:44 ] GreyJade > i;m sure too
[ 2008.01.19 04:53:52 ] GreyJade > ok bye-bye
[ 2008.01.19 04:53:55 ] Celeritas 5k > later