Houston, Texas: When LJ friends meet
The first line in my journal after I arrive in Houston: "I'M ON A 15-LANE HIGHWAY. HOLY SHIT." Everything really is bigger in Texas.
~
Thursday, July 13
After phoning hnarbit earlier in the day to let her know that I would be late, the bus actually shows up almost on time. Thankfully she and ciaracat decided to show up early, so they were there waiting for me. I first met them both almost four years ago on a l'il site called Neopets, and we have taken our friendship to many, many other arenas, like LJ, CelebPimp, a vampire RPG game, OK Cupid, email, and Google and MSN messenger. I'd been talking about visiting them for about two years now, and this year I decided - hey, why not. It wouldn't be as expensive as travelling Europe, and Texas would be foreign enough to be interesting and hopefully fun.
As we drive into the parking lot of the very small and shabby Houston bus station, I spy a straw cowboy hat in the backseat of a car. Instantly I know it belongs to Heather (hnarbit), since I recognize it from the many pictures she has sent me. As the bus rounds the corner, I spot a happy face surrounded by curly brown hair in the passenger seat and recognize Kat (ciaracat).
I start waving frantically through the window, and I assume they have spotted me, as they look excited and happy and keep peering at the bus. (Later they tell me they couldn't see through the tinted windows.) By this time I'm bouncing around in my seat and feel a bit lightheaded.
It's weird to see my online friends in the flesh, seemingly come-to-life from the two-dimensional photos they've sent me. Even though I've known them for almost four years, sometimes it feels as though they don't really exist -- that my online friends, to quote an LJ maxim, really do "live in your computer." The thought that I will even meet these people sometimes seems fanciful and deluded. To actually see dear friends come to life -- well, it's overwhelming, exciting, and a little scary. Will they like the real, fleshed-out me? Will our personalities mesh in-person as well as they have online? Will my insecurity seem more apparent now? Will they decide they don't want a friend this neurotic?
For the moment, I push my nervousness away and focus on the excitement of meeting these people who have become so important in my life. I grab my bags and rush out of the bus with the crowd. Heather and Kat - the physical manifestations of the online personalities I have developed a friendship with - materialize in front of the bus as I descend the stairs. My hands full, I wave heavily, and they giggle in response. We hug and laugh and talk excitedly. I immediately notice their Southern accents - the copious use of the word "y'all" combined with slight pronounciations that sound odd to me. Later they tell me they notice the same thing about my accent (minus the "y'all" but add in the Canadian "a-boot").
My friends look just like their pictures, but slightly off in a way I can't describe at the moment. Later I realize that when they smile and pose for the camera, they (understandably) look just like the photos I am used to; it's when they frown, or laugh hysterically, or display any of another hundred thousand mannerisms which cannot be portrayed through film, that I observe a new dimension of my friends' personalities.
Immediately they are great and fabulous and ask me if I want to eat first, or sit down, or what. I am starving, so we leave to eat supper, deciding on a BBQ place -- a regional specialty, but not one that either of them is particularly fond of. As we drive there, they give me a tour of downtown, which includes driving by a George Bush (senior) monument. I laugh and joke that we no longer need to find a washroom -- just let me out right here! We promise to return to the monument and do various disrespectful things to it, which we do (pictures to come!).
As they chat amicably with me and each other, I feel warm and loved. It's simply amazing that I have this opportunity to meet these people who have become very special to me. To see if our friendship survives and even thrives in person as it has online. And also simply to spend precious time with very dear friends. Friends who I would have never met in the first place without the internet, and web sites like Neopets and LJ. I hope to meet many more online friends in the coming years, so that we can bridge the still-misunderstood gap between 'online friends' and 'real-life' friends.
~
Thursday, July 13
After phoning hnarbit earlier in the day to let her know that I would be late, the bus actually shows up almost on time. Thankfully she and ciaracat decided to show up early, so they were there waiting for me. I first met them both almost four years ago on a l'il site called Neopets, and we have taken our friendship to many, many other arenas, like LJ, CelebPimp, a vampire RPG game, OK Cupid, email, and Google and MSN messenger. I'd been talking about visiting them for about two years now, and this year I decided - hey, why not. It wouldn't be as expensive as travelling Europe, and Texas would be foreign enough to be interesting and hopefully fun.
As we drive into the parking lot of the very small and shabby Houston bus station, I spy a straw cowboy hat in the backseat of a car. Instantly I know it belongs to Heather (hnarbit), since I recognize it from the many pictures she has sent me. As the bus rounds the corner, I spot a happy face surrounded by curly brown hair in the passenger seat and recognize Kat (ciaracat).
I start waving frantically through the window, and I assume they have spotted me, as they look excited and happy and keep peering at the bus. (Later they tell me they couldn't see through the tinted windows.) By this time I'm bouncing around in my seat and feel a bit lightheaded.
It's weird to see my online friends in the flesh, seemingly come-to-life from the two-dimensional photos they've sent me. Even though I've known them for almost four years, sometimes it feels as though they don't really exist -- that my online friends, to quote an LJ maxim, really do "live in your computer." The thought that I will even meet these people sometimes seems fanciful and deluded. To actually see dear friends come to life -- well, it's overwhelming, exciting, and a little scary. Will they like the real, fleshed-out me? Will our personalities mesh in-person as well as they have online? Will my insecurity seem more apparent now? Will they decide they don't want a friend this neurotic?
For the moment, I push my nervousness away and focus on the excitement of meeting these people who have become so important in my life. I grab my bags and rush out of the bus with the crowd. Heather and Kat - the physical manifestations of the online personalities I have developed a friendship with - materialize in front of the bus as I descend the stairs. My hands full, I wave heavily, and they giggle in response. We hug and laugh and talk excitedly. I immediately notice their Southern accents - the copious use of the word "y'all" combined with slight pronounciations that sound odd to me. Later they tell me they notice the same thing about my accent (minus the "y'all" but add in the Canadian "a-boot").
My friends look just like their pictures, but slightly off in a way I can't describe at the moment. Later I realize that when they smile and pose for the camera, they (understandably) look just like the photos I am used to; it's when they frown, or laugh hysterically, or display any of another hundred thousand mannerisms which cannot be portrayed through film, that I observe a new dimension of my friends' personalities.
Immediately they are great and fabulous and ask me if I want to eat first, or sit down, or what. I am starving, so we leave to eat supper, deciding on a BBQ place -- a regional specialty, but not one that either of them is particularly fond of. As we drive there, they give me a tour of downtown, which includes driving by a George Bush (senior) monument. I laugh and joke that we no longer need to find a washroom -- just let me out right here! We promise to return to the monument and do various disrespectful things to it, which we do (pictures to come!).
As they chat amicably with me and each other, I feel warm and loved. It's simply amazing that I have this opportunity to meet these people who have become very special to me. To see if our friendship survives and even thrives in person as it has online. And also simply to spend precious time with very dear friends. Friends who I would have never met in the first place without the internet, and web sites like Neopets and LJ. I hope to meet many more online friends in the coming years, so that we can bridge the still-misunderstood gap between 'online friends' and 'real-life' friends.