contentBut look at what the Internet and I have done together so far.
I've connected with people from all over the world - and when I meet those people in person, which has happened often enough for me to have an informed opinion on the matter, the first impressions from the electrons have pretty much been spot on every time. I've gone through crises in my life, back in New Zealand, with friends phoning me from the States to TALK to me on the phone; I've phoned people in the Stetes from New Zealand, for similar reasons. When I first met my friend Ari, from Sweden, at an Internet get-together in Vancouver, Canada, in 1997, we were finishing each other's sentences within an hour of setting eyes on each other, which led people to snarl at us that we were point-blank lying about never having met before and that we must have gone to kindergarten together. I *married* someone I met on the Internet, for the love of all that's holy, and the man's turned out to be my best friend and my colleague and someone who has loved, cherished and supported me for five and a half years now. The Internet's been good to me that way.
It took the Internet, once again, to let me meet someone who lives a handful of miles away from me.
rdeck and I have been in Washington state three years now, and although we do love it here and would not choose to live anywhere else, it has taken us a while to find friends and companions - and now, thanks to the Internet, that might have happened. I think I might have found a friend. I thoroughly enjoyed the couple of hours that fancythat2 spent together at the local Barnes & Noble, and I do look forward to the next time! 