In my last post I was grumbling about the nature of the internet leading to vitriol and general nastiness. True, I still feel that way, but at the other end of the spectrum I have to admit that I’ve actually met some very nice people in a way that I never thought would happen. Over the past 15 years on email, I’ve pretty much ignored any random emails from people I didn’t know that were not related to work or school. But int he past 6 months something strange happened…. I started talking to strangers…. and I rarely do that because I am generally an antisocial individual. Really! I won’t even chat with people at the pub until they have been at the same table for several weeks. Yes, I’ve been accused of being standoffish, a snob, etc… but in reality, I’m just plain old shy and self conscious of myself. I’m crappy at small talk, really not much of a conversationalist.
So what happened?
I joined Flickr. And then my friend invited me into a Challenge group….and then there were a few emails as I was trying to learn the ropes, and then a few people cracked jokes (OK, it helps that the vast majority of them are English and I’m a sucker for the language (British English is so different and yet so similar to Canadian English) and the humour).
So here I am a few months later actually contemplating rearranging some of our travel plans for our trip to Greece next year just so we can take a day or two and head down to the Cornwall area to meet some of these people that I am on the verge of considering as friends….and I’m really chintzy in the friend department.
So maybe the Pen Pal has a place in the 21st Century after all….and it’s kinda cool….