I had other things going on though, so I took the disappointment in stride. Jo and I kept up with our online back and forth, and somehow it just worked. It was odd to have someone who got all my jokes and weirdness without much effort, and I enjoyed the long distance pen pal. She quickly became my go to girl for all things Internet.
One night in March I picked her brain about all of the attention my blog had been receiving and how I should go about handling it. We cracked jokes and swapped stories while each preparing our dinners. I mused over the fact that we were eating dinner together from a thousand miles away. Out of my last few meals with a member of the opposite sex, this had by far been the best.
Does that say something about me?
Jo went to bed, but the feeling stuck and I decided it was time to put a face to the ten point Times New Roman font that had been making me laugh for the past four months. The clock read 9:54pm, but I threw caution to the wind and began typing out an
An hour later it was done. It was done, and long. It included bad jokes, predictions of the future, wussy moments, stupid stories, and most importantly an invitation to stay at my house. I even went so far as to offer to pay for the air fare.
The goal for 2009 is to be a little more forward in all aspects of life.
I mulled it over once more before clicking the send button. It was time to be assertive.
The next morning I awoke and could see the light on my phone flashing in the mirror next to the bed. I had yet to shake off my early morning grogginess, and assumed that someone from work had emailed me. As I clumsily clicked through the menus the previous night's online adventures came rushing back.
The email was from Jo.
Ugh... what did I do? Why did I send that email? At least she responded. That means she's still talking to me. Right?
I hesitated for a moment, but finally clicked to open it.
A simple, "You should come hang out," would have worked.
Haha, another great post, Jesse.
ReplyDeleteAs for your "Does that say something about me?", I've been asking myself a similar question lately. I've come to notice that I'm able to feel more of a "connection" with a girl when I meet her online than I ever remember feeling when I meet someone in the real world. It's still fairly rare but, every once in a while, I'll come across someone who I just seem to instantly connect with.
I'm sure part of it has to do with meeting through OkC allows me time to think more before I "say" something, as opposed to having to think quickly in the real world.
That being said, I don't think it explains all of it and I would love to be able to figure out some way to have the same feeling of instant connection with someone in the real world that I'm able to feel online.
I think for me, in real life, I tend to take a back seat to things. If there are a lot of people sitting around talking, I'm usually content to let them be the center of attention.
ReplyDeleteIn my younger days, most of my female relations came from girls who didn't chose to be around me for a long time. They just had to be for some reason(Work, school, mutual friends, etc). After a while there was always this moment, normally about a year in, where a girl would go, "Hey. You know what? You're actually pretty cool"
Online, I'm more relaxed and tend to be more "me".
Over the past couple of years I think I've made an effort to bring the two closer together, and I have to say that I think it's paid off a lot.
Part of it is just effort to be more social, but part of it has been learning which situations I operate better in. As you'll see in the next story or two, I brought my sister and her boyfriend along, and the familiarity helped to bring me out of my shell.
The other important part of this particular story is Jo. I'm not sure if she's crazy, or if there was just some sort of instant understanding between us. I sent her an email asking her to marry me, and she flew half way across the country to hang out. That's a bit odd. She's read the blog, and she still doesn't think I'm a complete weirdo. She either completely gets me, or it's all an elaborate trap to steal all my monies.
Time will tell.
I stole your change jar. It had a little less than $183 in it. I think you owe me lunch.
ReplyDelete"In my younger days, most of my female relations came from girls who didn't chose to be around me for a long time. They just had to be for some reason(Work, school, mutual friends, etc). After a while there was always this moment, normally about a year in, where a girl would go, "Hey. You know what? You're actually pretty cool""
ReplyDeleteYeah, that sounds very familiar.