a Seinfeld moment indeed
I have a confession. While outspoken and usually quick to ask about anything that confuses me, I'd rather not know someone's name than have to ask after chatting with the person for a month.

I met someone online over a month ago, and we exchanged introductions before we ended that first chat. The next day, I noticed him online again, and I'd enjoyed chatting with him previously, so I said hi, and we chatted a while longer. This continued a week or two before I realized I had no idea what his name was. (Yes, it really took me a while. I chat with so many people online that I frequntly chat with people whose names I never know. It's just the way chat works.) It wasn't until we discussed meeting in person that I acknowledged to myself that I had completely forgotten his name, and I needed to come up with a way to get that information without his knowledge. (Of course, he's probably gonna read this someday and know everything.) The easiest way, I decided, would be to get my friend to sign onto Yahoo while he was here fixing my computer. With any luck, Mystery Man would be online, and he'd think my friend was me, so he'd say hi, and my friend would naturally introduce himself, and Mystery Man would follow suit. I could have carried out this scenario myself, of course, but I wanted to be as honest as possible. Not knowing his name was never dishonest. It was just an embarassing little situation I might have cleared up myself by simply asking his name. Anywho...so my friend was over, fixing the computer, but when he was done, I signed on instead of him, and that ruined that plan.

The more I chatted with Mystery Man, the more I liked him, and I even mentioned him to my best friend, who reminded me of the episode of Seinfeld when Jerry had made out with a woman whose name he couldn't remember, and he couldn't very well ask THEN.

I was accidentally saved rather recently when I saw Mystery Man log in, and I said "hi," only to be told that the person chatting with me wasn't Bill*, it was Bill's son. Woo hoo! I was starting to worry that I'd have to ask Mystery Man to sign the marriage license first and look at the name while I was signing it myself so I wouldn't find myself saying "Oh, that's his name" when the justice of the peace asked if I'd take him in sickness and in health. Okay, so not really. I hadn't even met him in person yet, and marriage scares me.


* indicates the name has been changed

Holy cow, I'm a big girl now.
I recently had the experience of meeting someone from the internet. Yes, I've done this dozens of times, but this time was different. In the past, I've seen a pic or two of the person before we've met in person. Even if the pic's blurry, grainy, or taken from across a football field, I feel I know what to expect, at least a little bit. Not this time. I had seen no pics. In fact, the day before we were scheduled to meet, I was somewhat surprised to learn he's a couple of inches shorter than I. I've dated shorter men in the past, so I didn't think this would bother me too much, but I found myself worrying if perhaps I would judge. Yep, you read that right. I'm no more judgmental than the average person, but when you meet someone online and have no picture to put to the typing and voice, there's always the chance that when you meet in person, the reality will shock you to the roots of your hair and leave you a little embarassed at being so into the person. It's a harsh reality, but it's reality all the same.

Luckily, the guy's not hard on the eyes, but I found myself thinking that it really wouldn't have mattered too much.