Shakesthegrounds Rumblings

[CellarDweller]

Reminds me of a song (what don;t)

"...I met a German girl in England who was going to school in France, and we danced the Mississippi at an Alpha Kappa dance...."

such a musical man!

[jstephens9]

That looks fun Chuck. I'm sure Jeff will enjoy that. Did you two do that in Colorado? Somehow I missed that 

[CellarDweller]

That looks fun Chuck. I'm sure Jeff will enjoy that. Did you two do that in Colorado? Somehow I missed that 

we did it at the hoedown. 

[jstephens9]

I missed the hoedown  I was in the slow moving caravan from the road trip and Jeff was in the fast moving SUV that went on to the hoedown  And you know I have never even heard too much about what all went on at the hoedown. If you two were doing that, then I know it must have been fun.

[Jeff Wrangler]

Hey, nobody needs to wait till my birthday to start grillin' steaks and pourin' drinks. 

[Lynne]

I'll put my Tuesday night/Wednesday morning drama over in my blog so as not to clutter Truman's...wouldn't want to detract from all the flirting! 

Jeff - I hear you about birthdays and holidays in general.  I'm sorry for your pain.  You're a solid friend and I'm proud to know you.  I hope it helps a little bit.  In all the talk of the virtual life versus the real life, I've had a few thoughts.  First, I decided that if I've met a person at least twice and connected with them, I can call them a friend without prefacing it with 'internet'.  My own arbitrary guideline, but I get tired of explaining 'internet friends' like they're somehow 'less' than other friends..  There are people here who completely get me (and accept me!) and I'm not Ms Popularity, but the numbers are in double digits - and I feel the same connection back with them.  That is such a rare thing in real life - I count my true 'real life' friends on one hand and don't even need to use all my fingers.

I'm not a very good friend when it comes to keeping track of important dates and milestones - it's something I should work on...remembering dates in time to make them special and so forth.  I don't fully understand why this online world feels so much more comfortable.  I would say that it's because there's a degree of anonymity and honesty that comes with that - BUT the comfort doesn't stop when we turn off the computers and get together, so I'm just so thankful I was lucky enough to meet up with this perhaps unlikely crew of kindred spirits.

p.s.  If you'd PM me your address, I might manage a postcard from SF! 

[jstephens9]

Hey, nobody needs to wait till my birthday to start grillin' steaks and pourin' drinks. 

That's true Jeff. We may as well just start now 

And something about what Lynne says,  I do know what you mean about internet friends, but I definitely consider you both a real friend as well as someone I talk through on the internet and through email. We didn't spend all that time talking in Denver in person to just be internet friends. Remember you and I were both there when we practically talked all night long and you were definitely in the shuttle on the way to the airport when we talked more, if not then I have already gone way past crazy.  I do see where Lynne is coming from since I do think internet friends are real friends. There is a difference there, but I agree with her that sometimes it seems easier to talk freely with people here. Truly, the majority of my friends are here. Most of my time here is spent with work and school so my friends are very, very limited. And definitely when you think about things like the BBQ, the road trip, and get togethers those were real people there. Again, it starts feeling scary if I think I was up in Estes Park and remote sections of Wyoming completely by myself. If everyone would have disappeared and said well we were just internet friends and now it is time for us to go, I would have freaked on. That sounds like a good idea for a scary movie.

So now it is time to start the steaks and the drinks 

[Lynne]

Yes, Estes Park was good times, Jack...maybe the internet is the vehicle to maintain the friendships whilst we go about our separate and difficult lives.  Which reminds me - don't think I have a snail mail address for you neither - General Delivery don't work like it used to!

[Jeff Wrangler]

General Delivery don't work like it used to!

  Must be those durn newfangled zip codes. ...

Hey, thanks, Lynne and Jack.

I hope nobody took offense at my making a distinction between my "internet" friends and the folks I see around here at home all the time. Friends are friends. Period.

I suppose where I was really coming from in making that distinction is that generally I have made an effort to remember the birthdays of the people I felt I was closest to (writing the dates on my calendar, for example), and yet even they don't seem to bother making an effort to remember mine. I've actually stopped bothering with some of them. Then I berate myself for lack of charity. Birthday cards aren't supposed to be a quid pro quo.

But it's not really painful anymore. I laugh about the time my dad forgot my birthday. I'm pretty self-sufficient and pretty good company for myself, if I do say so myself. 

[Jeff Wrangler]

Actually, Jeff and I will do this........








after all, he taught me the Virginia Reel in Colorado!     

Careful, Chuck, I might "dip" you. ...