Wednesday Factoid: Internet Friends

Today's Wednesday Factoid is: Would you like to meet any of your Internet friends in person?

Too late!

I meet Internet friends all the time. And I have been doing so since 1996.

My first Internet meeting was with my friend Victor. We met on MuMu Land, a telnet talker, and though he was from Philadelphia, he was going to college in my state and decided to take a bus to my place over the holiday break. We had a great time.



(We don't have any Actual Photos Together because I only had an analog camera and didn't know how to set it up to take pictures, but we have some really old video too. Many years later we finally got real photos together.)

I have met more than fifty individual Internet friends over the years, and more if you count stuff like going to gatherings that were arranged through Internet communities (like when I went to a picnic for OKCupid locals and made several friends there who are still my friends more than five years later).

 

1997, Laura and Jessica from Virginia!

1998, James and Chris from Alabama!

1998, Fred from California!

1998, David from Malta!

1998, Ronni from Ohio!

1998, Jim from Ohio!

Michael-Thomas--we met when I was still in college, but dunno when exactly.

2001, Jeaux from Citra!

Brendon. Ah, Brendon. We both lived in Gainesville when we finally met.

2001, Ian from Gainesville!

2003, Jeremy from Missouri!

2004, Brent from Georgia!

2006, Jessie from Michigan!

2007, Mike from Sarasota!

2008, Rob from, uh, somewhere nearby.

2008, Avi from Lutz (basically Tampa).

The Kari gang; I met Kari online when I was still in college, so these folks are Internet friends by association sort of.

2008, Kevin from nearby somewhere.

2009, Eric from nearby

OKCupid people trick-or-treating with me in 2009

2009, Derek, from nearby

2010, finally met Cara from Michigan (plus more Jessie!)

2010, party at Mandy's, all Internet friends!

2010, Richard from California!

2011, Pedro, Gary, Cynthia! From 'round here.

2013, Joy from Largo (but not our first meeting, haha)

2013, asexual group all met through the Internet--M., Hannah, Rin, Sara Beth, me, David

2013, Tristan, we were in Georgia!

2014, Ryan from New Jersey! (Pitch Wars rocks!)

There are actually a lot more than this because I don't have photos of everything I ever did with Internet people and there are quite a few who are super important to me with whom I did not happen to get photos, but hey, it happens. ;)


I do have a couple Internet friends whom I would really like to meet in person but haven't gotten to yet, like my first Pitch Wars mentee Whitney, and my Australian friend Reeny. I imagine both of these meetings will happen someday. I'm such a globetrotter these days. But yeah, I think it's safe to say I would like to meet my Internet friends in person . . . because I do it all the time!