Throwing A Few Thoughts Around

It was mentioned over at another blog today about meeting someone in person that you had only known before via internet. When the internet first made it's way to Wise County, my household was one of the first to sign up for service at what was then known as Webfire. The owner was a very gracious and nice person that was called many times in the middle of the night and on weekends when the internet thingy wasn't working. He would go to the office and fix all our problems and get us back online in one way or another. Back then only a handful of persons in our area had the service and most of us were either connected through a Wise County chat room or through what we all know now as email. At that time I  signed up for a Rocketmail account that I still have access to today, but it is now a Hotmail account. During this time I had met many people online, some of which are still friends now and comment on this blog frequently. Txtrigger (JJ) is one of them. I met her and her husband face to face for the first time on the night that they arrived in Wise County after a three day trek loaded to the hilt like the Beverly Hillbillies from California. It was in the middle of the night, really early morning, and we drove them out to their house and made sure that they got settled in. There were 10-15 regulars that chatted in the chat room back then and we would sometimes all meet somewhere and get to know each other. Most of the people were just like they were online, others took on a different persona, and when you met them face to face, it was like talking to a stranger. Although many of you know exactly who I am, some of you dont. What I can assure you of is that I am no different in person than what you read on here.
Over at Jars place he referred to me as "benign". I had to text W-spouse and ask her if Jar was making fun of me again. She told me "no" that he was giving me a compliment. I told her "Jar, compliment"? It's a funny thing that this topic came up because last weekend my mother and I were discussing the blogs and the blogs that I follow and she said that Jarhead guy must be a jerk (That will feed his ego). I told her that I had never met him before but I  had been following along on his comments and his blog for a few years now and that I was convinced that there is no way in heck that he could be that big of an asshole or jerk to everyone in real life. I continued telling her the things that I DID KNOW about him. His service to our country, his time spent serving in mission work, his devotion to his wife and kids, him being a Godfather to another child, and his steady work habits just to name a few. I explained that sometimes people just say and do the things through the internet as a release or an outlet just for fun and kicks. It happens daily over at Liberally Lean. Some commentor will throw some stupid comment out there "fishing" and it NEVER fails that someone will latch onto the bait and off they will go griping and complaining and going back and forth. Most of the time the person that threw the comment out there don't have a clue about who or what they were talking about. I had to explain this whole scenario to Mom and she just thought the whole thing was silly, but she told me that she liked my blog and to keep doing what I do.
Back to the topic. I have met many people face to face that I had only known through the internet before and so far I haven't had a bad experience. Did I make life long friends or relationships with all of them? No. Will I continue to meet people from time to time? Yes. It always is a joy to me to meet people and for them to mention that they follow along with my blog. Just a few weeks ago, one of the ladies that sets near to us in church came over to me and told me that she reads my blog daily. It amazes me that this place would even be interesting enough to hold your attention for the three minutes that it takes to load the page, much less come back and read it every day.
Jar "my internet friend" it would be a pleasure to meet you face to face. It would be my honor to buy you a drink for your service to our country. From keeping up with your blog, it's easy to see that your interest in some things and mine parallel. Boating and being around the lake, spending time in the Hill country. Some things not. I like NASCAR, you like soccer. It is my hope that after meeting me that we can shake hands and that you will know that know that I am definately not "malignant"!