Thank you, all ye who commented and made me feel like maybe someone or two out there actually doesn't hate reading what I write. I guess regardless of how old we get, there is still a geeky 13 year old with braces, pimples, and long, stringy, greasy hair* hiding inside that desperately wants to be liked.
Recently the lovely Amyesq asked her readers who, amongst the IF blogging elite, they would like to meet and why. The delusional Molly said that she would like to meet me, though for less than friendly reasons. I believe her exact quote was, "I'd love to be able to call her a bitch in person." Fair enough. Anyway, it made me ponder whether or not I would actually want to meet any fellow bloggers. It's nothing personal of course, except in Molly's case where it just might be. I digress...
My primary concern is that anyone who met me would just be disappointed. Sure, I talk big, but I'm a shy ol' shrinking violet in real life. An in-person meeting would provoke major performance anxiety in me, and I know I would come across as a completely different person. I think how I portray myself on my blog is quite a good approximation of my true personality. Unfortunately, that personality likes to hide until it knows someone for, oh, about 10 years. Otherwise, it stays under a rock with perhaps occasional peeks to the outside, but quickly scurries back to its safe haven.
It used to be easy when I could drink. Get a few drinks in me and you couldn't shut me up. I know it's not a good thing to say that you are only cool when you drink, but sometimes these things are true. Afterschool Specials lie. People really ARE more exciting, funnier and interesting when inebriated. Basically, I need to be drunk or typing on a computer to be myself around most people. How fucked up is that?
I wonder how many of us would be representative of our blog selves in real life? Would Lumi be so potty-mouthed and perverse? Would Julie be so effervescent? Is Panda as zany? Is MM as cynical? What do you think?
*: Not that I would know what that is like of course...I was born this svelte and statuesque, with strong cheekbones and long, luxurious locks. Duh.
13 comments:
When I first met people I'd met online in real life (IRL), I did find it took a while to start speaking to them in the same easy way that I did on line. But that intimacy meant that 'a while' was an hour or less, not several years.
Do you ever read surburban bliss? talk about snarky. Melissa is highly fertile, let me warn you, but she is not hard to read from our position. She has written a lot about how different she is in real life - ie shy, can't speak up etc. So I think many of us may be relaxed on here in a way we are not in real life. Because we're talking about the one thing that really really drives us? The thing we can't share with others?
Discuss.
PS i'm a lot closer to you than inspring so bags me first if you're up for meeting.
Let me assure you that I'm just as cynical IRL as I am in the computer, tho I'm also extremely shy in real time. So shy that I probably would never have met my husband if it weren't for my beloved hard cider. (Well, it was beloved at the time.) I hope that I'm a nicer person IRL than I am in my blog-- I know I use it as a forum to vent so I probably sound v. bitter at times.
I frequently have to meet people in person who I've corresponded with over the internet for work and by and large they usually have the same personalities in person as they do on screen. For some reason that always surprises me...
Wow. I'm just so honored to be mentioned on your blog that I can barely type. Snort.
Hello :)
Nice blog you have..
I have a question:
If you could meet any person in history, who would it be and why?
You can stop by my blog if you're willing to answer.
Cheers..
I'm also in a PA neighboring state and very socially awkward. Could be lots of fun.
k... you are all so mature... because I'm still upset that Pru mentioned three bloggers... but not ME... sniff...
Setting that aside...
Pru... what you write today is so interesting... because I can relate from the completely opposite perspective... which is this... When people first meet me... what they meet is my blog persona... (I'll let you decide what that is... sniff)... and it takes a LOT of trust... and at LEAST 10 years before they meet the inner me... which is quiet... introspective... not at all talkative... and well... not nearly as entertaining as the Manuela Show... Funny... isn't it? I have a huge fear of people being BORED to tears of that person... and quite frankly... not worthy of their time.
Anyway... I have to go polish-up my tap shoes now...
YaY! I got billing :) I'd like to think I'm what I appear to be on my blog. Who knows. I guess I'm just going to have to visit you so you can find out.
Oh, and you'd love me drunk. I just want to show the world my boobies.
My blog persona and real life self are pretty similar, except I usually give my posts much thought to make sure that they are as snarky, crude and sarcastic as possible. My actual personality is snarky, crude, and sarcastic, just not at such a concentrated level. My blog is like an undissolved boullion cube of snark.
Thanks for the mention, by the way. And you are a bitch, no doubt about it.
No fair! What about me?
Actually I am not the whinging miseryguts that seems to pop out on my blog all the time. IRL without IF, I am normal! But when it comes to IF, it all just spews out. However that is its function.
Sometimes I think all I have done is create a self-obsessed whinging monster and I should just ignore it or keep it all in. I think I would implode though.
just saw the title again. Do you love Dar like I love Dar? We have tickets to see her support richard thompson on the 23rd august. Am v excited.
Hey - you're cool enough for blog spam (again)! (Seriously, who knew there was so much news to report about tropical ceiling fans?) I've met one blogger IRL, and it was like we'd known each other forever, right away. In some ways she was just like her blog persona, and in others not so much. It's also different because here in blogland we each have our own little domain to have our own little monologues, and IRL in general folks try to have 2-way conversations. But I think we adjusted pretty well...
(And Dar was supposed to play here but then it got canceled and I am sad about that. So there.)
Zany? Well, Monkey Boy confirms it so it must be true.
Interesting, isnt it, that most of us claim to be shy retiring types away from the 'puter. I hardly ever rant with real people the way I do in my own little blog world. Oh, except with the help of Gin.
I do, however, do stupid stuff that I find amusing that has other people just staring blankly at me, thinking I'm nuts. Or possibly zany.
You'd love to meet me and you know it! It's good to be back and catching up with your blog. I'll email you about the SATC stuff!
So blogger was down the other day when I tried to post a response to your comment. If I ever make it out to where you live, we will simply have to give you a pint or two to get you into your un-shy state.
I think it is kind of funny that so many bloggers talk about being shy in real life. I am so not shy in real life or on my blog. In fact, what you read is what you get. Most people who meet me say they are amazed b/c the way I write on my blog is exactly the way I speak. I don't necessarily think that is a good thing. It just is what it is...
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