You Never Know How Anything Will Change, Strange Attraction Spreads Its Wings, And Alters But The Smallest Things, And You Never Know...
--"Strange Attraction", The Cure
From a recent post on the RKNet forum...
I've met more than a few people in my life. I'm always more talkative when I get nervous or am in a new situation. Most of the time people just nod politely and engage me in small talk, but nothing of any merit happens. I pass the time and that's about it.
However, there have been a few occasions where a real chord is struck. I've always found it interesting how two people can go from being complete strangers to being friends, close friends, more than friends, &c... and kind have a hobby of asking people for their most interesting stories about how they met somebody they have gotten to know really well. So that's basically the point of this thread.
What are your most interesting stories about how you met somebody you consider close to you?
Like I said, I have quite a few, but here are three I think are kind of unique:
I met my friend Carly at the Wiltern show June of '05. I was there quite early (along with Shelma, badnewsmama, and a few others) and Carly and her friends sat down right next to me. That wouldn't be so odd of a way to meet somebody I'm still close friends with almost two years later, except for the fact I maybe, maybe said four words to her during those eight hours waiting in line. It was only after the concert, in fact, the day after, that I remembered her mentioning her screen name on this forum to somebody else in line. She seemed an interesting person so I came on here, checked out her profile, saw that it had an AIM profile, and sent out a weak hello. Not only did she remember me, but she was thinking of tracking me down too. One year and nine months later, I'm still amazed that somebody I didn't bother talking to the first time I met her I consider one of my dearest friends.
----
I met my best friend, Breanne, actually on-line. She's lived in Georgia all her life and I've lived in California for 95% of mine so there's no possible way we should have met. Couple that with the fact I am 4 1/2 years older than her and the odds get even more staggering. I was actually looking for a new writer for the 'zine I put out in 1993, Our Magazine, and went scouring the Prodigy Bulletin Boards (oh, how I miss the days before AOL) for new writers. I came across this poem by a girl named Breasier about how she felt when her best friend moved away. I thought she was talking past tense because her vocabulary, use of imagery, and overall style made me think she was early college student, at least. It turns out, when we got to exchanging information, she had just turned 13. I was 17 at the time so I thought there's no way we'd have anything in common.
I was wrong. We talked a lot--almost every other day for awhile. The next year she flew me out for Christmas '94. That was followed by my flying out for her birthday in '95. Then came us dating for like a year (long-distance horrible flying back-and-forth dating, but still dating). Finally, she came out to California for two weeks before going to school at UGA in '98.
Yes, her whole getting married to someone else knocked the friendship off-track for awhile, but we've managed to get it back on track now. She's still like the the little sister I have the hots for and I still catch up with her two or three a times a week for a half-hour or something. We've gotten even closer since she started writing at my blogger site, california is a recipe for a black hole. Currently, we're trying to work out a good time this year to visit one another which does not involve me meeting her husband. I may be more mature than I used to be, but I still consider her marrying someone else the premiere tragedy of my life.
----
Lastly, one of my more newer friends I actually met in 1991 when I got lost at Epcot Center at Disneyworld. I had finished having lunch with my two aunts and my brother. They were still eating so I told them to come pick me at the bank of computers in one of the science halls once they were done. Fifteen minutes passed and they still hadn't come by. Fifteen turned to thirty and I decided to go back to the restaurant to check what was keeping them.
Surprise, surprise, they weren't there when I went back.
I was totally lost with no idea how to find them. Before the days of cel phones, before my aunts thought a pager would be a good idea, and no way to broadcast a message over all of Epcot, I was up a creek without a paddle.
The brightest thing I could think of was to stay right by the front entrace where every visitor had to come and go through until they came back for me. Thus was I stuck in one of the most exciting and fun places to be at sitting quietly frustrated by myself at the entrance.
After about ninety minutes of this, I spotted another seemingly lost soul. Not having a thing to do and slowly realizing that, yes, my aunts and brother had decided to go explore the park without me rather than look for me, I decided to help her out. I said hello, asked her her name, and together we began a three or four hour trek from security station to exhibit to security station back to another exhibit. I learned that her name was Brandy, she was eleven, and that she was there with her parents and brothers.
I had some money so I bought her a hamburger or something while we took a break from frantically searching for her parents and/or brother, who I assumed were still looking for her even if my family had decided to stop looking for me.
As aforementioned, she eventually reconnected with her family three or four hours later. She actually took off running to them without a word of thanks. It was fine. I did it mostly because it was something to do and she looked absolutely frightened out of her wits.
I resumed waiting for my family for another two hours and never once thought anything would come of my meeting Brandy.
Cut to 2006. I had posted a story of my getting lost, meeting Brandy, and the subsequent musings about "what happens to people once they're met and never seen again." It's true. I always wonder what became of her, but the post mostly was about how pissed I was at being left behind and wasting six hours of my life sitting by a stupid entrance because my aunts were too selfish to give more than a small effort to find me. I hadn't intended to raise a beacon for Brandy to find me.
But find me she did. Thanks to one regular reader of mine who was friends with Brandy. Her friend recognized the story I posted as being similar in years (1991), stories (getting lost at Epcot, being helped by some goofy Flip), and, the kicker, my remembering her name was Brandy. A few weeks after the post I received an e-mail asking if I was, indeed, speaking of a personal experience and not just appropriating someone else's story. I told her that, yes, that really happened to me ad that, yes, jokingly, I was still sore she never said thank-you.
Now I chat with Brandy on the phone or on AIM once a week. She's actually the friend I referred to in the one post about losing somebody you love at an early age. She lost her self-described "love of her life" a few years back when they'd only been together for three years and she was only 23. I don't know how she copes, but a lot of the reason I like talking to her is because she seems wisened by her experience and has such a healthy attitude in dealing with setbacks and things we cannot change.
So, yeah, I met Brandy the earliest, but we actually became friends later than Breanne or Carly.
So what are your stories?
Yours Swimmingly,
mojo shivers
From a recent post on the RKNet forum...I've met more than a few people in my life. I'm always more talkative when I get nervous or am in a new situation. Most of the time people just nod politely and engage me in small talk, but nothing of any merit happens. I pass the time and that's about it.
However, there have been a few occasions where a real chord is struck. I've always found it interesting how two people can go from being complete strangers to being friends, close friends, more than friends, &c... and kind have a hobby of asking people for their most interesting stories about how they met somebody they have gotten to know really well. So that's basically the point of this thread.
What are your most interesting stories about how you met somebody you consider close to you?
Like I said, I have quite a few, but here are three I think are kind of unique:
I met my friend Carly at the Wiltern show June of '05. I was there quite early (along with Shelma, badnewsmama, and a few others) and Carly and her friends sat down right next to me. That wouldn't be so odd of a way to meet somebody I'm still close friends with almost two years later, except for the fact I maybe, maybe said four words to her during those eight hours waiting in line. It was only after the concert, in fact, the day after, that I remembered her mentioning her screen name on this forum to somebody else in line. She seemed an interesting person so I came on here, checked out her profile, saw that it had an AIM profile, and sent out a weak hello. Not only did she remember me, but she was thinking of tracking me down too. One year and nine months later, I'm still amazed that somebody I didn't bother talking to the first time I met her I consider one of my dearest friends.
----
I met my best friend, Breanne, actually on-line. She's lived in Georgia all her life and I've lived in California for 95% of mine so there's no possible way we should have met. Couple that with the fact I am 4 1/2 years older than her and the odds get even more staggering. I was actually looking for a new writer for the 'zine I put out in 1993, Our Magazine, and went scouring the Prodigy Bulletin Boards (oh, how I miss the days before AOL) for new writers. I came across this poem by a girl named Breasier about how she felt when her best friend moved away. I thought she was talking past tense because her vocabulary, use of imagery, and overall style made me think she was early college student, at least. It turns out, when we got to exchanging information, she had just turned 13. I was 17 at the time so I thought there's no way we'd have anything in common.
I was wrong. We talked a lot--almost every other day for awhile. The next year she flew me out for Christmas '94. That was followed by my flying out for her birthday in '95. Then came us dating for like a year (long-distance horrible flying back-and-forth dating, but still dating). Finally, she came out to California for two weeks before going to school at UGA in '98.
Yes, her whole getting married to someone else knocked the friendship off-track for awhile, but we've managed to get it back on track now. She's still like the the little sister I have the hots for and I still catch up with her two or three a times a week for a half-hour or something. We've gotten even closer since she started writing at my blogger site, california is a recipe for a black hole. Currently, we're trying to work out a good time this year to visit one another which does not involve me meeting her husband. I may be more mature than I used to be, but I still consider her marrying someone else the premiere tragedy of my life.
----
Lastly, one of my more newer friends I actually met in 1991 when I got lost at Epcot Center at Disneyworld. I had finished having lunch with my two aunts and my brother. They were still eating so I told them to come pick me at the bank of computers in one of the science halls once they were done. Fifteen minutes passed and they still hadn't come by. Fifteen turned to thirty and I decided to go back to the restaurant to check what was keeping them.
Surprise, surprise, they weren't there when I went back.
I was totally lost with no idea how to find them. Before the days of cel phones, before my aunts thought a pager would be a good idea, and no way to broadcast a message over all of Epcot, I was up a creek without a paddle.
The brightest thing I could think of was to stay right by the front entrace where every visitor had to come and go through until they came back for me. Thus was I stuck in one of the most exciting and fun places to be at sitting quietly frustrated by myself at the entrance.
After about ninety minutes of this, I spotted another seemingly lost soul. Not having a thing to do and slowly realizing that, yes, my aunts and brother had decided to go explore the park without me rather than look for me, I decided to help her out. I said hello, asked her her name, and together we began a three or four hour trek from security station to exhibit to security station back to another exhibit. I learned that her name was Brandy, she was eleven, and that she was there with her parents and brothers.
I had some money so I bought her a hamburger or something while we took a break from frantically searching for her parents and/or brother, who I assumed were still looking for her even if my family had decided to stop looking for me.
As aforementioned, she eventually reconnected with her family three or four hours later. She actually took off running to them without a word of thanks. It was fine. I did it mostly because it was something to do and she looked absolutely frightened out of her wits.
I resumed waiting for my family for another two hours and never once thought anything would come of my meeting Brandy.
Cut to 2006. I had posted a story of my getting lost, meeting Brandy, and the subsequent musings about "what happens to people once they're met and never seen again." It's true. I always wonder what became of her, but the post mostly was about how pissed I was at being left behind and wasting six hours of my life sitting by a stupid entrance because my aunts were too selfish to give more than a small effort to find me. I hadn't intended to raise a beacon for Brandy to find me.
But find me she did. Thanks to one regular reader of mine who was friends with Brandy. Her friend recognized the story I posted as being similar in years (1991), stories (getting lost at Epcot, being helped by some goofy Flip), and, the kicker, my remembering her name was Brandy. A few weeks after the post I received an e-mail asking if I was, indeed, speaking of a personal experience and not just appropriating someone else's story. I told her that, yes, that really happened to me ad that, yes, jokingly, I was still sore she never said thank-you.
Now I chat with Brandy on the phone or on AIM once a week. She's actually the friend I referred to in the one post about losing somebody you love at an early age. She lost her self-described "love of her life" a few years back when they'd only been together for three years and she was only 23. I don't know how she copes, but a lot of the reason I like talking to her is because she seems wisened by her experience and has such a healthy attitude in dealing with setbacks and things we cannot change.
So, yeah, I met Brandy the earliest, but we actually became friends later than Breanne or Carly.
So what are your stories?
Yours Swimmingly,
mojo shivers
Labels: Chance Encounters, Friendship, Life, Randomness
posted by mojo shivers @ 8:25 PM
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