Kinda Bored

A friend of mine showed me craigslist. Of course I've known about it, but I never actually looked at it. He showed me a very funny post in which the person was making derogatory comments about someone who didn't spell correctly. The same person called it "retarted." Absolutely hilarious.

I'm not the type to go looking for love online. I'm not the type to post a personal in the newspaper either. And I have nothing against people who do.

But that doesn't mean I'm very successful with meeting new people in the real world. I'm shy almost all of the time. I never make the first move. I might make the first look, but that's about it. Even if there's eye-contact, I don't say a word. Besides, the females I'm interested in are the ones who make the first move. Get away from the norm.

Yet, I do find it easier to connect with someone I've never seen before. The only thing you are judging is their personality. If they are friendly and like the same things you do, then it really doesn't matter what they look like. You like that person for who they are. If you just so happen to live near each other, you might exchange phone numbers. If the conversations go well, you might just meet up.

This is what bothers me about 'teh internets.' Once, it was all about personality. Now, sites like craigslist and myspace inevitably lead to exchanging pictures. No matter what the intentions were, looks are an important factor now. Even if you read something like:

22 year old male. 5'8, slim build. Short brown hair and dark brown eyes. Can jog 3 miles without breaking a sweat. Loves to cook, and likes to shop.

Maybe I'm out of my mind, but I'm fairly certain a majority of females out there would raise an eyebrow and question the accuracy of the above statements. Can a guy like this really exist? And if so, is he going to look hideous? What better proof that this guy is desirable than to see a picture of him?

And this is why I won't do the online thing. It's practically a game show. Except that there are no commercials. There are no audiences. You exchange pictures, and one of you says, "Uhh, nope. No thank you." In a game show, if you're a contestant and you don't get picked, there will usually be a women in the audience who looks for you after the show. That's not how it works online.

There's another issue though. Meeting people online is very easy. You don't have to dress up or anything. Most of the time, you don't even have to type correctly. There are hundreds of thousands of people you can just randomly say "hi" to within your state at any given time. If you tried to walk outside and find someone at 3AM, you're more than likely to get into trouble. It's a completely different scene.

When my parents first got a computer and access to the internet, I was the one who spent a majority of the time on there. It felt very natural for me to set up an email account and find other people. I had some very unique experiences during that time. Today, roughly 8 or 9 years later, I don't keep in contact with anyone from that period.

But I really lucked out on blogger. I really did. I found two people, and I'm happy that I did. Yes, they live really, really far away from here. But I don't care. I'd still do just about anything they asked me to. On the MySpace, I've even put them ahead of other people I've known for over a decade.

I dunno. Just wanted to show some appreciation. They are special to me.