After all of my -years in the networked world, working in tech support, "fixing" countless PC issues for friends and customers in various capacities, and long nights of web surfing, downloading (only legally of course) and reading others posts and contributions to the "infinite-net" it is finally time to make a contribution of my own. The content is still a work in progress. It would have to be, as I just hatched the idea to start this blog a few moments ago. Ridiculously easy process, and long overdue. I welcome suggestions on content and tips on design, any constructive comments are welcome.
The affect of the 'net on our daily lives has been examined at great length by many people, obviously. I recently had occasion to reflect on some of the changes that are now or have been affecting me recently.
Are we as a people...or do I mean "race,"as in human race, becoming desperately lonely? And why? Is it all due to long hours spent in the glow of a monitor, hoping to connect with...anyone?
The Fateful Step
Craigslist.
For me until recently only a place I frequented when in need of something "previously owned" whether car, air conditioner, or scooter. Personal ads were a bit of a joke to me, something for those desperate for companionship, or unable to feed their particular needs in the general population and lurking in the dark corners of the internet.
Then I found myself at an impasse. It didn't require much self-examination to figure out I was a lonely person also. Out of a five year relationship that had been dead and buried for close to a year. Still searching for the proper job in an economy chewing up and spitting out people far more qualified, and younger.
My friends had in general either moved away, or moved on. I had not been a person with a large, active circle of friends, and often wondered how some manage to maintain such a group. Perhaps this makes me an oddity, but I am neither unused to such a label or mind it much. Being different is always a badge of courage, and we all have to "blend in" enough in our current world to keep peace at work and society in general. However, in some places, if you don't rub the blue mud into your bellybutton in the right place or at the right time, you may be called a heretic.
So I "trolled" the Personals on Craigslist. And found that perhaps I am not so odd after all.
Or at least on the scale which is at work within the ether-world of Personal ads. I am very much not a prude. Have been labeled a permissive liberal. A rope tokin', chicken-chokin hippie. I lived through the Sexual Revolution, peace marches, Love-Ins, protests, and of course the Vietnam War.
That said, there are some people with very specific desires and requirements for personal fulfillment.
Thoughts of Danny Thomas and glass coffee tables for those who know whereof I speak.
And that was just women seeking men. I'd not made it over to the "Casual Encounters" link.
My fingers trembled on the keyboard, hoping I'd not come face to face with a request from another poor soul to please "humiliate me."
Really?
The very first post, wanting to meet a man, for friendship, currently "mobile" and "lonely."
Of course what was lonely were the other bills in her wallet, and I could be her friend providing I was closely acquainted with Ben Franklin. I wasn't too surprised..it's not called the oldest profession for nothing, and apparently is still evolving with time. Strike two. Or possibly six hundred.
Platonic? Me?
I posted my own damned ad. In the platonic section. And met an intelligent, opinionated, philosophical, educated woman. I recall a quote, although not exactly, so I'll paraphrase.
The measure of a man's (woman's) intelligence, is how much of what they think agrees with you..
Truly just a way of saying many of our ideas coexist or are common. Neither of us are in the "dating" world, nor truly ready for it. For now, a friend is valuable enough. I refuse to speculate about the future...she's a lovely woman with a beautiful mind.
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