After a tiff with BooBoo last night, I sat and thought about what it is that makes us humans connect with each other. cause of the little spat was a third party, hence my fascination with human connections.
I exist in a more or less introvert extrovert continuum (I hope that makes sense) so a lot tends to take place in my head rather than in reality, extrovert(edly) and after ample stimulation and only in rare circumstances. I think most acquaintances know only this side of my personality and that is why they keep asking me for lunch dates even after I blatantly refuse! But I digress.
Like any other human, I highly value bonds that I form with other people. Sometimes I read too much into these bonds or bondee does the same but all in all, it's a bond nonetheless. Most of the people I bond with are people I meet on a daily basis but an almost larger number are people I meet on the net. What does that say about me? I'd rather hang out with 'imaginary friends' than real people? I think people you haven't met expect less form you and thus to pressure to conform is reduced. On the other hand, it might be harder to stay in relevant communication with these 'imaginary friends; because you may not exactly paint yourself in the best light. I get a feeling I'm rambling...
But you have to agree there's a certain mystery in talking to someone you do not know. I mean, even the theory of 6 degrees of separation doesn't apply here. And there's something about that bond that you form because this is something that is of your own creation. No friend of friend or anything. I realize this can also happen in the real world but it's better in the virtual world. I've met some real cool people this way. From the days of Reporo and mig33 to facebook and twitter. It's amazing, these human connections.
From this onset, you shouldn't be surprised that BooBoo and I met through the web :-) Yes. Through that phone chat app called mig33. It was in 2007, the second quarter of it if memory serves me right. I was in campus then and I had to have something to occupy me during boring lectures or when I had better things to do than attend them. So, yeah. I 'bumped' into him in a public room which several 'bumpings' later let to a private chat! The more I type, the more weird this gets! Someone call Dr. Normal!
He'd just come back form Germany and maybe felt the need for a Kenyan connection. That sounds cheesy. Anyways. Chat after chat we realized we had 'something' and phone numbers were exchanged. But somewhere in between, my real life contacts were more appealing so...... That was that.
Fast forward to December. I was back home from school for Christmas. He was in Eldoret (which is where I went to school. holla Moi Uni alumni) and was lonely. His family had traveled and he had better things to do than tow along. At that point in time, the election fever was high pitch. He was non partisan and I was PNU. He didn't even have an voting card! And I had fallen into the tribal divide. I won't even get into that.
Christmas Day! I logged in (my username was xsistasoulx, just in case we might've 'bumped') and there he was. Oh, I forgot to tell you that we used to flash each other every time we needed to talk... Do not criticize. So we're chatting and I'm going on and on about how I was having a fab day and he tells me how lonely he was. Then I came up with the genius idea to make him a virtual Christmas lunch. I'm so sweet! That went on and on... We never had cyber sex, FYI.
Election day! After performing my civic duty, I log on to brag about it. He cares less. Hmmm... That should've been a sign. Not much to talk about that day. But on the day results were announced and Kibaki was (controversially) sworn in and when all hell went loose, there was something to talk about. I got a play by play what the situation was in Eldoret. It wasn't pretty. It was OK in Mombasa till 30th. My dad, safety freak he is, decided that we should put away all expensive items in the house. That included my phone and the t.v. Actually the t.v was swapped for a very old model that was gathering dust somewhere. Up the 'attic' they went. I didn't talk to him till sometime in January when things had cooled down, somewhat.
Maybe it was fear that was in in Kenyans at that time but things just went whizzzzzzzz!!! Up the scale!!! And later the L word was mentioned... Not by me, I'd never say it first :-) I should make it clear that till L word, we had never met. He had sent me a photo of himself but I didn't return the favour. I wanted him to see me in slow motion the first time we met so I didn't want to spoil that (for myself). I sound so self obsessed! Oh, well.
Cutting the long story short, we met in February 2008. My slow motion walk in failed because I turned up early for the date :-/. After that, well.... here we are.
In as much as we may sometimes want to shut ourselves out from reality, it is unavoidable that at our core, we need to be connected. To have that bond with some other human being. Whether for selfish reasons or noble ones. And I also think that we shouldn't just stick to the conventional. take a risk. Meet a total stranger. You will love it.
I do not have a better conclusion for this post so...... The end!!
P.s
follow me on twitter @kenyanese186. Will try link my blog to it but I'm still too shy to bear myself to the world so, let's keep it local.
undefined.
to be honest its good....i too remember the days of mig33 n reporo
ReplyDeletei like it "take a risk. Meet a total stranger. You will love it."
Love is Only a click away!
ReplyDelete@mrmanunited thanks. sound advice, isn't it? Just hope you don't meet a serial killer!
ReplyDelete@ Adam Is it? Who's looking anyways?