It’s been so long since I’ve collaborated with someone in the same room that I think I’ve forgotten what it feels like.
I remember when I was in grade school, my friends Josh and Tyler would come over and we’d challenge each other to short story contests or just sit and come up with ideas for various stories.
In high school I had a band with my downstairs neighbor Darryl. We wrote and recorded 70 songs together. I taught him how to paint. I kicked his ass at Cool Boarders 2 on Playstation.
When I lived with my ex-girlfriend Kate we’d work on music together, her at the piano, me on guitar or at the computer.
But now all of my projects are with people I only know online. I’ve never met Hank in person. Or John. I’ve met Alex, but not Charlie, Todd or Johnny. And I’ve met Monica, but not Karen or Luke or Kristina or Christian.
One of my best friends has been feeling a little lonely lately. Working on her projects by herself every day. And I tell her she has me, but I know that’s just not the same.
Luke is looking for a new place to live after he’s done with his summer job in the mountains, and he asked me about the possibility of him living here in the house with Jenny and me. We certainly have enough room, and the rent is super cheap. I was excited at the idea of having someone to work with in the same room. But that’s a whole summer away, so who knows what will happen come fall.
Some times the internet can make the world feel so small and help me really connect with someone half a world away. Other times, I feel millions of miles away from the people I care about. No doubt my projects are better off because of the involvement of these people, but I know I’d be happier, in general, if I had people to work with who lived in the same zip code.
Thursday, May 27, 2010
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I kind of know what you're going through. I met a majority of my good friends online and I've never met them. They live states away. It does get lonely sometimes.
ReplyDeleteyeah. it majorly sucks. :( <3
ReplyDeleteI think it would be really cool for Luke Conard to live in the same state as me!
ReplyDeleteI agree! The internet is good for so many things but it can never do for us what sitting in the same room as some one can. *sigh*
ReplyDeletei am closer to all my internet friends than my irl friends except for maybe one person. i know my irl friends very well and i feel they know me better than most people. sometimes i reflect on how awesome these people are that it feels unreasonably cruel we live so far apart.
ReplyDeleteThe internet is a wonderful place, but it just can't do some things IRL can do. It's strange that it's so accessible to talk to all these people and yet you can still feel so lonely.
ReplyDeleteOh yeah I feel your pain... I wish I'd have someone who like me is into ideas, animation & coding, within my inner circle of real life friends, but unfortunately that's something I've only found on the internet.
ReplyDeleteAnd while it is nice that we now have these possibilities, I've actually noticed that the fact that my friends don't share these interests is driving us further apart... Me being creative, collaborating with like minded people and they just living out their lives like our parents did, talking about what's happening with Emily from next door and looking for a job which they would want to do for the next 50 or so years.
I really don't know where this is gonna lead us in the future, whether I'll break ties with them, whether I'll build a network of friendships on the internet or whether I'll find/create a place with people who want the same thing from life as I do.
Oh future how you never fail to be uncertain...
Hm maybe I'll do a Vlog about this to hear what people think about it.
Thank you for invoking my thought-process on this Alan.
Although you still seem to be in somewhat the same bubble as I'm, maybe there's something you can say on the issue which I can't...
Greetings from Germany
Leonard
Timezones screw me up too, because I won't realize it has gotten really late as I'm chatting with people on the west coast. Next thing I know, it's 5am and the birds are tweeting sans internet.
ReplyDeleteI've made some internet friends who don't live so far away from me, so I get together with them every now and then, but it isn't the same as being able to call them up and say: "hey, it's hot out. Wanna go climb the waterfall with me?"
Which is what I used to do to my IRL friends before they all moved away.
yeah, i know what you mean. almost every single one of my friends is online. i miss the days when me and a friend or two would go out for coffee and talk about nothing for hours. or when we'd have impromptu movie nights (or some random season of Buffy nights).
ReplyDeletei LOVE chatting with my friends on Skype, but sometimes it would be nice having the same conversation while sitting next to each other. :/
Now I'm confused because I specifically remember a video of you going to Hank's house and staying there for a night.
ReplyDelete