my stepsister's friends are strange.

So I'm sitting on the bus this afternoon, trying to coax the last bit of charge out of my discman's failing batteries, when a brunette young man with a vacant expression who I've seen on occasion hanging out with Lulu under the stairs but never spoken to takes the seat directly in front of me. He sits for a moment, then proceeds to turn around, leaning his chin on the back of the seat, about eighteen inches from my face, and stare at me. I look out the window, glance at him, he's still staring, look out the other window, look at my bag, he's still watching. When my batteries die for good, I take off my headphones and begin to stuff the discman back into my bag.

Weird Guy: You're [Lulu's] stepsister, right?

Me: Um... yes.

Weird Guy: Oh, good. Then I wasn't staring at a complete stranger.

Me: ...

Weird Guy: Only a half stranger.

Me: ...er, right. *inches backward in seat, hoping my stop is soon*

well, that was interesting.

In case the neon flashing "BLONDE" signs haven't clued y'all in yet, I might want to mention that I'm not known for thinking things through, which results in masses of serendipity and larger masses of "um.... ooops?" moments in my life. Anyways.

I've linked my diary on my AIM profile, and lo and behold: when boredom strikes, people actually evidently look at my profile and even click the links. Like people I actually know.

...This is where I wave and go "Hi, Rinoa!"

It's kind of strange. (I mean, even setting aside the bit where we both used to read the other's diary and then be insulted when we found the bits dissing ourselves. :P) Though I love the net and think it's by far one of the most tolerable methods of social interaction there is (yeah, I'm an antisocial geek, but y'all knew that already)... and though I know that people online do not exist solely within my computer for my amusement... net interactions by nature are a bit more ephemeral than face-to-face. You know? Though talking on the net is interesting and informative and often just as valuable as in-person conversation, talking to someone who's standing right in front of me tends to seem somehow realer than talking to someone on the net. This is probably a big part of the reason I'm a lot more confident and talkative on the net than IRL -- if you think I'm paranoid and depressing here you should see me in the big blue room. Probably also a reason why doubtless many of those flamers or trolls (or "WTF?" reviewers) might be far kinder and saner in person than their net presence is: it's harder to realize that that person who's typing the words on your screen is actually alive somewhere with a family and friends and a life of their own, another person... I realize it intellectually but somewhere deep inside I don't think it's quite sunk in yet.

Anyways, the point is that it's an interesting twist to my perspective to realize RL people (or a person, at least) are reading this, rather than only ephemeral net presences. (No insult intended to Wolfie, Amoretti, or anyone else out there reading this, of course.) Might help it sink in that last little subconscious bit that all you ENPs *are* people. And I'm rather glad, in scanning my entries, that I really haven't said anything too majorly offensive. (Though I'm not sure I want, say, Rikku to learn about, say, some of my choices of net reading material.) I don't think I've even said much that I wouldn't say in person if I had the courage to do so.

And Rinoa, I am by no means saying get your nose out of my diary. Not that I think you'd listen if I did or anything. :) Hey, next time you're bored, leave notes! :P

...Hey, look, six entries in two days. Think that makes up for neglecting this thing all last weekend?