Blog is Blog and Real is Real, and Never the Twain Shall Meet .... maybe
Back in December Lorem threw out a "Anyone wanna go see Brokeback Mountain" request; early-ish in January she seemed to be blogging a bad day, so I e-mailed her to see if a movie might lighten her spirits; a week or two later, she returned the favor to my pitted blogishness. This being the first weekend I think since I moved in August that I haven't had to be back at the monastery for anything, it was decided that this would be a great opportunity for me to develop something that I knew, once upon a time -- this idea of a "life."
Throughout this week, e-mails of indecisiveness were flying. I'm not the best with that stuff anyway, and it's even harder when you don't know each other -- for example, you don't want to suggest a steakhouse and risk the backlash of the unknown vegetarian. I mean, I know her -- I read her blog, she reads mine -- but it's a wierd kind of "knowing" that you get with these blogs. Heck, it's very odd for me to think of her as having a name that's not Lorem.
So, what to do, what to do. Movies aren't necessarily the most socialable kind of outings, but to be stuck at some restaurant when you have no clue who this person is or what she's like or why in the world you sent some e-mail suggesting some form of an outing or ..... not that I worried about that, though. Not at all. Not in the least. No e-mails were sent from the very-outspoken-yet-also-very-shy me to a good friend asking "What was I smoking?!?!?" No thoughts ran through my head alternating between being psyched about a night out and being heebie-jeebied about a night out.
The solution? You set the movie time, and then find somewhere casual low-key near the theater to grab food beforehand. After all, if one person is coming from work, food might be a good thing, but the movie puts a definite limit on the awkward potentialities. Again, not that I was doing this extensive of plot manipulation ahead of time (Lorem is probably reading this and discovering what a true spaz that I am) .... it's just the nerves of a new situation, right? I haven't horribly offended you now, have I?
As it turns out, that was all proven rather unnecessary. And, I'm guessing, probably at least somewhat mutual (since she wasn't sure if I'd be showing up in a habit). We got our tickets, then went to a nearby Chinese place (Mmmmm, Chinese) and had quite the nice dinner. All sorts of conversation -- family, work, nun-myth-smashing, sports. She asked the question that has surfaced in my Weekend Wonderings about "Why Benedictine," so I gave her the nutshell version of the not-too-simple story (that you all will get soon enough, I promise!).
And then there was the movie, which will get a post of its own very shortly. All in all, a very nice evening. Saying goodbye (with her added "Can I blog about this?"), it seemed like "my former life" when I hung out with friends and did normal-people stuff. I should do normal-people stuff more often.
So thanks, Lorem, it was fun. We should do it again sometime.
Of course, now all the stresses of figuring out what we'd do Friday night are resurfacing .... this time in the context of worrying if our blog accounts match or if she didn't like me or if I offended her or .... Have I mentioned my obsessive tendencies? I guess I'll just have to go check out what she said. I can always edit, right?
Throughout this week, e-mails of indecisiveness were flying. I'm not the best with that stuff anyway, and it's even harder when you don't know each other -- for example, you don't want to suggest a steakhouse and risk the backlash of the unknown vegetarian. I mean, I know her -- I read her blog, she reads mine -- but it's a wierd kind of "knowing" that you get with these blogs. Heck, it's very odd for me to think of her as having a name that's not Lorem.
So, what to do, what to do. Movies aren't necessarily the most socialable kind of outings, but to be stuck at some restaurant when you have no clue who this person is or what she's like or why in the world you sent some e-mail suggesting some form of an outing or ..... not that I worried about that, though. Not at all. Not in the least. No e-mails were sent from the very-outspoken-yet-also-very-shy me to a good friend asking "What was I smoking?!?!?" No thoughts ran through my head alternating between being psyched about a night out and being heebie-jeebied about a night out.
The solution? You set the movie time, and then find somewhere casual low-key near the theater to grab food beforehand. After all, if one person is coming from work, food might be a good thing, but the movie puts a definite limit on the awkward potentialities. Again, not that I was doing this extensive of plot manipulation ahead of time (Lorem is probably reading this and discovering what a true spaz that I am) .... it's just the nerves of a new situation, right? I haven't horribly offended you now, have I?
As it turns out, that was all proven rather unnecessary. And, I'm guessing, probably at least somewhat mutual (since she wasn't sure if I'd be showing up in a habit). We got our tickets, then went to a nearby Chinese place (Mmmmm, Chinese) and had quite the nice dinner. All sorts of conversation -- family, work, nun-myth-smashing, sports. She asked the question that has surfaced in my Weekend Wonderings about "Why Benedictine," so I gave her the nutshell version of the not-too-simple story (that you all will get soon enough, I promise!).
And then there was the movie, which will get a post of its own very shortly. All in all, a very nice evening. Saying goodbye (with her added "Can I blog about this?"), it seemed like "my former life" when I hung out with friends and did normal-people stuff. I should do normal-people stuff more often.
So thanks, Lorem, it was fun. We should do it again sometime.
Of course, now all the stresses of figuring out what we'd do Friday night are resurfacing .... this time in the context of worrying if our blog accounts match or if she didn't like me or if I offended her or .... Have I mentioned my obsessive tendencies? I guess I'll just have to go check out what she said. I can always edit, right?
posted by Steph Youstra at 3:39 PM
3 Comments:
Glad two of my favorite bloggy friends got to meet in real life!
DO NOT WORRY! It was a lot of fun. I wouldn't lie to you, period. I'd go straight to hell. ;-)
Admittedly, I was a bit surprised that a religious sister would actually want to see that movie, but then you're Steph first, a person, and a sister, a vocation second.
As I said - don't apologize for who you are. You're 'real' and that's wonderful.
Call anytime!
lol - glad you had fun!
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