Online Friends

So I just got back from this guy Dan's house. I recently met him online and we planned to meet up for some coffee or whatnot. Let me digress for a moment by saying that it still feels kind of awkward when I say that I met someone online (and planned to meet them in person). It seems as if there's this social stigma on meeting someone online, yet it's more common than most people think. I understand that some people are uncomfortable with the idea as they think of questions such as, "Why is he looking to meet people online," "what if the guy he's meeting is a creep/homicidal maniac," and other questions similar to those. Yes, I am sure there are people that fit the stereotype of the online stranger with bad/perverse intentions, but I prefer to give people the benefit of the doubt. It hasn't gotten me into trouble yet... Except for that one situation with a true sociopath. Coincidentally, he was the only guy my friends approved of. Different story. I'm digressing from my first digression.

In any case, meeting people online enables me to meet those directly outside of my social circle, and by social circle I mean those within three degrees of separation from me. It's an adventure/learning experience, I would say. Overall, I've met people that are around my age, older than me, of different lifestyles, etc. It's interesting to see how I (un)successfully interact with them, what we can learn from one other, and if a friendship could develop. I guess it's very different from how most people do it, where one often meets prospective friends through mutual friends, events attended by both persons, etc. It freaks some people out, but it's an adventure to just dive in and see where my curiosity takes me. It's exhilarating in the sense that I am practicing my agency as an individual to meet others, to not rely on pre-constructed connections, but to actually seek those outside of my current awareness. It's hard to explain in words, it's something that one must experience for himself/herself.

Now, let me get back on topic... I planned to meet up with this guy named Dan, but he got off work pretty late, so we decided to just go over to his place and watch a movie. He showed me around his place, which represented his style really well. The way he dressed and the way his apartment was set up paralleled in style. I would categorize his style as casual, vintage, mildly hipster, but not mainstream-hipster... more like hipster by necessity and not out of pure desire/purchase, if that makes sense. I also learned that he used to work for the same company that I just recently quit from. For some reason I wasn't surprised, his personality seemed to fit the company's stereotypical employee; not a bad thing, just a matter of fact.

We decided to watch The Walking Dead which is this new television series about a man who wakes up in a hospital to a world plagued by zombies. The series' basic plot is based on the day-to-day lives of the survivors of the zombie apocalypse and how they construct/maintain their lives.  What I really like about the show is the fact that zombies don't just come out at you, which is totally different from  most zombie movies. In most zombie movies, you see the zombies come out of nowhere and scare the life out of you, but in this show you see them coming. I like the fact that I don't have to focus on the idea "Oh shit something's going to pop onto the screen any second now" and focus more on the storyline overall. I definitely can't wait to watch the following episodes. I'm a fan.

Obviously, since I'm here writing this, I didn't stay over. He didn't make any moves on me or anything and I'm not the type to make the first move. I didn't want to do anything physical with him anyways and I'm actually glad that he didn't make a move on me. I'm so used to guys verbally expressing themselves as gentlemen, but before the night ends they more than likely try to get something surpassing a kiss. I'm so used to this pattern that I kind of expected it to happen this time, but as I said, I'm glad it didn't. As agreed, I just came over to watch a movie/show and I went home. Coming to think of it, I know you might be saying, "In the past, you could have always told them to stop." That's true, I do have mutual responsibility to what happens to me, but for some reason I don't. Again, that's another story. I must say, though, it was somewhat nerve-wracking having to walk a few blocks through a quiet residential area to get to the train station. I thought that I was going to get attacked by zombies or something... maybe mugged. Fortunately, neither situations happened.

Overall, it had been decent night. I met a new person, got to enjoy a good television show (which I will now start following), and I didn't do anything regrettable.