Most of my thoughts over the past few days have been dominated by the race and all of the necessary preparations. However, that wasn’t the only interesting thing that happened over the weekend. On Saturday I actually attended a small get together of some other bloggers in the Toronto area belonging to the 20SB group. That group is a community of sorts for twenty-somethings that blog. I joined that group a while back and over time it’s put me in contact with a group of people that I would likely have never have known about otherwise.

It’s really fascinating how a group of relative strangers can get to know each other and feel slightly familiar without ever having met. For the most part, reading the thoughts that these people have put online as well as having a look at the occasional photo have brought life into the words. Part of me knows that there is a living, breathing, angsting 20-something on the other end typing away and crafting their own niche of the Internet. Even so, the image that’s most often generated in my mind is pretty much limited to an avatar and a generic voice. In the end, even if we’re in the same region, there’s a tendency to just draw a line and note the separation. It’s like: I’m doing my own thing, and they’re doing their own thing…and there’s the vast wasteland of the Internet that separates us. And so, this is where the meet up comes in. Bloggers tend to share personal thoughts and feelings, right? All of that is still impersonal to some extent. It really only becomes truly personal and engaging when your mind can make the connection between the words you see and an actual person that you’ve met. And that’s why I’m thankful to have had this weekend to meet some these people.

Now, I suppose I won’t go into too much detail over what I saw and what happened because, really, Erin already wrote about the night and put a good amount of detail into it. At this point I don’t think there’s all that much to add, if I’m being honest. Yes, it’s possible to meet a couple of crazies on the Internet, but immediately I knew that this wasn’t one of those times. From first impressions it seemed like everyone had a good head on their shoulders, which made me feel a bit relieved. If everyone was completely out to lunch I would have been running for the hills. Luckily, we all had a good time. I think there’s a great related point that Erin brought up in her post. We were kind of taught early on about the perils of meeting people online. Well this time nothing went wrong.

I would be lying if I said I wasn’t a little worried about how I’d be received. I think I came off well. Prior to the event I told myself that if I just acted like my usual self I’d be fine. In the end, I really was fine. Then again, I think the fact that this wasn’t the first time I had met people from the Internet helped me keep things in perspective. Prior to this, there was that cross-Japan tour that I did with a guy from Connecticut that I knew through a forum. Two years before that there was the Tokyo tour with nine others whom I hadn’t met at all. Interesting to note that I’m good friends now with one of those people. And before that there was a small group I met at what must have been the 2005 Fan Expo. So no, meeting people from the online world isn’t too new to me at all. Don’t get me wrong, the results can still be a bit too wacky for my tastes, but overall it’s been all right.

Hear that everyone? You’re aaaaaaaall right.

OK, so I’ve fallen asleep on the couch again while writing this so I’m ending this entry right here.