Meeting people you know from the internet, in person, always feels like a blind date. You always get nervous, you always get that flash of cold feet, you always pray for the other person to be perfectly sane and not hiding a knife on his or her person.
When I was roommate-hunting, I felt like I was awkwardly dating a whole bunch of girls, and was a little discouraged and afraid that I wouldn’t hit it off with ANY of them. The same kind of thing goes for bloggers – you can read about the ins and outs of each other’s personal lives and have hilarious comment-exchanges, but when you meet then, you still almost feel like you don’t really KNOW them.
Thankfully, the ladies and gentleman at last night’s Chicago 20Something Blogger Meetup were perfectly charming and hilarious and all sorts of fun. We talked about blogging (something you cannot do with people who don’t blog), and our real-life jobs and pulled references from each other’s sites and personal lives and had a lovely time.
Fail #1: While I was walking to catch the Brown Line, I slipped on a patch of ice and landed on my ass and braced myself with one arm – effectively cutting the SHIT out of my hand. Thankfully, the bar we were all brought me a few band-aids for my effed-up hand. And today, my ass is sporting one hell of a bruise . I’d take pictures if it wasn’t on my ass. The color is kind of spectacular.
Fail #2: Those of you who were at the meetup last night witnessed my phone’s satanic possession, and my attempted exorcisms. By this I mean it started randomly flashing numbers and scrolling through the volume settings and wouldn’t let me do ANYTHING. To fix it, I threw the sonofabitch onto the floor and on the table and smacked it repeatedly against a hard surface and swore at it and took it apart and put it back together. And this morning, it was all, “O HAY, I’Z DUN BEIN STOOPID. WANT TO GET BRUNCH?” My solution was to get brunch AND to get a backup phone.
Special Thanks To: Erin, Jenn, Nilsa, Cheryl, Jessi, and Angela – for being marvelous and hysterical and beautiful and just as wonderful as your writing makes you out to be.
Special Bonus Round Thanks To: D - for essentially putting this whole thing together (organizing the time and place) and providing the cutest blogger-prizer everrrr.
It was so good to meet you last night! I’m glad your phone is back on track after being possessed last night. I do find that throwing things often gets them working again.
I definitely had the same feelings you did when I was on my way last night (almost falling, feeling as if I was going on a blind date). We’ll have to do it again sometime!
Fail #3 = Me being sick and not be able to go.
Lame.
I wanted to hang with you, Jenn and Erin.
I loved meeting you, too!
I hope your bum is okay! After my car accident, I had a spectacular purple bruise on my bum that was shaped exactly like a heart (I did deserve a purple-heart after that, I thought). I took a picture for posterior posterity, but I’m not showing it to people. Really don’t want that online.
It was a great night. I’m hoping your new phone is nice, un-possessed and without an apparent fetish for the number “4.”
It was a lot of fun meeting you. You’re hilarious by the way. I’m glad your phone is back to normal.
I for sure thought I was going to walk into the bar, not recognize anyone and sit alone until someone recognized me. Thank jeebus I texted D to find out where you all were. I would have felt like a loser.
It was great meeting you, too, [Joy]. I’m only sorry I didn’t get to interact with you much more than getting to push the call button on your self-dialing phone. Though, I think we’ll all remember the slightly crazed phone … it had nothing to do with you slamming against the table. No, really.
Thanks!
It’s Florida State.
1) I’m glad you didn’t notice my anxiety kicking in. I warned D about it, but I think that might’ve been before you got there.
2) Haha. Aaaaaweeesome meeting you, too.
3) Are we neighbors? I’m near the Sheridan stop on the Red Line.
4) I have no idea what or where this Nick’s Uptown place is, but I’m game. Especially since it’s dancey.
such a pleasure, to meet you and realize i already kinda knew the mystery woman behind big time fancy. you’re hilarious, and your phone seriously makes a party a party.
let’s hang again soon?