D2k, long distance dating at the turn of the millennium
Do not mind this patch of the garden initially. I will flesh it out into a more cohesive story in the long term, but to start, I need to just get the seeds out on the ground.
This will be a potentially very long story about 18 months at the turn of the century, when I was a participating forerunner of online dating when it was very much not a popular thing to do.
Some things will feel like they’re no big deal, why did I worry, why did I bother? Keep the context in mind. Anyways, seeds with no discernible order…
- IRC, Starchat and TriviaTime
- digital couches
- christmas timers on 56k modems
- webtv
- online “kisses” that still managed to hurt someone I had actually met
- A&W root beer meetup and baseball.
- rechargeable phone cards
- bowling alone the night that I found I was being broken up with
- unintentionally leaving someone alone when I said I’d be back, but never did return to where she was.
- Attending the last day of school at Potlatch Idaho High
- a brown old caravan with a huge gash in the windshield
- lugged around desktop computer
- Aqua
- Having had some alco-pops purchased that we could have consumed but never did
- Ogres having onions
- Late night phone conversations with a toddler
- Renting the movie Rat Race
- Palouse WA high school graduation
- Two week trip from south central South Dakota to Missoula Montana and up onto the Washington/Idaho border
- Parents that put a lot of trust in their 18 year old son.
- Accidentally getting someone kicked out of their own high school’s dance with Cotton Eye Joe
- American Pie
- Crying on a relatively short bus ride
- Being a one-night guest at a house that was understandably going to want/need to charge for any more
- burning mix CDs on Carol’s bedroom floor
- Self harm prevention
- skeletons preventing most levels of physical intimacy.
- Learning I was being broken up with one week in to the two week trip, but still sticking it out.
- Coming to understand, long time ago mind you, that that breakup was for the best. Things couldn’t have continued.
- Burger King, day 1.
- South central SD to Missoula MT in 11hr.
- Final embraces before parting for home.
- porcupine meatballs with Carol’s mom.
- Star wars VHS box set, and wanting to watch some, but never doing so.
- Dan, post-breakup
- late night walk to a park
- co-authored websites
- Arisa
- toe nail polish
- video chat attempts
Categories: Thoughts