Huh. So I'm back at work. I think I may have narrowly avoided 3 root canals. At least, the numbers don't look like root canals. (If I don't type in in black, it won't come back to get me?) And besides, that was the worse case scenario. And I'd think I'd be told if it were to have come to pass.

Face slowly regaining sensation.

Got the recipe for that 'shine?

My father had a still set up in the basement, inherited from my (and Sox's) Grandfather, and Great-Grandfather (who had it set up in the woods). The still was strategically set up so that we wouldn't hit it when using the firing range.

That woman makes us sound antique.

I've been on the internet since 1996, which really isn't that long at all, but I think I am approaching dinosaur territory.

(Mostly I just hate the layout. And the auto-load music. And the searing of my retinas with the inappropriate color schemes.)

And this is why I do not have a MySpace. And because the only interesting things about me are not things I'm going to put on MySpace connected with my real name.

Hi! I'm an underemployed loser who lives in Chicago and watches too much TV. I read books! I crush on rock stars! I am a nerd! I don't know what I want to be when I grow up!

Actual text messages from this weekend:

My friend T.: Chatting with Kayan at hot dog and he remembers you.
Me: Kayan who? What is hot dog?
My friend T: Kyan was your neighbor from Queer Eye and hot dog is a club.
Me: Oh! I bet he lied.

Perhaps if your friend T had spelled Kyan's name correctly the first time. . you'd have remembered him.

Yeah, I was like, who cares that some guy I went abroad with remembers me? And then I realized, hey, that's Kayvan. WTF is Kayan?!

It's not so much the length of time we've been around, it's more the idea that you can't do that now, the internet's too different.

I...I don't know.

I have Facebook and I like Facebook even though it messes with my head because I can see people from a bunch of different worlds all next to each other.

My father had a still set up in the basement, inherited from my (and Sox's) Grandfather, and Great-Grandfather (who had it set up in the woods). The still was strategically set up so that we wouldn't hit it when using the firing range.

OK, you've got to know that sounds like the second half of one of those Jeff Foxworthy jokes...

So. Freakin. Cool.

It's not so much the length of time we've been around, it's more the idea that you can't do that now, the internet's too different.

Ah, I see what you mean now.

Beatrice's experiences are specific to a bygone time and television show -- making friends online was an entirely different proposition ten years ago, when the Internet wasn't overrun with millions of eleven-year-old MySpace users, and internet-savvy Buffy fans were an even more rarefied group.

I think that's crap. I continue to make friends online and socialize with them in meatspace. It's never exactly the same as b.org, but each community has its own flavor. The internet is different; it's a hell of a lot bigger and busier. I think the social networking tools available to us now might make it easier to find like-minded people, but who knows, maybe that's because I've been around long enough that I know how and where to look.

Anybody see NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day today? Link