This is an absolutely true story Book Index
(click on video to turn off music)"No one would remember the Good Samaritan if he'd only had good intentions; he had money as well. "Margaret Thatcher
jai guru deva om
In spite of pain, I never missed a step when it came to my career. I couldn’t afford to.
Mel had the hypothetical champagne taste (yet she actually hated champagne). And I didn’t have the heart to deny her. We made road trips to her family, her parents, her sister, her aunts her uncles. Mel never missed a funeral. I believed she actually registered for these much the way a new bride registers for her wedding. And we seemed to lose at least one person a year. Quite frightening when I think back.
During one of these visits, her dad and I got into a discussion about the internet. He agreed with me that it would be our generation’s undoing, but, at the same time, it was a necessary evil. I made a fateful decision, one I would eventually regret.
At one point we actually were the last people to have the internet. Mel and I both felt strongly that the internet was the ruination of many relationships.
My best friend, Nancy, was the kind of friend who instead of bailing me out of jail, would be the one sitting next me saying ‘boy was that fun.’” Now she is the kind of person who would say I am such a good friend that if we were on a sinking ship together and there was only one life jacket… she'd "miss you heaps and think of you often".
She had married a man she had been so in love with. They lived quite nicely because he worked overseas in third world countries. I am not certain exactly what he did, but it had something to do with oil (go figure). In any event, she had discovered the ability to chat with people worldwide, much as I did when I met “New Girl”. This was in the late 80’s early 90’s.
My correspondence with New Girl was local, free of charge. Nancy, was communicating across an expensive airway, the Internet was not as it is today. When I spoke with her about this, I found she was spending anywhere from $700 to $1000 a month on-line talking with a New York Sheriff’s department officer! Not only did she have two small children, but if her ex-husband were to read this and figure out who I am speaking of, I have no doubt all kinds of NEW hell would break loose as he investigates long gone phone charges. I talked to her about this because, though I really did not care for her husband, I thought this was a shitty way to go about expunging him. Here he is working his ass off and she is spending his money almost faster than he can make it.
However, as Nietzsche said "A friend should be a master at guessing and keeping still: you must not want to see everything. "
I finally tired of trying to get my point across and she and I parted ways until just recently. Happiness is a hard master, particularly other people's happiness. The predictable ending to this saga, she left her husband and joined the local sheriff’s dept. and became a deputy. When she met her on-line lover, it wasn’t as she hoped and they parted ways. She had no husband, no lover and she eventually became homeless at one point.
So, when we returned from the trip where I spoke to Mel's father of this, for whatever reason, we decided it was time. If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude. And Devon jumped on it.
Before the end of the returning day, we were on-line and ready to become part of the international super highway.
And EBAY .
Mel loved EBAY and would get on-line the minute she got home. She shopped and bought anything and everything either Coast Guard or SCUBA diving. She would peruse on line every dog breeder, looking for the most exclusive kind of pets. She loved a brand of clothing called “Big Dog” and purchased quite a few things from their site. She emailed everybody and we had hoards of chain letters, jokes and emotional requisitions for prayer or looking for lost loved ones and animals. And on...and on...and on... And of course the "User Agreements" concerned me. Nothing in fine print is ever good news.
Me…I hated the net. I hate the phone as I have said before, and this was just one more way I was being forced to “keep in touch”. But I learned how to trouble shoot it because, well, after all, that is what I was known for so why stop now.
But I hated it.
We made an agreement early on, no internet hooking up.
At that time all we had was IM, AOL’s instant messenger. Does AOL even exist anymore? Then, they were the only word in messaging and internet search engines.
I was at a contract job that had IM automatically installed as a crude inter-office communication device. While working, a message suddenly came up.
From across the universe
"Hello love… ."
WHAT THE… .
Something's gonna change my world.
By the way IISTG means If It Seems Too Good to be True
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Comments
I need to recoup my stuff from New Hampshire and take a picture.
Unless someone out there has one.
i have met many shining souls here.
it is perfect for a fellow like me
who in a previous century
would have been an eccentric hermit, no doubt.
"Words are flowing out
Like endless rain into a paper cup
They slither while they pass
They slip away across the universe
Pools of sorrow waves of joy
Are drifting through my open mind
Possessing and caressing me"
so much abuse of it, like any good woman.
A spiders web of dewdrops, each reflecting all others.
(that is a metaphor from, like, 3000 yrs ago)
r.
Lezlie
I have just found these comments so sorry to all involved
If I were your age, i would be doing just as you are. But I have no goals to find a career any longer and all my family is alienated. Maybe I a telling them everything
Jon
oalrite
L
I agree, but sometimes it just happens faster this way.