Hee hee, I saw you, Meira!
Do you ever wonder if, in the normal course of your gadding about town (because I know that's what you're doing! You'd never gallivant, no, not you. That's for the hoi polloi), you're making brief eye contact with, handing change to, holding the door for other bloggers? Or well-known commenters (shoot, an art in itself)? Or obsessive lurkers of blogs you favor or comment on or even write?
I sometimes feel like wearing a t-shirt proclaiming my hardly-secret identity, just to see who shakes out. I mean, there are people I've met on purpose. But there's something about the chance meeting, the intersection of Internets and diner patrons, that's weird and fascinating.
Ever meet another blogger out and about? Ever suspect? Ever wonder?
(And hey, don't think I've forgotten about the plastics follow-up. It's in the mail, but it went book rate.)
(Also: it is forcing me to come to terms with the ridiculous amount of plastic still inhabiting my kitchen -- and I'm not even talking about the stuff like the little cups I keep Sophia's Oatios in, because that isn't even a leaching issue; I mean the services of a certain Rubber Maid I haven't been able to let go of. Gah. And how many water bottles did my kid have in her mouth this weekend? It is over-fucking-whelming, is whaaaaa.)
(And and! It's hot today, and so we are actually running the Air Condition, as my daddy's family called it, and boy howdy do I feel guilty about that. Not just because of the wanton combustion of fossil fuels -- the global warming! The ironic hottening of the world so that I can cool my rowhouse!; not because we're chronically underfunded; not just because it's not even June yet. No, I feel guilty because my mother would never run the a/c when it was possible to "Oh, just open a window and get a crossbreeze!")
i once met dooce. in the street. in amsterdam. what are the chances of that? and it is so odd to have a conversation with someone you know so well and yet they know absolutely nothing about you. and still it felt really natural. odd.
Posted by: k | Monday, May 29, 2006 at 04:51 PM
I pine for one of those huge fans my parents have up in the attic that will draw a huge breeze through the whole house.
And maybe you should get the "I'm kind of a big deal" T-shirt.
Posted by: Moxie | Monday, May 29, 2006 at 07:44 PM
Once at a park here I ran into Dutch and Sweet Juniper (http://sweetjuniper.blogspot.com/) -- but I had met them once before, at another event, so it wasn`t a first encounter.
I looked horible, though, and was immediately self-conscious and wanted to crawl under a log. (Plus,I smelled bad, too -- I realized later I had stepped in some dog shit.)
Posted by: L. | Monday, May 29, 2006 at 08:21 PM
I didn't meet a blogger, but I think I met a fellow commenter/lurker/reader of Tertia's. My new neighbor has new IVF b/g twins and said the girl is more high maintenance. I commented that I have an online acquaintance with b/g twins and her boy is the tougher one. My neighbor looked really hard at me, but I didn't offer more even though I felt like she knew who I was talking about. I want to be anonymous!
Posted by: Cricket | Monday, May 29, 2006 at 08:42 PM
Buy this t-shirt:
http://www.thinkgeek.com/tshirts/ladies/6388/
(it says "I'm blogging this" if you don't want to click)
My husband bought me one and I am not nearly serious or diligent enough on my website...I can't make myself even call it a blog.
I wore it to yoga once and someone asked me if I was...you know...her. And I said no. Because I am not. (See un-serious web efforts above). But I am not sure who she meant. Sigh.
Posted by: Sarah | Monday, May 29, 2006 at 09:08 PM
In my town of ~40,000 people lives another blogger whose family's plight was publicized in the blogosphere a few months ago. I ran into her in the library and thought about introducing myself, and then I ran into her at the playground and did introduce myself. Her eyes widened a little bit when I said I had read her blog. I didn't say I had a blog myself, which felt a little funny, but only a handful of IRL friends know about my blog.
Now I am wondering if she reads your blog and will figure out that I am the same Jamie who said hello by the swings that day.
Posted by: Jamie | Monday, May 29, 2006 at 10:34 PM
We put lots of pictures on our blog, and we live in a city with lots of blogging and blog reading going on. A couple of times people have come up to my husband or I and said they read our blog. Before it happened, I thought it'd be weird, but people are so nice and sweet that it's really cool to meet them.
L. doesn't count though, cause we met her first on purpose. And I wasn't there, L., but there's dog shit all over the place in that park so everyone has it on their shoes.
Posted by: Wood | Monday, May 29, 2006 at 11:06 PM
I think you're the most famous blogger I know in person, Jo :) Anyway, so far I know only four: Kateri, you, Marta, and Andi...
I think this whole blogging thing and meeting IRL is absolutely fascinating. I wish I knew more people whose blogs I read, though many of them don't read my blog...
I love the comments to this post too. Meeting Dooce in the street in Amsterdam - wow!
I feel like getting a T-shirt as well :) (oh, and I totally want to turn the AC on, only we're really penny-pinching here and your mom's suggestion is what we're doing for now).
Posted by: Lilian | Monday, May 29, 2006 at 11:47 PM
It's only happened in the reverse for me--I meet people in real life, and then they find my blog. Their reactions are usually very cute--one friend clicked away immediately and e-mailed me to let me know she valued my privacy. I have good friends. :)
Running into a blogger I read would be interesting, though. And may have already happened, for all I know!
Posted by: Schnozz | Tuesday, May 30, 2006 at 02:22 AM
I was having lunch with coworkers and spotted Poppymom, her husband and daughter accross the restaurant. If I had been alone, I would have introduced myself, but I didn't know how to explain to my coworkers that I was going to go talk to some "stranger" from the internet.
Posted by: Melissa | Tuesday, May 30, 2006 at 09:57 AM
Dude, Lilian, I think Andi is *way* more famous!
Posted by: Jo | Tuesday, May 30, 2006 at 10:26 AM
For the record, I DO gallivant.
You know, I used to wonder about this a lot in the RE's waiting room. I wanted to shout out "Hey, did you guys read what Julie wrote yesterday?" and have them all start talking about their blogs/comments.
Wish I'd worn an "I'm blogging this" T-shirt then...could have been interesting...except my mood was usually FOUL so it may not have been a good idea.
Posted by: Menita | Tuesday, May 30, 2006 at 11:13 AM
Um, I took my cat to the vet last week and when I gave my name, the receptionist said "Akeeyu...Akeeyu...why does that name sound so familiar?" "Um...no reason?"
Yeah. As far as I know, I am the only Akeeyu in the entire Internet.
Posted by: akeeyu | Tuesday, May 30, 2006 at 01:48 PM
So far I've only met other bloggers on purpose, but I live in a big city with lots of bloggers, and I'm semi-convinced I've seen another one of us walking her son in my neighborhood.
How creepy would I be if I ran out the door and started talking to her. That just seems like it would scare her.
Posted by: Sarah | Tuesday, May 30, 2006 at 03:00 PM
Totally a day late and a dollar short, but very very tardy thanks for the plastics post - I'm so glad another one is forthcoming. Why don't they hand you that info in an instruction manual when you're furnishing your first kitchen? Because it's going to be incredibly painful to part with all of my lovely Tupperware now or when I have children (timeframe depending on motivation - I think sooner rather than later, though). However, I printed out your post and got bf on board, so thanks!
Now do I donate the Tupperware to someone else into whose little ones it can leech leech leech or throw it away and contribute to landfill waste? It doesn't look too recyclable...gah. I'm curious what you think.
Posted by: Adrienne | Tuesday, May 30, 2006 at 04:51 PM
I'm ordering my Blogging t-shirt right now and might try a little experiment of my own.
Posted by: Sherry | Tuesday, May 30, 2006 at 11:23 PM
Looking forward to the next plastics post. For my part, I'm currently working on reducing as opposed to eliminating. Glass in the fridge and plastics for outings, that kind of thing. We'll get closer to elimination after a while, I suppose, although as I type I realize that my laptop is probably 90% plastic so probably shouldn't hold my breath.
Posted by: Marsha | Wednesday, May 31, 2006 at 08:35 AM
Hey Jo- we still owe our kids a playdate! Heading off to the gathering of nerds this year? I'll buy you a mint julep.
Posted by: dish | Wednesday, May 31, 2006 at 09:31 AM
I held a door open for a prominent academic blogger, one who had gratuitously linked to me, while on his campus in California last year...
He had the most implausible stack of stuff he was carrying. Like two feet of exam blue books, with a nice little laptop sort of tucked into the middle of the pile. Unstable enough that it didn't seem inappropriate for a quite-pregnant woman to hold open a door for him.
But that's where anonymity vs. not makes it all a little unfair, no? I knew, I was smug, and he'll never ever know.
Posted by: Emma Jane Maple | Thursday, June 01, 2006 at 11:43 AM
I'll follow you all the livelong day re the plastics issue, but as long as we're living in a city in Texas there's no way I can give up my a/c.
Living in the country (which I would prefer, but, well, here we are) is a different matter, but in the city...let's just say that I'd be surprised if the hum of Houston's collective air conditioners wasn't audible from space beginning in late May.
Posted by: wix | Sunday, June 04, 2006 at 11:00 AM
Oh, and on the other bloggers issue, I don't think I've met or think-I've-met any others. I have thought-I've-met some of the women on the same (quite active) listserv I'm on, but that's not quite the same thing.
I can't say that I'm tempted to reveal my not-so-secret identity in hopes of picking up online threads in real life. First off, I don't have a ginormous readership. Second, I have a mean and surly look that says I will kick your ass, which prevents most people from classifying me as 'approachable' or 'friendly'. So, I'm not really sure that even if there WERE people who wanted to meet me, that they'd really want to meet me once they saw me out and about. But maybe I'm wrong. Maybe there's a punkrock hippe hybrid meetup out there and I'm just loitering around the wrong lunch table.
Posted by: wix | Sunday, June 04, 2006 at 11:05 AM
Well, the AC you can feel just a LITTLE less guilty about since it's the number one reason that outbreaks of Malaria just short of died out in the US. People didn't have to sit outside to cool themselves in the early evening when mosquitos were most abundant.
Posted by: Nopenname | Friday, June 09, 2006 at 02:13 PM