Monday, October 24, 2011

Noel, May

My pen pal of two years now, Noel, was nannying in California earlier in the year, so she came to visit me and San Francisco for a couple nights. She took pictures too. We drank much tea, visited the Botanical Gardens, and candied our own ginger. She tried Indian food for the first time and quoted books all over the place. (I can't wait to see her again later this fall.)

I always say that meeting a blogger friend in person is like gaining a second transparency to layer on top of a first one. They often seem different from how they write, but that doesn't mean that who they are on their blog is disingenuous — both representations of themselves are usually true, and truer when you synthesize them. When people I know first in person later start reading my blog, I certainly feel that they suddenly know me much better. (And I know you my fellow introverts know what it is to have sides of yourself that don't come out in the average verbal interaction.)

Anyway, meeting Noel was a perfect example of that: I already knew that she was very thoughtful and smart and literary and cultured, and then I found out that she is not ALL classics and theology, but has a lighthearted and playful side to her too.








9 comments:

  1. Pretty girl, cold water, much love.

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  2. It's so rewarding when those kind of meetings go well; I'm glad you made a friend.

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  3. shannon - exactly. <3

    red-handed - :) I've never yet had a bad blogger meet-up.

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  4. "When people I know first in person later start reading my blog, I certainly feel that they suddenly know me much better. (And I know you my fellow introverts know what it is to have sides of yourself that don't come out in the average verbal interaction.)"

    ^yes. which is why i am usually so hesitant to tell people i know in person where i blog

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  5. Fé - nods. Though it's (almost?) always improved my relationship with the person.

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  6. ...the feeling of someone I know in the physical realm asking me for my blog address, that sudden intake of mental breath, frantic desire to distract them, avoid the answer, keep them firmly planted on their side of the median.

    and yet, slitting a vein in full view of cyberia, without third thoughts.

    what a piece of work is [wo]man.

    I like the story these photos reveal, of sun and cold water and an apparent obsession with drowning.

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  7. Noel - lighthearted and obsessed with drowning are the same thing, right?

    yes, it's a "yikes" kind of question for me too -- just how you described it.

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  8. I love your photos and that the two of you got to meet up! I wish I could be there, too.

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  9. Erin - That would have been just about perfect.

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