Orlando or Silas?

Yesterday afternoon I did something that I've never done before! Want to guess what I did? I'll give you four choices to pick from:

A) I ran five miles.
B) I bought a pair of Manolos with a 4-inch heel.
C) I met another blogger.
D) I watched "Rocky".

They say that in a multiple choice test if you don't know the answer, try to use the process of elimination. And if that doesn't work, all you have to do is pick "C". That way you have at least a 25% chance of getting the answer correct. Besides, the answer really is "C"!

Yes, yesterday I met another blogger! I know, the idea of meeting another blogger can seem a little scary, and rightfully so. The internet provides such a cloak of anonymity that we can come across as being Orlando Bloom:


When in all actuality, we're really Silas:


Uh huh. The worry is that instead of finding that your blogging buddy is the suave and thoughtful person they appear to be on-line, he or she is actually a nefarious killer who wears a hooded cloak and stars in a bad adaptation of a book that wasn't all that great to begin with. Before you know it, you're sitting in a cafe across from this person, wondering how quickly you can sneak to the bathroom to dial 911.

But I wasn't worried about any of this sort of thing because I wasn't going to meet just any blogger. Nope, I met a blogger who I've emailed back and forth with for around a year. She even mailed me a guidebook on France back when I was planning on escaping there sometime this year. So, I wasn't too afraid I'd be chopped into pieces, never to see my family again!

Who is this fab blogger? I got to meet the fabulous Sundry over at Any Given Sundry. We had a nice chat over tea yesterday afternoon and let me tell you, she's so cool and just as interesting in person! I'm glad I met her. But goodness, I hope I didn't scare her to death with how much I can talk! (If I did, sorry!)

What about you? Have you ever met any other bloggers? If you did, did you get along in person? And if you haven't met any other bloggers, would you even want to?

Comments

Jen said…
I'm in process of trying to meet a friend who lives near NYC when I go to NYC. I'm also hoping to meet a couple when I go on my upcoming road trip.

I've met online friends before (through e-mail lists or whatever) and it's always worked out fine, so I guess I always expect it to work well.

Glad you had a good time!
Miriam said…
Hey I got it right!!!

And no, I haven't met another blogger. Would I ever want to?

Hmmmmmmmmm LOLOL is that a trick question?

Some seem okay, and i'd enjoy meeting them. Others make me want to run. Okay, I said it.
Mango Mama said…
Nope, I haven't yet met a blogger I didn't know before I/they became bloggers. I do share a few mutual friends of the fab blogger over at My American Melting Pot, but I have yet to have the pleasure of meeting her myself.
ooooh, your page is pretty! anyhoo, never met a blogger...i might meet a chick tho
Liz Dwyer said…
Jen,
That's great that you're going to meet up with some folks when you're out traveling. The only online friends I've met before are folks through the Depeche Mode message board, but we don't get together unless we're at some sort of regional meet-up. Those have been alright though. No one's seemed totally psycho so you're probably right that it almost always works out fine.

Miriam,
Yay, that you got it right...I only ran 2 miles today, no heels and definitely no Rocky! :) Not a trick question either. I'm always curious about what other people are like and I'd love to meet many of the bloggers I've read for a long time, but I don't know if it would be weird...or what if we hated each other and then I could no longer stomach reading their blog? I'm glad Sundry asked me to get together though. I was so happy to meet her.

Mango Momma,
So interesting but you make me realize that almost none of my real-life friends here in LA have blogs but plenty of my Chicago peeps have them. I need to encourage some of these LA folks to get with it!

PCD,
Thank you for the compliment! I changed the look of the blog about a month and a half ago and I'm still thrilled with it. I agree with you about being more inclined to meet female bloggers than male ones, but then again, there was that movie "Single White Female" back in the day! You just never know with folks! (I'm so paranoid, aren't I?)
Jameil said…
YAY!! i just met ace (he was playing at a bar here). i also met dreamyj (when she was in pitsburgh) and veronica (we went to a pirates game). i def. want to me more!
Anonymous said…
Yes, I've met three other Belfast bloggers and they're all lovely, warm-hearted people in person! If I'd made the effort to go the Irish Blog Awards I would have met many more but I didn't! People always say that bloggers are even nicer in person. So the 4-inch Manolos will have to wait till tomorrow then?
I actually met Malik who used to be the Unbound Movement blogger. We didn't get to really sit down and talk but it was pretty cool. I have a list of bloggers I'd love to meet in person some day, and of course you are on that list. What would be really cool would be if we were to attend something together and live blog from that event. What do you think?
Lisa Johnson said…
I'm glad you had a good time. I've actually met several bloggers and have written up the blogmeets in the archives. I even went to the BlogHer conference last year in Chicago. It was amazing! So far everyone was just like they are online. I'm planning to get together with another blog friend soon actually.
Sundry said…
Yeah, like I would ever let anyone else talk too much, with my mouth! I wondered if my stories seemed a little off-topic. I think we're okay.

I thought it was healthy that we both had people mildly question that we were meeting people from online, too. I do think that it's awfully hard for people to mask themselves in the long term, and that your isn't just any old blog; it's a place where you engage in some of the issues that matter most to you.

I've met several people from the Internet over the years and the one person I thought was a little odd was pretty odd in person, but not dangerous. The first time was WAY back in the days of BBS boards (gather 'round children), and the woman worked in the bird house at Seaworld. We petted a penguin!

Even though there was no penguin petting, I'm really glad we met.
I've met a few expat bloggers in Italy but we had been emailing for a while.

I agree it can seem weird. When you read some of the more personal blogs you do feel as if you know the person, but really you don't. ha.

So far I have had great experiences and a few of them have become good friends.
Anonymous said…
I wish you had bought the shoes cause you would have worn then one time and then I could have had them!!!!! Glad you had a good time.
1969 said…
I have met about five bloggers and they were all pretty cool folks.
Lola Gets said…
My very first blogger meet-up was a huge disaster. They decided that I wasnt good enough for them to hang with, and castigated me the entire evening.

Ive met bloggers in other ways. One was over lunch and the other was at a progressive blogger conference sponsored by National Organizing Institute.

If you want to read about any of those meet-ups, go to my blog and search for...
"meet-up"; "philly"; or "national organizing institute."

L
Anonymous said…
So far I've met lex of http://on2ndthought.wordpress.com/, the gal of http://www.restaurantgal.com/ ,
The Dragon/kiyotoe at http://www.kiyotoe.blogspot.com/ , and mist1 of http://mustgethobby.blogspot.com/ .

I met the gal and lex for brunch here in Atlanta last fall and have been luckily been able to continue our friendship.

I hung out with lex again in Dallas in December. I met the lovely katrice of http://afryandaprayer.wordpress.com/ on the same trip and I was supposed to be seeing the great DD of http://darkdamian.wordpress.com/ too, but his band practice and my alcohol consumption got in the way last year. I'll see him on my next trip along with jeremy biggers (the starving artist) of http://jeremybiggers.blogspot.com/.

Lex is coming back to ATL in 2 weeks and we're planning on hanging out again.

I'm looking forward to meeting the whole crew of "Blogger's Delight" when their book tour comes to Atlanta. (capcity, rawdawgbuffalo, and rich are the ones I know from their pages and most looking forward to meeting.

I look at my online friends as real friends and I've never been disappointed after seeing them in person.
Liz Dwyer said…
Jameil,
Oh that's right, you just did go to Ace's show. Well, if you come out here to Cali, we definitely have to meet up. My eldest son will totally get a crush on you, LOL!

Nick,
I fear the 4-inch Manolos may not be in my immediate future. I'm not sure how I'd walk down the hill to get my boys from school in them! It's really nice that you've met a few other folks though and that none of them turned out to be Silas types!

Phillipe,
I'm jealous that you met Malik. He seems very cool and I wish he hadn't given up blogging. Also, I sort of feel like I already know you since we've met before even if I'm an idiot and don't remember it. Plus you know my parents and my dear Leili so you're practically family! We do need to find some event to meet up at. Coming to Chicago this July for anything?

Anali,
BlogHer sounds very cool. I wish I could go but the thought of figuring out what to do with my kis while I'm there gives me a headache! Nice that the bloggers you met were the nice, normal people they seem to be online.

Sundry,
Your stories were great. I had so much fun and I definitely think it's healthy that folks were wondering if we were heading out to our doom! And gosh, penguin petting? How can I be down?

NYC/CR,
Nice that some folks have become good friends. That's an ideal outcome to have because we could always use more good friends. I know those Italian bloggers are definitely excited you're headed that way! It's LA's loss, that's for sure.

Cyndee,
When you're here, how about I take you to get some collagen injections into the balls of your feet? That way you'll actually be able to walk in the shoes...and you'll finally be as tall as me! LOL!

1969,
Five people? No Silas characters? You give me hope, 1969. You give me hope!

Lola,
That's right! I totally remember you writing about that and then that one lady started trashing you on her blog, right? What a nightmare. At least the other meet-ups haven't been so crazy.
Liz Dwyer said…
Jali,
Wow, you've met a lot of people! I think that must be a record or something! I think it's nice too that you get together more than once with folks.

I know I talk about folks I know online as if they're people I actually know in real life! :)
I guessed which one it was! Nobody with two active kids could possibly chase them down in 4" Manolos.

It has occurred to me that it would be fun to meet you.

The only other bloggers I have met so far are one or two I knew before I ever started a blog. It would be fun and also a bit weird to meet another blogger because it's a strange kind of friendship - intimate in detail w/o actually "knowing" the person.

I'm glad your meeting went so well.
Tafari said…
how cool! I met one blogger so far in person and that was Cluizel in NYC last year.

We had a great time and got along very well. I think we both came off to be the same people we are online, scary on by end LOL.

This year I hope to meet more through my travels and possible attendance at the Blogging While Brown Conference.

Bygbaby
David Sullivan said…
I have a great story of how I met my cousin I hadn't seen in 40 years through blogging. Its different than my blog anniversary post. Read here:

http://sullsblog.blogspot.com/2007/09/sins-of-father.html
Liz Dwyer said…
Heart,
I can't even manage to avoid falling down outside while I'm wearing flat boots, I'm sure not running around in some 4" heels would even work for me! You're definitely at the top of my list of bloggers I'd love to meet! One of these days it has to happen.

Bygbaby,
There are so many cool blogging conferences coming up. I want to go to them all. I can imagine you're exactly who you seem to be. You're like the old MC Breed track, "Ain't no future in your frontin'"! Hmm...when's the techno festival?

David,
You met a cousin through blogging? Now that is very cool. I'll come over and check it out.
the last noel said…
How wonderful that you both met! You are two terrif people who need to be friends!
I've been on-line since 1996 then we started the Open Grove in 2001. I've met a lot of people that I meet online. It's a different experience.

Sometimes, you find a friend for life. Other times you learn things you wish you didn't know.

I like people, in general, so I've really not had any awful experiences.

I hope you enjoy/enjoyed it!
Keith said…
I've never met a fellow blogger. The thought is a little creepy. I know that I can sometimes spend an hour or more just to find the correct words for a two paragraph post, and several minutes coming up with witticisms for comments that still often miss the mark. In person there is a fear of having the curtain pulled back and seeing that the wizard is just some guy. I don't think I'd mind as long as it's someone I've been ridin' with for a little while.
Jackie E. said…
Hi....first time on the blog. Just wanted to say that I just met a fellow blogger for the first time last week in Orlando and I wrote about it too. It was definitely an interesting experience and it was great to see that Jewells (the blogger I met from jewellsavenue.blogspot.com) was just as she presented herself to be on her blog. I would love to meet up sometime with other bloggers if the opportunity presents itself.
Eb the Celeb said…
Everyone is having all these blog meet-ups except us new yorkers. Everyone is always so busy.

We are going to get it together soon though. Now that the weather is changing... people have no excuse but to come out right?

Or will they suddenly have even more things to do because its warm out.
Liz Dwyer said…
Noel,
I'm so glad I met her too. She is really nice!

Claudia,
I think Sundry was a great 1st blogger to meet. She sure set a high bar for any other folks I might meet!

Keith,
I know exactly what you mean. On-line we can filter ourselves to seem wittier, more interesting, more "together". But then in real life, we're like an unedited reality show...not all that interesting!

Jackie,
Welcome! Glad you came by to visit! I can imagine it would be seriously weird if you met someone and they proved to be nothing like how they present themselves on-line. Glad it went well for you!

Eb the Celeb,
Welcome to my blog! Yes, folks do come up with lots of reasons to not connect, don't they? It's either too hot or too cold...we're worse than Goldilocks! :)

When I lived in NYC it always seemed like folks there were more wary of strangers than anyplace else and I definitely adopted that approach when I was there. I'm sure that affects blogger meet ups.
Odat said…
I've met three blogging buddies...and I still like them! hehe. Isn't it a great experience???
Peace
Liz Dwyer said…
Odat,
Yeah, it's very cool! I definitely want to do it again.

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