I was browsing my yahoomail and decided to see the oldest emails that I had. I got my mailbox when I was in my first year in college - that was about in 2000 -
Yea, it was kinda late for me. I don't know if it was because I was in Bacolod where people lagged from technology or because it was just me who was tech-dumb.
Anyway, upon reading those really old emails, I had this very nostalgic feeling of a past, somewhat embarassing, hobby. I was hooked on an internet friend through a chat room. How lame can that get?
mIRC was an "in" thing in my troupe before. Everybody was into it and it was a great pasttime. Well, except of course from CounterStrike or whatever.
However, when I was telling my guy a story about this experience in college, he was laughing his guts out. That I was so promdi and I was a loser. Sniff!
I begin to wonder, was the chat thing clicked for morons like me?
Anyway, never mind. Let me move on to my "net story"
I met this guy "" in the net and he seemed very intriguing because he reprimanded me of having to "ping!" him first. He said it was unladylike, blah blah blah. It was kinda funny because people were in the chatrooms to pass time and supposedly meet people.
However, that harsh confrontation turned to a very nice friendship. I did not know his name. I knew him by two code names at first-- red and wacky. We emailed for more than a year, two year at the most and we talked about a lot of things -- Harry Potter, photography, boyfriends (and girlfriends, on his part). It was such a comfort that both of us were anonymous to each other. It was not a sleazy ordeal. No dirty stuff or whatever. It was just a wholesome conversation with someone you can connect with.
Funny thing was he eluded to be known. After some time, we both found out that we are in each other's social networks. But it really did not transcend from that. Still it was just emails (not chatroom anymore) -- and take note, he had no cellphone which made it a whole lot harder.
Now, I look back at it as some sort of salvation, no matter what others say. I was undergoing a lot of turmoil (peer pressure, family feud, start of relationships, etc) and having someone to tell it to made a lot of difference.
After all these years, I still wonder though, who was the face beyond the name? Was the real name he gave me -- ian villaceran -- really his name? Or it was another alias? Does he still remember at this point of time that he had emailed me for two years, some eight years back in time?
Aaahhh...
These are the mysteries that perhaps, I will never know the answer.
