Good Food, Good Friend

Sunday, June 22, 2008
Last night fellow Hot Chick and UCFer Anne came over for dinner and conversation with me and the Smart Man.

We had spicy shrimp and cashews over rice, and Anne brought some wine that she and the Smart Man enjoyed. I can't drink wine - it gives me a terrible headache, even the whites, so I stuck with Mike's.

Boogie the Giant Schnauzer has decided he really likes his new Auntie Anne, and would like to go live with her. She has longer fingernails than his bass-playing mom, and understands the importance of a good back scratch.

We both wore our official UCF earrings, and although we failed to document the occasion, a good time was had. The Smart Man thought Anne was smart, engaging and fun, and can't understand why some other Smart Man hasn't found her yet.

It makes me wonder, however, about the nature of the UCF. While I and others have blogged about it before, I don't know if our community is unique. I've never been a member of an on-line community such as this, so I don't know if exchanging gifts, snail-mail cards and postcards, and other acts of kindness is the norm among members of such a community.

If anyone else has any insight into this, I'd love to hear about it!

13 comments:

Random Michelle K said...

It happens, but it's very rare in my experience.

I had a similar experience with a group I met over the BBSes, and we all kept in contact through e-mail. Extremely unfortunate life circumstance ended up allowing that group to fall apart, although I am still in regular contact with one friend.

In fact, the mad cow came from her. :)

Random Michelle K said...

Also, I'm so jealous you and Anne are close enough to hang out and spend so much time together!

Janiece said...

Michelle, I do feel fortunate to have the chance to be Anne's Meat-Friend.

She's FABULOUS.

You'll find out in the fall, when you guys come through town!

Anne C. said...

[blush]

Anyway, I had a great time eating Janiece's yummy food, petting her cute-as-a-giant-button dog, and meeting the fabled Smart Man. As advertised, he actually *is* smart and I am pleased to report he treats Janiece with the mingled appreciation and strength of personality that our friend deserves. He's a lot of fun, to boot.

And I am very much looking forward to seeing more UCFers come through Denver!

(PS - Janiece, I think you can deduce from this that I made it back safely and was not dragged off into the wilderness. :)

Janiece said...

Yay! Anne's not a horrifying statistic!

Cuz that would just suck.

Nathan said...

This is my first experience with any kind of online community. I'm sure I'm spoiled already.

Rest assured, if I ever run across another one, I'll be the obnoxious guy telling everybody how it's supposed to work...like the UCF! You guys all rock.

John the Scientist said...

It is quite rare. I'm not sure what it is, but I think that it was largely self-selected based on lengthy (in internet time) interactions on the 'E rather than some common single interest has a lot to do with it. Single-interest groups tend to contain just as many assholes as any other group of humans, and we pretty much weeded them out in our exodus from the 'E.

Janiece said...

Nathan, you? Obnoxious? Nah. Hehe.

John, I think you may be on to something when you say we're self-selected.

Because I can assure you, if taustin or some other asshat started invading my space, I would have no compunction about giving him the Heave-Ho. With extreme prejudice.

Nathan said...

Janiece,

I don't remember what it was, but I was browsing some thread or other on the 'e' last week and just when I was about to comment, I scrolled down and saw that Taustin had said almost exactly what I meant to say. I found the whole thing really disconcerting.

Or I'm an asshole. Could go either way.

(Just to note, it was one of those rare moments where he wasn't being confrontational.)

Random Michelle K said...

taustin. There's someone in dire need of a good disemvowelling.

Janiece said...

Nathan, I don't think you're an asshole.

Like even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while, even an obnoxious troll can be civil once in a while.

John the Scientist said...

Heh. I was just thinking about Janiece's confusion about my john-the-scientist / udarnik alter egos when she invited me to comment on this blog from the 'E.

Self-selection for thsi group was a lot like exchanging emails on an internet dating site before going out. One more barrier to entry to keep the idiots to a minimum. Only not for the purposes of boinking. (I hope. If it was, please allow me to remain in the dark. :p)

Janiece said...

Yeah, but I'm easily confused (because of the Mad Cow).

So that shouldn't really count.

Hehe.

And I'm pretty much not interested in knowing about any UCF Boinking activities. LALALALALA!