in which I am a dork

[mamajoan]

On Friday, I finally bit the bullet and bought my plane tickets. In two weeks (August 5th to be exact) I'm going to Kansas City for a gathering of moms from my internet board, for moms who had babies in June 2003. Are you picturing it? About two dozen moms, two dozen 2-year-olds, and some assortment of husbands and other kids, all in one relatively confined space? LOL. It should be interesting.

But seriously folks, I'm getting pretty excited about this. I've been a member of this board since not long after the babies were born (many of the women were on the board throughout their pregnancies, but I joined late -- I was originally following the July 2003 group since that's when I was due) so it's about two years now. I feel like I've really gotten to know a lot of the women and kids, and consider them friends. So I'm all excited about meeting them in person.

And now I shall wax nostalgic about the first time I met someone in person whom I had known from online. Well, several someones all at once in fact. It was plaidder and xochiquetzl and some other folks from our feminist Star Trek list (which has since imploded). I was sooooo nervous at first, especially about meeting Xochi whom I knew so well from soap-opera newsgroups as well as the Trek lists. But I had sooooo much fun and got along so well with them and thought they were just the coolest people ever. <3

Anyway, so meeting people offline whom you know from online is always kind of weird and nervous-making at first. But I definitely think that's going to fade fast with this group, and we'll be laughing and hugging like longlost sisters within minutes. I mean, where else am I going to find a bunch of women who know as much about my breasts and my child's various bodily secretions as these women do? ;)

I did angst at great length over the expense, which is why I waited till the last minute to buy my tickets and thus missed out on getting a nonstop flight. I probably can't really afford it and may end up borrowing more money from my mom to pay the credit-card bill. But oh well. As several people repeatedly pointed out, I would have so regretted not going.

The plane trip with Isaac should be "interesting" too! Oy! I have to start thinking of some toys/activities to bring along to keep him distracted. *ponder*

Comments

[xochiquetzl]

*smooches*

[azurelunatic]

Mama had these magical lunchboxes, two of them. One was for snacks. The other was for random toys and art supplies.

And books about planes to get him excited about the whole "going on a plane" thing beforehand. So then he'll be all "Woo, the coolness A PLANE WOW", which should be miles better than "WTF is this thing?"

[mamajoan.livejournal.com]

lol, I think he's already into "the coolness a plane wow," judging from his reaction every time one goes overhead. But yeah, I have started talking up planes and how much fun they are to ride, and so forth.

Kids on planes

[techn0goddess.livejournal.com]

When A. and I went to Chicago recently we sat next to a woman with an 18 month old girl. She was really well behaved, considering her age. She could not comprehend why she wasn't allowed to put her feet on the back of the seat in front of her, but she only jostled that poor guy a couple of times. And she did get restless and squirmy right before she fell asleep about an hour into the flight. But other than that she was happy eating goldfish and looking around. So good luck with Isaac.

[bodacia.livejournal.com]

Meeting online friends is GREAT! I have met so many folks from online over the past decade, and it's almost always been a rewarding experience. You know who I just met in person yesterday, as a matter of fact? Dale Joyner! From GLDiscuss! Talk about waxing nostalgic. :)

Anyway, I bet you'll have a fabulous time meeting all those moms and kids! :)

BTW, do I know xochiquetzl? Or is she from a different soap fandom? ;)

[mamajoan.livejournal.com]

Nostalgic? Oh! I always forget you aren't on SUBGL any more! Silly you. ;) Well it's great that you got to meet Dale anyway. I bet that was fun.

Yeah, meeting online friends is almost always great. I don't think I've had a single really bad experience with it (*knock furiously on wood*). It tends to be awkward at first but then clear right up.

I don't think you know Xochi. She and I used to be buddies on rats.GH -- she was always a General Hospital fan, I don't think she was ever into GL. She and I are each other's Evil Twin and we call each other Kevin and Ryan (after the good and evil twins on GH).

[bodacia.livejournal.com]

If you email me (mailto:bo@bodacia.com) the SUBGL distribution list, I'll pop in and say hi to everyone. :)

And, yeah, meeting Dale was great. He's such a sweet guy. :)