' Net Frens '

Just as recent as a few months ago i've been actively playing around with SKYPE .. for those of you who dont know what SKYPE is ( where have you been? ) it's basically a chat program where people can locate each other everywhere and anywhere around the world and well, chat !!

I've made some good friends here and have also learnt a few very valuable lessons. People, in this case, chatters, value their privacy to a fault.

Now when i say privacy, I mean in real life. On cyberspace and in some cases on the cellular networks, ANYTHING goes !! They can tell you everything and anything about their personal lives but hey, suggest a meeting and BOOM! they dont wanna talk to you no more ...

Lemme give you an example.

I met C online two months ago. Funny thing is .. I wasnt even searching or looking for people to chat with .. I was doing something else ( hell if I remember what now ) and she messaged me. And so we talked ... and talked .. and talked. And it led to an exchange of telephone numbers, thereby making it easier for us to talk. ( I never realised I could talk so much!! )

Well, after a certain period of time we kinda got more comfortable with each other and discussions invariably led to more .. err .. intimate details of ourselves. Let's just say that by this time we knew each other's routines and what the other even had for breakfast !!

And so it led to me asking for a meeting. Nothing serious, just drinks at the local mamak stall or perhaps coffee at Starbucks. It is after all the natural progressive state of a friendship, right ?

At first she made excuses. I'm not free, I'm not home, I've got an appointment ... blah-blah-blah. Then when I asked again, she said that she was not ready to meet me. That she was shy.

SHY ??

Excuse me .. you've been chatting with me on the phone whilst peeing in the bathroom!! I dont know about you but when a girl just goes to the bathroom while you talk to her on her cellphone, that basically goes waaaaay past shy!!

Anyways, to make matters short, I basically gave her an ultimatum. Meet me and be real friends or let's just forget it. To me basically the Internet besides being a source of information and resources, is also a medium for real people to meet and be real friends in real life. It doesnt make sense to me to reveal the most intimate details of your life to someone and balk at meeting that someone for a drink !!

Well, she chose not to meet. Guess I was just a personal and exclusive counselling service to her - go figure.

But then, there are friends I've made online and met in real life - the friend from Alor Star whom I've been playing driver to these past two days ( dont ask ) as well as the friend from Malacca whom I've spent a day with.

Bottom line is, SKYPE / MSN / Facebook are basically neat little facilities but meeting genuine and real people, I'm afraid it's not ( well, most of the time anyway! ).

What do you think ?