Kristabella: Full of Snark Since 1977

Posted By Kristabella on October 17, 2008

Guess what I did tonight? I hung out with the uber-famous Ali Martell! I know, I know. That feeling you’re feeling? It is jealousy and it is completely normal. Don’t worry, it will go away soon.

Ali is in town being wined and dined and french fried by McDonald’s. She’s hanging out at the McDonald’s campus, which let me tell you, for being not that far from the city of Chicago, is like on a whole other planet. I felt like I was in a Disney movie. When I walked back to my car in the parking lot, 17 raccoons escorted to me and sang to me about the wonders of McDonald’s and the joys they have being in Oak Brook, IL. And then they twirled me up in ribbons, with some help from some birds and a deer, and sent me on my merry way back to the big city, with promises that I would one day come back to The Lodge.

I haven’t seen Ali since BlogHer, she and I forming two-thirds of the Honesty Group, with only our pal Slynnro missing, who we totally wished was here with us. I was really looking forward to her seeing Ali, and am glad she had time in her busy schedule to squeeze in some time for me. I was a little nervous because could we get along as well as we did at a blogging conference? Or how well we get along on email? Or over text messages? I mean, can we be two normal people and just hang out without screaming FAIL WHALE at people wearing their name badges or ask for extra drink tickets?

I don’t know why I was nervous. Probably because I’m just a fucking idiot. I should know better by now, after meeting so many awesome people through blogging, that it would be just fine.

You know, even with getting fired for my blog, I have not regretted doing this for one second. I just wish I would have started writing sooner. I don’t regret anything I’ve shared. I am real on here. I like to believe I’m no different in person than I am online. I just spit less and don’t talk with my mouth full through the computer. I think the only way to really enjoy blogging is by being yourself. You can’t worry about possibly offending people. Be yourself and if people don’t like that, they can go fuck themselves.

One of the main reasons I don’t regret doing this is because of the people. This little website has opened my life to some of the greatest people I have ever met. People find it odd, you know, to tell them you met someone on the internet. Online dating has just become more commonplace, forget the fact that people are out there meeting friends online, best friends. Even my brother thought it was so weird that I roomed with two people at BlogHer that I had never met face to face.

“Did you have three beds?” he asked me after I got back.

“No, Mike,” I told him. “We shared the 2 beds.”

“You slept in the same bed with a STRANGER?” he questioned, freaking out. “Someone you had NEVER EVEN MET IN PERSON?”

“Yep.”

“That’s really kind of weird and freaky.”

It never seemed weird, not for one second. Sometimes you’re lucky enough to just meet people, online and in person, that you just click with and know from the very first second that you will be friends for life. Ali is one of those friends for me. She’s one of those friends where you can sit in a hotel lobby talking so effortlessly about anything and everything. And when you aren’t talking, you’re laughing. Conversation where it feels like it has only been 20 minutes and it has been almost two hours.

If I get nothing else out of blogging, I will always be thankful for the awesome friendships I have made. I have made so many life-long friends, it makes me feel very lucky.

Now if those people could just move a hell of a lot closer, this would be SO MUCH BETTER. World domination of snark.

Categories: All Things Blogging
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