The internet can be a scary place sometimes. I was thinking back to my days as an internet neophyte on good ole BBS's (I *LOVE* L.O.R.D) and I remember how foolish I was. This was in a time before the whole idea of "privacy" on the internet being big enough to merit commercial time. It just didn't seem like as big a deal to do something like register with your actual name and address.
I made that mistake back then, and it led me to two completely different encounters. One was ok, but terrifying by the end. The other was fantastic, but in time I ended up getting really hurt.
So the first one: I was playing around on a local BBS one day and I got a message in my mail account. No one but the Sysop ever really said anything to anyone so i was really suprised. I actually took the time to write the guy back because he seemed nice. I got to know him a little bit and let him call me. I even went with him to a movie once (I took a friend of mine with us of course, I've seen all the scary movies). It got weird after that though. He'd call the house and if I wouldn't answer he'd let it ring hundreds of times. He'd call at all hours, and when I did talk to him he wanted me to go away with him to New York and all sorts of unreasonable things. When he started trying to find out where I lived from the BBS and actually almost succeeded I had that same friend from the movies call him and threaten him. I guess she did a good enough job beacuse I never heard from him again, but I always wonder about him.
I really thought I'd learned from this experiance and that I'd be smarter in the future, but sometimes fate has a way of slipping things in through the cracks. The next time I ended up in a relationship like this was on another BBS. This time it *was* the sysop who called me. It was my birthday and I was online and he must have been home and looking at his registry thing about me because he noticed and called my house. We started up a friendship and soon we were talking a couple of times a day, plus I would play L.O.R.D. on his BBS the whole rest of the day when I wasn't talking to him and he'd message me more often than not.
He lived moderatly far away in western Mass. We talked about meeting for a long time, but then I ended up in another little twist of fate. I went away for the summer to this insane program called PCC which is like summer camp to put on your college transcript. I met up with this girl who was a friend of an aquaintance who's friend knew the guy I was talking to online and she decided to fill him in on my personal stats. Now me and "Zaphod" (that was his name on the BBS, i can't quite begin to make myself write his name down, I deny he even existed often because of this terrible girl) had been talking regularly for months but I always managed to steer the coversation away from looks. I have always been overweight, and at this time I was at an exceptionally gawky, teenage, pimply stage. Well she filled him in. And I never spoke to him again. That just ruined me. I was *that* repelant that a mere description could destroy everything after those months of ,talking, flirting, and getting to know one another.
I've learned my lesson though. These days when I'm on a BBS my name is Esmerelda Smith.
