A blogger date with Laura:

After the happy success of our first ever meet-up (success mainly being, Laura pointed out, that I did not prove to be a fifty-year-old man masquerading as a slightly nerdish blogging lady), last Wednesday was high time for Laura and I to hang out again. We met at our halfway point (I like to think of it as Asia-in-Brisbane) in order to see The Three Musketeers, eat lunch, and chat.

I'd already seen The Three Musketeers and had thought it was merely okay. This time -- perhaps both because I knew what to expect and because I wasn't expecting something else entirely (as I was the first time round) -- I really enjoyed it. A rollicking adventure, long-haired men wielding swords, entirely anachronistic air travel technology... what's not to love? Also there was a rather cute romance between the adorably goofy king of France and his sweet queen, plus a 'hey it's that guy!' moment with the great Craig from Doctor Who. And the soundtrack is beautiful; it's gone straight onto my iTunes wishlist.

The movie, however, was just one part of our happy hangout. We were also somehow imbued with amazing new friend attraction skills that day. While Laura was elsewhere, a burly tattooed guy outside the cinemas struck up a conversation with me about movies, and when I asked what he was going to see, he said gruffly, 'That Twilight thing.'
'A bit of a romance lover, hey?' I asked.
He looked surprised. 'Is that what it is?' and he grinned -- possibly embarrassed?

In the ticket queue, we fell into conversation with a grandmotherly type who was seeing the latest Twilight installment -- for the second time. We were suddenly glad we hadn't let loose any Twilight snark because she was a rabid fan -- a true zealot. She spent the entire queue time defending her choice -- and the choice of everyone outside the typical demographic of sixteen-year-old-girls -- to love vampires. She was definitely entertaining.

Then as we hit the food court, a strange small girl came up and attached herself to us -- I mean literally attached. She grabbed hold of my hand and began walking along with us, occasionally turning to stare at me with somewhat unsettling seriousness. We finally delivered her to her (possible) parents, but not before we had broken away once and she had joined us again. I don't know what was in the air that day.

In spite of our random encounters with strangers, we also found lots of time to talk. We covered a bunch of kindred topics, ranging from books to movies, from 3:10 to Yuma to Doctor Who, from blogging to Shakespeare, from study to church, from the excellence of our mums to the geeky chic that is Ira Glass. It was so much fun that I basically forgot I was supposed to be writing an essay, and I only yanked myself out of the cafe chair at the latest possible minute. Thank you, happy little world of blogging, for introducing me to such a lovely new friend!

PS. Laura has written about our blogging date -- or, to use her cool neologism, blate -- over at her blog. I made sure I wrote my post before reading hers, just because it's fun to see how two people record the same event.

PPS. Please note Laura's beautiful long hair. I'm somewhat jealous.

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Conversations:

Jessica -- I imagine I might go back someday because ultimately I like the idea of facebook; I just don't like how I use it. So I guess I won't be waiting for facebook to change. I'll be waiting for me to change before I head back. Right now I'm appreciating the freedom of this boundary :).

Thelittlebluefishy -- Hey there! I love meeting new blog peeps (also, your username is just adorable). I know what you mean; facebook is definitely one of the best ways to keep in touch with overseas friends. I think that's why it was such a big deal for me to leave. I miss that! But you're right; sometimes it can feel like such a time-sucker.

Laura Elizabeth -- that's absolutely what I miss most about facebook, too: those little everyday things (I love reading status updates! Probably why I like twitter so much). And here's a confession: I tracked you down on facebook! Of course, such a course of action is now irrelevant to me. Lucky we have email (and texts and blogging and livejournal...). PS. Yes! I did make the little cottage. Only now I want to smash it and let everybody eat bits of it, and it's supposed to hold out till Christmas!

Rebecca Simon -- just do what you feel is best for you, your communication, your life, and your friendships. Facebook is an awesome tool and a magical land of communicationly joy. I'm just not that great at it :).

Katie -- that's my biggest complaint. Facebook isn't the problem; my laziness is. It's too easy for me to observe without interacting. But I love that facebook turns everyday friends into internet ones, and vice versa. It's such an easy way to communicate info bites.

Meaghan -- thank you for getting my dorky sense of humour. I love you!