I thought about posting a video about this, but my blog felt lonely, and I have a backlog of videos to make anyway, so.... yay?
As many of you know, I've been places lately. Monday through Wednesday (yesterday) I was at speech and debate regionals, in Mass. That was cool. I got to meet new people, see old people (in, I suppose, both meanings of the word) I got to give a senior speech, which was interesting, and hopefully meaningful. I got to hang out with my dearest friends for three glorious days. :smiles: The week before that, I was at the FRC World Festival in Atlanta. Last Tuesday I bussed down through the night with an entirely different set of dear friends, and then spent the rest of the week watching robots do awesome things. While there, I had the interesting experience of meeting two people who - previously - I had only known from the internet. One of them - Hi Caitlin! - actually reads this blog. The other one I knew from a forum - even though he lives in Norway.
I try - always - not to lie, so I'll come out and say that it was kind of awkward. That's expected, first meetings are always awkward, and I think it only makes sense for them to be more so when you imagine that you know each other at least a little bit. It's different from being introduced to someone in the "real world" for the first time. Then, at least, both of you have no preconceived notions or expectations for knowing each other. When you meat someone you've previously communicated, it's kind of awkward. That said, it's also really cool. The internet blows my mind, the fact that I was able to talk to people and communicate with them without ever even seeing their face... that wasn't possible, really, without the internet. Sure, you can write letters to people you've never met (Emily Dickinson?), but it's so much easier, now, with the world wide web connecting millions and millions of people. The fact that I was able to actually - face to face - meet people I've known only online is incredible and exciting.
(Notebook poetry, just because)
The battle's lost, I have not won.
What I once fought, I have become.
I am a monster, I am a fiend, I'm everything I hate to be.
I've found defeat in victory, I've saved myself but murdered me.
~~~~~
Bombs go off in London trains,
We live in fear of aero-planes,
The foe we fought we soon became,
When we sold our souls for safety's sake.
~~~~~
The pauses speak - volumes and
The silences whisper the thoughts that
You're not thinking out loud.
~~~~~
I love the way that tears fall from your eyes,
I love the way they glisten, glisten when you cry,
I love the grateful smiles and happy sighs,
I love the way that tears fall from your eyes.
hi Micah! :D *waves*
ReplyDeletewow, that sounds amazing... but you must have been exhausted! I was completely wiped just from robotics!
lol, after watching the match you posted... I realized I don't remember any of that. I don't remember ANY of it. I was there, and right in the middle of it--and it's all a blur. That's really weird. It was so awesomely amazing, though, driving in those elimination matches...
And, yes. I think when we communicate just on the Internet, our words are just words--it's hard to imagine them connected to souls and bodies. But when you meet the person whose words you've been reading... it reshapes whatever way you thought of them before, your "preconceived notions or expectations". You have to regauge the way you think about them according to the way they really are. Which is both awkward, and... insightful. It's funny, learning which preconceived notions were right and which were wrong.
I'm glad I met you :)
That said, I think it was really funny we were in the same division... I mean, coincidence? Really?
Atlanta was crazy. Both in competition and out. Do you read CD? If so, (or if not for that matter...) did you hear about the accident next to the Hard Rock cafe? That happened right in front of us as we were walking back to our hotel. SO it's been a little tough trying to readjust to normal life, figuring out how to deal with the trauma. And how to help the others heal.
I guess another team was there as well--we never spoke to them about it, or knew that they were there--but they were closer than we were... I wonder how they are.
But anyway.
I really like your poetry. Your cadence is very structured, very rhythmic, but you break out of it when you need to. The sound of your words complements the meanings beautifully, and your phrasing frames the pictures you write really well.
It's interesting to me how you speak of chaos in such order, like life is. I can't figure out if life is chaos cloaked in order or order cloaked in chaos... or if order and chaos are interconnected.