Terry's 3M's
I feel like I stepped into an episode of the Twilight Zone. I woke up a half hour ago from a nap and everyone is gone. I think I woke up because it was too quiet.
A while later my sister and brother-in-law came home. The first thing they asked about was the whereabouts of the kids. I had checked outside earlier and there was no sign of the kids and the car was gone, so I thought that they had taken the kids with them.
One of the reasons that Missing Children applet is running on my causes page is because I know how great the anxiety is of a parent who has a missing child. It was not the first time that my child had disappeared for a short period of time. But, the feeling at the onset is similiar each time. My first reaction is panic. This only lasts for a few seconds. That is followed by a plan to try to determine where the child might have gone. Then there is a search which is followed by relief when the child is found.
Fortunately, tonight's search started with the logical conclusion that three children would actually be easier to find than one. So, all I had to do was figure out which people in the neighborhood would allow all of our kids inside at one time. I could think of two and they were at the first house I tried.
There's an interview with Sidney Sheldon in today's paper. I'm debating on whether or not I'm going to read it. It's not that I think he's a bad writer. I actually enjoyed the writing of the two books I read that were written by him. It's just that from reading those two books, I came away with the impression that he doesn't like women very much. Each of the central female characters in the books ended up with fates that they didn't deserve.
I came up with a count of 383 books in my bedroom--not counting duplicates, my Bibles, or the books belonging to the kids. There are 3 boxes of books packed away in boxes in the bathroom closet and several of my books are downstairs.
When we first moved into this house, I noted that someone had been installing a phone line in my room, but, hadn't finished the job. There was wire and there was a phone jack; but, the phone jack wasn't in the wall. I felt no qualms about moving a bookcase in front of the jack and keeping it hidden.
The bookcase has been moved and yesterday, I moved all the stuff that had fallen off the bookcase when I was moving it. Today, I turned the jack over and discovered that the wires were connected. All this time I had a phone line in my room and didn't know it! So I got the spare phone and hooked it up. Sure enough, it works!
Nobody has called since I hooked the phone up, so, I'll have to test to find out whether it is line 1 or line 2. If it's line 2, I won't be able to use it if my sister is online. On the other hand, if I wanted to be mean. (Big Evil Grin)
I'm not sure if this will happen; but, my journal entries may be scanty for the next few weeks. Tomorrow or the next day, I will have a visitor. A woman that I have been 'talking' to for close to a year on IRC. We have become friends over those months. Hours of typing to each other at night and pictures sent by DCC helped us to learn more about each other.
As a stay-at-home mom, I have few outlets for meeting and talking to other adults. IRC allows me to form friendships and let them develop much as I developed friendships when I was in a work environment. Just as in real life, you develop some friendships that are close and some that are friendly acquaintences.
Since Internet Relay Chat is a relatively new phenomena, it will be interesting to see how these friendships can be sustained and maintained. In real life, once you leave the work environment, you may find that you have little in common outside the work force with your acquaintences.
In the past, I have lost contact with several friends as they moved or as they got married. With a computer and a modem, it is easier to keep track of your friends and easier to communicate. If you have a local isp and don't have to pay extra for time, it is also much cheaper to chat on IRC than it is to mail letters or call long distance. The miles don't seem to matter quite as much when you can communicate several times a week. It is communication that keeps friendships alive and functioning.
There have been many who have written about the ability to feel closer to those one meets on IRC as opposed to IRL. While it is true that there is the opportunity to forge a new identity and misrepresent oneself, I feel that most of the people that I have met have been quite honest and truthful. The fact that people can't see you and judge you by your appearance gives you the opportunity to let the essence of your character show through. I think that's what allows for that feeling of closeness.
for the border background set.