A Conversation With The Best Friend I’ve Never Met
I met my oldest friend in the whole world online. We chatted on those chat boards, role-played and blogged on LiveJournal, became Facebook friends and eventually text buddies. Hannah and I have never met, despite living in the same state for ten of the TWELVE (!!!) years we’ve been friends. Here’s an IM chat we recently had about, well, us.
Sami Main: when would you say we were both on neopets? like… 2003? middle school, right?
Hannah S: my account says it was made in 2003 so you’re right on the nose. that would be the beginning of middle school.
SM: oh dang i got good at guessing
i think we first met on the jellyworld boards, i don’t think i ever REALLY went to any others tbh. they were so fun and ~secretive~
HS: that is 12 years, sami. how??
AND YEAH. it was the jellyworld boards and their super secret posting system. it’s pretty funny how that board is basically dead now. we were the life of the party
SM: omg our friendship is NOW IN MIDDLE SCHOOL WHEN DID THIS HAPPEN
(these things do ‘appen!)
we were all so fun together! i remember you and me were buds and then pie was there and paul! i don’t remember anyone else really being in our ~clique~ or anything unless i’m horrible
i feel like we had a ton of inside jokes which felt cool to be a part of when you’re that young. plus neopets WAS very cool back then anyways so it was nice to have people be into the same weird thing.
HS: it was mostly those but there were a few others who didnt stick around as long. you and them are the only ones i’m still in contact with but i think paul is still in contact with some others.
we were lucky because when the jellyword chat was happening, neopets was in its prime and a bunch of cool stuff and plots were happening. i think when we all kind of wandered from the site is when it started going downhill.
SM: yeah maybe cuz we were like the generation that started with it and then we grew out of it? cuz so kind of all at the same time was when LJ RPGs were happening, or maybe a couple years later.
HS: i actually think the site being sold to viacom started it, because remember it was originally meant for bored college students. when we were still there, the original site staff was controlling things. idk tho. it was a good time.
SM: no it was so fun. so then some of us were on LJ being nerds and also being angsty teens. that was a whole other kind of creative bonding that probably not a lot of people ~talk about~.
but it totally makes sense for kids who grew up to be, like, creative folks.
HS: i still talk to a couple people from those HP livejournal games, though. we have all grown up relatively normal mostly. and sometimes the HP games still come up in conversation
SM: I don’t think i still TALK with any of them but I’m for sure FB friends with a couple. which is kind of interesting. what made us all think we should friend each other there??? i know you don’t really use it a lot but it feels like a very Grown Up thing for us to have all done.
i feel like it kind of made our friendships all more legitimate? even though they were TOTALLY real like we talked about a lot of stuff.
HS: the ones i still talk to are the ones that stayed in the rp community. so we kind of wound up crossing paths again somewhere along the line and were all “HEY DONT I KNOW YOU FROM SO AND SO WOW IT IS YOU WOW”. but the friendships i’ve had with people online for like…years are definitely real, legitimate friendships imo.
SM: i just think it’s all so fun and happenstance that these random people we ran into online we still communicate with and care about. like… we TEXT. and we have NEVER MET.
i remember we would skype, on mute of course, and watch things at the same time. recently we IMed while watching at the same time which is pretty close too but it’s like extremely real friendships with people who adore each other in a real unique way
HS: if i recall properly, we watched most of gilmore girls together that way. i think we both got busy and fell off somewhere around season whenever-luke’s-kid-that-should-never-be showed up but that was pretty cool. i dont think it’s a show i would have looked at on my own and gone “YEAH IM GONNA WATCH THIS”
SM: yeah literally april is a huge downfall of gilmore girls
but we would’ve never shared that together if we hadn’t like really randomly found each other
idk you’re essentially my oldest friend and we’ve NEVER met
HS: same. i’ve known you longer than i’ve known anyone i’m still in contact with. it’s kind of funny that we lived pretty close to one another until just a couple of years ago and never met even once.
SM: nope! though i will say my parents were always cool with our friendship/how we met, but probably most parents should be a little concerned?? at least at first haha
HS: mine were at first, but they were concerned about most of the people i talked to online for at least awhile. now they actually know you by name and ask about you sometimes. congratulations, your name is known.
SM: o m g WHAT REALLY??? well now that’s pretty nice! i had no idea. yeah since we’ve known each other for MORE THAN A HECKIN DECADE i guess they know i’m normal haha
HS: they really started asking after darth story you did. probably because we worked together on that and they think your job seems pretty cool. and then they finally realized how long we’d known one another as well. i dont think anyone had been keeping track before.
SM: no because when we’re like that young or whatever we’re not like real people haha almost nothing counts in life until college and then we were both worried about whatever happens AFTER college that you don’t really think about the length of friendships necessarily
i think it’s kind of nice our families ask about us. like. it’s. idk. it’s REAL FRIENDSHIP. i think people dismiss online stuff or USED to before online dating was A Thing.
HS: yes, that’s a thing. i’ve run into a lot of people who have been told that online friendships aren’t real friendships, but i dont really see how that’s true? you talk just as much, just not face to face. though you’re right, online dating being a Thing probably did help the stigma of online friendships a bit as well.
SM: really??? that is so rude of people.
HS: YEP. even now, some people think that way. but i think it’s gotten better.
SM: like when you think about it, probably when people started texting and stuff. like, THAT changed “normal” friendships too because you don’t have to see them to connect.
yeah i think it’s better. plus like HI TWELVE YEARS IT OBVIOUSLY WORKS. we have um a million inside jokes which is i guess how i judge friendships haha
HS: the fact that you knew me through one of my favorite show’s first airing, through it cancellation, and to its revival is pretty hilarious. but yeah now a lot more stuff is done online so it’s been helpful. i guess now if you can order a pizza online and make phone calls online, you sure can have friends online too.
SM: wait WHICH SHOW?
HS: well, heroes. you knew me when it aired, when it was cancelled, and now that it’s back. the three stages of television grieving probably
SM: ohhh yes oh yes. yatta! we did it!
and oh kind of same with me and gilmore girls i guess
HS: we have known each other for longer than smallville was on air
SM: well thank god
HS: idk why that’s cracking me up. it just feels like smallville was on forever
SM: lmao no really LONGER THAN GREYS ANATOMY
i mean it’s still on but it started after us
we’re an ACCOMPLISHMENT
HS: greys anatomy and bones. but not quite as long as csi.
SM: dude we’re impressive
kudos to us
HS: we are pretty great. csi has finally ended and yet we are still friends. i love that this can be measured in television show runs
SM: ❤ we’re good buddies man
