Visiting IRC
All right, I admit it, there was a point in time (seemed like ages ago) when I lived some semblance of a life in the virtual world of the information superhighway (the internet to those uninitiated). I have no idea why I was addicted to chatting in the net and all my training in pyschology could not explain why a supposedly normal, social, intelligent (ehem) person would prefer to interact with other people under the cloak of anonymity. Oh, I did have some theories (who doesn't - everyone fancies himself to be a psychiatrist, or at the very least, a talk show host!), but nothing I could hope to win a Pulitzer for.
There was comfort to be had in being able to put one's feet up and exchanging ideas with other people from any part of the world while eating like a pig in one's pajamas. One can bully, submit, purr, moan, impress, beg, dominate and be anyone one wanted to be. But eventually, eyeballs became the order of the day and boy, oh boy, were they truly an experience beyond words! It was either hilarious (as in the chatter did not resemble the person that he claimed to look like), scandalous (as in the chatter turned out to be someone you knew all along - or someone you wouldn't want to be caught in the same elevator with in case of a brownout), exciting (as in the chatter far exceeded your expectations), or just plain boring (the person was best read, not seen live). I went to a number of these EB parties (I only went to two one-on-one EBs and both were eyeballs from hell!) and in fairness, I have made many friends who continue to be my friends today.
There was this fun thing we would do with our friends then. Whenever one would be in a situation that can only be described as "EB from hell" we would send a SOS text message to our friends who would call promptly. So the conversation (in front of the EB from hell) would go like this:
"Hello? Tito! Napatawag ka?"
"Gago! Tito ka jan, sino naman yang EB mong gusto mong takasan?"
"Ah ganun ba Tito? Naku nasa labas pa naman ako..."
"Sige, magkunwari ka pa...yan ang napapala ng mga taong nakikipag eb nang hindi sigurado kung tao ba talaga ang makaka EB."
"Kailangan ba talaga, Tito? Pano po yun? Sige po...pupunta po ako. Hintayin nyo po ako?"
"Hayop ka talaga sa akting! Sige iwanan mo na yan. At humanda ka pag nagkita tayo at katakot takot na pang aalaska ang makukuha mo sa barkada."
"Sige po, Tito, aalis na po ako ngayon na. Magpapa alam na po ako dito sa friend ko."
One hilarious incident involved a friend who continued to have the "urgent" conversation even when the cellphone connection was cut off due to signal problems. He was still pretending and was talking at a loud voice when the phone rang again while he was talking. Buko!
Last night, I logged in again to the irc after not having been there in like, years. Whew! It is true, the speed of change is truly amazing - today, the chatters are more up front, more aggressive, more demanding, and more... in-your-face.
More about this later.
There was comfort to be had in being able to put one's feet up and exchanging ideas with other people from any part of the world while eating like a pig in one's pajamas. One can bully, submit, purr, moan, impress, beg, dominate and be anyone one wanted to be. But eventually, eyeballs became the order of the day and boy, oh boy, were they truly an experience beyond words! It was either hilarious (as in the chatter did not resemble the person that he claimed to look like), scandalous (as in the chatter turned out to be someone you knew all along - or someone you wouldn't want to be caught in the same elevator with in case of a brownout), exciting (as in the chatter far exceeded your expectations), or just plain boring (the person was best read, not seen live). I went to a number of these EB parties (I only went to two one-on-one EBs and both were eyeballs from hell!) and in fairness, I have made many friends who continue to be my friends today.
There was this fun thing we would do with our friends then. Whenever one would be in a situation that can only be described as "EB from hell" we would send a SOS text message to our friends who would call promptly. So the conversation (in front of the EB from hell) would go like this:
"Hello? Tito! Napatawag ka?"
"Gago! Tito ka jan, sino naman yang EB mong gusto mong takasan?"
"Ah ganun ba Tito? Naku nasa labas pa naman ako..."
"Sige, magkunwari ka pa...yan ang napapala ng mga taong nakikipag eb nang hindi sigurado kung tao ba talaga ang makaka EB."
"Kailangan ba talaga, Tito? Pano po yun? Sige po...pupunta po ako. Hintayin nyo po ako?"
"Hayop ka talaga sa akting! Sige iwanan mo na yan. At humanda ka pag nagkita tayo at katakot takot na pang aalaska ang makukuha mo sa barkada."
"Sige po, Tito, aalis na po ako ngayon na. Magpapa alam na po ako dito sa friend ko."
One hilarious incident involved a friend who continued to have the "urgent" conversation even when the cellphone connection was cut off due to signal problems. He was still pretending and was talking at a loud voice when the phone rang again while he was talking. Buko!
Last night, I logged in again to the irc after not having been there in like, years. Whew! It is true, the speed of change is truly amazing - today, the chatters are more up front, more aggressive, more demanding, and more... in-your-face.
More about this later.
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