Sam, Leen and Dave are going home tomorrow, after not-quite-two weeks here. They will probably be posting the details of the visit later, but I want to say a few things about what it was like to meet them.

I had never seen a forum or a chatroom before coming to Rinkworks; my total Internet experience only dates to about two weeks before my first Rinkforum post. So it was a new experience to meet friends after knowing them online, and it took a lot of mental adjusting.

I surprised myself prior to their visit by getting very stressed. Contrary to everything I've heard about meeting online friends, it never occurred to me to worry how they would be in person. I *knew* them, after all. However, I was *terrified* of what they would think of me. I couldn't shake the persistent fear that they'd suddenly realise I wasn't worth their friendship after all. Although I've never misrepresented my personality online, it's the exact same personality which leads to me having no social life whatsoever offline, so I still feel that there must be some colossal mistake when online people appear to enjoy my company.

So, whether or not they're delusional is another question, but I have to say this much:

1) Spending two weeks with Sam, Leen and Dave has been the most fun thing ever, and it just kills me to realise that after tomorrow, they're going back to being 8000 miles away.

2) It's awe-inspiring to think of the odds against finding, out of the whole world's population, three people on a random website who resonate so perfectly with all the things you want and need in a friend.

3) It's flattering to think that three otherwise sane people didn't think twice about accepting an invitation to stay for two weeks with people in an unknown country, on the other side of the world, whom they only knew online.

4) It's humbling to realise that such cool people think I'm cool.

Also, I need to talk louder and more often. Somehow, my mysterious ability to suddenly have conversational skills while online carried over to real life while in the presence of Sam, Leen and Dave. They bring out the worst in me. Or possibly the best. Definitely the silliest, though.