And From the Four Corners

Finally. The stress of getting a grade to get accepted into a college is buried somewhere in my past. I remember those days too well. It was shortly after I graduated from college in 1993 that we purchased a computer and then tried to figure out just what to do with it. No more studying..I had time to play. 

We signed up with AOL. Choices were limited as to who offered internet access and there was no such thing as broadband. We lived in a dial up world. I can still hear the sound of that modem dialing and the sound it made when it connected to the web. I would click on a web site and then move to the kitchen to start a pot of coffee brewing, select some bacon and eggs from the fridge and pull a skillet from the cupboard. I peeked into the office at the computer and the page was still loading. You think I kid ya? Nope, it was just that slow.

Surfing the net was an activity that required much patience.

Chat rooms were all the rage. AOL offered a list of chat rooms and eventually I found my way to one that I frequented often. To those "in the know" we referred to it as MPOV which was short for Male Point of View.

The room allowed about 26 people to chat and many times you waited in line to get one of those spots in that room. Quick witted and a fast typist was required to keep up.  The conversations moved quickly and everyone was a smart ass. When I could get in, and sometimes I had to wait a while for someone else to leave, I would sit and watch the activity and catch many good laughs.

Relationships were established and there were even couples that met and married. Uh Uh No Way married the man she met in that room. Uh Uh, as we called her, was a riot. She was intelligent, funny and quick and lived in California. Kikkerjo was another nimble typist and one with a quick retort who lived in Florida. Kelslynn was from Chicago. She, I envisioned as a tall, slender classy woman, well educated and elegant. And me.

We 4 decided to meet. A date was selected for a weekend in New Orleans and that's exactly what we did. I remember Kikkerjo, the blonde who danced all night. I spent time with Kelslynn. She was a total opposite in many ways as I had imagined. One of the things we did on this trip was take a swamp tour on a flat boat. We fed chicken tied to a string and held out over the water to the alligators. The tour guide moved his boat into the backwaters of that swamp while telling stories to his clients. We throughly enjoyed the trip.

Everyone parted ways at the end of that weekend. I've lost touch with Kelslynn and Uh Uh. Kikkejo was on my friends' list on Facebook. Kelslynn faded quickly from our circle after that trip. I think this was her choice, not ours. I also think it would have been better to have kept our online personnas just that with some of us.

Next week Kikkerjo will be in New Orleans. I might just make a trip there to see her. It's been years and she was one from that previous trip that was just what you expected when meeting her. She loves New Orleans and knows where to go for a good time.

The husband leaves town this morning on a short trip as mileage goes. He thinks he might be gone a week. I won't make this trip with him either. It's too close to home though I may drive there sometime during the week he is there.

I've been busy this morning watering all the flowers. The gardenias haven't started blooming yet. It might be a little early for them but I do know they will bloom better and longer if kept wet so I dangled the water hose down between the branches and left it there to soak the ground.

Carrie is with her dad, the husband is leaving and I'm on my own for a while. I may indulge in a movie this afternoon; right now I feel like crawling back into bed for more sleep!
I'm done.