Friday, November 18, 2005

Deep Thought

It just seems like everyone I know is in deep thought at the moment. Or has deep thoughts to express. And it makes me wish that I did not live so far from most of the people I care about. It makes me wish I could go on a road trip to see them and hear their thoughts spoken.

Email and instant messengers are really cool inventions. I must admit I am probably one of their biggest fans. In many cases I use email before I pick up the phone. That may have something to do with the fact that I only use a cell phone and I do not wish to run out of minutes for the month. Or it may be because I often express my thoughts better in writing than in words. It does not matter. Phones are not the same as actually seeing a person either. You can talk into a telephone, you can hear the voice of the person you miss, but you cannot see the person's facial expressions, nor can he or she see yours. The voices are often distorted as well. It's just not the same.

I'm all for long distance friendships. In fact, most of my friendships are long distance. I am very good about keeping up with people. For the most part. But I forget what people look like, and I forget the sound of their voices. There is nothing better than the spontaneity of actually being around one's friends. The funny things that happen when you are with friends are infinitely more funny than the funny things that happen during a telephone conversation or during an email back and forth.

At the moment, it's not Hillsdale I miss, it's not Costa Rica that I miss, it's not even Michigan that I miss. It is all of you who are my friends. I wonder if it is almost better for me to be stuck in a place far away from all my friends. It forces me to come out of my shell a lot more and really talk to people. I also get to travel to see people and I love traveling. Yeah, that's a great way to look at this in a positive way. But on the other hand, it just sucks so much to be so far away from all of you! And you know who you are, you're the people I went to college with and the ones who transferred to other schools or chose another path entirely. You're my family in Michigan, Utah and Texas. You're the cool person I still keep up with who went to Costa Rica with me five long years ago. You're my friends whom I have known since I was a kid. You're also those friends who cannot be defined in any above category: Trump. I just miss everyone. I wish I had a big enough paycheck to cover the cost of two or three road trips.

3 comments:

Erin said...

YAY! She loves me! She really does! LOL! You are the she I'm refering to and I miss you too. So much. I really wish I could have you to talk to at nights before we drifted off so that I could have the courage to do what i know needs to be done. (Okay, this freakishly sounds like we were lovers and not just college roommates.... not sure how much Craig will like that.) LOL! Anyway, I've decided when I move on, I will not have another roommate until I marry because no one could ever beat you. I really wish we could all be together. It's so much harder dealing with things with all your friends 100's of miles away. You think you have it bad, at least you have Craig.... I'm completely and utterly alone! (I'm saying that with much drama). But at least I have the duck. But, I know what you mean about the face to face. I think the next vacation I take will have to be in the Bloomington area. I gotta admit, you, Tweet, Chris, and Hillary are probably the best friends I've ever had. Period! The good thing is we know that no matter what we'll all be friends.... We'll now I'm just rambling, so I'm going to head off to bed. You are actually (other than my parents and Chris) the only person I will allow to talk to me until all this blows over. I'm pretty sure I got my answer from God today. TTYL! Love you and Craig so much! *group hug*

tully said...

Is emotion really transmitted via electronic communication. I can tell if, Andy, for example, is angry at me by his use of language, but cannot tell by inflection or any other nonverbal means. How can an emotional relationship flourish without emotion?

By the way, I value our intellectual relationship very much. I've gotten alot of ideas from you and we are in sync on a lot of subjects. I won't get in on HuskerFoley7's group hug (as if I were invited!) but it's good to know you Esther!

Esther said...

Foley, you gotta call me soon! It's always good to hera from you.

LC, let me put it this way. Back when my husband and I were unmarried and dating we spent a lot of time separated. I mean, we are from opposite sides of the country, so over breaks we were always apart. We also spent nine months apart while I was in Washington D.C. Mostly we just emailed each other. It is quite possible to have a good emotional relationship via email. I mean, people have been emotional in letters for centuries. Why does it seem so strange with electronic communications?

I enjoy our intellectual/blogosphere friendship as well. Other intellectuals to bounce ideas off of are always a good thing.