Eastburn Adventures

Okay, so I was the kid in school who didn't date because she always had her nose in a book. I didn't go to parties, and I still don't like being in big crowds, especially alone. If I'm forced into a social situation because of work responsibilities, I put on a brave face and act professional and courteous, and look forward to the time when it's over. And I don't have a problem with this. I'm shy, I'm introverted, but that doesn't make me a bad person - I just prefer my small circle of friends.

But now, the internet has changed that somewhat. I've let people into my life starting with this blog, and then along came Ravelry, which caused me to interact in various groups with lots of people, which led to me spending a weekend in St. Louis at a knitting retreat, and sharing a room with a friend I met first online. Then along comes Facebook, and Twitter, and now Plurk. Oh, and don't forget the podcast, and its blog.

Robert and I were talking this morning about the differences in our online presences (he's a gamer), and I realized that from seemingly out of nowhere, I'm actually fairly well known. Kate and I have podcast listeners from all over the world - almost every U.S. state, Canada, Australia, Germany, and Singapore, to name a few - and they all know me both as Tammy and DarthKnitter.

As much as I'm traveling now, for both work and pleasure, it's pretty certain that I'm going to run into someone who knows me from the internet, in part because we all keep tabs on each other and know when we'll be in someone's hometown. How cool is that? I've got a trip coming up to Notre Dame, so I visited the South Bend group on Ravely and got some information straight from the locals. There's a group of the Spring Flingers who will be at Rhinebeck, and you know we'll be having a reunion! I might have a business trip to California next year, and I've got another online friend I know I can call, and hopefully in a few weeks I'll be able to visit Stacy and learn her spinning and dyeing secrets!

Maybe there's something to this extrovert stuff after all. (Oh, and if you think it's hard to keep up with all the social networking sites, try Ping.fm - with one click you can update all your sites at once.) Okay, I'm getting off the computer now and going back to my knitting.