1st Tweep Meet

It all started I believe on May 10th. I was tweeting about my favorite Sushi Chef in San Diego. And I got a tweet back from a follower asking where the guy worked so if he was ever in San Diego he would check him out. A few days passed and I was tweeting about the movie “A Clockwork Orange”. Now it takes a very special person to appreciate a Stanley Kubrick film. And here this guy tweets back about the movie. I don’t know a lot of people that know or have seen this movie and come out liking it, so I was intrigued. I checked this guy’s Twitter timeline and come to find out he is quite interesting. I see that he has a blog, so I check it out and start laughing at his writings. I realize he has a lot of the same interest. So I say what the heck, I’ll follow back, and Lo and behold, the start of a friendship ensued. After weeks gone by I realized that I talked to him more than any other of my tweeps. Over time I realized he wasn’t creepy, stalkerish or any other kind of things you hear about people that you meet online. So I figured the next time I am in Los Angeles visiting family I am going to meet him. So I tweeted back and said, “Send me your email”. I knew then that I was putting myself out there, and it was possible that he wouldn’t want to give that to me or even meet me, but I tried. I said,” I am going to be in LA on Sunday the 7th for the Lakers game and if he wanted to meet”. Let me also step back and note, that he is not a Lakers fan; He is a Utah Jazz fan, so let’s not get too excited. Anyway, he said he would meet me.

At this point I feel like I am online dating. It was so weird. I’ve never met anyone over the internet and then later met them in person. Plus, I am married, what would my husband think about me meeting a man over the internet. Well, I explained to my husband how interesting this new friend was and that I wanted to meet him. He agreed to come with me. So here it is Saturday and my new friend and I agree to meet at Barney’s Beanery in West Hollywood. I wake up Sunday morning super excited because the Lakers are playing and I am going to embark on a new journey with this friend I just met.

While getting ready, I’m realizing I am nervous. Like I said earlier I’ve never Online Dated or Online Friended before, as I like to call it. My palms are sweating. All I am thinking is, do I have the right outfit on? Do I have any blemishes on my face? Is he going to be disappointed? What am I going to say? All these things flooded my brain. To add to the pressure, on our way up to LA my husband and I brought one of our best friends along, Dan. Now I have known Dan for a long time and I know that he is as protective of me as my husband. And he starts weighing in on questions about this new guy. All I can think about is, “boys please don’t ruin this for me. Please don’t embarrass me. Please!” So we are driving down Santa Monica Blvd, and of course Barney’s Beanery is all the way on the 8000 block and if you know where this is from the 101. It’s about 15 minutes of stop and go traffic. Luckily my friend says he running a little late, and I am thrilled because I wanted to be there first. We get there, I find a good table and then I just wait. I am there just waiting with anxiety. The guys are talking about the game tonight and about the Dodger game that will be on at 1pm. I hear them, but my mind is somewhere else. I nod my head and smile and pretend I am listening but all I can think about is meeting this guy for the first time. Nothing calms the nerves like an ice cold pint, so I order beer. I sip it slowly, haven’t eaten so beer on empty stomach makes me even more neurotic. And I see this guy walk in the front door and looks around as if he is meeting someone.

At this moment I know it is him. Whew. Breathe in. I yell from across the room, “Kristian!!” He sees me and I am not sure what his impression of me is yet. So he walks over and of course from where he had to turn to walk up to our table is a long walk. Well let me take that back. It probably took him 4 seconds to walk to us, yet it seemed like 5 minutes to me. I get up, and rush him with a huge hug and say, “Hey, It’s so nice to meet you!” (If you don’t know me by now, I am a huge hugger, I don’t care if I just met you, but I am a hugger and a side of the face kisser. Runs in the family) so then I immediately introduce him to Dan and Winston (my husband). So he sits down, and I swear I sounded like a moron. I mean what do you do when you first meet someone? You eye them up and down. Smile. And make sure that you used complete sentences, right? Well, I sure hope I did all of that, because at first, I just kept thinking. Just finish your beer and relax. And I did. And it was amazing. The four of us talked sports, life, work, sports, beer, women, more life experiences, movies, beer, music, life goals, and everything else. What’s interesting is when my new friend, Kristian, and I would talk we actually had already known some things about each other because we had been tweeting for the past month.

By the end of the meet, before Kristian had to go off to work, we were all laughing and having a great time. It was sad to have to end it mid-afternoon. It was so strange. I felt that I knew him from before. It was like I magnetized him. Like meeting an old soul (not saying you’re old Kristian, but you know what I mean). I know this is going to sound incredibly chickish of me, but I really felt like I met a friend forever. (Laughing yet?) I knew about his family, which made him honest and respectable. I knew about his work, which made him more personable. And I knew his voice and laugh now, which made him real.

This Tweep Meet turned out a success in more ways than one. You hear so many awful stories about people meeting online. Well, here is a success so that you out there may try it out. But please use discretion. I don’t want to be liable for anything. Lastly, to show that it was a huge success. I get in the car and two of my biggest critics on my “guy friends”, Dan and Winston, say to me, “good job. Kristian is a really cool guy. I like him”. SUCCESS!!! It’s hard to have your man and your best friend like any new guys that you bring in your life, so I instantly was satisfied when they said Kristian made the grade. This is the start of a beautiful friendship. I am sure I will be writing more about our encounters in the future.Check him out for yourself, http://kingkristian.blogspot.com/

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