Internet Romance/Friendships?
 

I have kind of a different story. I met this guy online 4 years ago, and it turned into a big thing. Several times we had "lost" each other, and then found each other online again. One night I decided to let him call me. He was in the army at Ft Bragg, but originally lived 5 minutes from me. We talked forever. From then on, we talked every day, sometimes 3 times a day on the phone. And one day we decided that we really liked each other, and that we wanted to be with each other. For 6 months we talk we talked on the phone and online, and then came the first I love you. It was the best feeling, considering he was my first boyfriend (yeah I know, I was 17). We broke up before he came home on leave, but we hung out and spend a few awesome days together. The first time we kissed, it was the best. It just worked. We lost contact so many times in the last 4 years, but in March he got a hold of me again, and we tried to be together for the second time, and it didn't work out.

We've gotten into a few fights, and stopped talking, but I became really close to his best friend, so I still had that connection to him. He got jumped and put in the hospital, and I've been hanging out with him every day for the last week or so. I still love him after 4 years, but he says that we're better as friends. I can't stand listening to him talk about other girls! Oh yeah, and his kisses are still the best! But.... him and his best friend consider me one of the guys and that really sucks.

Has anyone else ever made a friend or a romance online? Did you ever meet in person? What has happened or how is it going?

A few months ago, I met Kent, then a first-class Cadet at West Point. He had found me on CollegeClub and decided to Instant Message me. He just found out that he had been selected as a Fellow at the East West Center here at UH. He wanted to know how it was like going to school in Hawaii since he'd be living here for two years.

And then we found out that we had so many things in common--including our birthday. So, we decided to finally meet each other on the phone last Sunday. He called me from his home in TX while I was on Waikiki Beach and we each took a shot at the same time.

He's off to Ranger School at Fort Benning, GA for a few months, but we'll finally be able to meet each other in person when he moves out here on January 5th.

He's a great guy so far, and I know it's too early to think anything, but I think things will turn out just fine. I'll keep y'all posted.

Thought I'd jump in on this one since I'm kind of doing a little bit of the online military relationship as well. It's a little different since I didn't meet him online and knew him before he decided to go into the military, but we go to different schools so it is all pretty much online based except for parts of the summer. When he goes active after graduation it will all be online/phone. :( So anyway, like PM_Mama's situation we keep gravitating back towards each other despite being apart and it is pretty much impossible for me to think of being with anyone else even if does mean that he'll be shipped off to some far off base.

I just love to talk about him, I am very proud! :D

Okay, I have "met" several people so here are a few....


Friends #1, 2 and 3 -- I've known all for almost 5 years
During my sophomore high school I "met" Friend #1 in a chat room for my city. I found out that she went to my high school for a year and that we knew some of the same people. Her and I became good friends. We've only met in person a few times, and even though we don't talk all of the time, we are still really good friends.

A few months after I met Friend #1, she "introduced" me to Friend #2. (Friends #1 and #2 met each other on the internet some how and had known each other for a year or something) Friend #2 and I have become really close and talk almost every day!! I consider her one of my really close friends. She lives in Houston, which is four hours from me. I've met up with her quite a few times when I have been up in Houston. In fact, I am planning on going over to visit in October - November of this year. (I am going to be 21 in October and she just turned 21 a week ago...yay!!!)

About a week after Friend #1 introduced me to Friend #2, she "introduced" me to another friend, Friend #3. Friend #1 and Friend #3 also met online somehow and had known each other for a while before we were introduced. Friend #3 is from a small town in Ohio, so we've never met, although we have known each other for so long. We've also become really close, but haven't talked all that much lately because she has been working two jobs this summer to save for school. I keep saying I am going to go up there and she keeps saying that she is going to come down here, but we are both poor college students. ;) One day, one day.

So that is my "on-line group of friends." We all chat with each other, although I am the only one who really chats with Friend #3. Back when I first met them all, we would all go into a private chat room and spend all night just talking away. Keep in mind that this was back in high school, of course, and we had nothing better to do. :p We send each other gifts for b-days and Christmas. Friend #1 got married a few years back (during my junior year of HS -- her senior year) and Friend #2 and I went to the wedding. Things didn't work out for the couple so they quickly divorced and now Friend #1 has found her true love and the wedding is set for March of 2004. Friend #2 and I will definitely be there. Maybe this will be the day that we all get to meet Friend #3. :D



Friend # 4
At the end of my sophomore year of high school I met this guy online who is from Houston. He is a year younger than me, so he had just ended his freshman year of high school. Anyway, we talked all day, every day that summer. Towards the end of the summer we began talking on the phone and then that turned into an every day thing. (We both had cell phones so the long distance thing wasn't a problem) We became very, very close and knew that if we had been in the same city, we would already have been a couple. We always sent cards and random gifts to each other through the mail. Anyway, a year and a half after we "met" on-line I get a card from him in the mail that reveals to me that he is falling in love with me. I felt the same way, so there we were, two people who had never met in person before in love with each other. Three months after that card we met in person. It was so awesome, felt so perfect. A few months after that, he actually went to my high school prom with me!!!!!! :) I have family in Houston so I went up to visit a few times and got to hang out with my "friend." I ended up going to college in Houston the first semester of my college life, so him and I got to hang out quite a bit the week before school started for us both. (He is a smart kid, so he started college two years early. The school he went to was in Dallas) We ended up becoming a couple although we both knew what it would entail, being apart from each other an all. We managed for a few months and on our "official" six month anniversary I broke up with him because things weren't working out. (I say "official" because we were already a couple, just w/o the label) It was hard afterward, but him and I were able to remain friends just as we were before. We haven't talked in a couple of months but for some other reason you all don't care to hear. ;) Him and I have known each other for 4 1/2 years now.

I had an online relationship once...

His name was JOnLuke and he saw my Yahoo profile and e-mailed me. We started talking and before long we were "going out". I was 16 at the time. After a while we began to call each other and he ended up coming to my college. Unfortunately though, when I was with him in person, I quickly fell OUT of love with him. I dunno...he wasn't a weirdo or anything, but once I was actually WITH him, the "love" I thought I had for him just kinda vanished. We broke up a few months after that. So, mine didn't work out.

But, to this day we are close friends, so my story isn't totally negative. :)

I used to have a few online relationships. They were very steamy and quite fun. Unfortunately my credit card got maxed out and I lost my memberships. Online porn can be sooo expensive.;)

I just thought about this.....

I met Friend #4 from my prior post in person at the beginning of January. I was out on winter break my senior year of high school and instead of going back to school in January, I played hooky (sp?) that first week of school and went to Houston to meet him. :D

What is it with January??? Hmmmm....

sex
 

Now when these relationships become intimate, do you have...cyber sex?

-Rudey
--Ooooh Baby I like the way this mouse feels!

I don't think there is really anything wrong with internet relationships, but a LOT of people that go looking on the net for a relationship are already in one or even married and are using the net to avoid being caught. Just keep that in mind.....

Although my one online relationship didn't work out, I LOVE online friendships! I have a few cyberpals that I've "known" for 6 years now. Are we close? You betcha! It's not the same as having a face-to-face friendship, but I love it.

Wow. Isn't that a crock of shit if I ever heard one. You know all the while you're typing you want to be having sex with him. Your body doesn't become abnormal and you don't all of a sudden believe in some holy love where you want to wait for sex.

-Rudey
--I prefer a Miss Florida if you have any to spare

Just an update:

As I was shopping at Macy's yesterday, Kent called me from somewhere in Mississippi. If he can go through Ranger School without screwing up, the Army's willing to get him out here in mid-November instead of January like we thought.

I got home at 3AM this morning and he was just leaving Mississippi. I thought that it was so cute that he called so I could keep him company on that drive.

OH OTW, I thought I was your true luv!:)

Have a good heart as I know you do and the very best for you!!!!

You know I love you truely as you are the bestest!!!
LUV YA SWEETY!:)

I promised to keep y'all updated....so here's an update on my 2LT.

He was supposed to come here in mid-November if he completed the Ranger School course, but I got an email yesterday telling me that something happened.

Out of a class of 260 on Day 1, only 90 remained the following week because so many of them suffered from heat exhaustion and dehydration. He survived the first two weeks and then he dropped the course because he too became a victim of extreme heat exhaustion.

So...I got a phone call from him at 4AM telling me that he's okay now and he's off to Airborne school. Airborne school only lasts 3 weeks and he'll be here in late September/early October now.

I was sorry to see him dropped from the course because I know how much it meant to him--but I'm kinda glad that he's going to be here a month early. ;)

I agree with Eirene_DGP: Internet relationships can be detrimental to real life ones. This fact almost burnt me recently. My boyfriend didn't seem to agree with me on this concept: Him talking to girls that go to Pitt and exchanging pictures with them is the same as flirting with girls at a bar.

(Then he tried to tell me he was discussing our problems with them. Oh, whole different fight with that one! LOL)

But I must admit that in the past, I had a lot of good online friends. We all used to chat in an #mp3 channel on IRC, which was a lot of fun. (The drama rivaled GC! :) ) However, now when I chat with people I dont' know online, I feel hella lame. Like I should be on one of those cheesy AOL commericals or something.

I've dated two guys that I "met" online...

One found me through CollegeClub.com, and after chatting for a couple weeks, we decided to meet in person - and he was wonderful! He had just finished his Masters' at UW-Madison, and we had a really sweet summer romance until he had to move away to Houston :( in the Fall. I did get to go visit him once, after he moved... he was such a darling!

The other one I don't know if really counts... I was talking to one of my friends on ICQ, and he had a friend over who switched places with him (ie. I thought I was talking to Jay, but I was talking to Nick). So we kept on talking like normal until he asked me out! Knowing that Jay (who I was supposedly talking to) is married, I called him on it, and he fessed up! We met the next day, and ended up dating for 8 months. And actually, even though we had a kind of messy breakup, we worked things through, and he's my best friend :)

(edited for overuse of smiley faces!)

I've met a lot of wonderful friends on the internet, and some I have met IRL and become life long friends with.

As far as dating. I met a few guys on the internet. One I happened to meet up with when I was visiting my girlfriend in Dallas (I went to high school with her).

The other guy lived in Vancouver, BC and I lived in Washington, DC. That one was an interesting one :D He flew out to DC in November 1997 and we spent 4 days together. Then I flew to Vancouver and spent 10 days. We knew something was there...

(Why do you think I am out in the Pacific NW now?)....


Well, we were married in Las Vegas on December 11, 2001 and next week will be our second wedding anniversary

I have.


Mike and I met our freshman year in HS. back in 1996. We thought were more like best friends, but the mystery part of the 'relationship' intrigued me. He also was very comforting. I would go on a bad date and then call him and he'd tell me I should just move to Oregon (where he lives) and all my guy troubles would be gone. I thought he was perfect. We talked all the time. We promised that when we were 16 we would drive half way and meet each other. That didn't happen. Then we said he would take me to his senior prom. That didn't happen. we started to lose contact once I started college ( fall 2000) then in the summer of 2001 I got an email saying: I'm going into the air force I'll be back home in October. I was shocked; he didn't call to say bye or anything. Then September 11th happened and I freaked. I thought they were going to send him to Iraq. I didn't hear from him until November. He was only a helicopter mechanic and wasn't indemand to send anywhere outside of the U.S. He then left in Jan. to be stationed in FL. We talked a lot then and he came back home (oregon) by the summer of 2002.

In August of 2002 I had a sorority retreat in Santa Cruz, Ca. Well it turns out he had plans to drive down from Oregon to Santa Cruz with some buddies that same weekend. So I finally got to meet him in person. After 5 years we met. It was so strange. We both were really shy, and not ourselves. But he looked sooo cute in person.
We lost contact again after that. Then in the spring this year my chapter had division conference in Oregon. Yea when your sorority is small on the west coast (10 chapters out of like 120) oregon and cali are in the same division. ;) anyway. on the way back home after conference, we stopped in his home town to have lunch. he looked cuter than before and lunch was fun. my sisters dared me to kiss him. That is when it ended. It was horrible. I haven't talked to him since that day.

It was fun while I was young, but that day of the dare, I realized how dumb our relationship was. our friendship was fake; it was childish and stupid.
I got teased for days, for having an 'internet boyfriend' ;) even though we never were. It also was good that it ended then, because when I was in real relationships with guys I would compare them to the unrealistic image I had made up for Mike. I thought he would be the perfect guy, because of all the crap he told me and I thought all the boys here at home, sucked compared to him. I was so wrong! when I look back at it, he was the farthest thing from perfect and was just full of crap!!

Anyway now that I have spilled my guts! and I hate this story, I get really embarrassed telling it...not too many people even know about it. (and its out there for all GCers to see! oh well)

I am glad to know that I'm not the only one. too bad mine ended negatively

Here's a question - do you more willingly meet people from GC than from other "places" on the internet? Do you somehow feel that they're more real?

I meet people from GC as often as I can, and generally have felt no qualms about giving my number to people from GC. Not so with random people who IM me or email me. I'm much more leery of others on the internet.

I have no problems with meeting with people from online. I met some people from GC actually and two of them still remain in contact.

I've met some of my best friends from online. This was way back in college when I went into chatrooms and talk to people who went to my school. We'd be talking only to find out that we were in the same computer lab.

I've had online relationships before too. Those didn't work out too well but I mean...there were circumstances. The internet is just one source of medium to meet new people. It gets hard to meet new people once you're out of school. Of course there are those kinds of internet relationships where I instantly clicked with someone, we decided to meet, but at least one member of the party would feel differently after the meet up. It's times like those when I wish that things might have been better if he and I had never met at all.

Heck I'm going to this weekend (see the thread on NYC GC Happy Hour). I only know one GC'er IRL but I know I'd like to meet some of y'all.
I have had 3 dates due to IM conversations. One was in high school w/ a guy who had seriously dated a girl I went to school with (she was older than me). It didn't really work out because he was still hung up on her.
I began talking to a guy a few weeks before I started college who was coming here from pretty far away and just wanted advice. He asked me if I'd be interested in dinner or some thing and I agreed. I was totally disappointed. Not only was I completely unattracted to him, he ended up being a huge dork. Then a few weeks later I met some guy who was way older than me but I gave it a shot. We ended up staying friends for a while before his job transferred him.

Parental influence
 

For those of you who had online relationships in high school or during college and while still living under your parent's roof, how did you deal with your parents? Did you tell them? Did they have a problem with it? And the same question goes for those of you who aren't living with your parents during the time of an online relationship. How much and how do your parents influence the situation?

When I was 14 I dated this girl named Leah from Seattle. Her dad lived/i guess still lives in VA so we were going to hang out the summer because she was going to visit. She would have been a better real life girlfriend. Basically her mom was crazy and wouldn't let her date anyone, hence the online thing, and her dad...well, I don't know. He's the one that broke us up, basically. She said she'd always love me though. Whatever. Now that I think of it...its weird because she's four years older than me.

Also right after this happened this girl from NJ imed me and we started talking and she comforted me. After a few weeks I let her call me her boyfriend. My grandparents live like 5 mins from her house. I still have the address who's up for a road trip?

This is random, but both of them had curly hair. Leah was woman, Dani an innocent girl (one year younger than me)

This is random, but they both had long curly hair.


damn....

Never had an online relationship......except of course for my cybermarriage to Russ ;) ;)

But I have met guys off of Jdate before!!!

I am a serial jdater, and many of my friends do match.com. It has become quite commonplace, and once you admit to it, a lot of other people admit to it as well. Honestly, for the straight-out-of-college set, we are like fish out of water because it was so easy to meet so many people as a student (especially as a greek) and those opportunities dry up a bit. There are only so many friends-of-friends that you can meet.

I have Numerous friends I met on-line and I have kept in touch with from time to time. I have met two women in the three years through the 'net and I have dated both but it didn't last the way I wanted to.

i've met a woman from the internet once. name was molly...best 200 bux i've ever spent...

OK KIDDING!!!!!!!! :D

I don't think I would ever date anyone I met on the Internet. Well, maybe if Craig hadn't gone and gotten engaged I would have considered it! :)

Just kidding, stud! I really wouldn't do it... I meet enough guys in real life to keep me, busy, happy and frustrated!

i met my bf on match.com :D

that should say enough......Fort Bragg boys are disappointing

My boyfriend of 7 years is a man I met on the internet. I "met" him online in 1995 when I was a freshman in college and he was on his last year of college. We were both on a usenet newsgroup. I had gone on there to find out about some Polish Christmas traditions when I got to talking to an exceptionally clever Englishman. :)

We were online buddies for two years. I considered him a good friend - there was never any talk of romance. Then, in 1997 I got a British work visa and I travelled to England. I got a job in the same city where he worked, though, he lived 20-30 minutes away. Nonetheless, he gave me his phone # and encouraged me to give him a call so we could finally meet.

We did eventually meet up and fancied each other right away. I guess it was all of his English charm. :D From there we dated each other and have been 'til this day. He lived in California for a while and I lived in England for a while and we also spent good chunks of time apart (long distance).

I've spent loads of time with his family and he's visited with mine and everyone is happy happy. :)

Back then it was sort of an odd thing to date someone you met on the internet, but now it's much more common.

I don't think I did too bad.....

.....Kelly :)


http://members.ispwest.com/navane/neilportrait.jpg


http://members.ispwest.com/navane/ascotkelneil.jpg

He's CUTE, Kelly! I love the "formal" picture. Where was that taken?

hehehehe...that was taken at Royal Ascot!!! Royal Ascot is in June, but I had been trying to convince Neil to go with me from some 9 months in advance. It's a week long, but I wanted to go to the famous "Ladies' Day". However, those tickets sell out right away in January. Even though I said I would pay for the whole thing, he was reluctant.

He kept "arguing" with me saying that if I want to see horseraces, he could take me to other races that would be much more interesting. Of course, he's a bloke and he just couldn't grasp the concept that I didn't want to go for the horseracing - I wanted to wear a big hat, see him in a morning suit and see the Queen of England because "it's the English thing to do". :rolleyes:

Eventually, after a few months, he realized what I was talking about. ;) So, without my knowledge, he went and bought the tickets, made arrangements for the whole day and, when we got there, got me a prime spot at the center railing for when the Queen went past in her carriage. :D

What a sweetheart.

.....Kelly :)

FYI - Depending on where your seats are, there is a mandatory dress code. We were in the seats which required formal "morning attire".

Navane,
I gather you were in the Royal Enclosure at Ascot. What year were you there. Dad has badge priveleges so we usually go for Opening Day and Gold Cup Day (AKA Ladies Day) and I was wondering if we might have been within feet of each other and not known it. We usually set up a Brit style tailgate before the races begin and then go in to the enclosure before the arrival of the Queen and her entourage. Did you guys also go to the Henley Royal Regatta? That is normally held the week right after Royal Ascot and we generally hang out at Leander Club and the Steward's Enclosure. My club in London, the East India-Sports-and Public Schools Club, organizes guest badges and there are usually a gang of American ExPats who set up in Lyon's Meadow under a marquee flying the Stars and Stripes. Again, a strict dress code. White flannel trousers, rowing blazers, straw boaters or Panama hats for us and Day frocks with hats for you all. Champagne, smoked salmon, and strawberries by the boat load. Missed this year but can't wait to get back next year. Do you get back to England often?
Dekeguy