Kaonashi Ga Suki

I’ve met all sorts of online people in real life. Some were really cool, some turned out to be jerks, and some were just plain weird. All of them were guys.

Yesterday, I met up with a girl. Not just any girl. One of my first friends in the blogosphere. Here’s a little post I wrote about her a while back. She doesn’t work for Web-Divas any more though since nursing school keeps her really busy.

I met Haemi online about a year ago. She was one of the first people who started reading my blog and commenting on it. We became fast friends but had not the chance to meet in person until recently since I lived so butt far away. But now that I’ve moved to Pasadena and she lives in Glendale, we’re pretty much neighbors and thought the time had come to meet face to face.

We met up at the Coffee Bean in Old Town. It was funny because, although I’d seen Haemi’s pic on her blog many times, I still didn’t recognize her immediately. As I walked towards Coffee Bean, I saw a Korean girl talking on her cell phone. I thought to myself, “Could that be her?” and tried to examine her face, but at the same time I felt embarrassed because well, what if I was wrong, and this random stranger would think I was totally weird or something?

But I guess I looked more familiar to her, because when I was in the store I saw her walk in as well, and after I had bought my drink and sat down she approached me and asked if I was Toni. I said yes, and she sat down.

We talked for forever. Admittedly I wondered what it would be like since I’m normally shy around new people, but I feel as if I’ve known Haemi for a long time- and in a way, I guess I have, even though it’s only through blogs and emails. I felt comfortable around her instantly, and was surprised to be so animated in front of her.

We spent about 4 hours in Coffee Bean, but I started feeling cold in the store and so we spent another hour just walking around Old Town. Before we knew it, the sun had gone down and we were famished, so we went to Hooters. Haemi had never been to Hooters before and wanted to have something unhealthy and fried, so I felt that their chicken wings (with some beer) was the perfect meal.

It was a great way to spend the day, and I hope that she and I can hang out again sometime soon.

Have any of you ever met a fellow blogger or other online friend? Has your online friendship turned into a real-life one?