One of the great things I had mentioned about Facebook is that it allows me to meet up with old friends. Ever since we "took to the net" most of our friends and contacts have been a mostly English speaking, internationally oriented posse. Spread wide over the big blue ball and located in more timezones then you can shake a stick at. What has been left out of our "social circle’ (because we DO call our ‘internet friends" our primary social circle) are the people from the ‘off line years’.
Old friends, classmates, or in my case fellow vilagers that grew up in the town where I live. Thanx to the critical mass that facebook is acquiring, even those "backwards towns" are finding their way to the net. Now since my Facebook handle is "Knight Wise" and not my "real name" these people don"t often stumble upon my Facebook account. Even if I befriend them they go : Who the Frack is Knight-Wise ? Only after I shoot them a message or show them some extra pictures to they recognize me. (Then the slew of questions comes on "why everything on my site is in English" and "why the hell I look like Belgium’s Nr 1 former Porn Producer" ) You be the judge of that one and compare my profile picture to THIS one. Its hilarious. But coming to think of it, I am by far the boy I was when I left the town. The "Knightwise" you have all come to know (and hopefully love) is no longer that little quiet guy they used to know back them. I repeatedly had to explain that "yes thats me on the KWTV video’s" and "yes that"s me you hear on the podcast" Hilarious ! 🙂 And the flip side is : When i reply to some of their profiles in Dutch, I freak out all my "English" speaking friends who, in reading the post, suddenly doubt their own ability to read 🙂
Facebook is (as n00b as it may seem to some ) still a great way for me to meet up with friends long gone and to introduce "them" to "my world". I hace come to see how much I have drifted away from my small town roots and just how big the distance has become between my everyday interactions with my cyber-social-space, and the social circles many of my old school buddies. They mostly still hang out with the same people, tend the same parties, intermarry within the boundaries of the small town. Its like their perception of the world has somehow huddled away inside the boundries of that little town. Not a bad thing per se, don"t get me wrong, but still .. Different to what I have experienced.
The net has enriched my life soo much. It has brought me many good things and is solidly intertwined with my everyday routine. As the social aspect of Twitter, Facebook, The Knightwise.com website, skype and so forth isbeing used more and more.. the blue planet is shrinking fast and the world is only a click away. And still I love the whole "local" aspect of this Facebook momentum because you get to meet old friends in new places.
Just for laughs, Here is a picture of me and my classmates in 1986 at our communion. See if you can spot me in the line. (click on the picture for the larger version)
