vLES

Tonight was a night of current events, life, togetherness, and sorrow.

Passed through the binarily encoded superstructure to find JILL, tangomango, and Oliver having a delightful conversation about life. I saw it as my duty to interrupt with pleasantries when it hit me: These are genuinely nice people that enjoy coming here in the evenings.

I guess I kindof had an apotheosis tonight regarding the regulars of the vLES. Perhaps the most interesting quality to this small yet potent community is that the people in it are really good about making the others feel good about themselves. Always does the conversation steer toward gratitude and real sentiments of encouragement, things that we all may lack a certain degree of in our "rl's."

But tonight revealed some sinister sides to the "vl" and its relation to the "rl." When Oliver momentarily stepped away to deal with friends, I asked if they were real friends (rf) or virtual friends (vf). Tangomango asked if I was able to tell the difference and for a minute, I couldn't. I have come to value and respect the relationships I have in vl inasmuch as I do those in rl.

While it may seem sinister to have lost that distinction between friendships in both worlds, I've seemed to have accepted it quite naturally. This whole experience has allowed me to subject myself to what seems to have grown into a philosophical and sociological experiment analyzing how communities are formed, who emerge as leaders, and who's left at the end of it all. For Oliver and I tonight, it was he and I and a teenaged girl from Singapore - somehow, that was fitting.