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Okay readers and fellow bloggers, what do we make of love at first sight? I’ll go first! Love exists on many levels, and can mean many different things. When I say that I am in love with my girlfriend, I mean something far different than when I say I love waffles, which in turn is different than the love I may profess for a close friend or relative.

When judged by the “in love with you” standard, the concept of love at first sight seems absurd. The former, the in love love as it were, is the culmination of a long process of getting to know all about another person while at the same time sharing with them your innermost workings. In other words, it’s all hella deep and stuff. Meanwhile, love at first sight is a different flavor of animal; it’s the hazelnut giraffe of the love world, if you follow my meaning. It is the perfect stranger, perhaps only seen for a few moments, but remembered years later– maybe even someone never spoken to or even met, but someone with such beauty and/ or grace that they remain a part of your heart’s history.

I’m kind of blogging out of my ass right now, because I honestly have never yet encountered a hazelnut giraffe, whatever the hell that means. Today’s Question: Have you?

(I began this blog with the intent of saying something along the lines of “love at first sight is kind of like having a crush on someone on account of they are pretty, and then you try to get to know them better,” but the hazelnut giraffe part sounded to good to delete. Plus it is almost 5:00 am.)

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During the week, I work at home. The benefits of this are numerous, but one of the drawbacks is that I have no co-workers. As I have never had a regular nine to five job I don’t necessarily miss having workmates, but I do notice that my peers all have them. One thing that I do to simulate interpersonal interaction during my workday is AIM chat. I keep AIM running during the day, and every now and then a chat buddy will send me a message and we’ll converse a bit; this makes for a nice distraction. Some friends I chat with almost daily, others but once or twice per month, if that. In all, I have 19 people on my buddy list, 16 of which are friends I know in my day to day life. The other three are people I only know through AIM.

Yes, I know three “people from the internet.” And yes, I know there is a stigma attached to having met someone online. People even refer to it as “online” vs. “real life,” as though things you say or do in chat don’t count, or take place in some kind of netherworld. I don’t understand the distinction. Pretty much everyone is online these days. People who defend the distinction are quick to point out that someone can pretend to be someone else online, or only put forth their best side, but how is that different than what people do face to face? If you meet someone at a bar, library, cafe, park, or any other supposedly “safe” meeting place, who is to say they aren’t putting on an act for you? Furthermore, those same people are likely online. Are they safe to their in-person friends but dangerous to their chat buddies?

The reason I’m writing about this is because just the other night one of my three internet-only friends (who, by the way, initiated our online friendship) decided that, since we don’t know one another in “real life,” we should cease chatting. Now, I have no problem with someone telling me “Peasprout, you are boring,” or “Peasprout you are always lurking outside my window with a big axe” as valid reasons not to be chat friends, but come on– in this day and age, when both George W. Bush and John Kerry have Friendster accounts, I think it’s a given that most of the world is online.

I imagine you could see it coming a mile away, but here is Today’s Question: Do you think meeting someone online is just as viable, and respectable, a way of making a new friend as meeting someone in person? My answer is pretty clear, but I’ll spell it out. I think that the internet is a great way to meet and interact with countless people with whom you would never have had the chance to interact in the past. Blogging is a perfect example of a place where strangers from around the world can come into contact with one another, and friendships based on similar, or opposing, interests or beliefs can flourish. You’re shooting yourself in the foot if you limit your friends to people you only originally encounter in person. A great friend, or maybe even the love of your life, may never be at your favorite cafe at the same time as you, but he or she just may be in the next chat room over. You owe it to yourself to go take a peek.

In case the aforementioned chat buddy is reading this, I want to be sure to clarify that I am neither bitter nor bothered or anything along those lines. I understand and respect other people’s feelings; her announcement merely made for a good blog topic. Alfred Hitchcock would refer to her as the maguffin of today’s post.

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Welcome to the official kick-off of the big bake sale. Let’s get Tammy her Xanga Premium, shall we?

As with any good bake sale, the entire community should join in and bake things to sell. But since a baked good probably won’t last too long, or stay too yummy when put into the post, and since many of us here probably can’t bake well, we’ll do it a bit differently. Each participant, and I hope that’s all of my faithful readers, will leave a comment about what they are going to “bake.” It’s Monday night right now, in a week, hopefully we’ll have lots of great “baked” goods. To give an example of what is being “baked,” I am cooking up a mixed CD. That will be my contribution to the bake sale. What will the rest of you offer??? I can hardly wait to find out. Come up with something you can “bake” and comment. I know each of you has SOME talent. Don’t you?

Below you can see my skillfully crafted counter thingee for our target of $100. As you can see, I am a master of graphic design. And in case you can’t tell, it is one of those thermometer things that rises as the donations approach the intended goal. I will update it as we go.

The lovely graphic segues nicely into the fun part, albeit likely also the tricky part. All you bakers must not only bake, you must sale. By that I mean, you must buy a baked good. The minimum purchase is $1, but feel free to spend more if you can afford to do so.

Soooooo…during the next day or two, each of you will (hopefully) go to Paypal and contribute the cause. Once we’ve all bought, I will randomly assign each of you a recipient for your baked good, and it is up to you to send it his (or her) way. Doesn’t this sound like oodles of fun? Of course it does.

To recap:

1. Comment here as to what you plan to bake.

2. Mosey on over to Paypal and send your donation to swimtammy@aol.com. Be sure to include your Xanga name in the subject line there, so we here at Peasprout’s Dept. of Xanga will know just who has purchased a baked good.

3. Wait for a message from me, in which I will tell you to whom you need to post your baked good, as well as from whom to expect one.

Let the fun begin!

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Update on 4/19/2004: Hurray! We made $89. Not quite $100, but super close. Good job everyone. Let’s hope Tammy makes proper usage of her newfound Xanga super-powers!

Shameless plug: If you are in New York and need a wedding DJ, well– I am a New York wedding DJ.

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Fellow blogger and occasional commenter Tammy recently wrote a plea for someone to buy her Xanga Premium. Many moons ago, I gave the Powers-That-Xanga $100 for a lifetime’s worth of Xanga Premium and I never looked back. I can’t exactly recall what all came with it, but I do know that Xanga Premium is absolutely wonderful and I most certainly could not live without it. Why, it changed my life, it did.

So if I, the wonderful Peasprout, cannot live without it, how can we expect Tammy to go without? The answer is simple– we cannot. As such, tomorrow I will officially kick off Tammy’s Xanga Premium Bake Sale. Stay tuned for details.

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I have been an absentee blogger for some time now, the reasons for which I explained in my previous post, but as things have settled down somewhat, I should be able to offer up regular material once again. Thanks to all who wished my Mother well. She is home recovering.

This is the time of year at which it is customary to make resolutions for the new year, and perhaps recap the previous year. As this is my first post for 2004, I could try to do so, but I am not sure I’d have very much to write. I am fairly pleased with my first year’s output as a blogger. I have 82 entries under my belt, and while not all of them are masterpieces, I think I’m improving as I go. I don’t know exactly what to resolve, but perhaps I will try to balance the topics here a bit more evenly. I write about music far more than, say, food, and perhaps it will be more interesting to you, gentle reader, if I deliver more food, film, and cocktail posts your way.

Okay, that will have to suffice for my resolution and recap blog. I now resolve to enjoy the rest of this fine day. For more than a week I was so sick I couldn’t leave my bed, so I am especially appreciative of my health now that it has returned. Fortuitously, January and February are especially easy months for me, as it is a slow time for private parties and the like. I still have to tend to the clients who are booking me for events later in the year, but the lack of parties to organize and staff in the near future means more free time.

Today’s Question: What are your favorite months, and why?

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So it’s 5:00 am and I’m not sleeping yet. I just discovered blogging and Xanga, read through a few people’s recent entries, and now I am inspired to create my own. How long will this inspiration last? We’ll see…

I get the feeling people use this site as a public diary. Seems like one great big digital oxymoron to me. A diary by it’s very nature is private. The thoughts, feelings, and events of my life that are that meaningful are likely going to also be a bit too personal to be shared with the entire population of the world. Not that the entire population of the world will ever have any interest in reading about my life. But for the handful of you who DO stumble across this, a caveat: you’ll be reading the edited version.

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Hello World.