Nigel, Luke, Ceej, Diane, Bluejack, Andrew, Eric, Meghan, Al, Jen, Jay, Anita, VJ, Terry, Helen, Kymm, Xeney, Sei, Michael, Tater, Chuck, Beth, and Steve. 23!

(Honorable mention to people I feel emotionally connected to because we've corresponded a lot, and I read their diaries assiduously: Rick and Kash. Someday we'll meet, I just know it.)

Right. Let's get down to it. First off, the Angelenos. I have placed Beth, Chuck, and Steve at the top of my Must Meet Again Soon list, and in fact I've been checking airfares to Los Angeles wistfully. Beth is down to earth, cheerful, outgoing, and amusing. I think she would be an ideal shopping companion because I just know she'd be bold enough to barge into Harry Winston's with me and try on the most expensive rings without blinking an eye. I can't tell you much about Chuck, because I didn't get to talk to him much. He sat across our large table from me, and I couldn't hear him very well. But he was affable and interesting when I did actually exchange a few words with him, and his dinner companions laughed a lot at the things he said, so I'm pretty sure he's my kind of guy. I think I ought to go back and make sure. It's only fair.

Steve and I sat next to each other at the dinner party, and I came away confirmed in my belief that he is a thoroughly wonderful man. Remember Jimmy Stewart in countless roles as the tall, lanky, hard working, big hearted, reliable fellow with boyish charm, dry humor, and ready smile? That's my impression of Steve. Add to that writing that leaves me speechless with admiration, and you get the picture. For all I know he's an ax murderer, but he's hiding it very well.

Tater. I am surprisingly fond of Tater. At least, I believe he would be surprised. I doubt the sense of connection goes the other way. I'd like to spend time with him when we weren't shouting over the loudspeakers at a bar or a restaurant. There's something about his wry, tumbled prose that I find very appealing. Probably because we share a strong interest in science fiction, possibly because he reminds me of a number of my friends, and undoubtedly because he's intelligent, sarcastic, and my age. We have all the same pop cultural references, and share similar youthful follies. Well, except for the business with the stripper.

Sei is my newest close female friend, and I think we've moved into that particularly comfortable sort of companionship that denotes the ability to trust the other person to tell you whether or not those pants actually make you look fat. No, no, I mean it's great to find someone who holds similar values, and cares about shaping herself into what she wants to be instead of just taking the path of least resistance. We complement each other's personality in a wonderfully positive way. Also, of course, our hair is the same length, cut, and color. Oh, wait, that wasn't the important bit. I meant to say it's amazing how much funnier everything is when you're with a friend who laughs at the exact same things. And it's amazing, quite honestly, anytime I find a new friend. Especially one as smart, pretty, talented, and wicked as Sei.

I spent three hours sitting next to Michael Rawdon at a baseball game in April, but I didn't get to know him at all. I haven't seen him since. I am inclined to like him because he's friends with some of my good friends, and of course he is deeply into baseball which automatically makes him a fine person in my book, but the truth is he is a calm, quiet sort of fellow, a computer geek, and a dedicated hobbyist, the sort to not just learn to play bridge but learn it well enough to enter tournaments. That is to say he is the very opposite of myself, your basic noisy, low tech dilettante. I am not in the least surprised that he and Ceej have hit it off.

That takes me through the 1999 meetings. That wasn't so embarrassing. A bit gushy, but what the heck. No one ever gets enough compliments in life. Take it from me, these people were all worth meeting. I hope they felt the same.

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