gazing at belly button lint, contemplating the universe

i was reading Ali's blog about hanging out and shooting the breeze with cyber buds and i realized that there are some folks that i used to hang out with that i really miss. not enough to go back to the venom pit from whence i came, but i do still miss them. there are some intelligent, caring, humorous, ... (fill in the blank with good words) that wonder around these electronic pathways. something about dipping in and out, sampling, greeting, moving on, it appeals to the gypsy in me. never stood still long enough to establish many long term friendships, and the net is a great place to meet, greet, and then move along.
i went to a really fun get together a couple of months ago, where a bunch of music freaks that stumbled upon each other via the net decided to gather, drink, shoot the breeze, and then go away. i really enjoyed that. for a while, we were the physical manifestation of a cyber community, and our evening was shared worldwide via cams, pix downloads, and posting to a bbs. never in the history of the world has this been so easily accomplished, short of throwing disparate groups together in times of war. and hell, the only fighting we were doing was over who was buying the next round. it was fun, and yet, kind of sad. sure, i met some good folks that live nearby, but the ones i connected with all lived on the other coast. oh well.