Once upon a time, Engel was a fan of chatting, back in the days when mirc was the king, no one knows g4m, and friendster was the country's facebook. He wouldn't dare go home after work without passing by the village's lone computer shop just to chat. He was an addict.
He didn't really meet alot of people like him back then. He was scared. And he was an insecure mess after his first major heartbreak. He chatted not because he was looking for an easy hook-up, but because he was looking for love.
He did go out for eyeballs, if he thought that the person he met was decent enough or at least interesting. But generally, he was fine having people fall for him over the phone and have it end there.
But one lonely pre-valentine's week, Engel got really lonely. He went to the 13th newest computer shop in their area. He did not leave until he got a telephone number, and he was not disappointed. He got a guy's cellphone number.
The texting was fine. They both had the same interests. The same hobbies. They thought that they were really compatible to each other.
Then came Valentine's Day. The textmate was really lonely that day. He did not have a date. So he invited Engel out. Engel was hesitant. He doesn't go out on Valentine's Day. Finds it too cheesy. But then the thought of spending Valentine's night with someone was too tempting to pass up. So he agreed.
His big mistake was not calling first to get a feel of what kind of guy he's about to meet. Specially because the textmate was ballsy enough to invite himself over to Engel's house.
So the time came for the eyeball. Engel prepared for it. He had his hair cut and all that. So the evening of their meeting, he was kinda eager to meet up with the textmate. The guy described how he looked like. What he was wearing and how he will be recognized. Lo and behold, what he saw was something he didn't expect. This guy who said he was straight looking and manly turned out to be the total opposite. He looked like a parlorista with too much foundation.
Suffice to say, Engel decided to pass him by. He looked the guy in the eye and walked right by him. He did a one way. His first. His last.
Obviously, the guy got mad. He tried to hunt Engel down. Threatening him that he'll have his uncle from NBI pick him up and throw him in jail. He even got close to finding out who he was. He doesn't know how, but he found out the details of Engel's cousin. Thankfully, the guy was stupid enough to believe that the identity of the person who stood him up was the actual guy's cousin.
Engel did not open his cellphone for almost a month.
And that's how Engel learned not to go one way on his dates. And that's also how Engel got over his chat addiction.
hey, I got really curious with your identity,
ReplyDeleteHahahahha awwww engel.
ReplyDeleteMy mIRC experiences were less traumatic than yours - maybe because I mostly chatted for the chance to trade barbs and zingers with like-minded strangers. These funny, witty, and smart strangers became my lifelong friends IRL.
But those were the golden days of mIRC. Nowadays, it's more like Craigslist.
As a bitchy IRC chatmate and RL-friend of mine famously quipped : "Mura na kasi ang internet, eh!"
' whoaaa.. traumatic and scary that wuz.. that is the downside of meetin' people online.. personal and more intimate experiences are readily set aside.. there is so much space to lie and create false impressions.. instead of characters, what we get are caricatures.. my biggest heartbreak is someone I met through Friendster.. and like you, it was so traumatic, the moment I hear someone say Friendster, I feel like i would succumb to myocardial infarction.. =)
ReplyDeletehmm one-way... engel bad! bad! bad! :p
ReplyDeletethe next time (if there will be a next time), that you will meet up with someone who will turn out to be quite the opposite of who they are, approach them, tell them that they lied about themselves and so on. tell them you are not comfortable about going out with him since he turns out to be quite the opposite of how he described himself.
the other person might not feel good about it, but at least from your end, you did the "respectful" thing and that would be appreciated by someone and who knows they might respect you for that. truth hurts, but we have to face it riight?
two cents :p
the hunting down part is creepy. that's why you have to insist a 2 way photo sharing first before engaging in a date. better safe than sorry i guess.
ReplyDeleteNext time we will teach you how to use the 911 technique. Lol.
ReplyDeleteah.
ReplyDeletethe travails of chatting ;)
but you'll eventually learbn to separate the wheat from the chaff hehehe
And that was the scary part of chatting to lot of people and try to meet them. Oh no! I think i can't do that thing. ;D
ReplyDeleteApril
Stories from a Teenage Mom
Mom on the Run
Chronicles of a Hermit
basyon: i don't think you should anyway, unless you're single. ;P
ReplyDeleteEW: the joys and pains of being young. I learned not to rely so much on the chatrooms for my social life.
knox: i have a friend i can rely on when a date is going bad. my 911 friend.
maxwell: I'm not really a looks person so I don't really trade pics. As long as that person isn't obvious and we have something in common, i'm game.
beki: I have a different approach now. It's nicer and less anger inducing.
jedi: spill.
rudeboy: those were the days. thank god, i got older.
jay: naku, there's nothing special about me. I'm not even that good looking.
grabe.kung ako din naman yun, i-one way ko rin. pano naman kasi, bakit magsisinungaling na straight acting kung di naman diba? and the nerve to threaten you with the NBI thingy.
ReplyDeletehahaha @ parlorista.
ReplyDelete