Who are you, again?

The internet, now more than ever it seems, is a great tool for socializing. You can meet people from around the block or around the world who share your views, interests, hobbies, etc. People you can relate to, have long discussions and perhaps even start friendships with. Some you'll just get to know online through various communications (emails, chats, social site comments, etc.) but others you might invite out for a drink, a movie or a party that's going on. That's all pretty cool right? Never would I have imagined when I was younger how easy it would be to make friends worldwide. Sure, there were "pen pals" and such, but that was usually a slower process. So many things happen in between letters, as they are traveling those thousands of miles for days. Now, you can tell someone not only about what's happened a week ago, but what's going on at that very moment (live chats, video conferencing, pc-to-pc mic conversations, etc.).

All this is great, but there's one little problem I often find myself running across. Sometimes when I run into friends I've made through the net, for the very first time, in person...I totally don't recognize them! I know there are people that can use just one photo as reference and pick out someone from a crowd without any problem. Me, on the other hand, I tend to struggle with that. lol Even if I've met the person before, through another friend for example, and then I see that same person later on there's still the chance that I may not recognize them. Maybe I'm just not that great at making physical observations? Luckily though, I've gotten a bit better at this over the past few years. I'm not as bad at recognizing "new" people as I used to be, but it still happens. Latest incident wasn't more than some weeks ago at the club, a friend from MySpace saw me and I was kinda puzzled at first when he called my name, 'til he said his own name then it clicked. lol So if you ever see me out and about and it looks like I'm ignoring you...I'm not! I probably just didn't pay close attention and recognized you were there. hehe

And don't get me started on movie stars! I'm horrible at recognizing people, especially actresses. Maybe it's because they tend to change their looks a bit more than the guys. So when I'm watching movies I often turn to whoever I'm with and ask "who's that?" And it's usually someone quite famous that I should've known. Maybe this would explain why, after living all my life in L.A. and spending the past ten plus years studying then working near the more star-prone areas of West L.A./Beverly Hills/Hollywood/Wilshire, I don't think I've ever seen any celebrities. Well, I'm pretty sure I probably HAVE seen some...but with my bad visual memory skills I probably didn't realize who it was. :) Plus, it doesn't help that almost everyone walking around here usually looks like they'd be an actor or model, too.

But as I mentioned earlier, I've gotten a bit better at recognizing people, the famous and the friends alike. Not yet perfect, but improving. I just hope I'm never a witness to a crime, because I'd probably end up picking the wrong person out of the police lineup.