I was talking to my friend, Saritza, on the phone and she said to me, “Renzo, I need you to give me tips on how to meet people. I want to know how you do it.” She calls me Renzo. Actually, she calls me Renzo Piano, who is a famous architect. Hee. I call her Saha Hari after the famous architect Zaha Hadid. It’s a lovely play on words derived from our real names and we both enjoy it very much. We’re just funny nerdy people like that. Ok, it’s only funny if you know what I’m talking about, otherwise it’s like “Eh?” So I’ll just stop, thank you. I was just saying. Don’t hate.

So Renzo loves meeting people. I just do. I told her, “Sari, you just have to go up to the people who interest you and ask what you want to know. Some will look at you weird, but once in a while, someone worth your time will pop up. You just have to be creative about it.” So then we proceeded to run to the elevator where I showed her how to strike up conversation with random strangers. We met two lovely girls on our way down to the floor B1, but that’s just so that I could prove my point.

It’s true, you know. Once in a while someone worth your time pops up. It’s like lightning striking the same spot twice, really. And also, it works, both, in real life and online. The internet is just a crazy thing. You meet all sorts of people and some freaks too. Not too long ago I got a message from this chick in a thong, but it was really gross and I didn’t respond. Not interested, thank yaw. It’s a different world, the internet.

Once I got a message from a guy saying “I wish I could get to know you better.” I responded, “No, you don’t.” and that was the end of THAT friendship. I was rude, I admit it. I no longer do that. Well, except to this one girl who claimed to be the famous model Adriana Lima. I messaged her saying, “You are NOT Adriana Lima. You can’t even speak Portuguese –which is her native language-“ Of course, as my luck would have it, she responded to my message in Portuguese. I bow down to her. Kudos to the impostor, I was impressed.

Not everyone is like this, though. Like I said, once in a while someone great shows up. Someone you can actually get to know, enjoy, learn from, be inspired, and cultivate a real friendship. SO, exactly 6 months ago I check my myspace account and someone cool had found me.

“New Friend Requests!” I read. This is always exciting, these notifications. My heart is especially delighted upon reading “New Picture Comments!” I’m just… yeah. Shallow. Maybe? Ok.

“easy.vibe wants to be your friend!”

-Approve.

I checked him out, and he seemed like a nice guy. I read he was from the United Kingdom and I have come to the conclusion that the UK breeds amazing people [it just does, I can’t explain it, but it’s true] so that worked to his advantage. I messaged him and he messaged me back. We got along pretty good so we started chatting on MSN, which only helped out our friendship.

So here we are, six months after that first message was sent and I still don’t know the reason why easy.vibe wanted to be my friend, but you know what? I’m glad he did… because in two weeks I will be meeting Oz in person.

I could try really hard to explain just how much this means to me, but I really think that I can’t find words to do so. I could babble. I could try babbling if you would like… I am amazed, quite frankly, at how two very different people from such very different places could form such a solid friendship simply through the internet. We’re in different HEMISPHERES for crying out loud. It’s not like he’s in the US or in Canada or even South America, for that matter. Oz lives waaaay over yonder in the Motherland and he is coming all the way to Puerto Rico to meet up with me and see the island.

I was talking to my roommate, Joixa, about him. “What’s he like?? Will you guys get along?” I told her, “He’s awesome… super cool. I sure hope we get along, we better!”

-“Do you guys have a lot in common?”

And as I explained what Oz was like and what he enjoyed doing and what his interests were and all that fun stuff, I completely understood that my roommate was right after she said to me “Regner, wow you guys are REALLY different!”

Oz and I are completely different people! But there’s something that brings us together… a common denominator for both of us, that to be quite frank, I’m not exactly sure what it is! I don’t think he knows either, but I’m sure we’ll find out exactly what that common denominator is as soon as we’re able to hang out when he comes to Puerto Rico. I am very much looking forward to getting to know him better and seeing why it is that we’re such good friends, because I’m not sure what caused our bond. I’m sure Oz blames it on the easy vibe. I, however, blame it on God, Himself.

This whole thing could be chaos. Utter and pure chaos. Oz could hate me and I could loathe him. Things could go awfully wrong to the point where we could not stand seeing each other, let alone hearing each other speak. Oz could hate me so much he could throw my skinny leg jeans out the window [because he feels strongly agains them. psht.] and me being in love with said jeans, would go into a state of hysteria and would crush him. He could end up deciding to leave PR early and I would refuse to drive him to the airport and I’d make him walk.

But this won’t happen… lol. I’m sure we have a pretty decent idea on what the other is like. Plus, I’ve gotten some scoop on Oz thanks to his lovely girlfriend, Jess [thank you, dearest Jess, for all your help. We’ll talk ;)]. As long as Oz STAYS AWAY FROM MY SKINNY LEG JEANS we will get along fine. Ha.

So, yes I have a completely awesome friend who lives on the other side of the world whom I have never met in my life. But we’ve been planning this trip for a decent amount of time… deciding who will visit whom first, how we would do it, what we would like to see, etc. It just so happens I shall be the chaperone first, which is awfully exciting. I will wear a little hat and khaki shorts. I will wear tan boots and have a loudspeaker and drive a bus. All for Oz. It’s important he feels like he’s getting the whole tour and Lord knows you can only do that with a decent tour guide who DRESSES and LOOKS the part.

Enter Reggles.

I joke, I joke. I will not dress like a tour guide. But I’m really starting to dig the idea. We’ll see, won’t we?

So Myspace gave me a really good friend that I value a lot, without even having met him. Honestly, I see Oz’s friendship as a gift from God. It’s awesome. I think it should be said that I have a small fear of meeting online friends… and thus far have been able to meet 5. Huge accomplishment over the past 4 months; a sort of new-found courage, I guess. I just get nervous and worry I will disappoint in person. But I’ve learned to deal with it. HA. So yes, meeting Oz in person is a HUGE deal. He will be the first online friend I meet from outside of the island and he is one of the most important friends I have, so no pressure. Especially since this trip is costing him 89 million dollars. And that’s a lot of money.

However, we will have a BLAST, I am sure. I cannot wait for September to come. Oz and I will meet, we shall be hardcore together, we will kick some serious ass, and our friendship will only get stronger. He will love the island, even if I have to LIE to him about how great it is. He is going to love his vacation and THAT’S THAT. Mark my words.

I was talking to my friend, Saritza, on the phone and she said to me, “Renzo, I need you to give me tips on how to meet people. I want to know how you do it.” She calls me Renzo. Actually, she calls me Renzo Piano, who is a famous architect. Hee. I call her Saha Hari after the famous architect Zaha Hadid. It’s a lovely play on words derived from our real names and we both enjoy it very much. We’re just funny nerdy people like that. Ok, it’s only funny if you know what I’m talking about, otherwise it’s like “Eh?” So I’ll just stop, thank you. I was just saying. Don’t hate.

So Renzo loves meeting people. I just do. I told her, “Sari, you just have to go up to the people who interest you and ask what you want to know. Some will look at you weird, but once in a while, someone worth your time will pop up. You just have to be creative about it.” So then we proceeded to run to the elevator where I showed her how to strike up conversation with random strangers. We met two lovely girls on our way down to the floor B1, but that’s just so that I could prove my point.

It’s true, you know. Once in a while someone worth your time pops up. It’s like lightning striking the same spot twice, really. And also, it works, both, in real life and online. The internet is just a crazy thing. You meet all sorts of people and some freaks too. Not too long ago I got a message from this chick in a thong, but it was really gross and I didn’t respond. Not interested, thank yaw. It’s a different world, the internet.

Once I got a message from a guy saying “I wish I could get to know you better.” I responded, “No, you don’t.” and that was the end of THAT friendship. I was rude, I admit it. I no longer do that. Well, except to this one girl who claimed to be the famous model Adriana Lima. I messaged her saying, “You are NOT Adriana Lima. You can’t even speak Portuguese –which is her native language-“ Of course, as my luck would have it, she responded to my message in Portuguese. I bow down to her. Kudos to the impostor, I was impressed.

Not everyone is like this, though. Like I said, once in a while someone great shows up. Someone you can actually get to know, enjoy, learn from, be inspired, and cultivate a real friendship. SO, exactly 6 months ago I check my myspace account and someone cool had found me.

“New Friend Requests!” I read. This is always exciting, these notifications. My heart is especially delighted upon reading “New Picture Comments!” I’m just… yeah. Shallow. Maybe? Ok.

“easy.vibe wants to be your friend!”

-Approve.

I checked him out, and he seemed like a nice guy. I read he was from the United Kingdom and I have come to the conclusion that the UK breeds amazing people [it just does, I can’t explain it, but it’s true] so that worked to his advantage. I messaged him and he messaged me back. We got along pretty good so we started chatting on MSN, which only helped out our friendship.

So here we are, six months after that first message was sent and I still don’t know the reason why easy.vibe wanted to be my friend, but you know what? I’m glad he did… because in two weeks I will be meeting Oz in person.

I could try really hard to explain just how much this means to me, but I really think that I can’t find words to do so. I could babble. I could try babbling if you would like… I am amazed, quite frankly, at how two very different people from such very different places could form such a solid friendship simply through the internet. We’re in different HEMISPHERES for crying out loud. It’s not like he’s in the US or in Canada or even South America, for that matter. Oz lives waaaay over yonder in the Motherland and he is coming all the way to Puerto Rico to meet up with me and see the island.

I was talking to my roommate, Joixa, about him. “What’s he like?? Will you guys get along?” I told her, “He’s awesome… super cool. I sure hope we get along, we better!”

-“Do you guys have a lot in common?”

And as I explained what Oz was like and what he enjoyed doing and what his interests were and all that fun stuff, I completely understood that my roommate was right after she said to me “Regner, wow you guys are REALLY different!”

Oz and I are completely different people! But there’s something that brings us together… a common denominator for both of us, that to be quite frank, I’m not exactly sure what it is! I don’t think he knows either, but I’m sure we’ll find out exactly what that common denominator is as soon as we’re able to hang out when he comes to Puerto Rico. I am very much looking forward to getting to know him better and seeing why it is that we’re such good friends, because I’m not sure what caused our bond. I’m sure Oz blames it on the easy vibe. I, however, blame it on God, Himself.

This whole thing could be chaos. Utter and pure chaos. Oz could hate me and I could loathe him. Things could go awfully wrong to the point where we could not stand seeing each other, let alone hearing each other speak. Oz could hate me so much he could throw my skinny leg jeans out the window [because he feels strongly agains them. psht.] and me being in love with said jeans, would go into a state of hysteria and would crush him. He could end up deciding to leave PR early and I would refuse to drive him to the airport and I’d make him walk.

But this won’t happen… lol. I’m sure we have a pretty decent idea on what the other is like. Plus, I’ve gotten some scoop on Oz thanks to his lovely girlfriend, Jess [thank you, dearest Jess, for all your help. We’ll talk ;)]. As long as Oz STAYS AWAY FROM MY SKINNY LEG JEANS we will get along fine. Ha.

So, yes I have a completely awesome friend who lives on the other side of the world whom I have never met in my life. But we’ve been planning this trip for a decent amount of time… deciding who will visit whom first, how we would do it, what we would like to see, etc. It just so happens I shall be the chaperone first, which is awfully exciting. I will wear a little hat and khaki shorts. I will wear tan boots and have a loudspeaker and drive a bus. All for Oz. It’s important he feels like he’s getting the whole tour and Lord knows you can only do that with a decent tour guide who DRESSES and LOOKS the part.

Enter Reggles.

I joke, I joke. I will not dress like a tour guide. But I’m really starting to dig the idea. We’ll see, won’t we?

So Myspace gave me a really good friend that I value a lot, without even having met him. Honestly, I see Oz’s friendship as a gift from God. It’s awesome. I think it should be said that I have a small fear of meeting online friends… and thus far have been able to meet 5. Huge accomplishment over the past 4 months; a sort of new-found courage, I guess. I just get nervous and worry I will disappoint in person. But I’ve learned to deal with it. HA. So yes, meeting Oz in person is a HUGE deal. He will be the first online friend I meet from outside of the island and he is one of the most important friends I have, so no pressure. Especially since this trip is costing him 89 million dollars. And that’s a lot of money.

However, we will have a BLAST, I am sure. I cannot wait for September to come. Oz and I will meet, we shall be hardcore together, we will kick some serious ass, and our friendship will only get stronger. He will love the island, even if I have to LIE to him about how great it is. He is going to love his vacation and THAT’S THAT. Mark my words.