Well, that's 50 down so I thought I'd take a second to tell you all about my favourite...
Ha! No. I'm actually in the midst of organising my #meetandtweet trip and getting mildly frenzied as I realise I have 14 days across 14 towns to meet around 70 people and make sure not to miss any trains.
What am I doing?
It'll be fine. People have been brilliant so far and I see no reason for this to change with travelling. My main worry is I won't have time to spend as long with people as I'd like. That's really all this is. Just hanging out, talking to people.
I was talking with Sergio (Update no 3, bottom right photo) and relaying my idea that its such a shame that just asking somebody from the internet if they'd like to go for a chat seems weird, but placing it within a proscenium of this silly project somehow makes it OK.
'But it is weird.' he said
'What?'
'Asking someone online to go for a drink. Unless it's a romantic thing it is weird. Why would you want to meet in real life? What do you get out of real life you can't get from a message? You want to say hello, you just say it. What does meeting in person add to the experience?' (this is not a direct quote, I'm paraphrasing.)
This has been playing on my mind since. What does meeting in person add that you don't get from email or messenger? I haven't come to a conclusion yet.
There are obvious things like tone and body language, but if its someone you know well enough you'd hope that they understand the implied sarcasm or irony even in text.
A big part of it I think is that you're adding an experience to the experience. You're placing the chat in a place and time, you're locking it in a room with just the two of you. It's not a background task, it's not something you're doing whilst doing something else. it's a moment in time. a place. a thing in and of itself.
Its the same way that listening to a record on vinyl is often better than an mp3, or going to the cinema is the best way to watch a film. You cannot help but be consumed by the thing itself. It creates a moment in time, a physical event. It's harder too. It takes organisation and planning. It's not a flimsy thing that you can do at anytime like email. It's a purposeful, planned event which immediately gives it more purpose, and makes us value it more.
Also, what with all the PRISM hoopla it is perhaps one of the last truly private means of conversation and discussion, which would make me feel slightly uneasy if it wasn't such an amazingly sci fi thing to type. We talk to keep secrets.
Anyway. Onward. 12th June. Let's make it a thing.
Fourteen days. 74 followers. 1852 miles. It's not dark, but I am wearing sunglasses.
Hit it.