Grit? You Want Grit? You Got Grit!

OK, as an experiment, how would you assess my online persona? I'll then tell you if it matches what I have been told I am like.

But perhaps most importantly, I am talking about the human-in-your-face-stuff. The intangibles, the not so intangibles, the physicalities that make you want to be with one person over another. To me it can't be reproduced by little blots of glowing phosphors.

Perhaps you don't put a lot of credence in one's physical presence?

Chumly,

Were you talking to Roger or can anybody give it a try?

Hmmm....I think Chumly's right.

You develop a certain "persona" on a message board like this, whether intentionally or not. Some of it may be quite accurate, but there can also be a distortion factor.

Nothing's quite the same as being face 2 face with someone.

Shirley, surely, sure, yes, ok

Ok, let's see if I can get close.

You have a dry sense of humor. I see you with a crooked kind of smile with a bit of a twinkle in your eye to go with it. Kind of like when you tell a joke or try to get a point across you add a bit of wit to it to pack a punch.

You are very caring and very set in your thinking. You reason things out to the nth degree before making your final decision, weighing all your options. You like the simple things in life but love a challenge. You will stick to something until you attain your goal.

Am I close?

In my experience, distortion factors lessen the longer you know someone online. Stuff comes out, eventually, or can't be sustained. Part of why there is greater trust among people who have been interacting for years, probably.

That is so true, soz. Good explanation.

Have to pass, Chumly. Most generally, when you travel hundreds or thousands of miles to meet people, you've had just a bit more online interaction than has been between us.

Rog- I agree. In fact, I once met someone who somehow used to turn me off a bit online. When I met that person, I found the individual to be an absolute darling, intelligent, charming, and witty. (No, I won't say if it were a he or a she. I'll never tell! )

Also, some are far more revealing of themselves than others are...there are people I have interacted with for years here about whom, as people, I feel I know absolutely nothing. They are a few ideas, or a debating style, or both, and nothing else. Others are very rounded people.

Also, of people who DO reveal a lot about themselves, over time there is, or isn't, a sense of real consistency (insofar as humans are EVER consistent!)....others who appear to reveal a lot, either slip up on facts, or persona.

Yep.

Gus, for example, I know practically nothing about in terms of his real life -- how old he is, where he lives, how he makes a living -- even though I've been interacting with him for a long time.

Nonetheless, certain personality aspects can't help but be revealed -- kindnesses large and small, intelligence, etc., etc.

I'm not nearly as polite irl as I am on a2k.

Don't you take your hat off at the dinner table?

never (except to eat salad out of it)

So that's how you keep the leather soft! Oil and vinegar.

french

In print more so, as I have time, in person it really depends on the company and the mood.No crooked smile, it's pretty open and crisp with excellent teeth. I do try to do that, it might come across more in person than in text.I am caring but I am not as set in my thinking as you might believe. I will accept a very wide variety of people, places, things and actions. Even though they may well be at odds with my conceptions. A good example is that the majority of the people close to me are religious and do not share my political views. My wife is a Polish Roman Catholic and has "serious problems" with homosexual marriage and abortion.Often times I do, but I will surprise myself and others with impulsiveness too. For example I ride motorcycles, have a sports car as my only transportation. I have been a musician for many years and have danced on tables and had quite a few entertaining evenings with the fairer sex.Sure, but I am a man of inherent contradictions; for example I firmly do not believe in marriage and yet I have been married most of my adult life. My views on religion are unfavorable yet many close to me are religious. I also really like complexity such as music gear, stock and bonds, etc.Often times true, but I will stop if I loose interest or drive.You decide

But none of that tells you if we were in the same room how it would go; all the physical queues, which to me say more than words.

Good thing I never claimed to be a psychic! Well, I might have gotten one or two things right. You sound like a very interesting person, Chumly.

Hey Mom,
This would make a nifty thread:

"Who are you?"

You start it Chumly and I will join you!