When worlds collide

Evening.  I've just about reached the point of feeling human after a rather jolly night out last night.  Part one was a meeting of bloggytweety people in Brizzle for @MammasaurusBlog's twenty-first birthday.  A finer bunch of people I could not have hoped to meet.  I'll be honest, I'd been worrying about it a bit.  I'm not generally too good with meeting new people.  I needn't have worried, I got a warm welcome from @SAHDandproud, @jbmumofone and @motherventing who were there when I arrived, and everyone else turned up once I'd had a couple of beers and was feeling more comfortable.

There was plenty of chat.  Chat about blogs and blogging, about Twitter, about everyone's kids, about lots of other stuff that was nothing to do with the internet or parenting.  It was just a night out, like any other, with some really lovely people.  I also got to try cauliflower puree (which, for the record, tastes like thickened air).

Mammasaurus' Cupcakes

I've only been blogging for just over a month, so it was fantastic to meet some more established bloggers this early on.

Part two was a house warming party about a mile away, with people I've known for years.  Because I arrived late I was asked where I'd been.  Because I was a bit drunk I let people know I'd been meeting up with some people I'd met online.  Probably because they were drunk they found this hilarious.  Thankfully, after a bit of piss taking we moved on to other topics.  It got me thinking though; clearly it's not yet accepted as the norm to mix and match the online world and the offline one.

I hadn't told many people I know in the "real world" that I'd started a blog until last night.  My wife knew (hello!) and that was about it.  I'd told a few I was writing it, but not where to find it, and everyone else had no idea.

I like my little corner of the internet, and I like being able to write what I want here.  It pissed me off when people I like couldn't see that meeting up with people from the internet is NOT weird in the slightest.  So I've decided, I won't be telling my "real world" friends where to find my blog, in case they annoy me enough to want to say something about them.  There's an exception to that of course, because I'd like to think I can now count the strangers I met last night to celebrate a birthday as real world friends as well as online ones, which has to be the best of both worlds.

Huge thanks to everyone who was out last night, it was a true pleasure to meet you all, hope to do it again soon!