AT THE BEGINNING

I'm the little one

What are friends? - Even without the help of our ever reliable friend Merriam, one can easily describe -- friends, its meaning and the people we should consider -- friends.

Em's meaning of friends - someone I can talk to and just be here for me through good times and bad, just a strong shoulder I could lean on times when I can't even hold my head up high. People I can trust, people, I am not afraid to show who I am, friends who'll accept the 100% Em package! no if's no but's.

We meet different kinds of people from different walks of life everyday, at school, work, bus station, at the gym or dojo or just while having our morning jog, and yes, even ONLINE (bloggers, chatters, etc), some people will stay as a total stranger to us at the end of the day, people who'll stay for a while or people who'll eventually be part of our lives and be our friends.

We have lotsa stories to share to everyone on how we met our friends, some clicked instantly, some started off as "enemies" and so on.. But did it ever occur to you how online "friendship" works?Do you have a story to share? Brace your eyes yourself coz my fingers are definitely on the works right now haha

The Success and Failure of Online Friendship
Emmaleigh (yes! felt the oommphh of my bloggerwood name?! haha beat that!)

Not that I don't have any computer/internet access when I was still back home in the Philippines, but during that time, I only use the computer when I needed to use Word, Excel or Power Point and a little bit of help from Mr. Yahoo. You can say that most of my life were spent with friends at school or at home. My weekends, even during my senior year in high school were devoted in playing patintero and sekyo-base, ahhh those days.

Then came when the family had to migrate for a better future abroad. I was sad, cried a river and can't even imagine how billions of miles away I am gonna be with my friends. I was scared coz during those times, we were not as techie as it is right now, and the only main thing on how my friends and I can communicate is thru roaming texting and maybe email.

uhaah- uhaah sniff sniff Friendster was born in the filipino community, little by little everyone ask: "may friendster ka?add mo ako!" this person adding this person, then found this "interesting" chic then added her then she found a yummy hunk then added him, it's the cycle. Messenger and joining groups, mIRC, online forum, we meet them, then we ask them for their -- friendster account (we wouldn't, if that person isn't appealing enough right?!). Social networking sites played a MAJOR role in our lives today whether we deny it or not, no matter how jologs it may sound, online "friendships" and some "love" started this way.

When I became into it (all of the above haha), I've met so many friends, it was overwhelming that when asked about my social life, I have nothing to say but friendster, messenger and online forums. It basically, took over my life! 70% of the time I had to lie to my parents about doing research when in reality, I was just chatting. I was flirting. It's a nice feeling to know that I've made so many friends in so little time I've became a chat addict, everyone felt like they're part of my life, everyone felt so true, they can be trusted.

FAIL. coz not everyone you meet online or in person are meant for you to trust. Some will hurt you, some will defend you, some will stay true, some won't. But online friendships and maybe love can also be a story of success. I may have "lost" some people along the way but there are some for keeps for sure! I am proud to say that our friendship is not just about keeping each other company online when there's nothing else to do. For me, and based on my experience, online friendships can turn into real one when after not talking to each other for a long time because of your busy sched, you still manage to keep the fire burnin'. Just like any real life friendship, it's real when it's not always about you, when it's also about them, sharing your frustrations and finding something to talk and laugh about.

Always remember, just because a friendship didn't work out the way you wanted it to be doesn't mean those people are not worthy anymore. Some people are meant to meet each other for a life lesson, others, so you can have someone to share your sadness and happiness with. So if a friendship or a love online didn't last, don't be sad for a long time, everything happens for a reason, one day you'll have the courage to look back and have something to be thankful about.

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So that's my entry for this week's Carnival. If you wanna join the fun and meet other bloggers too, join us at Team Carnival.

Thank you for making this far! ;) hope you enjoyed my entry.

The title of my post was from the song with the same title, At the beginning, ;) it was also our high school graduation song.