The Joys of Cyberstalking

Yeah, I know. It's creepy, but come on, like other things that no one talks about, we all do it. I have no idea where I am on the spectrum, but I admit, from time-to-time I'll try to find an old friend. It rarely pays off, but what it lacks in quantity, usually gets made up for in quality.

I don't think anyone's going to remember this reference...maybe my Mom...maybe Ed. But back in the Syracuse days I had a roommate who was from Jordan. His father was the Jordanian ambassador to France, so he spent breaks in Paris...the poor bastard. After I left, he was the one person I went back to visit, but eventually lost touch with him. I did have a phone number for his family in Amman (I'm finding it spelled 2 different ways)...and when I was living with Ed on Edmonds Street, the US started bombing Jordan for some reason...as if we ever need a reason to bomb anyone... I was laid up with a busted ankle and drunk and called him to see if he was OK...at 3am his time, waking up his family. Sound familiar, Felix?

Anyway, while I remember him with his underwear on his head in college (and other things I'd rather not mention) he ended up becoming this serious big-wig for a major Arab news agency. Dude was never into journalism. [Correction: wait a minute...he majored in journalism...I don't remember him going to class...oh wait...that was me...nevermind] As I've cyberstalked him over the years, I noticed that he's getting interviewed by CNN and others on serious stuff...and I'm thinking...I remember that guy puking...and other things I'd rather not mention.

The funny thing was, I could not find contact info for the guy. No matter what I did...nothing. So this past weekend I thought I'd throw his name into Google once again. Seems that he has a new gig working for Reuters in London. There was some conference where he was speaking...did I mention that I remember the cast of his broken leg banging against the wall when he was having sex with his girlfriend...and other things I don't want to talk about.

So I found a generic e-mail address for a conference that was over months ago and sent them a note asking that if they had dude's e-mail, if they could forward mine to him, blah, blah, blah. When I woke up this morning this was in my mailbox:

You have no idea how many times I have tried to find you! I even tried to find people who might give me your news but with no luck. So much to tell you, but wanted to drop a quick line to establish contact. Tell me everything..
Well done going through ABF and all the best
Nart

Today was the first time I was in a genuinely good mood in a long time. Even the chaos at work didn't matter. I sure hope this isn't the start of some kind of bromance.

Just kidding, I was just trying to find a way to use the word "bromance". But whether he knows it or not, Nart was really influential for me on how I see the world. Oh, I don't think we agree on a lot of stuff, but it definitely gave me perspective. And I remember his laugh...it was really distinctive.

Oh my God, this is a bromance!

Seriously, just kidding.