there's this girl i know. she lives in "wistah-mass" and use to be a surf bunny in Southern California. but now she's twenty-five, a college graduate, and (sniff) all grown up.

we met a long time ago, rather virtually. to shorten a longer story: there was this Usenet newsgroup alt.kids-talk. the signal to noise ratio was pretty low. we talked about our lives, threw flames around like buttered toast, and formed something of a semblance of a community.

at the time, a sophomore in college and struggling with the reality that school sucks, i felt a little better connected to the world because of it. some of us really were kids. a lot of us were time-wasting, people-seeking collegiates. and a few were border-line pathetic older folks who were much more the rule than the exception back then.

anyways, after a few months or a year or some significant amount of time, a poster named "Ciji Jones" joined up. i had known a "C.G. Jones" in highschool and asked this person if they were the same. but other than that, i had very little interaction with "him".

now, i put "him" in quotes for a very good reason. the "C.G" i knew was very much a guy. so i passed it off that this "Ciji" must also be a guy. and because of the anonymity provided by the medium, "he" could have been a purple dinosaur for all i knew.

well, it just so turned out that Ciji was not at all male. in fact, very much the opposite. not only was she female but she was cute, spunky as hell, and just sensitive and kind enough to endear her to me.

we've been friends ever since. and not just "let's have coffee and gab about our problems" kind of friends, either. you see, we still don't live anywhere near each other. she on one coast, i on the other. and sometimes months pass without even a phone call or an email. but i am still the one who stands in for her boyfriend at her sister's wedding. and i still list "Boston, Massachusetts" at the top of my places to vacation list because she's there. and she's always in my thoughts when i'm remembering who means the most to me and why my life is so good.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, sweetie! may your next twenty-five years be full of luck, happiness, and the occasional shared cup of tea with me.