The main feature of this year for me is that I made a few more friends and managed to talk to people more than before. Admittedly, most of the talking goes on online, but that’s still progress, isn’t it? Here are a few of the people I appreciate for various reasons.
The people I talk to the most in person are the ones I work with for InterVarsity. Stephen is the brother of Richard, a recently-graduated senior also from IV. (When I first saw him, I thought, “That looks like mini-Richard.”) Richard used to run the IV sound system before I volunteered two years ago. Stephen’s been running the video projector all last year and this year, so I’ve gotten to know him through working together on such things. I was delighted to learn that he actually wrote some programs to help make PowerPoint work better for our purposes. I love people who are geeky like me and write programs to make computers work better rather than lamenting what they do wrong. I also like his childish sense of adventure. He’ll do things just for fun, which is the way I like to be sometimes, as long as my introversion doesn’t override it. Most recently we were plotting how to get free data transfers to and from our pre-paid T-Mobile phones, for example by manipulating the AIM buddy list.
Slippey has been on the IV worship team for several years, and is currently the Large Group coordinator. He’s the one I take orders from when I set up the sound system, and he knows a little about sound himself. He was also one of IV’s pioneers of going barefoot around campus. (I started doing that all the time midway through the summer. Unfortunately, winter tends to put a damper on that.) He’s funny, and a good friend.
The IV worship team has featured Rachel and Becca (off and on), both of whom are infectious in their joyfulness. Rachel makes funny faces, and Becca is a globetrotter (I forget what the latest destination is). Allison is another interesting character. I was in a small group with Allison as a freshman last year, and now I ended up in the small group she’s co-leading this year with Johnny Arkansas… who is himself a character. There are lots of wonderful people at IV.
There are a bunch of other IV people I like, but most of my communication with people is done online through the ToO and YouthFire chat rooms. As an administrator of that chat server, part of my duty is to talk to people that need talking to, but mostly I talk to the gang of perfectionists that have emerged there in the past year. Jackie, Cher, Katie, Levi, and others all share, to my delight, a compulsion to type with impeccable spelling, grammar, capitalization, and punctuation. We can often be found correcting each other’s typos. But all pickiness aside, they’re also good friends.
Cher’s great. She first showed up in #aio as yet another lowercase junkie, but returned quite a bit later to YF as a changed person and soon joined the gang of perfect typists. I was intrigued by the fact that I managed to sustain some form of a conversation with her, since when most people try to talk to me it ends in silence after about three lines. Somehow our respective brands of oddity seem to mesh well, and we’ve been insulting… er, edifying each other ever since. I found it interesting that Julia and Kait both mentioned in their year-end notes that Cher was a big help to both of them, since for me it seems to be the other way around. I don’t doubt that she does that; it’s just that I always seem to be trying to help her with things. Perhaps some of what I’m putting in is coming out the other side to help others. That would be excellent, because I already feel quite gratified to be able to do this. Thank you for being receptive to my feeble ministrations, Cher. (See? People appreciate you no matter how you try to dissuade them.)
All Jackie ever does is tease me about Cher. Other than that, she’s a fine human being. And, incidentally, one that’s plotting to move to my neck of the woods, ostensibly because of an aunt of hers. Thankfully, I can see through her plot to torment me in person as well. 
Kait and Julia only arrived on the chat scene in the past few months, but they provide me with enjoyment as well, particularly with their craziness. Julia, for instance is always “dying laughing” at anything and everything. It’s a wonder she’s survived this long. She’s also quite a tomboy, which is often amusing, especially when she’s pretending to get knocked up in fights. Unfortunately, Kait’s latest pastime seems to be trying to pair me up with Julia. (Don’t worry, I’m immune to girls.)
Well, that’s it for now. I hope this year will feature even better friends. (Not that I’m knocking the ones I have…)