I guess you could say that I have a knack. After a few emails, I start becoming friends with people, especially when it comes to work as we usually have something in common. As it relates to the stuff that I genuinely LIKE to do with work, it appears to be particularly easy. One of the appeals of this trip was the fact I would be meeting a collaborator friend— one that I had not met in person. In a way, I think it’s like online dating except I have a better success rate at it. You don’t know what things will REALLY be like. It may seem great by email, but there could be a lack of that spark, chemistry or they might have irriating habits that may just revolt you that is never communicated by email.
My success rate at meeting new old friends seems to be pretty high. It worked yet again. We exchanged a wealth of information on our projects, planned, plotted, schemed, joked, teamed up on the new faculty. It was truly marvelous.
I realized too that I do this a lot. I have a cadre of friends that I have barely interacted with in the flesh that help me get things done… and also are true friends also. We joke, we laugh, we tel stories of our lives.
It’s pretty cool all in all. I’m pretty lucky.
