Ever Google someone you knew and then feel nostalgia mixed with disappointment and melancholy?

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Occassionally, like everyone else on the planet, I will remember someone from college or whatever and Google the name just to see if they're doing ANYthing that's visible. More often than not, they are nowhere to be found, but the very act of trying to Google them sets off a chain of emotions that otherwise would not have fired by simply remembering the person. It is almost as if by verifying that they are nowhere to be found (through a half-assed Google attempt) that they really seem so much further away, perhaps content with a family, a power-career, or being part of some fun social scene you can only vaguely imagine. Sometimes you find a photo of them which confirms this. They appear to be living well-- and that's the best revenge! Oh no!

And then you realize you never liked that prick anyway and that's why you stopped returning their phone calls. Still, a fleetingly powerful experience.

― Melody Richardson, Friday, 14 January 2005 20:48 (twenty years ago)

This post would've been better without the last 3 sentences, I know. ;)

― Melody Richardson, Friday, 14 January 2005 20:50 (twenty years ago)

It's amazing sometimes. Like my best friend when I was a little kid has become an expert in medieval music. And my best friend at university is now an academic in the UK - I can read her papers online! And as you say, some people are nowhere to be seen, even with unusual surnames. I never get sick of googling my old friends.

― thee music mole, Friday, 14 January 2005 20:54 (twenty years ago)

I googled a guy from my crew in film school and his first play is now being produced in NYC. I am pleased for him but also insanely jealous!

― .adam (nordicskilla), Friday, 14 January 2005 20:57 (twenty years ago)

Hahaha, I just tried this! I found a childhood friend of mine in the Asian-American Actors Database, and he's passing himself off as 10-12 years younger than he actually is.

― I Am Curious (George) (Rock Hardy), Friday, 14 January 2005 21:03 (twenty years ago)

I recently found a friend from high school, who failed an entrance exam for police officers. It was really weird thinking of him as a cop.

― jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 14 January 2005 21:05 (twenty years ago)

This thread prompted me to google some people, but when I tried it I couldn't even remember their full names. This has made me very melancholy. I'm going to smoke some weed and go back to bed.

― dave q (listerine), Friday, 14 January 2005 21:07 (twenty years ago)

I do this all the time. I usually find very happy results. It's nice to be able to look out and see that some folks are doing okay without, um, having to talk to them and stuff.

― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Friday, 14 January 2005 21:16 (twenty years ago)

Most ilx thread ever.

― Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Friday, 14 January 2005 22:56 (twenty years ago)

I found a girl that I'd crushed out on in elementary school. She's a successful artist (doing aboriginal-themed paintings, which sell for enough that she doesn't need a day job anymore), is married, and is still cuter than hell.

― Tantrum The Cat (Tantrum The Cat), Friday, 14 January 2005 23:41 (twenty years ago)

Ha, I just looked up a girl I crushed on in 4th grade, and she wrote her senior thesis in college on the use of hallucinogens among indigenous people in the Amazon! Pretty cool.

― jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 14 January 2005 23:45 (twenty years ago)

I looked up a guy I dearly cared for as a teenager and havent seen for over 15 years and, if I have found the right one (his names reasonably common) it seems he's gone from being a nurse to being senior scientist at the same hospital he worked at. Which is like, wow.

There is one ex I have been trying to locate for a long time, havent seen in over 10 years even though he lives in the same city. I've tried google to no avail. It ocurred to me in a horrible thought this morning that he could be dead or something.

Tony Della if you're out there, call me man! I miss you.

― Trayce (trayce), Saturday, 15 January 2005 00:24 (twenty years ago)

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