2000-11-02 | 02:45:57

so i got to meet one of my internet friends this last weekend. palooka of toronto. it was super fun! so that makes him the fifth online friend i've met.

the first internet friend i ever met was proven. that was cool, yo. i remember tripping out on the ability to reminisce with someone i had just met. then there was maganda, who proven kinda introduced me to. she is a sweetie pie and she actually lives in l.a., an online rarity, it seems. then there was ultrasparky who i got to meet at his birthday party on my second trip to n.y.c. he was simply sparkilicious, full of life and heart. then there was the quick-witted andy who i also met at ultrasparky's party. and this coming weekend i get to hook up with the charming esol. so trip on my e-social life, would ya?

but back to palooka. he flew out to l.a. on a family weekend trip, so i picked him up sunday afternoon and gave him a driving tour of l.a. we hit the griffith observatory (scene of the knife fight in "rebel without a cause") for a city view and a glimpse of the hollywood sign, then onto hollywood boulevard with its "walk of stars" and famous chinese theater, then the sunset strip, beverly hills and the beach. oh, and we got boba tea to cap it all off. we ate lunch at one of my favorite places, barney's beanery. (i started going there years ago when i read that johnny depp played pool there. heh. never spotted him, though. i keep going back for the foot-long chili dogs.)

i think palooka and i were both pretty nervous. we had read each other's diaries and e-mailed a bit, but we were still pretty much strangers. and the poor guy had a hard time reaching me. we kept missing each other with phone calls and i ended up calling him on my cell phone and leaving him another message. i was thinking, this guy is going to think i'm one of those flaky, air-brained "l.a. types."

finally, we got to talk on the phone and i could tell right away that we'd have a fun day together. he was cracking jokes and making wry comments that were busting me up. he said, "hmmm...i understand all the 'haha's' in your e-mails now." ok, so i laugh a lot. what of it? eh?

so we drove across l.a. on an overcast, rainy day, answering questions about ourselves and joking and laughing and taking digital pictures. he described what it's like to be friends with my crazy pen pal, gnoll. and he offered his thoughts on l.a. as viewed by a toronto resident. which can be summed up in this story:

as we approached the place he was staying, the sky was growing dark and the rain clouds were looking ominous. "it looks brooding," i said. "i don't think los angeles can be brooding," he responded. touche! he may have a point.

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today over a girlboy, katie writes in with a description of her dream boy, who it seems she's already met!

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