I don't have Messenger anymore. Well, let me elaborate. I don't have Messenger at the office. They have been installing new firewalls and security software and have definitely banned chat software like Messenger. Of course I still have Messenger at home, but there I don't use the internet (or the computer) that much. I spend most of the day in front of a computer. When I get home, I want to do other things. Reading, for instance.

Anyways, back to the story. I am not missing Messenger that much. Of course I loved having surrealistic conversations with my friend Nurita and admiring Hightoro's new pictures - I specially liked that one with the electric chainsaw, oh yes. But apart from these contacts, I din't spend much time in Messenger. My contacts were mostly my cousins. And they are not very talkative. Or at least they are not very talkative with ME! But I still remember when Messenger was important in my life. And the chatrooms. I've not been in a chatroom for ages. I got bored of them. But there was a time, at the end of 1998, when I discovered chatrooms, that they were an important feature in my life. I used that little piece of software, the Microsoft chat engine, which allowed me to use mirc and irc chatrooms. I think this Microsoft chat doesn't exist anymore.

Anyways, it was very exciting, having the possibility of talking to total strangers from anywhere in the world. Most of the chatrooms were pure crap, most of the room-mates were morons. But sometimes, a pearl would appear between all that crap. Nice, real nice people were out there. A very nice girl, Rhianna, introduced me to a wonderful club, the www.sixdegrees.com. It doesn't exist anymore, either. But for a while, it was a wonderful free club where I made lots of friends. Then I got accepted to New Zealander chatrooms. They were scarce and the room-mates mostly wanted to talk to other Kiwis. I was not. But going back to the same chatroom again and again, I managed to be made an 'adoptive Kiwi'. I remember a couple of very nice room-mates : Mrs Gnome and Kiwi Guy. They were who they said they were. No lies and no changes of personality. When I went to NZ, I met them, along with nice Rhianna. They were real. And they were good people. On the other hand, I met a suspicious man, The Hobbit, who pretended to be from the US and after a while wanted to involve me in a gambling scheme on the internet. American, my arse. He was Arab. My English was better than his! I never had any interest in meeting him. I could see he was false and crap.

I know there are many people who are suspicious of chatrooms and the people you meet there. Probably. There is good and evil everywhere. In your city, in your work, in the internet. It's up to you to find out. With eyes wide open.


Ya no tengo Messenger. Puntualizo. No tengo Messenger en la oficina. Han instalado nuevos firewalls y mas software de seguridad que no permite instalar Messenger. Por supuesto, aun tengo Messenger en el ordenador de casa. Pero en casa no uso mucho internet (o el ordenador, ya que estamos puestos). Me paso muchas horas delante del ordenador en la oficina. Asi que cuando llego a casa, quiero hacer otras cosas. Leer, por ejemplo! y de un libro, claro.

Volviendo a la historia, he de decir que no echo mucho de menos el Messenger. Echo de menos las conversaciones surrealistas con mi amiga Nurita y el admirar la foto de presentacion de Hightoro - me gustaba especialmente aquella en la que el aparecia con una sierra electrica, ah si! Pero a parte de estos contactos, no pasaba mucho tiempo en messenger. El resto de mis contactos eran, principalmente, mis primos y primas. Que no hablan mucho. Bueno, al menos no hablan mucho CONMIGO, ja ja! Pero recuerdo cuando Messenger era importante en mi vida. Y las chatrooms. No he estado en una chatroom desde hace siglos. Me canse de ellas. Me aburri. Pero hubo una epoca, cuando las descubri, a finales de 1998, en que eran de lo mas divertidas. Yo usaba aquel programilla, el Microsoft chat, que permitia entrar en chatrooms de mirc e irc. Creo que este programilla ya no existe. O no funciona.

Bueno pues, a lo que iba. Que era divertisismo tener la posibilidad de hablar con desconocidos de cualquier parte del mundo. La mayoria de las chatrooms eran una mierda total. Y la mayoria de los participantes eran medio subnormales, pobrecitos. Pero a veces, se descubrian perlas. Habia gente simpatica e inteligente. Una chica encantadora, Rhianna, me introdujo a un club genial, el www.sixdegrees.com. Ya no existe, claro. Pero durante una temporada, este club gratuito me puso en contacto con gente estupenda e hice muchos amigos. Fuera del club me introduje en chatrooms de Nueva Zelanda. Habia pocas y los miembros no aceptaban facilmente a extranios. Pero con paciencia y teson, volviendo una y otra vez, me hicieron 'kiwi adoptiva'. Recuerdo a un par de miembros de una chatroom : Mrs Gnome y Kiwi Guy. Eran quien decian que eran. Sin mentiras y sin falsas personalidades. Cuando fui a Nueva Zelanda, les conoci en persona, y tambien a Rhianna. Eran reales y eran buena gente. Por otro lado, tambien conoci a malvados de pelicula en internet. Por ejemplo, un hombre la mar de sospechoso, The Hobbit, que pretendia ser norteamericano y queria meterme en un negocio de casinos en internet. Norteamericano, una mierda. Era arabe. Mi ingles era mejor que el suyo! Por supuesto, nunca tuve ningun interes en conocerle en persona. Era obvio que era falso y mala persona.

Se que hay mucha gente que esta en contra de las chatroom y de conocer a gente usando internet. Quiza. El bien y el mal estan en todas partes. En tu ciudad, en tu trabajo, en internet. Calificar a internet como el origen de todos los males es ridiculo y de ignorantes. Tu tienes que ser capaz de distinguir. Abre los ojos.


The weather today:
Cloudy and Windy
16C
UV Index: 0 Low
Wind: From the South Southwest at 26 mph
Dew Point: 14C
Humidity: 94%
Visibility: 7 miles
Barometer: 989.2 mb