I’ve been thinking lately how little we know about each other. I got thinking about this when someone described me as a “gamer”. They were surprised to discover that I play a game called “Warbirds” with some other people over the internet.
Warbirds probably deserves it’s own blog entry, but for now it’s basically a flight simulator where multiple players get to shoot each other out of the sky. It’s not encouraging war or violence, it’s fun and it’s a challenge. Seeing as I don’t watch much TV (the occasional documentary, just never been interested in the soaps) it’s a bit of me time too.
I always thought it was quite logical for me to find that sort of program. People who know me are quite likely to know that:
a) I have always loved flying
b) I find computers easy to work with
c) I like to keep my mind occupied (I have always liked stragey games, from Risk when I was growing up to SimCity and the like as I got older).
A Flight Sim, on a computer, where you have to achieve some very specific goals against other people – many who are highly skilled, covers all of those things nicely.
So, back to “Secret Lives”. They are not really secret things that we keep from each other but when we meet someone, what do they do with themselves in life?
Where do they like to go on holiday?
What was their earliest memory?
What thing are they most proud of?
Who do they count among their friends?
What do they want to achieve in their remaining life?
What are they doing to achive it?
What have they done in the past?
What sports do they enjoy?
Did they represent the country at the Olympics?
They’re not things that people deliberately hide, but things they just don’t mention.
I guess it’s my curious side that’s asking all these questions. For all I know their is someone I know, perhaps I’ve been seeing them for years as they supply my business or perhaps I know them from a technical newsgroup and have only typed messages to them, has an interest very similar to one of mine but that we’ve never mentioned to each other. Perhaps, just perhaps, I know the same person twice, if you see what I mean. I noticed that once I started running (during this summer, although I’ve done very little for the last month) I met quite a few other people that either were or had been keen runners.
I guess, all of this is made harder by not knowing ourselves that well. I believe we are always changing as we grow, and for a while we may be interested in one thing and then over time that interest will fade to be replaced by something else. I’m sure that eventually my interest in Warbirds will fade and I will move onto something else. In fact, I’m also keen to know what the next new thing in my life will be. As we all go through so many phases of life I guess it becomes less likely that we speak about them.
So, if you are reading this, you know me, and you also have a Blog then let me know where yours is. Then we have one less secret between us. My thoughts are now wondering onto “I wonder how long this blogging phase of mine will last”.