Talking to Strangers

I read an interesting blog about the writer's adventures in talking to strangers. She used a website called Omegle to talk to ten random strangers and see what sort of conversations she had.

Her ratio of good conversations to shitty ones was 2:8. I was interested to see if this ratio is common, so I repeated the same experiment to compare results. However, I did 15 chats because I wanted a bigger pool to choose from, to have more accurate results. Also, I had a lot of time on my hands. I didn't post good conversations, since that isn't entertaining. Out of fifteen conversations, I ended up with eight good chats (a boring guy from Iran, a nice guy named Johan, a friendly girl named Jenny, an enthusiastic girl gamer who had just gone shopping, a sad person of indeterminate gender who doesn't like people, and talks to their pet bird ("at least the bird likes me."), a sixteen year old who I reassured about being a late bloomer, a 28-year-old from Indonesia named Ifran who had just made a friend in Brazil, and the most ADORABLE little 14-year-old boy from the UK who gave me relationship advice) and seven bad chats. The 'bad' ones follow.

ONE
Connecting to server...
You're now chatting with a random stranger. Say hi!
You: Hullo!
Stranger: ello
Stranger: are you an idiot?
You: Um, I don't think so.
You: Why, are you?
Stranger: what are your thoughts on transcending the boundaries of our space and time?
You: I think that any transcending of boundaries, especially those presented by such solid obstacles as space and time, should be done with great care and much forethought.
Stranger: do more drugs
Your conversational partner has disconnected.

TWO
Connecting to server...
Looking for someone you can chat with. Hang on.
You're now chatting with a random stranger. Say hi!
Stranger: Hi. I'm a 19 year old male who looks for a female to have cybersex with! ;)
You have disconnected.

THREE
Connecting to server...
You're now chatting with a random stranger. Say hi!
You: Hello!
Stranger: hey
Stranger: from?
You: USA. Yourself?
Stranger: denmark
You: Cool, cool.
Stranger: m or f?
You: Female.
Stranger: age?
You: 19.
Stranger: 20
Stranger: do u have msn?
You have disconnected.

FOUR
Connecting to server...
You're now chatting with a random stranger. Say hi!
Stranger: hi 16 f scotland
You: Greetings!
Stranger: haha
You: 16? Do your parents know you're chatting with strangers?
Stranger: its just chatting
Stranger: and im 16 its not as if im 10
You: I guess. If you were my daughter, I'd probably be worried.
Stranger: why
You: Because sixteen is awfully young. You're very impressionable.
You: There are some really awful people on this site.
Stranger: i no but a can disconnect
You: I guess so, yeah.
Stranger: ok
You: What's your favorite chat you've ever had on Omegle?
Stranger: emm dont realy have one
You: Have you enjoyed any of them?
Stranger: emmm i honestly don tknow
You: If you don't enjoy the chats, why do you still chat?
Stranger: there all the same like - hows you where you from etc
Stranger: stop all teh questions
Your conversational partner has disconnected.

(Shame, I thought that one was really going somewhere.)

FIVE
Connecting to server...
Looking for someone you can chat with. Hang on.
You're now chatting with a random stranger. Say hi!
Stranger: hi
You: How!
You: What's up?
Your conversational partner has disconnected.

SIX
Connecting to server...
Looking for someone you can chat with. Hang on.
You're now chatting with a random stranger. Say hi!
Stranger: Hi
You: Greetings!
Stranger: Hey........I am Ricky from australia....you?
You: I'm Ginny, from the USA. C:
Stranger: nice name
You: Thank you!
Stranger: So can we be friends?
You: Um, sure, I guess!
Stranger: Are you student?
You: Yes, I am. What about you?
Stranger: same here
Stranger: are u on facebok?
You: Yup.
Stranger: can I add u?
You: Nope!
Stranger: ok
You: Fbook is for my real life friends, sorry.
Stranger: Just wanted to see ur pic
Stranger: :)
You: Ohh, sneaky!
Stranger: ?
You: You could've asked for a picture, you know.
Stranger: ok I ask
You: And I decline.
Stranger: fuck off
Your conversational partner has disconnected.

SEVEN
Connecting to server...
You're now chatting with a random stranger. Say hi!
Stranger: Any crossdresser with cam?
You have disconnected.

EIGHT
Connecting to server...
Looking for someone you can chat with. Hang on.
You're now chatting with a random stranger. Say hi!
You: Greetings, Mortal.
Stranger: sweden
Stranger: haha
Your conversational partner has disconnected.

I am intrigued by the fact that the majority of my chats were good, compared to others' results, which tended towards the majority of results being negative. I think that in order for this experiment to really have solid results, MANY more chats needs to be undertaken. Also, there need to be constants, such as how one greets the other, how one reacts, etc. We also need to define what makes a 'good' conversation versus a 'bad' one. For instance, some might argue that my conversation with the 16-year-old from Scotland wasn't a 'bad' conversation at all - only a short one.

In any case, I'm intrigued not only with the results, but with this site. The concept is incredible. Expect much more to do with Omegle in this blog in the future!

L-O-V-E

I've decided recently that people have too big a fear of the word 'love' now. No, this isn't going to be a cliche blog about people who can't say 'I Love You' - that's been talked to death. What I mean is, people used to be infatuated with someone and say that they were 'in love'. Now, saying you're 'in love' seems to be equated with saying that you love someone. Ridiculous.

While watching Disney movies, I had a revelation on the matter.

To be in love is to be infatuated, to adore, to want madly, to think about nothing but. It isn't a commitment, it isn't something to be afraid of. Why can't people say "I'm in love" anymore without being labeled melodramatic and overzealous? Being in love is easy, even if loving is hard. I want humanity to be able to say that they are 'in love' and mean it.

This post is shorter than I imagined it being. Just wanted to say that. : P

Suits

First things first - I have heard the Mysterious Singingz a few times since my last blog, but unfortunately haven't gotten any closer to solving the mystery. Meanwhile, I shall tell you a story about a guy on campus who Jen and I had dubbed 'suit guy.'

We are so creative.

The reasoning behind that moniker is that he always wears suits. Well, almost always. Most days he's wearing a suit - he has a million - and then once or twice I've seen him in jeans and a T-shirt, and it's always weird when that happens. He has long curly hair in a ponytail and is just all around quite a character.

Well, today when Jen and Shan and I were at breakfast, we were discussing what the reasoning could be behind his suit-wearing tendencies. Jen and I were trying to convince Shan what the merit would be to just asking him. Our reasoning was that it pretty much had to be an exciting answer, like "Suits were on sale and this is all I own," or "God told me to wear suits to prepare for judgment day" or "I go to a funeral or a wedding every single day." We couldn't think of a single boring reason to wear a suit every day.

Finally, I convinced Jen to go and ask him - he was in the dining hall, sitting alone, and Jen is the type who will just go up and sit down and say "So, why do you wear suits all the time?" Here is a transcription of the conversation as Jen described it to us afterwards:

Jen: Hello! I see you around a lot and you're always wearing a suit. I was just wondering why you always wear suits?
Him: When you look this good in a suit, why wear anything else?
Jen: Alright!
Him: I'm Jared.
Jen: I'm Jen!
*a handshaking commences*

See? We knew it would be an interesting response! And what a great answer that was, honestly. I'm still not quite sure it's the real reason he wears suits all the time, but I really liked his answer!

What a character, indeed.