At the start of 2009, I knew that meeting some of the bloggers on the 20sb network was in my cards. There was this weekend-in-planning called the 20sb Ultimate Meetup, and people like Maxie, Jenn, Ben, AshleyD and Derek (whose [fake] tatted neck is pictured here) were being all superhero event planners. I’d joined 20sb back in May of 2008, but by the end of the year decided I wanted to meet in real life some of these other 20-something folks doing this same thing I was. Are they cool? Nerdy? Any good-looking ones? (Turns out yes, yes, and all of them)
(And Maxie, Ben, and Ashley? I hate that you couldn’t make it, and decided officially that we MUST meet in the NEAR future. Whew, now that that’s settled.)
By the time this actual meet-up rolled around, my life had pretty much unexpectedly and awesomely exploded in terms of meeting other bloggers.
I attended a Minneapolis Tweetup back in the late winter where I met a few of my local faves including Conner, Kaeti and Art. (Well, Art and I had met previously in a parking lot once sorting through some crazy mafia stuff. Or I sold him my Sopranos DVDs, and he happened to pick them up at my office. That other story just sounds cooler).
Also early this year, I met Nicole and found a kindred spirit, fellow wannabe nomad, and adventure-seeker. Within weeks of lovey and crazy and life-planning emails, she booked a flight to Minneapolis. A few weeks after that, we were reunited in Vegas with 26 other AMAZING 20-something bloggers.
And then this past weekend, I went to Chicago to see some of the Vegas girls again and meet other masterminds behind the 20sb network, meetup, and testament to its success.
(It should be noted that while she couldn’t be AT the meetup in Chicago because she’s off doing cool things in Kenya, Lisa is the 21-year old TRUE mastermind, creator, and all-around visionary and genius behind what is now a 7k+ member network of 20-something bloggers. I can’t WAIT to meet her. Lisa, you’re effing amazing.)
After Vegas, I tweeted that meeting other bloggers was my favorite new hobby. Max pointed out how many of his friends were found because this way, and I realized it’s really true.
I have met some fantastically amazing people spanning the continent (and a couple overseas) and this whole 20sb thing has sent my life in a new direction (or at least has sent me to a different city every other weekend…).
I can’t believe that I’ve flown to Vegas and Chicago to do this. I return to Chicago in three weeks to join Nintendo for some fun at the BlogHer ’09 conference. In mid-August I’m going to NYC to finally meet Ashley, a long-time major blog crush of mine.
So yeah. I heart blogging.
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i love you and me and us and blogging. the end.
I am so so excited to finally meet you in august!!! Next year its my goal to meet more bloggers and go to these events.
I sure don’t think any of us knew this would be such a wonderful community, and having met lots of the people you have, and some you haven’t…I look forward to meeting those I haven’t! The days of online communities remaining online are long gone!
Follow your heart. Be true to yourself. Travel. Make friends.Be true to yourself. I love you!
The fact that people our age are not afraid to meet people on the Internet is just amazing. Not only are we making the world smaller, but we're also forming amazing friendships. We're redefining the meeting of friendships.
@dshan – tearing down stereotypes! bringing people together! or something.
@rachel – duh.
@ashley – yeah, you go off and travel the world first. can't wait to see you soon!
@mom – you said "be true to yourself twice." easy on the g&t's
@phampants – I actually just discussed the generational notes about this with some coworkers. I'm glad we're of a mindset to do this and go out and meet people and that I've met people like you.
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