a party in Durham, NC

Went to Tracy's birthday party last night in Durham, NC and enjoyed a lot the easy-going party flow.

Felt a bit didn't-know-what-to-do at the beginning cause most of the people in the party were so new-face for me. Also, most of the testers had not arrived and in fact I haven't had time getting to know them well yet. Kai was busy smoking and talking with Tracy outside of the kitchen. Chatting with Erik was nice and that helped getting thru my ice breaking time. (Erik is very keen at obversation when he vividly described the water fall from the huge water tanks in LAB and the appearance of Chinese Thousand Egg in the party. He seems more like a writer to me than a software engineer... getting to admire his talent...)

Get back to the party... is this sort of a culture shock? Taking the time going to the party as an example, in my culture, attending the party on the dot is showing the respect to the host. However, my party experiences in Newcastle, England had me getting used to a different aspect. My German friend Ruth once commented from her observation, "If the invitation lists the starting time at 7pm, then eventually we'd better show up after 8pm in case the host hasn't done the preparation and to avoid the awkward ice breaking period." Ha, this finding helped us enjoy many parties thru our staying there. Interestingly, I kind of still arrived early in the tester group (though at 9pm, an hour later than the listed time. Plus, Kai may not be counted as a guest, I assume.) hehe...

Secondly, parties I used to have are among closed colleagues and good friends. We have more common topics, similiar life experiences to share, no matter happiness or problems. Last night, it was also a new experience. Amazed to find that there were several groups from the hosts' friend nets, including colleagues, neighbors, friend's friends and... friends met via the Internet communities. Eli and Emily were two of them and said that they met each other and Tracy in person the first time last night... wow... I felt surprised but impressed by this kind of first enounter...

The party went on more relaxing for me when getting to know more people and when other testers arriving. Yet, felt left alone when Kai suddenly left the party and dropped the words that he would be back later but didn't before I headed back. Although I usually can manage myself well in social activities (thanks for Mom) and not a too attached person, deep in mind, I find myself need a fimilar person/thing around to feel secured. In that case, Kai was the one since he was the person I knew the best in that party (uhh...did I?)

Ha, loads of self-finding from last night's party... wait... wasn't it supposed to a birthday party? Tracy didn't make her birthday wishes though... ahh... okay, maybe another different view on the birthday party...

Last question, can't help wondering why people are now getting more closed via the text conversations, but lack of the feeling of intimacy or fimilarity when meeting face to face?