The apparition of these faces in the crowd

There's a lot of stuff going on about the cravache/scramasaxx issue... and frankly, I don't know what to think. I think I'm just at a state of being numb from it all and maybe later, a week or so from now... I'll feel something. For now, I'm just very, very confused. I only knew Toni as cravache. I never knew her as the other persona... or that she ever had another persona. So when this whole thing broke... I was in a 'wtf?' mode. Hell... I didn't even know this "new writer Saxx" to be honest.

Someday later I'll figure out what to think. For now... I'm so sorry for all those who got hurt by this. I really am.

On a happier note, I want to answer something that was in faithfullove's LJ... and also pose the question to you.

What exactly is a friend? How are you a friend? Can you be a friend to somebody online? Do you have to have a face to face meeting in order to be a friend? How do you define a friend?

For me, a friend is someone who is there through everything. Do you have to talk every day? Not at all. Friendships don't die if you don't talk to each other every day. One of my best friends is a guy I've known since I was 5. I haven't seen Nick in about 3 years now... but if I turned the corner and saw him, the two of us could spend 5 hours talking and catching up as if no time had passed. THAT is what a friend is.

Can you be a friend to someone online? HELL. YES. My best friends are people I've met through doing things online. Quite frankly, I can't imagine my life without them. When my life goes to hell in a handbasket, the first people I turn to are them. Lis, Jate, Froda, Amanda and Kerry have listened to more rants from me than I can shake a stick at. They hear about when Oltman is an asshole or when things are going great. I talk to other people too... slowly getting to know them or are the ones I've known for a long time. It doesn't matter that I talk to them through an IM window. That doesn't make our friendship any less real than my going to dinner every Monday night with Alex.

Do you have to meet face to face? Again... no. Will I meet up with some of you someday? I hope to. If I don't... does it make any difference in our friendship? Not at all. If I never get down south to meet Faithy... will she hate me? Of course not. Because that's not what friendship is about. Friendship is about sharing common interests and enjoying each other's company. You can do that just as easily online as in person. And hell, for "doing something together" Froda and Amanda and I have often put the same movie on, hit play and sat in a chat room talking about the movie as if we were in the same room. It's like being there with the others... as close as you can get to it.

Finally, how do I define a friend? A friend is someone who is there through thick and thin... who can make me laugh when I need it or be the shoulder I can cry on if I need it. They're the ones who know me for ME and don't care about my little imperfections.

And I just want to say... I love you all. I really do.

That's what "friend" means to me. Go ahead and comment about what it all means to you. Let's try to get some happy back to LJ land.