Facebook & The One That Got Away

For those of you who aren't familiar with this voyeuristic time waster, Wikipedia (the free online encyclopedia) defines facebook as a social networking website that more than 70 million people world wide visit on a regular basis. Despite being created in 2004, facebook didn't really become big on our shores until 2008 (or maybe that's just me not down with the times...). I openly admit that I am a facebook junkie. Every morning, after checking my emails & while the coffee is brewing I open my account to check the news feed, see if I have any new messages (though I'm normally fore warned of this in my email account) & update my status account. The status account is pure indulgence where you can let all of your facebook friends know whatever you'd like them to know - that you're tired, fed up with work, got lucky last night...as I said, pure indulgence. Then it's on to the requests, today's being a traveler iq challenge invitation & a visual bookshelf invitation, the latter of which has been there for over a month but I'm too lazy to invest the time necessary to set up. You can play games, buy people, have shots, throw things at each other, you name it.

But I digress.

Attached to facebook is friend finder, an application where you can track down old friends & acquaintances who can then become your friend & view your account, & you, in turn, theirs. This is how I've got back in contact with a lot of my friends from my partying days that I had lost contact with after my travels. One of these & the most recent "friend" I've found is my first true love (who will remain nameless to protect all those involved). Former first true love, who I shall refer to as FTL henceforth, was my first serious relationship & made even more important because of the fact that he broke my heart (or at least I thought he did but it turns out, years later, that I wasn't in love with him at all & was far too young to have any idea what love was, I was just an over dramatic young thing). I was devastated when he broke up with me (or at least I thought I was - you get the idea) & always thought of him as the one that got away. I held a torch for him for several years (now I'm showing my age, who says 'held a torch' these days, eh) but life goes on & you all know how well mine turned out. So imagine my surprise when I found him on facebook. At this point I must add that I didn't search for him, he came up as a mutual friend of another friend & the picture was so small I wasn't even 100% sure it was him. I sent a brief message saying something flippant along the lines of 'hey, how are you, long time no anything' which also automatically sent him a friend request. He immediately confirmed (though didn't reply) allowing me full access to his profile. Imagine my surprise when I found that the man I had once held such a torch for (sorry, couldn't help myself) was now a heavily tattooed, pot bellied, balding fisherman with several piercings. Now I have nothing against all these qualities and/or attributes, nothing at all, but this is a far cry from the mild mannered English man I remembered whose only tatt was of the British bulldog (which in retrospect was possibly a good indication of what was to come).

I am incredibly relieved that FTL & I went our separate ways & although it is nice to be "friends" with him again, I doubt we have much in common (if indeed we ever did). But still, it is fun seeing what he's been up to for all these years...