Hi! welcome to Lush! glad to meet you! *hugs*
hi Chris! don't worry, we won't judge you by the friends you keep *giggles*
umm... his link doesn't work... he didn't delete already, did he? poor guy...
pitter patter of kitty paws up and down the hallway
i do chat rooms on occasion, sort of in spells, lately i've been hanging out again. i say hi to everyone - a lot of the 'old timers' do. and answer all posts directed at me - that said, if someone piques my interest, with what they say, i'll keep the conversation going, newcomer or not. if they don't, i get bored and will spend time with people who do, or with people i know and consider friends. simple as that - it's like a party, you walk in and sometimes it's a good fit and sometimes it's not - sometimes you are the new guy and it's hard to fit it - if you keep going back, tho, people start recognizing you and you become one of the regulars - it DOES take time - sometimes i'll go into a room with people i don't know and i'll have trouble catching people's attention, even tho i've been a member for a long time - it happens. just keep at it, and one day, you'll just click...
that said, here's how i got started in chat - i found a member made room, there were 4 or 5 others in it - i started talking a little - with so few people it was easy to start a conversation and not get lost in the crowd - that's my advice - find a room with just a few members and join in.
i've seen it happen and it's natural and it even works out sometimes... that said, i did once, and was burned VERY badly, enough so that i'm super gun shy about it these days, and tend to be very defensive at times, even with just casual friendships, and trusting anyone 100% is very difficult for me, even when i want to.
sometimes it works out... most of you who know me know how much i love my girl - we've been friends since i was a teen, been thru relationships with others, and i've always been a little ( a lot) in love with her, and she's known it - one night , it just sort of became more - she was in a place where she wanted more, i guess, and i was very vulnerable that might - we spend the night together (not uncommon - we'd been 'fuck buddies' in and out for years) and then, she spent the weekend, we talked, we took a chance... it worked. it was scary - we've broken up a few times, but we've always broken up as friends - we've agreed that we'd rather lose each other as lovers (as painful as it would be) than see our friendship dissolve and so, we take each day at a time, remain friends, lovers, partners, wives (hopefully legally so after November's ballots), and we make it work - sometimes we are more friends then lovers - sometimes we just sort of hang out together, and that's ok too - we're comfortable like that. it works. it CAN work. and then, i've seen it NOT work and end in fiery disaster - you never know unless you try, but trying is a huge risk, and one it took me years before i was brave enough to take...
telling someone i'm not allowed to whisper is my escape clause for when someone is whispering me and i don't particularly wish to communicate that way - with friends, it's ok, there's usually a reason to whisper, like we're talking about something that isn't for sharing in public, but with strangers, it's usually a prelude to cyber, which i am NOT interested in.