2/10/2001:

You came back! Yay.

For those of you who missed Wednesday's strip, let me suggest you go back and read it and the blurb. Story picks up again right here.

So I was deliriously happy. I remember that I would find reasons to visit friends in her dorm. I used Rick outrageously for this, although he got a lot of free homework help from me. I was just so excited because I was excited about her and she was excited about me. I felt.

Those first few email back and forths were amazing. Here was a girl willing to put time and energy turning thoughts, parts of her into text so that I could read it. Pure joy. Especially because I'm so text obsessed myself. Anyway, we did the standard books/music discussions but there was always added stuff. Like when I told her about reading Alex Garland's Tesseract and then it went on to a discussion of the books you buy because of their shiny covers and hey, why does Barnes and Noble put some books facing forward so that you gravitate towards them? She linked that to people judging her by her new eyebrow ring. It seems silly now. But I breathed in every last detail. Archived it. Well, I archive all my email. But she got her own folder right away.

K, enough geek stuff. On to the primary sources.

2/2/2000:

I really like writing you too Kip. It is a great end to a night of studying when I can come back here and read your letter. I only wish it didn't have to be restricted to the wee hours of the morning when my brain is too tired to think of anything new and exciting to tell you. Brain implosion is a possibility right now, and I can't tell you it would be unwelcome either. I can't wait for Friday after 5pm. Liberation! Till then, I can only dream.

Sleep well and keep smiling,
Quad Girl

See, the week we started talking, she had 4 midterms. So I'd write to her at night and she'd respond around 3 and then I'd wake up, read it, and float around the rest of the day, thinking of topics to expound on that night. So I was waiting for that weekend to come. I wanted to see her again.

The night came, I called her... and no response.

There was an apologetic email the next day. She hadn't checked messages and had crashed that afternoon and then had gotten trashed so... that was that. For that. So I was a little down. But then, the following week, I had two midterms myself. After I finished, I called her spontaneously in the afternoon and we took a nice walk on the shore. Actually it was terribly frigid. The weather, not the demeanor. Frigid came later for the demeanor.

2/9/2000:

Thanks again for the walk today. Sorry it got cold on such a beautiful day, but I enjoyed it regardless. Now I know I can say sweet dreams because you just wrote me and must still be awake. So sweet dreams and good night.
Talk to you soon,
Quad Girl

Dreams, sleep, smiles. That's how we'd end emails.

Sleep tight, reader (even if it's the middle of the day, take a nap). Sweet dreams and I hope you smiled at the strip. And for those of you lonely readers who'll be alone on V-Day (like this author), then take heart. She ends up taking my heart.

-Kip