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Chat anonymously or log in?

   When I was a kid, my parents told me not to talk to strangers but as time went by, my belief of it changed. In the beginning, all of us started as strangers; relationship started as strangers and friendship started as strangers. If we don’t talk to strangers, will we have anyone at all? Then I thought to myself, instead of the warning “don’t talk to strangers”, shouldn’t it might as well be “be cautious of strangers”?

   It’s weird that someone like me whose social life is long dead is saying those kinds of things but then again, I made a point, didn’t I? My friends and I started from being strangers. Jiyoung and I instantly clicked because of something we were in common with. Suji and I used to just pass by each other in the hallways but met because of an incident. Even if my social life isn’t active at all, I experienced meeting and talking to strangers at one point and it bloomed into an amazing relationship.

   I clicked on the “chat anonymously” to try out this “chat with strangers” site and a chat box opened. In the middle of it was a blinking “waiting for a stranger to chat with” and it disappeared when I heard a ding. I think I was already connected.

stranger: hi

you: hi!

stranger: asl

   It was the first time I’ve ever encountered this word that it made my fingers on the keyboard stop.

you: what is asl?

stranger disconnected.

   . . . What on earth? I just asked what asl was and the stranger disconnected? So much for the first try. I clicked on the “try again” button and the blinking “waiting for a stranger to chat with” appeared again.

   My first day at chatemall.com went by with a blur. For one day, I met different kinds of strangers:

   1. The ASL stranger: A stranger who asks your age, , and location right after being connected, without even so much of a “hi”. (Yes, I decided to just use Mr. Google instead of being disconnected after asking what asl means.)

   2. The SPAM stranger: It makes me wonder if it really is the same stranger over and over again but by spam, I meant someone who just copy-pasted whatever it is they want to say and practically greets everyone with that once they got connected. For example: “If you want a house and lot for sale, contact me at [email protected]!” Really?

   3. The erted stranger: Do I have to elaborate on this? Heol.

   4. The whatever-ist stranger: Racist, ist, feminist, masculinist (there’s no such word though), ageist, name it. A stranger who disconnects once s/he finds out that you’re either too young or too old for him/her or because you’re in this race or because you’re looking for someone who has the same gender-preference or something, I don’t know.

   5. The random stranger: A stranger who starts a random conversation where once you started to go with the flow, you’re gonna have . . . a random conversation. But they’re much better strangers to chat with other than the others mentioned above because even though it’s random, at least they keep the conversation going. The downside of it is that once you think you can already make friends with them, they just . . . randomly disconnect. Much thanks.

   6. The add-me stranger: It’s just like the spam stranger but this one practically copy-pastes every account s/he has and says “add me here if you have an account!” then disconnects. Wow.

   7. The disconnect stranger: A stranger who disconnects right away. Period.

   8. The webcam-stranger: A stranger who always asks if you want to video chat or something.

   9. The you-again stranger: The stranger that you just always get connected with because you actually see his/her username again and again but even though they’re on their accounts, they’re still part of the types I’ve mentioned above.

   10. The normal/decent/friendly stranger: leave this blank.

   So far, I haven’t encountered a normal, a decent, or a friendly stranger yet. Like someone who actually, sincerely wants to chat with you just to pass time. I can say I’m in that category because I do try to stimulate on the conversation like maybe, asking how their day was or something until they start to feel comfortable and open up and eventually just . . . boom, become friends.

   But unfortunately, there’s none. How can I if they just suddenly disconnect or they suddenly ask for your “asl”, that’s like . . . Dude, hold on. Keep calm. How about trying to make a conversation first before asking for anything personal?

   I tried logging in too, of course. It didn’t require any e-mail verification, thank heavens. You just have to create a username that is not taken then type in your password, that’s all. The perk of having an account though is that you can actually add those who have chatemall accounts too. They’re not displaying anything personal. It’s just . . . a chat box but at least you can add them.

   I was able to chat with few tolerable strangers and I was able to add them as well but I realized that it’s hard to remember who they are if you didn’t really have a very memorable conversation . . . and when you don’t go online for a good few days. Some would even ask who you are once you saw that they’re online and you chat with them so I just can’t help but to delete them off my list.

   I ended up having no friends on my list anymore.

   Really now, is there something wrong with me? I don’t think I’m socially awkward. I just . . . Maybe, I’m just not the social type but I can at least have decent friends. But why is it that even online, I don’t have a social life? I am crying at this fact. The original username that I wanted to use was couch_potato but it was unfortunately taken so I just typed in princess_ssul because Sulli is my nickname. I’m just thankful that I wasn’t addicted to this site at all.

   I spoke too soon.

   One Saturday afternoon, I got connected to a stranger named bubbletea_prince and he was the reason why I started visiting chatemall.com more often.