I had a nice chat with another old friend from Canada recently. It seems like people really are showing up and talking to me after all this time. I'm still amazed people didn't forget about me after four years, or just stop caring. I guess I never expected to form close connections to people on the Internet. I didn't think I was interesting, or that I made an impression on anyone.
Also thinking about the fact that my political views have shifted to the right. It's very awkward, because I know I probably won't get along with people on here as well as I did before. A lot of jokes or conversations are less funny and more irritating than before. I think it has something to do with the fact that I'm so much older than everyone else. I don't really appreciate the world they grew up in, or the values they were raised with. I was in my 20s when I came here, and I've watched a lot of people grow up here on ZD. Now, I'm nearly 30, and all these kids I used to know are entering their 20s and getting married. It's like watching what happened with my High School friends all over again. They grew up, got married, moved on with their lives... and I got left behind somehow, unsure how to proceed with my own.
I think that when everyone starts retiring, and they're done with that intense period from 20-50 or so, they'll have time to talk again. That's what I'm looking forward to at this point, if you can believe that. It's always the young, the elderly, and the disabled that seem to have the most time to talk to a Hikikomori like me.