Every so often, we get together with friends for dinner. We rotate houses and we rotate cooking duties. We play games and drink wine and usually, it's plenty late by the time we're ready to pack it in for the night, so we sleep over more often than not. Then, we wake up and have coffee with a side of slight headache and laughter. All of this is called family night. 
Usually, our game of choice is something by Alan R. Moon, but last time it was something simultaneously unseemly and ... what's the word ... beautiful? We played chatroulette. Let me just go ahead and warn folks if you haven't "played" before: It's weird. It's random. It's sometimes gross. And it's sometimes very, very cool. In chatroulette, you video chat with a random, anonymous person/people for as long or as briefly as you like. 
Last time, amid myriad giggling teens and boring people staring at their screens, we met a woman who sang "Tonight You Belong to Me" and played ukelele to us. We met a very talkative and very charming Canadian. We laughed with them, our brand new micro friends. And then we said goodbye. Forever. It's like speed dating with no stakes and no strings. You see a vast swath of humanity and every once in a while one of them glimmers through, shares something true with you, and flashes off the screen. So yes, I think "simultaneously unseemly and beautiful" might just describe it. 
There's another family night tonight, hosted by a new addition to our crew. The game is Bananagrams and the meal is Spinach Balls. Man, I love people. ***Song of the Moment: Tonight You Belong To Me, as sung by Nancy Sinatra***
Usually, our game of choice is something by Alan R. Moon, but last time it was something simultaneously unseemly and ... what's the word ... beautiful? We played chatroulette. Let me just go ahead and warn folks if you haven't "played" before: It's weird. It's random. It's sometimes gross. And it's sometimes very, very cool. In chatroulette, you video chat with a random, anonymous person/people for as long or as briefly as you like. Last time, amid myriad giggling teens and boring people staring at their screens, we met a woman who sang "Tonight You Belong to Me" and played ukelele to us. We met a very talkative and very charming Canadian. We laughed with them, our brand new micro friends. And then we said goodbye. Forever. It's like speed dating with no stakes and no strings. You see a vast swath of humanity and every once in a while one of them glimmers through, shares something true with you, and flashes off the screen. So yes, I think "simultaneously unseemly and beautiful" might just describe it. There's another family night tonight, hosted by a new addition to our crew. The game is Bananagrams and the meal is Spinach Balls. Man, I love people. ***Song of the Moment: Tonight You Belong To Me, as sung by Nancy Sinatra***