Better than a thousand pictures

So I'm finally starting to stumble across people in the blogsphere. I still don't quite understand how it's done, but that's probably because I keep looking for a shortcut, an aggregator, because that's what technology teaches us to do, right? "Find all my favorite blogs and create bookmarks for them!" I remember the first time I met Mark. He was doing telecomm/wiring/i-don't-know-what work for this internet company I was working for in NY. He came around just when I was sure I was the only person in the office who's body hadn't been snatched. And he told me that I was "bright," which, while not a "Southern adjective" (ha), was something I really needed to hear right then, since I felt like everybody in my office seemed to think I was quite dim. Yesterday, I had deja vu about this, at my bank— There's this kid there who knows so much about music. And he's working as a controller in a brokerage. I come in and I'm the only person who can say, "hey do you like that new _____ record?" It's maybe just a moment of-- signs of intelligent life in the universe. Which can be such a relief some days.