The Internet Ramblings of the QiRanger

Steve and Michael

One of the more interesting things about the concept of “social media and networking” is the notion that you can meet someone on-line, converse with them, and develop a real friendship without ever meeting that person face-to-face. While I have never taken advantage of many of the aspects of MySpace or FaceBook, I have been been quite involved with the YouTube community for a number of years.

My taste in videos ranges quite broadly, but I have “met” some really interesting people through that medium. When I attended the San Francisco YouTube Gathering in 2008 and finally met OhCurt, NutCheese, Reynaldo, Zipster, Sign345, Pipistrello, etc. it wasn’t like I was meeting them for the first time, but rather catching up with old friends. This was because we had conversed so many times over the previous months and we were just continuing those conversations. The odd thing was that we were now doing that face-to-face.

When I first arrived in Korea, I quickly started looking for other YouTubers here. It wasn’t long before I found Michael Arnold. He’s an artist (actor/producer, etc.) that had been living in Korea for a number of years and would take us around on his day shooting what ever interested him. It was great to see Korea through the eyes of another foreigner. Over the past year, we’ve had the opportunity to converse through YouTube, but never go the chance to meet in person.

That issue was corrected last night, as I was finally able to attend Michael’s “going away” party. While he is slated to depart Korea in a couple of weeks, I know he’ll return. But when we first met, each of us had the same feeling. Because we’ve shared our experiences in Korea online and have had the opportunity to chat, there was a sense of familiarity and it was like we had already met.

After meeting Michael, I truly appreciated the time he took to make his videos even more. Throughout the evening, he took pictures and video and I can’t wait to see the result of that endeavor.