Thursday, September 9, 2010

All About KelCandy1

Eric and I just busted out an awesome training run this afternoon. We didn't do the full three miles (I don't know, though we didn't really measure), but we did end our run with a ridiculously tough hill. We thought it would be good prep for our race next weekend since a long hill hits after about 2 miles.


Kids continued to be annoying today. And there was some crying, which is what I get for saying there was no crying. So from now on I make no more comments. Except kids = bad. Maybe that will make them good now? Wishful thinking...?


Let's talk about something way more fun than running or kindergarten kids. AOL and AIM. You know, America Online and AOL Instant Messager. Did Canada have these things...I mean it's still technically North America right? haha.


Let's discuss my history with AOL and AIM. This will surprise a total of no one, since I clearly spend a lot of time on the internet STILL to this day.


It all began in 8th grade when I got the internet at my house, you know dial up style. It was connected to our phone line which worked for about a month until my parents realized they would no longer receive phone calls because their daughter would be online 24/7. Yup, KelCandy1 was in action as often as possible. Somehow I still managed to do my homework and talk on the phone for excessive hours as well, but who knows how middle schoolers do it.


My greatest chat buddies were also my greatest friends (so no, I did not chat with random people online thankfully): Tiffypop9, Cricket113, SusaTort, TurboGrax, and Chockolat to name a few. There was also RLCDuke4, Mbair23. I even had a great friend Matskidive, that I almost never talked to except online because he was in classes for brilliant people and we had different friends. I maintain I did better on my SATs because he constantly used words I did not know the meaning of and he always explained them to me. Contrary to popular belief (AHEM Caroline and Jake), he was NEVER my boyfriend. On the plus side, despite having to convince Caroline and Jake every boy I spoke to was NOT my boyfriend, having siblings 5 and 7 years younger than you was a bonus when it came to AOL, no one to fight with over the computer!


There are several reasons I think AOL and AIM are way better than the phone (which I also had a lot of love for back in those days, as my parents will recall). The first reason is that you never have to worry about interrupting someone online. Clearly you wouldn't be online if you didn't have time to chat, so if you IM someone, you know they are available. The second reason is that you can talk to several people at once. This was particularly useful when it was time to go to college. I could talk to all my lovely high school friends who were anywhere and everywhere, while simultaneously bonding with my new buds (especially LilFlash24- that's Katie!) and even occasionally IMing my roommate Asho930, just for fun. I could even keep in touch with my sister, who's screen name I will not reveal because it reveals our last name (sorry her last name, and mine at work, for now haha) but I swear you used to have one that had to do with Sunapee, didn't you?


When I studied abroad in Australia it was even MORE key because I didn't have to worry about long distance charges OR a time change. My parents even took up IMing then to chat with me. Plus, it's fun to get Australian's doing AIM especially "Holler Ozzy" aka Kirsty.


I also talked to Eric (aka BigDogTE) a lot online back in our early dating days. I wish I could remember exactly who got who's screen name first, but I seem to recall some online stalking involved. Or maybe it was just normal back in those days to be like... so, what's your screen name? lol. Good times.


Sadly, my AIM days are over. I logged on today for the first time in literally years and I didn't even remember half of the screen names on my "Buddy List." Now it's all Gchat, Twitter and Text Messaging (all of which I support of course). But I kinda miss IMs. Remember away messages?


Did you use AOL or AIM? What was your screen name? The more ridiculous, the better!



14 comments:

  1. Haha this totally made me laugh out loud LOL :) I got AOL in 9th grade and spent sooooooo much time IM'ing. The drama!

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  2. i used aim ALL THE TIME. it kind of petered out in college though with facebook and skype and gchat and all that jazz. but man, those were the days! total blast from the past and i LOVE it hahah

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  3. haha i used AIM all the time too. my mom took it up when i went to college. i still sign in every now and then and it is funny because some of my high school friends must be signed in constantly. but i still talk to one friend thru AIM which is why i sign in every now and then!

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  4. I was "dolphingurl_99" and for awhile there my name was 6Unbelievable9. Oh gooodddd.

    I still talk to my mom through MSN but now my name is "Amber Y". Hahaha

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  5. The only IM'ing I did was through the hotmail platform, so I didn't really have a screen name... I would IM with my ex-boyfriend in college and we will occasionally chat on it now when we are both online, but I didn't use it much... I don't think it was as popular when I was in college or something? Not sure!

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  6. I use AIM at work! Then again, I *do* work for AOL and no, my screenname isn't SexyKitty12xo or something crazy like that haha.

    Love that you remember your friends' screennames. It was all so much more innocent back then. Hilarious.

    But yes, AIM is still around and used! haha ;)

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  7. ChiKaPoPgiRl

    and

    402-0004

    that's all I have to say.

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  8. ahahahaha. aim. those were the days. man i loved instant messaging. dialup, parents getting mad for tying up the phone line, awesomeness. i think my first "sn" was zapo14... made after a guy i had a crush on haha. i can't remember my friend's though, you're good!

    KelCandy... oh man, love it. just love it.

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  9. Away messages were SO much better than facebook statuses! I was "simple goddess." I don't even know where that one came from...

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  10. Such a blast from the past! I can still remember the first time I signed into aol from our home, and hearing the dial tone. I was so excited! I used to come home from school and be online for hours. IN fact I Talked to this kid named Jasper from NYC...a lot....and no he wasn't old and stalking me, he WAS a real kid my age!! We were like best online friends, weird. My screen name was GCasagrande. BORING!!! I like yours.

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  11. Well, we had dial up internet forever and IMing didn't mesh so well with that. My parents didn't let me have it anyway, so I guess I missed out.

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  12. Hey, at least KelCandy1 showed some consistency! I remember the epic task of developing a new screen name after my first one BareftKid (Barefoot Kid) kept getting mistaken for the highly depressing "Bereft Kid" and then again after breaking up with the boyfriend who inspired 3+ years of AuroraAOYL. (AOYL was "All our young lives," the beginning of a great Wonder Years quote.) It's still AmanteDiVita (because I'm deep. And Italian. And too lazy to think of a new one.)

    AIM Logs are the best though, especially for documenting the awkward but wonderful beginning of a relationship. I still read the AmanteDiVita-MBair23 dossier all the time!

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  13. I loved AIM...we got our first computer when I was a senior in high school- my sn was Jillyfly81 because it combines my name with butterfly and I love butterflies. People still call me Jillyfly 12 years later!!

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