I got a chance to actually meet an online friend in real life when I went on vacation to San Francisco. I‘d left a note in my live Journal telling everyone where I’d be going. When I went online at the hotel, I found a comment from my friend Kim telling me that she lived nearby in Palo Alto, and asking if I wanted to get together.
　　After checking with my parents, I rushed back to the computer to let her know that I cloud meet her on my way back too Los Angeles. We exchanged cell phone numbers and set up a meeting place and time. After hanging up, though, I began to get nervous. I had known her for a few months, but meeting someone in person is a lot different than chatting over the internet, and I was worried it wouldn’t turn out well.
　　We both brought people with us for safety reasons—I brought my parents and she brought a friend—and met in front of a bookstore. I got there a few minutes early, and instructed my parents to please try not to embarrass me. I didn’t see her at first, but after a few minutes, we both recognized each other.
　　Even though I’d never met her before, I felt like I knew her from all the times we’d talked online. We talked about graphic design, the classes we were taking, clubs we were in and college, which we were both stressed out about since California schools are so competitive and it’s becoming harder to get accepted into good universities. My parents seemed to have a good time too—my dad got into some incredibly involved science conversation with Kim’s friend Derrick.
　　The meeting lasted less than an hour, since I had to get home. At the end, we hurried outside to take photos with each other, them said goodbye. Even though the meeting was short, it was a lot of fun, and we made plans to get together again if I came up north or she visited near Los Angeles. Now, we talk online several times a week. Before we had only a few conversations a month.
　　Meeting Kim helped my parents and I get more used to the idea of online and offline life intersecting. I’m glad to have found friends whom I never would have discovered otherwise.
　　參考譯文:
　　在去舊金山度假的途中，我得以有機(jī)會(huì)在現(xiàn)實(shí)生活中與每一位網(wǎng)友見面。我在網(wǎng)絡(luò)日記里告訴大家我要去哪。在旅館上網(wǎng)的時(shí)候看到了我的朋友金的留言，她說她住在附近的Palo Alto，問我想不想聚聚。
　　在征得父母同意之后，我跑回電腦旁邊告訴她我可以在回洛杉磯的時(shí)候見她。我們交換了手機(jī)號碼，并且約好了見面的地點(diǎn)和時(shí)間。然而在下線之后我開始緊張了。我認(rèn)識她幾個(gè)月了，但是見面和在網(wǎng)上聊天是很不一樣的，我擔(dān)心見面之后會(huì)感覺不好。
　　由于安全問題，我們都自帶了人過去——我?guī)е改福龓е粋€(gè)朋友，我們在書店門口見的面。我早到了幾分鐘，我對爸爸媽媽說不要讓我難堪。開始我沒看見她，但是過了一會(huì)兒我們都認(rèn)出對方了。
　　雖然我們從末見過面，但是我感覺從我們開始在網(wǎng)上聊天起我就認(rèn)識她了。我們聊了圖畫設(shè)計(jì)，各自的班級，參加的俱樂部以及大學(xué)，在談到大學(xué)的時(shí)候我們都說壓力很大，因?yàn)榧永Ｄ醽喌膶W(xué)校競爭激烈，申請好大學(xué)越來越困難了。我爸爸媽媽看上去也很愉快——爸爸正跟金的朋友德瑞克聊科學(xué)聊得起勁。
　　我們見面的時(shí)間不到一個(gè)小時(shí)，因?yàn)槲乙丶伊恕Ｔ谧詈螅覀冏ゾo時(shí)間跑出去照了個(gè)合影，然后就說再見了。雖然這次見面時(shí)間很短，但是卻很開心，我們說好如果我來北部或者她去洛杉磯附近的話再見面。現(xiàn)在，我們一周在網(wǎng)上聊幾次，而以前，我們一個(gè)月才聊幾次。
　　與金的見面使我和我父母對網(wǎng)上世界和現(xiàn)實(shí)世界的交合更加習(xí)慣了。我很高興通過這種方式結(jié)識新朋友，如果沒有網(wǎng)絡(luò)，也許我們永遠(yuǎn)都不可能認(rèn)識。