Talking is so five years ago

Last night, Marci and I had an argument. Well, Marci would call it an argument, I would call it "me saying something that upset her, and then us having a long conversation about it". At first, Marci wouldn't speak to me about it. But we were both in the same room on the wireless network, so I MSN'ed her. We had the whole conversation over the internet, even though we were a metre apart.

For some reason, it was easier to talk online than it was to have the conversation vocally. Perhaps it was because you have time to collect your thoughts before responding, and there's not so much interrupting going on (usually from me). And perhaps it's because we're both getting so used to talking via text now it comes more naturally. But I also found it easier to say what I really meant rather than trying to soften everything as well. I was able to be more honest. Essentially, it seems I'm a different person online as I am in the room.

So we had this long conversation over a wireless link that pointlessly routed everything we said to some distant server and back, eventually ran out of new things to say, and went to bed happily without another word about it. What a strange world we now live in. I suppose many people would say it's a tragic turn of events, but I think the alternative would have been not to say anything, or as much, and we would probably have been less reconciled at the end than we were. So I think it's a good thing. Probably.