Creative Work Hour Episode 50: The crew shares favorite memories of meeting online friends in person—nervous first meetings, funny moments, and lifelong connections.
 

Greg
Hello, and welcome back to another episode of the Creative Work Hour podcast. Today is episode 50. I can hardly believe it. Where has the time gone? I say that every week, but seriously, episode 50. That's absolutely awesome. Today is May the 3rd, 2025. And in the room today, we have myself, Greg, we have Bobby B, we have Alessandra, we have Melanie, Devon, Hilary, we have Ingrid, and Shadows Pub. And today's question, many of us have met one another in person in this group, and some of us maybe not, but today's question fits right into that.

Greg
What is your favorite memory of meeting an online friend in person? And I'll go ahead with this one. I met Devin and Alessandra, I think it was a year, maybe two years ago now. And I remember it was kind of out of character for me. They said they were coming through visiting someone. I think they were going to see shadows and it may have been Hillary's wedding. Yeah, Hillary's wedding and they were going to travel and see shadows. And they said, you know, we can swing by Columbus. I'm like, oh, that's great. Oh, shit. And I had like a million and one feelings.

Greg
Oh, this is really cool. I get to meet them. I get to see what they like. Oh, this is terrible. They get to see me. They get to see where I live. They get to see what I'm like. I'm excited. I'm sick. I'm nauseous. I have a headache. Can I change my mind? Will I back out? My granddad's budgie's uncle's cousin died and I can't do it because there's all the different emotions and stuff, right? And it went really well. And it was absolutely fantastic. But that feeling, right? And it can be a favorite memory or just a memorable memory of meeting someone in person for the first time that you'd met online.

Greg
So that's kind of my start to that. Alessandra, I don't know how it was for you, but certainly I don't know if you relate to many of that.

Alessandra
Oh my god. Oh my god. Like I just you know, each and every time I think it's going to get easier. It's going to be less of a big deal. But I remember, I remember this was like, this was summer before last and I was at Rochester Institute of Technology. I was there for like, a week studying color and I was in the color lab. And when that was all done, I took the train back to New York. And the idea was to meet up and meet Dr.

Alessandra
Melanie. As long as I was on the train, I was okay. I had my little, what do they call it? A roomette on Amtrak. And it's just like a crappy little closet. But I had a blankie and I had a pillow and it was like, I'm gonna go see Dr. Melanie. I'm so much better at this now. I can meet people I've never met before in real life. And this is, it's gonna... That'd be great. I'm going to have fun until I got to the train station and shit got real. And it was time for me to get in the cab and go to the East Village and meet her in person.

Alessandra
And I'm like, what am I doing? Oh my god, I could fake my death right now. And it did, of course, turn out to be okay. And, you know, as we record these podcasts, we sit in a room together that's called Zoom, so that we actually get to see each other crack up or get embarrassed or have that look like, I can't believe you just said that. But we only use the audio, of course, for the podcast recording. So what I can say to my friends that are here as fellow podcasters with me is that room right there where we see Dr.

Alessandra
Melanie. When I came in as nervous as I was, I hung my coat right there on that coat rack that we see when we work with her every day in creative work hour. And I took out my clarinet and she had me play something for her. And I'm like, Oh, this is going to be awful because I'm already so nervous. Now I'm going to try to play in front of her too. And it actually ended up the nerves and changing the state from freaking the hell out about meeting an online friend in person.

Alessandra
And it turned out to be the most lovely short visit. But it was the first slumber party that I had with any of us here in creative work hour. And I will never forget that I was playing with her cat Jasper on her big, big bed. And Jasper looked up at me and he took that big gray paw of his and he knocked those glasses right off my face. And the irony of that all was that they were my cat eye glasses. That's my favorite memory.

Greg
Oh, Sandra, I don't mean to out you, but I know it wasn't Dr. Melanie, but wasn't there a famous incident involving the backseat of an Uber and a brown bag when you met somebody?

Alessandra
Yes, I did. And I'm sure that that story will come out at another time when Andy is here, because I would hate to steal his thunder, right? Oh, my God. Yeah, that's a good one.

Greg
Terrible. How about you? Your favorite memory of meeting an online friend in person?

Devin
Yeah, so I would have to say it was when I got to meet Ken Rice. And for those who don't know him, he's an OG of Creative Work Hour and is our resident shaman. And he goes off on a spirit quest from time to time and then comes back. But we were going to Seattle and got the chance to meet up with him. And so we found our parking space at the coffee shop. We finally see him, and you never know when you meet someone. Oftentimes they're taller or shorter, very different than you perceive them to be.

Devin
But Ken was exactly Ken, and I don't know how I knew how tall he was going to be. what his outfit was going to be, but he was exactly what I expected. So there was no transition. And, you know, the kid is famous for just saying what he thinks and saying what he feels, whatever's going on. So he walks in, he goes, hi. My wife asked me where I was going, because I was leaving. I said, well, I'm going to meet, you know, Alessandro and Devin from Creative Work Hour. She said, you shouldn't be meeting people that you only know online in person.

Devin
I said, well, I'm going anyway. And by the way, didn't our daughter meet her husband online? But that's another story. So that was, and then it pretty much stayed in that vein. The whole meeting was just having a great quirky conversation with Ken and then going to a museum. So that was fun.

Greg
Thanks, Devin. Ingrid, how about yourself? And I know that you're getting to meet a couple of people in person tomorrow, but what's your favorite memory or what's a memory or an apprehension or a feeling of meeting a person you've met online in person?

Ingrid
I would like to talk about meeting the parents of the partner of my daughter on the occasion of the graduation of both of them. It was just really for me very emotional because they're going to get married now and knowing that we will be or they will be part of our family and we will be part of their family. So we know that the children want us to get along well and also they want to be proud of their parents and just want to make sure that we all will be good friends in the coming years so we were a bit nervous because we don't want to embarrass our children and also we were really looking forward to get to know new family members and it turned out to be a very emotional day and a fun day and yes we just really enjoyed being together get to know each other more And also knowing that we will be there for our children and support them.

Ingrid
But we also will become good friends. And so that was for us a milestone in our lives.

Greg
Thank you, Ingrid. That's a great story. How about you, Shadow? Your favorite memory of meeting an online friend in person?

Shadows Pub
I haven't met many online people, but when I do, I generally find that there's no real gap between the conversation online and off. That awkwardness of first meeting is usually gone. I think the first time I met anybody was actually a group of people. I was on a Anglican mailing list. Now that's all text, so we have no idea what people sound like. We have no idea what people look like. We met to go to church first, and then we went out to a restaurant afterwards for lunch. And you'd have thought that we'd been used to meeting each other for years, so it was kind of nice to see that gone.

Greg
Thank you, Shadows. Bobby B., how about yourself? Your favorite memory of meeting an online friend in person?

Bobby. B
You're muted, Bobby. Hey, thanks, Greg. First off, I had no idea how many people I've met and I was just making up a list. I've met seven people. in person from this community. I mean, that is just crazy amazing. And some of it's been when they're in town and some of it's when I've been traveling. And so, gosh, each of those has been such a great time and a great joy. I will point out the first time I met Alessandra, was in England and she was there chatting with someone else and I did the men in black stance behind her, just stood there with shades on until she finally looked up.

Bobby. B
and wondered who this thug is and why is he even standing there like that. So every one of these gatherings, I mean, it's been, yes, in England, Michael went on a hike with me up in the Hollywood Hills, Farah, met me at this completely out-of-the-way barbecue place in Central California that all the locals gather into and Wei Ling was in a Turkish coffee house and Gray and Jennifer together as they happened to be in town and Ken and I sitting in downtown Disney just chatting away Thank you, Bobby. Melanie, how about you? Your favorite memory of meeting an online friend in person?

Dr Melonie
Well, I really haven't. This is kind of, except for many years ago, a couple of online date things. I never did it before, but this community has been a little different. So I behaved as I always behave. And when Alessandra was coming to New York, I said, well, do you have a place to stay? And she said, well, not really. But she was so bloody anxious when she walked in. Finally, she relaxed. But boy, she was so anxious, I got anxious. I'm used to doing this. I'm like, okay, I made a lifelong friend because at the new school, she didn't have a shower.

Dr Melonie
She told me she didn't have a shower. And I'm like, how are you surviving? Come over and have a shower. So this is kind of how I grew up and how I am. So then Alessandra went with me to my favorite restaurant, and there's actually a picture of the two of us up in the restaurant. And then later I met Devin. Meeting Devin was just like meeting Devin. You know, like it's just like there was, it was just like, oh, hi, look, in real life. You know, there wasn't, It was nicer, but there wasn't a ton, there wasn't that awkwardness.

Dr Melonie
So that's, you know, but otherwise I really haven't met. I mean, I guess I'm not online with other people. Anyway, that was really a great time. I really enjoyed it. And we had, we got out our clarinets and she looked at my clarinet from when I was nine and I looked at her super duper clarinet and, uh, That was it. Now, then we met, we met. I haven't seen anybody else yet from Creative Work Hour, I don't think. No.

Greg
Thank you, Dr. Melanie. Hilary, how about you? Your favorite memory of meeting an online friend in person?

Hillary
Thank you, Greg. I have met people, you know, various times through various groups. I love that opportunity when it happens. I think it is an interesting kind of energy that you don't get through other methods because you already have some sort of connection, but an in-person connection is definitely a different feel. So when Like, you know, with this group, one of the first people I met in person was Kara. And because we're in the same area we were in, I was building, building the second brain together. And again, you're making comments. Hi, from Indianapolis. Hi, from Ohio hi from Canada hi from New Zealand you know wherever and I'm pretty I'd like to put you know where I am when I do that and I think they I think Kara messaged me and was like hey you know whereabouts turns out where we were close and I was going to invite her to this event because I'd already been coming to Creative Workout And I believe that within the time frame of us just that initial chit chat.

Hillary
Hey, you're in the same spot. She found this group and showed up at the next meeting because I think this was way before we were daily. And it was one of those like, hey, I was just going to invite you to this and she you know, showed up and was, you know, here on her own accord. But there have been times where yeah, we've gotten together for coffee and things like that, developed a connection for her to officiate at my wedding, which I had creative work hour members attend, you know, who just happened to be passing by at that time.

Hillary
And that was super fun to do that. And have the people who support me here to support me in real life. Because I get so much support here for whatever it is I'm going through. And it just translate it seamlessly to real world scenario. And it was really appreciated because I really enjoy this space, people, and the opportunity to exchange the energy of give and take whatever it is we socially need.

Greg
Thank you, Hillary. That's great. Yeah, I mean, I think it couldn't happen anywhere. I say it couldn't happen anywhere else. But it's unlikely to happen anywhere else other than in creative work hour. You know, people are just so real. And we've got such a wide array of people from different demographics and walks of life, and we all just kind of get along like a house on fire. There's no pretense associated with this. So some great conversation. Alessandra, did you have any thoughts?

Alessandra
Oh, I was just going to say, now, some of the meetups that we've done have been like, oh, we're between point A and point E. Maybe we could figure out some route to meet other people. Hillary's wedding was absolutely not one of those. I was speaking in Milan at an architectural conference. And as soon as I got off the stage, it was go, go, go, go, go to the airport to get to New York City. And we made the flight that we needed to, that we needed to, we landed at the right time that we needed to land to make the connection to get to Indianapolis for Hillary's wedding.

Alessandra
Unfortunately, the British Airlines flight had also taken on some particular cargo. And They had to, we had to wait. We could not deplane. The plane had to be completely unloaded of all cargo before the passengers could be removed. So even though our flight was landing on time, our flight to Hillary's wedding left without us. And we had to like sleep at the airport and get some God awful all because I didn't have the bath that I needed to shave my legs. So I'm like, I'll get the pantyhose and put them on in the car and stuck my thumb straight through these pantyhose.

Alessandra
So I'm showing up at her wedding. We're late, sweaty. I have a hole in my pantyhose. I've got hairy legs. And I'm like, oh, there's the bride. And we see Kara. And she's like, They're late. Get in there. Take your seat. They're about to start. And you just you can't make that stuff up. That is real. So it was very deliberate getting to meet Hillary for the first time in real life. Devon, I see you. Can I pass it, Greg?

Devin
Yeah, I just had to add another favorite memory is when you go to meet Shadow's pup, you also get to meet one of her cats, not both. You get to meet Hobo. You got to earn a meeting with Tramp, which we haven't done yet. But you get to meet Hobo, and you learn that Hobo loves to play with cream tabs that, you know, Shadows uses that come from her cream cartons. And that's like one of Hobo's favorite toys. So we met Hobo, talked to Hobo, watched Hobo play with her cream tabs, and talked to Shadows, and it was a fun time.

Devin
And then we leave, and we drive, and we fly, and we get back home, and Alessandra looks in her handbag and sees something odd and pulls it out. And when she says, look at this, it's a cream tab. Hobo had dropped a cream tab into her purse. We never saw her do it. And so we had a little souvenir of our meetup with Shadows Pub.

Greg
Nice. That's awesome. That's great.

Hillary
Hey, does having a dream about Creative Work Hour count? Because I did have a Creative Work Hour dream, and I met Shadows in my dream. Oh my god.

Dr Melonie
And it was

Hillary
the thing because like his, you know, when they used to have, you know, more, it was a person image you had up. And so I remember sitting next to you in the dream, and trying not to look at you because I wasn't supposed to know what you look like. But there we were sitting next to each other. And

Shadows Pub
I'm trying not

Hillary
to

Shadows Pub
like, you

Hillary
know, make eye contact. But it was you from, you know, the image of one of your posts.

Greg
What is your favourite memory of meeting someone for the first time? that you were friends online and you meet in person. What was that like for you? Let us know. You can visit us on creativeworkhour.com. But it's that time again. Yes, you've wasted some perfectly good time listening to the Creative Work Hour podcast when you could have been doing something else. But come back next week. We'll be here. And if there is a question you'd like the team to discuss, let us know that too. Take care.