So, in the spirit of my post about how good letters are, I decided recently that I need to do a better job keeping in touch with my friends who now live all over the country (and world, even) and who I used to be close to but have pretty much not talked to for quite a while. This time I went the email route, since I wasn't sure where some of them even lived anymore.
I made a list of about 25 people who I need to get in touch with--or at least make an effort at doing so--and started emailing them last week. Well, ok, so I only emailed 2 last week, and then I got distracted and stopped for a week, which is maybe why I have fallen out of touch with so many people. I do tend to get distracted easi--oh look, a butterfly.
Anyway, today I got back into it and emailed five people, and guess what? Three of them emailed me back pretty much immediately. Now, I don't want to look all stalker-y, so I'm trying to now determine email etiquette. This is like calling a girl after you get her number (see Swingers). Do I wait a couple days to email back? Do I email back right away and let them know I'm excited to hear from them?
I figure it's a case by case basis. I figure I can gauge a little from the email how excited they are to actually get in touch (though as I tell my students, sometimes it's hard to read emotion into emails correctly). One of my friends, for example, I just found out now lives in DC, which is only 3 hours away from here. One of my friends is getting a master's degree across the country but I found out we both feel that academia is just a little too self-congratulatory to be involved in. It's good times.
In all honesty, I probably go through this phase once or twice a year because I'm so bad at consistently keeping in touch with people. But hey, a little is better than nothing, so more power to me. All right, that's enough for today. G'night.
No comments:
Post a Comment