An old high school classmate found me about a month ago through one of those services we've all logged into but hardly ever use. Seeing as I joined only out of sheer curiousity, I was more than a little suprised to be found. (I'm also a little disturbed that a search on my real name would turn up what I thought was a pretty damn anonymous profile). Also, this guy and I didn't get along all that well most of the time we went to school. He bullied me a little, I antogonized him. Naturally we ended up making out before I left the school. Still, I never assumed I left much of an impression - we did last see/speak to each other when we were about 16, after all. I'll share the brief exchange of message for context (edited to protect secret identities, of course):

Him: did you go to (insert high school name here)?
Me: Yes. Briefly. Are you the (insert his full name here) I'm thinking of?
Him: the one & only.
Me: Wow. You couldn't say I saw that coming. It's been at least 12 years, right? What have you been up to in that lifetime?
Him: 12 years....Jesus, I think i lived three different lifetimes within that timeframe. How about you? What's the word? You are the only person from that place I tried to look for.
Me: Ditto on the lifetimes. As for what happened, I came out (I know - shocking, right?), tooled around with college before dropping out finally, and mostly have just been working ever since. I've never looked up anyone, actually. And if anyone else was looking, you're the only person who found me! Good to hear form you. Anyhow, my email's (insert my real email here) if you wanna drop a line that way instead. We can catch up about what's happened since those lifetimes past.
Him: all right sounds good. I aint a really big fan of these things but I will email you & may we can get together & laugh at old times.....talk to you soon.

Although it looks like an IM, the exchange took a week, by the way. Another ten days passed without any word. And then I got this:

Me: Hey what's up? I lost the piece of paper w/your email, besides I dont have regular access to a computer, can I have your phone..?

So he's not computer savvy enough to have saved the messages like I did. No biggie. I gave my digits and he said he'd call sometime in the week. So this past Sunday morning I awoke to see that I missed a call and am amused to find some random booty call voicemail on my phone. Some poor sap wanted to get some and got my cell phone while I was sleeping instead. Reception was fuzzy so I couldn't make it all out. I replayed the message, only to find I was the intended target:

"Hey what's up, J.? This is (insert real name again). Just wanted to see if you're up and around, if you're, uh, being naughty... Anyhow, my message is 'great minds think alike' and my phone number - for the night - is (insert temporary phone number here). Bye."

Get together and laugh at old times? Not exactly. Sure, I got a laugh, and he referenced a 14 year old (literally - that's how old we were at the time) inside joke. But I was really looking to meet for dinner and talk about the the last 12 years. Stupid me. To answer your questions - no, I didn't get any further calls (yet!) and I didn't return the call. How exactly does one only have a phone number for the evening? I don't wanna know - but I'll keep you posted if any new messages come my way.

The lesson is: don't trust the Internets, kids. Even if you know the person.

Naughtily nice (and more than a little skeptical),

-J.

eta: See comments to find out what committee sponsored this post. I can't take credit...