Point Zero

The time really seems to be flying now. I've been able to get a fair amount done, but still so much remains.

I suppose at this point, if you're following this blog at all, you're probably curious as to why I'm about to make this transition. The photo at left provides a clue. Some might say it is the end of a great story. I'd like to think it is just the beginning.

Three years ago I was living on the near southside of Chicago. I had a nice two-bedroom apartment all to myself just off Taylor Street in the heart of Little Italy. When I first got the apartment the plan was to one day set up shop as an independent video editor. A nice place close to downtown, in a great neighborhood... who wouldn't want to bring their clients there for work?

At that time I had a Mac G4. Even then it was nearly obsolete. I decided it was time to upgrade it. I couldn't afford something new but I thought maybe I could get it running a bit faster. Doing so might allow me to take on a few more side jobs. My goal was to spend Saturday backing up certain files and deleting whatever else wasn't necessary. Then I could spend Sunday loading all the new hardware and software.

I scoured that computer. I was feeling pretty confident that everything was taken care of when I stumbled upon something I hadn't seen in years. It was the old AOL messenger/chat program. I couldn't even remember the last time I used it. I don't know what possessed me to open it but I did. I stumbled around a bit before I found myself in a Chicago chat room. From the looks of it, no one uses those things anymore. The only messages that popped up appeared to be automated responses to check out porn sites or lures for various phishing scams.

Just before quitting that program and shutting down the computer a message came up that had to be from a live person going by the name of Glühwürmchen. She was from Cologne, Germany and was online looking to speak to someone in order to improve her English. I didn't have all that much time to spare before I had to leave for a friend's party. But we had a nice little chat and ended up exchanging email addresses before I left.

The emails were soon flying back and forth and we were spending hours online chatting on another instant messenger. To me this was perfect. Here was someone thousands of miles away, someone I could speak to about anything and not feel self conscious because we'd never meet. Days turned into weeks, weeks turned into months and soon we knew everything about each other. It wasn't all that long before we were talking on the phone. We'd spend hours, sometimes whole days on the phone baring our souls.

Inevitably, the thought of meeting in person began to creep into my head. It all still seemed so unlikely but it became something I really wanted to do. I think we both began to have real feelings for each other although we didn't want to admit to it. At one point she was set up on a blind date. She sounded apprehensive about it but I wished her well. Privately I hoped it didn't go well.*

It had been years since I had taken a big vacation. The last time I did anything on my own was three years before when I backpacked across France and England to visit friends. I started to formulate a plan. I told her that I was considering going to Paris in the spring of 2007 to visit a friend. I suggested that if she wanted, she should come to Paris for the weekend with a friend and maybe we could meet up for a day. Looking back, it seems foolish that I was so worried about what she thought of my offer. Especially when she countered that she would like to come to Paris on her own. For the entire week.

We met online in early April of 2006. In January of 2007 we made the decision to meet in Paris. Soon we had our tickets booked for the 4th of April. Just one logistical problem remained: how the hell do you meet someone in the middle of such a large city? Especially when you've only seen them in a handful of photos. We knew what we looked like. But it isn't enough to just say, "let's meet under the Eiffel Tower" at 2pm. Landmarks are landmarks for a reason: in general they are huge. And more often than not, they are crawling with tourists.

What we needed was a distinct spot. No, make that a speck. Something that is small and singular yet can't be missed if you are looking for it. And that's when I remembered it: Point Zero. For those who haven't been to Paris yet, Point Zero (also known as Kilometre Zero) is a small marker placed in the square just outside of Notre Dame cathedral. All distances in France are measured from Point Zero. It is easy to miss with the giant front of Notre Dame looming in front of you. But it is there if you look hard enough.

Now, it would be really easy for me to just end this post by saying that we met at Point Zero and lived happily ever after. But it didn't start out quite so perfect. In fact it started out as awkward as you might imagine. It took a little help from the King himself before it became the best week of my life....

more on that in a future post.


*In the interest of fairness, when I told her this she confessed that she also hoped the blind date wouldn't work out for the same reasons.