In the old days, here's how it went. Boy meets girl. Boy has a bit of a thing for girl. Boy and girl tell each other all their best anecdotes and flirt shyly with each other across cafeteria tables and library study booths. Boy makes girl mix tape/CD. Girl listens to mix while lying on dorm room carpet or living room throw rug. Girl swoons quietly and asks boy if he wants to come over later. Boy says yes. Girl convinces herself that she can play it cool, oh yeah, for sure.
These are the new days. Here's how it goes. Girl sends boy message online. Boy responds. Boy and girl tell each other all their best anecdotes and flirt shyly across invisible fibre-optic networks. Boy moves out of province. Girl gets a little bummed out. Boy and girl spend an inordinate amount of time talking online and on the phone, forcing girl to confront her crippling fear of telephone conversations. As it turns out, it's not all that bad. Boy makes girl a playlist and uploads it online. Girl cannot for the life of her figure out how the hell to get playlist link to open. Boy calls girl. Girl and boy spend about ten minutes doing quasi-tech support, come up empty handed, and then talk about their respective prom nights and troublemaking pasts for two and a half hours. Girl goes to work the next morning extremely fatigued.
The next day, boy messages girl and apologizes for keeping her up half the night. Girl demurs. Boy vainly attempts, yet again, to help girl download the damned mix. Boy downloads Dropbox. Girl sifts through a zillion emails trying to locate her Dropbox account information. Girl manages to download playlist but can't upload it to her media player. Boy calls girl before bed and gently suggests she might need to upgrade her operating system. Girl and boy quote the Simpsons to one another for awhile. Boy tells girl he really wishes he'd asked her out before he left Ontario. Girl listens to playlist on an iPad she doesn't entirely know how to use. Girl swoons quietly and then moonily prices out eastbound flights. Girl doesn't even bother trying to play it cool, as it has never gotten her anywhere particularly interesting anyway.
A lot of things change, but the parts that really matter stay pretty much the same.
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