After starting a beautiful morning here, in Pensacola, by running around the outside of Cordova Mall, I took in the made-to-order breakfast afforded to me at Hilton Garden Inn as a Hilton Honors Diamond member. After feeding my belly, I sat down and got to the business of today’s entry in Triumphs & Tribulations XVI. In my perusal of old entries on this day, I came across a very interesting one from Triumphs & Tribulations VI. That brings me to this week’s moment in the Flashback Friday series: the MySpace experience.
How I first came across this moment? I first came across MySpace on this very day—in 2006. I was working as part of the Moody Air Force Base Honor Guard and we were on our way back from a funeral detail in Orange Park, Florida. Me and one of my teammates were chatting it up about best methods to meet women in Valdosta and in points not too far away. He mentioned using MySpace. I had never heard of it. When we got back to the base, I looked it up on the computer. It was a social network…like XuQa and BlackPlanet, which I was a member of at the time. He said that it was a good place to meet chicks and I didn’t feel like I had anything to lose. So I joined.
What it meant to me then? True to form, I used MySpace to scout women local to the Valdosta area…and even beyond, as far as Jacksonville and Atlanta. I got a few hits, met a few interesting women, and even went out on a couple of dates. But joining MySpace was also about expanding my social circle at Moody Air Force Base. As small as that military installation was in 2006, I didn’t have the easiest of times fitting in with people outside of my office or my dormitory. MySpace changed that. I became friends with a number of people on-base and off-base through the social network. Add in my friends from back at home in Birmingham and in Spain, I quickly had about 100 friends in less than a month on the social network. As far as meaning back then, it was just to build on my status a little bit. I think the Top 8 distinction was a major player for me. Every woman I met on MySpace, I told them the same thing: my ultimate goal is to be in your Top 8. It was crazy times.
What it means to me now? I stayed with MySpace for a little over 3 years before I jumped on the Facebook and Twitter bandwagon full-time. After I left the United States for Japan in May 2007, I used it mostly for messaging my friends back Stateside…the ones that didn’t have my direct line on Allied Telesys. My last 2 years, I wasn’t as active as I was in Year 1. Living in Japan and actually hanging out with the people local to me played big into that. It should also go without saying that I was still reeling from what happened between me and an ex-girlfriend. I didn’t have any regrets over leaving MySpace. It served its purpose. It brought me plenty of laughs and it was the start of some incredible hurts. I went out with 7 women that I met on MySpace and even met one of my co-best friends there. Like I wrote, it was crazy times.
