Amber

28 December 1997

I think I have probably lived in a greater than average number of places during my short life, and have met a greater than average number of people. Since college graduation I've had a very strong feeling that I'll be walking down the sidewalk of whatever town I'm living in, and will run into someone I've known from somewhere. I even have dreams that it happens, and the people in my dreams are usually people I've long since lost touch with and, in some cases, never were really good friends with in the first place.

So the question, then, is how does one actually find people once one no longer lives in the same town/goes to the same school/works in the same place as them? My mode of choice is the internet since I seem to spend so much time here.

The easiest way to get in touch with college friends would be through the alumni office at your school. My college has a list of alumni email addresses available, which adds people after they fill out a little form.

If you know the name of the person and want to be really intrusive, you can try Switchboard, which will even give you a map to their house. Note: Amber does not condone stalking. Then you just have to call the 100 or so Bob Smith's you find and see if any of them remember you. Yahoo has a People Search feature that lets you add keywords for searching by past high school, interests, what-have-you.

Of course, you stand a greater chance of finding someone if they're as geekly as you are. Sometimes, though, you need to resort to the old fashioned method of bugging their parents. I did it, you can do it too. Good luck.

Giving up? Go to My Pages.

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