On Friday I met up with Elsbeth and Derk, from Amsterdam, who are in Tokyo visiting for 10 days. They first contacted me a few months ago after having discovered my site. They share the same interest in design (Elsbeth works as a graphic designer), and as I discovered on Friday night, in music also. We met up in Aoyama after I was done work, and I brought them to Frey (from where I moblogged) and then Low. I was planning on bringing them to Office, but since they had already been there, I figured it would be more interesting for them to check out some new places. I also thank them again for the wonderful CD they brought me as a gift, an album from Holland’s own Arling & Cameron.

Meeting people like this reminded me (and we talked about it) of how interesting it is when people who read your site and then meet up with you seem to already know so much about you. My website, Nej, is like my avatar on the Net, and it’s what people are basing their opinions of me from. I do think that what I put online is a rather correct image of me, of my likes and dislikes (although I don’t tend to dwell on my dislikes much), and what I’m about and what I’m into. People from half a world away probably know more about me than the people I work with on a weekly basis. Am I putting too much of me out there? For now, I don’t think so, but time will tell. The next question, which gets deeper, is why am I putting myself out like this? I do tend to see my site as a report of the things that I think people should be made aware of, as well as a place where I can express my design sensibilities (with the look of the site, the TB.Grafico photolog, and GEISHA). Is there an exhibitionist streak in me? I’ve never felt that way, but…