There are these two guys.
The first guy is someone I knew a long time ago. I mean, like a quarter of a century ago. During my Star Wars/Lego/GI Joe years, this guy was my best friend. I probably haven’t seen him since 1984.
The other guy is slightly famous. He writes comic books. I don’t know when I first heard of him, but it was at least two or three years ago. I think I may even have read one of his books. I’ve certainly heard of the titles.
I discovered recently that these two people, one of whom I remembered from years ago, the other I was vaguely aware of as a noteworthy figure in the hallowed halls of nerd-dom, are in fact the same person. The comic book writer is known by a different name. Wikipedia supplied a couple other pieces of evidence that makes me certain of the ID.
It’s a weird thing. If I had come across, say, a MySpace page for my old friend, I would have instantly shot him a “Hey! Remember me? What’s up?” message. But now I feel weird about it. I mean, the guy has a freakin’ Wikipedia entry about him. I’ve read reviews of his work on Ain’t It Cool News. I can’t just try and contact him out of the blue now. I’ll look like a dick. Won’t I?
I’m genuinely curious. What, if anything, should I do here?
I would happily sit down with you and give you suggestions on what to say.
I really think you should drop him a line.
Totally. I’ll second the telfer.
I had a similar pal who turned out to be a rather prominent Washington Post reporter. I just called him up at the Post one day. “Hey, Robert! It’s me! How you been doing?”
He’s still the same guy I liked back then, and we got on famously. “Famous” people are (unless they’re buttholes) still just people.
Just contact the guy. If he was a good friend, he’ll remember you fondly. The water that’s gone under the bridge is just that. No big deal.
Thanks, everyone, for your advice. Contact has been made. It went great.
Uh…
I really just wanted to gauge your reaction about the FNL premiere, but for the record — I’m glad the contact went well!! 🙂