Pleasures of the Internet

The internet is made for gays. How else would I have made my way to Wisconsin or slept in a swanky Chicago hotel? I met a great friend of mine in a gay chatroom too. Not to mention the countless hours of porn or the fantastic online purchase of gay material. The advent of the internet age has done wonders for us.

As a student, there is an additional resource that one can take advantage of -- the mini-phenomenon known as the Facebook. Maybe it's not such a marvellous thing after all, but for the stalker, the lustful, or the romantic, there's plenty of information on the site about the hot dude next to you in lecture or the rippling guy you see at the pool every day.

For me, I have double the pleasure because I can access profiles of guys on two campuses, Cal Berkeley and Purdue. The contrast between guy populations in these two schools becomes even more clearly defined when I compare the guys that turn up when I do comparative searches on the two networks.

I was curious to find out what kind of guys would show up if I did the following search:

Sex: Male
Interested in: Men
School Status: Graduate Student

The search on Berkeley turned up a whopping 42 guys while that on Purdue turned up a measly 2. Given that the male graduate student populations on these two campuses are comparable, the number of gay males who are confident about their sexuality in Berkeley is 20 times that over here.

Now comes the interesting part: a sample of the cuties that popped up onscreen. Here are the guys from Cal. To preserve their anonymity, I haven't put in their full names. I think since I mostly have nice things to say about them, they won't be too hard on me for featuring them here, will they?

"I want a piece of your ass"

Name: D. B. from Massachusetts
Concentration: Chemical Biology
Interests: Working out, going out, blowing out my ears with my ipod, being a student forever, jen lin aka meatball
Clubs and Jobs: Chem 3 GSI, lab rotations
About Me: Check out my Harvard facebook profile where I actually have friends listed! (and a different picture up)

Meatball dude likes working out so that's cool as you and I can see from his good bod. Bein' a student forever? Hmm. Harvard and now Berkeley? Smart.

"You guys look cute together"

Names: B. P. (left) and B. B. from Berkeley (wootwoot) and Illinois
Concentrations: B. P. - public policy
B. B. - law
Interests: B. P. - travel, education, southern africa, blogs, a little movement called teach for america, i like to read, teach the kiddies, and dance, public policy, wine tasting, backpacking anywhere with trees and rocks
B. B. - sports, cooking, driving, working out, drinking, meteorology, politics, news, public policy
Clubs and Jobs: B. P. - maestro
B. B. - Student at Boalt, Teach for America
Favorite Music: B. P. - U2, carbon leaf, death cab, paul simon, REM, rufus, britney and company, kelly clarkson, BNL, Yusuf Islam, george winston for the mornings, skott freedman, alanis, fuel, howie day, indigo girls, mellencamp, miriam makeba, O.A.R., pearl jam, acapella stuff, umanji
Interesting Fact about B.B.: He's a Princeton alum.

What can I say, nauseating couple? You two are right for each other. B. P. -- you are one hell of an interesting guy. I dig all your interests, well, most. Your musical tastes are awesome. And you'd love my blog too. Tell me when you'd like to meet up. B. B. -- jeez, you're a bit too much like me.

"Wassup hottie fratboy"

Name: A. H. from Pennsylvania
Concentration: Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences; Public Policy
Interests: Playing guitar, politics, angsty music, acrylic painting, coffee, doing stupid things, radiation, whoring my life out on livejournal, throwing dinner parties, snowboarding, logic synthesis, alcohol, procrastination, philosophy, camping, racquetball, driving like a maniac, anything new
Favorite Music: Bright eyes, Ataris, The Faint, My Chemical Romance, The Used, Desaparecidos, The Futureheads, Saves the Day, Rilo Kiley, Nirvana, Sugarcult, Weezer, Taking Back Sunday, Jimmy Eat World, The Killers, Coheed and Cambria, Alkaline Trio, The Descendents, various 80s shit
About Me: I'm pretty laid back and easy to get along with. Life is short. Gotta enjoy it. I keep busy with some totally divergent things.
I want to meet anyone with a passion, whatever that may be; after all, it's yours not mine. I like people that are spontaneous and spunky, but I do definitely have a serious side too. Everything is good in moderation I suppose. Anyway say hi.

Well, dude, you've come to the right place. Cal's for guys like you with wacky hobbies. Angsty music? Jesus, you're so funky. Hey, I fucking like crazy stuff too. You strike me as a case in irony though, especially the part you describe yourself in the About Me section. Is it only me, or does it also seem to you that you still can't get a handle on this guy despite his lengthy intro?

Whatever it is, you're one lucky hot dude. Many of us haven't yet accumulated enough karma to be able to enjoy the life you have.

"Everyone wants you as his boyfriend"

Name: I. G. from Ontario, Canada
Concentration: City and Regional Planning
Interests: Traveling, live independent music, photography, canadian news media, economic development policy, questions of identity, baking cookies, crossword puzzles, beach volleyball, queer theory, cow-tipping, updating my friendster profile, new urbanism, transit-oriented development, racquet sports, rousing debates, cheese, making fun of american politics, scrabble, writing, salsa dancing

Hey buddy, you stimulate my mind. You're too sexy.

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On the other hand, when I did the same search on Purdue's Facebook, only one guy caught my attention. But I'm not gonna put a picture of him here.
Name: Ned
Concentration: German Language and Literature; Linguistics
Clubs and Jobs: I love the clubs and am looking for a job
Favorite Music: classical piano, techno, house, circuit, 80's, general alternative etc.
Favorite Books: life of pi, ishmael, all quiet on the western front, alas babylon, memoirs of a geisha, anything on any language
Favorite Quote: Watch your thoughts, they become words. Watch your words, they become actions. Watch your actions, they become character. Watch your character, it becomes your destiny. ~ Frank Outlaw

I dig you, Ned. I really do.