As we go through life and encounter others, it's interesting how we leave an impression on them.

Some become friends, others lovers, rarely we make enemies, while most often people remain acquaintances. Each person we encounter has their own perceptions of us, regardless of how accurate their thoughts might be. Some may judge us in a positive way, others in a less than complimentary light while others will be indifferent.

I have lived in many different parts of the United States, including Tampa Bay, Florida, southern California, Boston and various areas within Michigan. Each time I've setup a new homestead I've met new people, developed new relationships and left impressions along the way. It's always the same ~ some people I strongly connect with while the vasy majority of the others remain on the periphery. Still, each person comes away with their own perception of who they think I am and that all seems normal.

What is really bizarre is when people have preconceived ideas of who you are, even if they've never met you.

Back in 2004 I became a member of a then recently created online virtual world called "There" (There.com). As virtual worlds go, There was was the best! It was amazingly vast and empowered people in very unique ways. It gave members the ability to do many, many things, including designing custom avatar clothing, 3d objects and vehicles, all of which could be sold for real world profit. It gave physically challenged people the ability to socialize, make deep and lasting friendships, run, play, be goofy, be creative, whatever they felt like. It gave artistic people an endless canvas to create different types of art, and it gave regular every-day people the opportunity to escape and do whatever they pleased.

Well.., two months after I joined this virtual world, I decided to create a website that offered downloads usable within There. You see, the There software was downloaded and installed on your local computer. It gave the end user direct access to almost all of the files used to run the virtual world. What this did was give clever people the ability to hack/modify/patch these files which could then be used within There. The key to this was, whatever you hacked only effected your  There software on your computer ~ it didn't effect other There members software and this made it safe.

Many of the core software components were hacked and/or improved upon and then hackers would share the files with their friends. Some of these hacks became well known and were used by thousands of people all over the planet (There members were from most all countries) while other hacks were more obscure. Some were funny, some stupid, while others were so useful they became mandatory for the majority of "Therians".

At first the website I created only had about 10 - 20 hacked file downloads and not many people knew about it.., but the word began to spread. A few months after I first create my site I decided to register a domain name and make it official and Thumdar.com was born (the site named after my avatar name). The site grew in popularity and people began contacting me and informing me of new hacks/patches that I should host on the site. After about one year the website just exploded and I began getting millions of hits per month. What a blast! When a new person joined There, people they met would tell them, "You have to go to Thumdar.com and download the hair patch and the Bedican compass!" The site was internationally known and loved (although I think some hated it, too).

The craziest part of this experience was when I would log into There and encounter strangers. Inevitably people would look at my avatar name and make the connection to my website. Some would say, "Why did you name your avatar after that website? How lame!" Others would shyly say, "Did you create that site?" I even had encounters in which people acted as if I as famous as someone like Johnny Depp. It was nutz ~ some asking for autographs, some asking if they could take a screen picture with my avatar together with theirs, some even offering me sex. No joke ~ it was a virtual online Twilight Zone for me.

At first I was embarrassed and didn't know how to react. My nature is to be humble and this was no exception. After a few years I adjusted to the attention and sometimes even loathed it. I could relate to famous people saying how they wished they could just go out in public and be a regular person. How bizarre is that?! Of course I knew it was just an online thing and would tell myself to enjoy it while it lasted because inevitably it would one day be gone, which it was in March 2010 when There closed. Thumdar.com remains online and is alive and well.

Here's the thing ~ back in the There days I was just some guy who put together a website that people used, and yet strangers would have their opinion of me before we even met. Whatever ideas of me they may have had was an illusion (as most things are). After all, I'm just a guy who grew up in Michigan making music and hanging out with real friends. Web design is a hobby and a means of making money, but I guess in some circles it defines me.

Even though it was entertaining to have strangers treat me like a celebrity, it does feel better to be judged based on my behavior in face-to-face encounters.

First impressions are genuine no matter how accurate someones perceptions are. Preconceived notions suck.