Posted on 12/17/2002 7:32:02 AM PST by HairOfTheDog
Come on! Come in! -if you would like to have some seedcakes and a pint and relax a while. (If it is a special occasion, we still have a few bottles of the old wineyards left!)
Our first thread ( New Zealander builds Hobbit hole ) reached 4,100 posts, and we thought that was big. Our second thread (The New Hobbit Hole ) held us for over 48,000 posts, and we loved it dearly. We talked about moving to a new thread for the last 38,000 posts, but we are really slow to muster! Finally, the time has come. Tomorrow (at 12:01 am, to be precise!) The Two Towers comes out, and we start a new chapter.
So do I!
Villian was lame. Picard beat the Borg after all, this guy was child's play.
Also, the writers need to read the blasted paperback books which have already established the 'facts' about the Romulan homeworld(s). It would be nice if the Star Trek franchise would be consistent about its universe.
That's one of the reasons these mini-Moots have been so important. We are slowly bringing each other into our real lives. Thus making us more than bits and bytes on a computer screen to each other.
I figure if Sharon and Abbas can give it a try, so should we. I'll probably live to regret this, but with the current list, what's one more regret? While I do not yet know if I will continue the journey here, there is more I need to say.
I have read the posts since my departure yesterday. Many of you are wisely avoiding the fray. Others are indicating by their comments that all the blame belongs with Carton and Corin. Two words:
I find it both interesting and disturbing that we are admonished to consider the feelings and opinions of others but that ours are summarily dismissed.
BECKY - I spoke to you and of you too harshly. That was unfair. I do not believe it was your intention to cause dissension among the ranks. I think in one sense you were just at the wrong place at the wrong time. Yes, you angered me with your comments about public school parents. My wife and I have busted our backsides to make our public schools a better place. We are fortunate that we live in a very conservative county. There are other locations in Virginia where I am sure we would home school or private school. What you don't know is that there is a history behind my anger, much of which I have shared here before you came. My wife and I spent the last school year 1) trying to make sure our 14-year-old passed the 8th grade and 2) fearing that he was on the verge of "self-medication" or blowing his brains out.
And, while I know your intentions were good, your comments about not trashing others posters and not spamming came across as mother hen-like (see, I worked in a chicken reference). Whether long time dwellers have stated their dislikes for it publicly or not, since I have been here, we have always talked about other posters and we have always spammed for the precious. That's what I found charming about this place. It was precious to me.
HAIR - After I posted yesterday I formed in my head a better way to say what I meant. It is not that I don't care what you or others think or like. It's not that at all. That was my anger speaking. But what bothers me is that I have to keep a score card of acceptable topics and behavior. This place had become my home on FR. That's not what home is about. This was the place where I could come and gripe about what was going on in my life. And, I've said this before, the religion wars and the civil wars and the other "wars" I find myself in are very important to me. No, they're not chickens or horses or whistles, but they're important to me. If my "family" doesn't care about what is important to me, then are they really family?
ROSIE - I'm sorry you think I'm being too sensitive about this. Perhaps I think you're being too sensitive about the spamming and the religion posts. We have not, to my knowledge debated religion here. We HAVE discussed the general tone of the religion wars and a few things in general. Funny, in the religion wars I'm on the opposite side of the Arminian/Calvin debate from Jen and Carton. Yet we manage to respect one another and get along just fine. Most days I don't post over there, and I avoid the Arminian/Calvin threads pretty much at all costs unless pinged there, and even then I will not engage the debate. I went back for the "Morg Wars" because I thought that management was favoring one group over the other. They were, but also the cabal had found a new cause. Funny, the day after the chief Morg was banned, the cabal started after the Catholics. I let it be known, largely out of respect for the Catholic friends I have here, that I would not join them in storming the Vatican. But I think you're on a bit of a high horse when you tell us not to bring the discussions over here. There have been quite a few times when you and 2J have brought over "discussions" or posted links from the whistle forum. No, whistles are not necessarily "controversial" (perhaps they are, I learned this week we may have lost a regular over a whistle post) but they are something of interest to you. I'm sorry the things of interest to me are not "safe" topics.
2J - Quite frankly, somebody needs to take you to task for your post to Carton yesterday. That's what set me off and it still angers me. I have better things to do than spam just to piss you off. It was a bit of harmless fun. Sure it got carried away for a while, but in the last few weeks it's been relatively tame. And, I read your post this morning. When you blew up a few weeks back several of us had to step back and say "where the heck did that come from?" Yes, it was a little bawdy. But it wasn't directed at you. It was directed at g'nad. And if, after 125,000 or so posts you haven't learned that we like to kid around that way, then you're just not paying attention. You're a great Mom. You do great things for your kids and your family. You did an incredibly awesome job with the project for the troops. But you've got a short fuse.
ALL - You see my problem here is that we can't just come in here and hang out with all our faults and bad attitudes and crappy jobs and more. Over the last year, with Jr., with my father-in-law's illness and death and with any multitude of other issues in the Stormhands family life, this place has helped me keep my sanity. I came here and spammed rather than telling my boss to "kiss my @$$." I believe I made the better choice.
But this doesn't seem to be the place where I can do that anymore. I dunno, maybe ecurbh can devise some sort of interactive chart on the Forum that lists what is acceptable discussion and what is not.
You see, for me The Hobbit Hole hasn't been just about sharing my daily life, it's been an escape from my daily life. It's been a coping mechanism. It's been therapy.
This has been a place where I could be outrageous without the threat of losing my job or being locked away in a padded cell. We've talked about this, I think many of us here are more "open" that we'd ever be in real life. I know it's a shock, but physical characteristics aside, I am most un-dwarflike in real life. I picked the new screen name from the name generator when I was fleeing the slaughter I experienced in the religion wars. And yes, it was a slaughter and I received personal email threats (as did Carton).
It saddens me that I am a freeper without a home. But, I've said enough, perhaps too much.
I don't know where I'll go from here.
(nice snaig Ruthy!)
The main reason you don't want it on your hands is that it will transfer to anything you touch. All it takes is forgetting once and rubbing your eyes. OUCH!!!! Eating it isn't the same as having it in your eyes!
Handsome fella!!
So now I need to prepare, and I was already committed to the long weekend having already started.
Of course, Auburn would require a commute of some distance, and because of that, a move to Tacoma...but let's be open-minded here...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.