Andygirl Appreciation Thread

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Now we all love andygirl, who is a great presence on these boards. But I’d like to pause here for a minute to thank her for doing something that meant a lot to me.

Several months ago, I was an emotional wreck. The triple-threat combo of leaving home, coming out of the closet, and looking for IRL support that didn’t come (ironically, considering my best friend refers to this school as “The Land of Homosexuality”) took its toll on me. I rarely left my room, had frequent and horrible attacks of depression, contemplated suicide, and spent most of my time crouched in front of my computer reading the SDMB. I think my emotional state at the time can be summed up pretty well in this self-portrait. (When I drew it, I thought it was funny and cute - but if you look close, you can see what a rough time I was having.)

One day, a thread called “Non-heterosexual women of the SDMB: A Poll” popped up in IMHO. I can’t seem to find it in a search, but believe me when I say my reply was a cry for help. The next time I checked my e-mail, I had a letter from someone with a dartmouth.edu address.

Andy mentioned that it sounded like I didn’t know many gay people and perhaps needed someone to talk/complain to. This was exactly what I needed. We kept e-mailing and occasionally IMing each other, exchanging stories and complaints.

This little bit of correspondence is priceless. After my old e-mail account went kaput, I forwarded all Andy’s e-mails to a folder named “Important Stuff” in my new account. I finally got to talk to someone who had had similar problems in my situation, and was willing to tell me the bad news as well as the good.

(Also, an aside to andygirl - thank you for not falling back on “Well, you’ll have a girlfriend of your own someday” like the few other people who tried to help me did. That does much more harm than good, imho.)

So, in short, I’m no longer depressed and worried over my sexual orientation, and I again feel like I can take whatever life throws at me. It’s been a long hard road, and while it’s by no means over, I’m at least able to get up and walk. Most of the credit for helping me goes to Andy - it’s because of her influence that I’m not still crouched in my room and massively depressed.

Andy, I am eternally grateful, and I am never going to forget this. I could say “thank you,” but that doesn’t even scratch the surface of what I want to convey. If I were a wandering samurai and andygirl were a feudal lord, I would walk up her, jam my sword in the ground, kneel down and swear to be her retainer, Ghost Dog-style. (For the 3 or 4 people who actually saw that movie.)

[inside joke]
And the rainbows are on their way. I estimate they show up in September, when I hopefully move to Da Big City and live in close proximity to eep! gay bookstores and theatres and whatnot. (“Theatres?” you say? I’M A HILLBILLY!!!)
[/inside joke]

[sub]fixed coding[/sub]

2

She does have a way of doing that, doesn’t she?

For those who still don’t know, I’ve known Andygirl a LONG time. I’ve known Andygirl since before I was in university. I knew Andygirl before I lost my virginity. And that is a long time indeed.

She was a member of the YOUTH lists for queer youth, of which she is now a moderator. (Orivation!!) She made fast friends with me when I signed up to it as a closeted, angsty 15-year-old, and was a great support to me during all the time I spent on that list and ever afterward. We lost touch during a brief time before she wandered into the boards and we found each other again.

She finally came up to visit the other February, which was fabulous - the first time during four years of close friendship that we’d actually met in person. (I love the Internet.)

Andy, you’re intensely fabulous. I love you.

3

andygirl is the coolest!

I don’t have any great stories for you about how she helped me to get over a large hurdle in life, only that she’s sweet, funny, bright, gentle and an allaround kickass chick.

4

Two words.

She rocks.

5

Andygirl was one of the first dopers I met IRL when we had a dopefest up here in VT. I hadn’t ever met her before, but volunteered my house for her to crash at. As this was the first time I’d ever met anyone in person from the internet, I was of course concerned that when I was asleep she would slit my throat or some other behavior so common to people who use the internet. Fortunately, I survived and actually enjoyed myself.

I don’t have any wonderful stories, but she did take me to a Nields concert which was awesome, and is just a great person. Yay to one of my favorite dopers!

6

I had the pleasure of being Andygirl’s tourguide in Amsterdam a few weeks ago. She does indeed rock!

7

Andygirl was my Secret Santa and sent me a book entitled “So You Want to Be a Lesbian” - apparently she’s trying to convert me. :wink: I loves me some Andygirl.

8

Don’t know Andygirl but now I sure wish I did. I just wanted to say Daowajan I love the self portrait. It’s extremely cool.

Glad you’re coming out of your slump and that you have good friends in your life.

9

Yay for andygirl!

While I do not have a personal relationship with andygirl, I’ve long been a great fan of her and her posts…and this is despite her Whorfian-weasel attempts to avoid armwrestling with me.

10

Hershey’s = Calvinists.

And you know exactly what I mean, dear :slight_smile:

11

Daowajan, thanks for your story! Andygirl has more heart than, well, darn near anyone. And sometimes her posts make me laugh like a drain. I’ve oft repeated her advice, to someone who was having a bad day, to “watch porn until <your> eyes bleed.”

As for me, I have no RL connection to andygirl, but I do apparently have a shrine in her bedroom. And not many guys can say that I reckon. :stuck_out_tongue:

12

Andygirl does indeed rock. I have also had e-mail conversations with her that have been very helpful.

andy, you’re making people happy all the time.

13

So I am sitting here drinking tea and getting misty eyed.

I really should be packing to go back to school. I hope you all are happy. :wink:

Dao- you would’ve made it out alone, but I’m glad I could throw you a line.

chique- Peanut brittle.

Matt, Lauren- another fest this spring. then? I want to be mocked for my Lyonnaise/American French accent, and one can never see too many dancing labias.

Nate- same to you. And if I crash at your place again I’ll dump a glass of water on you to make you feel better.

Coldie, Twisty, Annie- the pleasure was all mine. All mine, I say- you can’t have any of it.

porc- But didn’t it make you just a little bit curious? At all? Hmph.

Lamia- I will beat you down with my sociolinguistics textbook. Do not cross me.

Duke, velvet- thank ya. :slight_smile:

14

andygirl is a hero around my house because she sent Jr. Ranger II postcards the whole time she was in Europe, making him very happy and his class impressed.

On top of that, she’s just cool.

15

Like others, I’ve never actually interacted with andygirl. However, I’ve been reading what she writes, and I must say I’m impressed with her. The stories here sound like what I expected her to be like. So hello, andygirl, hope to make your acquaintance someday.

16

Anytime! I think the place we were at is closed now, but I’m sure we can find alternate arrangements! And interestingly enough, Grumpy’s (the bar we were at) is now the place my group of friends hang out. We know the bartenders and everything.

17

Hah! I’ll send you to sleep furiously with the invisible green ideas, Ivy League Girl.

18

You know it, girlfriend!

19

Another andyfan checking in.

I’ve had the pleasure of meeting andygirl three times now and she’s as great a person in real life as she is online. The only personal anecdote I can offer is that when we were holding the first Burlington dopefest, I was anticipating the usual difficulties in getting together with a group of people I had never seen before. But I figured this time I had a plan; I had met andygirl in NYC a few months earlier and knew what she looked like. So all I had to do was look for a group of people with her in it.

I got to the restaurant early so I wouldn’t miss her going in and staked out an observation post. But after about a half an hour my plan was looking ragged. I finally worked up the nerve to approach this stranger who had also been hanging around the restaurant for a while and ask him if he was there to meet people. Being as this person was Wonko the answer was yes. After we entered and got a table, I commented on how difficult it was to initially spot fellow dopers at these meetings. Wonko agreed and told me that he had figured this one would be easier than usual. His reason was that he knew andygirl and figured if he kept an eye out for her, he’d know which was the right group of people.

Andygirl herself arrived a half hour later. She had no difficulty finding us. Which was only to be expected as she also knows what she looks like and that’s the key to finding a dopefest.