I read my first Wally post (the gerbil story) only a week or so before he passed away. The impact he had on all of your lives, the sense of community that is so obviously present on this board, and your thoughtful, beautiful tributes to him are what lead me to de-lurk and post here.
I have a question though, I’ve been reading TSD since the mid-80’s, read each of the books as soon as they hit the bookstores, and found this site and its predecessor eons ago (in internet years, that is) if all that is true, yet this is my first post to the SDMB, my question is (in all humility)
Yes you have to be a ‘newbie’. It’s a painless experience and will not last long. Shayna will give you your test, the last time I gave someone a test he got in trouble with the mods.
I can only agree with your analysis, if only because, as a Navy brat, I know that Chiefs are never wrong (My Stepfather’s line was always “I’m a Chief Petty Officer in the United States Navy, Son, I have absoulutely no reason to lie to you”) He claims he thought he was wrong once, but he was mistaken.
As an aside, I’m told that when Mattel came out with Military Barbie years ago, that the Army, Air Force and Marine Barbies were officers, but the Navy Barbie was a chief, because as we all know, Chiefs run the Navy.
I’m not Shayna, but as the offical biggest flirt (female) of this board, and a unoffical board Goddess, I will give some test missions to some of our newer newbies.
** djwalker, ** each and everytime you post to ChiefScott you ** must ** include at least 2 smilies in your post.
** Zumba The Cat ** you don’t get off that easy. Get back here. Your mission if you are male is to lavish attention and praise on me, if you are female, this attention will be given to UncleBeer our co-mod of MPSIMS and offical biggest flirt (male).
** Meadea’s Child ** your mission is to seek out and destroy (verbally) trolls in the pit for the next 3 days.
I think you can handle it.
So glad to have you here!! Always glad to have another enlightend young man join our midst. You’ve intuitively learned the first rule of newbie survival:
Suck up to the chief.
If I may steal your stepfather’s line:
“I’m a Chief Petty Officer in the United States Navy, son, I have absolutely no reason to lie to you.
Do not listen to Ayesha!
You will get in trouble with the mods, oldster will begin to attack you and you could, quite possibly, catch the crabs.”
Why, back in my day, when I was a wet-behind-the-ears, ignorant young whippersnapper, there was no test! They used a branding iron on my fanny! That’s right, a red-hot branding iron! And I was grateful for it, too!
So, is this where I sign up for hazing? (Oops, that’s illegal, isn’t it? Hmm… how about “involuntary readjustment”? That’s got a nice ring to it.) So, I await newbie-hood, as long as you don’t make fun of my glasses. Or my awkwardness with women, or my inability to focus, or… ah, forget it. I’m used to it. Just wake me up when it’s over, OK?
