I consider almost all of the Bay Area Dopers to be real life friends. They really are great people. Demo and Psycat even stopped by my work and said hi a couple weeks ago. (I was very surprised.)
Anyone who was involved in the performance sleeping, danced drunkenly at that ghetto club, or huddled on a freezing beach at SLO is definitely a friend.
I haven’t met very many of them in real life, but I would consider most of the old AOL SMDB Dopers who still participate here or at FFF to be real friends - I have known them for about three years now, how could they not be? Names that leap to mind are OpalCat, Drain Bead, Ranger Jeff/The Man With No Name, Cyndar, StoryTyler, just to name a few. Please don’t get offended if I didn’t mention you, it’s 2:45 am. That was a great message board and a wonderful online community. This one is good too, but it was smaller and very close-knit.
Aw, thanks, TruePisces, I’m proud to be your friend.
I haven’t had the chance to meet many people on the boards, just the ones that went to RenFestDope, DRY and GolfWidow. I count all of them as among my friends, though. I also count many of you that I’ve never met face-to-face as my IRL friends, too, because it doesn’t matter to me that we only communicate via email, SDMB, etc. I have a “friend” in NY that I’ve only ever emailed and chatted with and he has been my friend for, oh, 3 years or so now.
So even though I’ve never met you guys face-to-face, Scotticher, mrblue92 and silent_rob, I definitely consider you as real a friend as some of the ones I’ve met in person.
Goodness. I’ve made some really good friends on the boards. Of course, there are the DC Dopers, most notably Weirddave, who I have spent many hours chatting with at all hours of the day and night.
I also love chatting with Robot Arm because he turns such a lovely phrase and he’s just a great guy.
I’m honored to have been mentioned by andygirl, even though I’ve been waiting in vain lo these many months for her to authorize me on ICQ, but I always welcome an opportunity to get together with her.
And lots of friends both old and new have stepped up to help support me through the difficult time I’ve been having lately: Strainger, BunnyGirl, Miss Creant, Serendipity, vix, UncleBill, silent_rob, thank you all, and if I forgot any others, I sincerely apologize.
I’m not going to name names, because invariably I will forget someone and feel horrible later. You know who you are.
The reason I’m posting, though, is to comment on one of the reasons why I find the people I know through the boards so fun and interesting. Most of my non-board friends are people I met in college or at one of the various places I’ve worked as a software engineer since. Because of this board, I’ve met a much more diverse group of people than I ever would have through my normal social contacts, and I think this is a wonderful thing. I’ve also met a number of people that I “click” with instantly, and that is a rare thing.
The only solid, dyed-in-the-wool, through-thick-and-thin friend I’ve made on the boards is Chef Troy.
There are others who are making inroads in that direction, but none of them are all the way in there yet.
I have high hopes for a couple, hopes for a couple…and am hopeful but very pessimistic about a couple.
Y’all who exchange emails and phone calls with a bunch of people from here every day are like aliens to me. (Not necessarily in a bad way; it’s just utterly outside my range of experience.)
Hmm…where to begin? I have no idea. There’s no way I could name all of them before I have to go to work, although by the time I finish rambling, you’d think I’d’ve had plenty of time to name them all…
But, yeah. Most all the dopers I’ve met I consider friends. And a bunch of the chat people I haven’t gotten to meet yet, too, since they live in the wrong goddamned places (ie, somewhere I can’t drive to and back in a weekend. What the hell is wrong with you people? )
You all rock. And the people I haven’t had any actual conversations with on the board? For the most part, you rock too.
Wow. Where to start? If I were to start naming all of the SDMB friends I have, this would take me most of the day just to type all the names. Hopefully, you all know who you are though.
IRL friends who are also on this board include Vestal Blue, pipefitter, maidenunicorn- all of whom I’ve had the great pleasure of knowing for more than 20+ years; Jim, Zyada, Grace, Cheffie and the other way cool people up in Dallas; The Nerd, Sapphy, and some new friends up in Austin; robgruver, beatle, Ayesha, <still waiting to actually meet LIONsob>, of course Irishman, and all the rest of the wonderful people in Houston; and now Scottie and Max Torque, since I finally got to meet them last weekend. I’m quite sure I’m forgetting some, so please forgive me, it is unintentional. I’m not sure I’m all that awake yet this morning.
I do feel I must mention all of the amazing people I’ve conversed with in emails, particularly the close friends of Falcon. I miss her a great deal, and her laughter and smile and… sniff I hope she finds her true path, and I hope it leads her back to us.
And then there are all of the incredible hunks who have been kind enough to flirt with me. I adore all of you, and where were you all when I was single??? Like my pal Paddy, and email buddy Tygr, and NothingMan and… you know, I just had a thought. So many have flirted with me on the boards, but the only ones who have really flirted with me IRL so far have been Cheffie <who flirts with anyone and everyone> and Jim <who is concentrating on a certain other doper, and rightly so>. Maybe I need to figure out why that is… nope. I’d rather not know; it’s probably something more basic and harder to change than just changing my deodorant or perfume. Okay, now I’m a little depressed.
Well I don’t really know anyone here except for names on posts. Maybe that will change in time… however my hubby lurks around here… maybe he is posting in GD… I get a headache there…
If I have REALLY pissed anyone off drop me a mail… most likely it was unintentional…
All the Houston Dopers who have mentioned me (and the rest who haven’t popped up in this thread) are on my list.
The Austin Dopers as well for taking me in as one of their own.
The guys and girls from the #sd chatroom are also turning into fast friends.
Special mention does go to Mamahen and MsRobyn who were there for me after my grandmother passed away. I cannot say enough good things about these wonderful women who helped me in a very, very difficult time in my life. I would have liked to thank them publiclly before, but just now has the chance come up.
Wow! A thread bumped for little 'ol me! [sub]Anytime, sweetie.[/sub] Whether you realize it, Rob, you’re one of the major reasons I moved to Houston in the first place.
Since this has been bumped, I have to add one more to my list. Airman Doors, USAF and I have become quite close over the past few weeks, and I am really, really, really excited about getting to meet him IRL at Dope-A-Ween in 24 days. (Yes, that’s what the countdown is for.)
I just wanted to let little ol’ Wring-a-ling know that tonight we were hot-footing it out of Barnes & Noble before Cranky Jr could turn into a complete Toddler from Hell. I mean we were booking for the door, nothing short of a chance to punch Osama Bin Laden himself was going to deter me from the straight speedy trajectory to the exit. Or so I thought.
Out of the corner of my eye I spied the coolest celtic stamp rubber set! SCRRRREEEEECH! I think I left skid marks from my sandals putting on the brakes to look at it. I put it on the “maybe list” for the future after drooling a bit, and we went on our way.
Heh, I missed this thread first time around. At the time I would’ve listed the BAD’s, especially Sea Diver, who accompanied me to a few ThumpRadio parties back in San Francisco… sniffle Miss you guys!
Now that I’m back East, there are two particular Dopers who have stuck by me through thick and thin, and conspired together, along with some pretty damn cute cats and the promise of a home cooked meal, to get me outta the house. Nen and Maeglin, you guys rock. [Cue Golden Girls theme music] Thank you for being a friend.
I have met almost no dopers IRL that I didn’t feel a sense of being kindred spirits. This has been so rare in my life heretofore that it still blows me away every time I get with my fellow Dopers.
My beloved: rjk
My favorite Dallas Doper buddies:
Grace, Aglarond, Chef Troy, JimB, Balance, ziatrice, Palmyra
Other good friends that I wish lived here:
beatle, Ayesha, purplebear, techchick, phouka
I’ve met so many great people from SDMB. Right off I have to mention Shayna (you know I love ya), and Cheri as part of my good SDMB friends. Well I can’t even tell you how special these women are to me without sounding like a complete wuss.
I can’t forget my other friends JimB, Zyada, Chef Troy, beatle, Purplebear, MaidenUnicorn, and Balance. I have lots of warm fuzzy feelings for these people.
There’s also the group of people that I always enjoy seeing but we never get together often enough (Ayesha, LionSOB, and Irishman).
Then we have Aglarond, the second of only two SDMB people who have met Mr. Grace. He likes to give me grief, but he also makes me laugh more than anyone I know. He’s a cross between my brother and the dog I never had.
Well, I am thinking that somewhere along the line I must have done something right to deserve the many MANY wonderful friends I have met through this board. Dunno what it was, but whatEVER it was, I bless the day I did it! I can’t even begin to list them.
However, I do have to say thank you to Grace for mentioning me (yes, that’s me, Cheri ) and Shayna. Both of whom have become dearer to me than I can tell you. And to dpr, my most beloved friend.
Oh dear, I feel the need to list everyone else I love, and I don’t want to shut the board down. I love you all, and I hope you know who you are.
[sub]Note to self, never post when half asleep[/sub]
I really intended to mention another Doper who has become a VERY good friend, JimB. He has driven me all over Texas and never complained once. He is a sweetheart, and a darling man, and has the most beautiful blue eyes!
And I left that whole paragraph out when I submitted my previous post. What a maroon!
I don’t know if I’m embarrassed (ehh, that’s not quite right) or what. It’s a strange experience to read through this thread and reconcile what I said about being somewhat reserved (I think that’s what I said) with the number of folks who’ve listed me amongst their friends. Hmmm.
And y’all are friends (I don’t party in my boxers with just anybody ;)). I’m not sure what I meant before.
[sup]-sniff[/sup]
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