There are truly so many people who I admire and respect. Who entertain me. Who leave me shaking my head in disbelief at their wit and cleverness. Who touch my heart and touch my life.
I normally beg off on these threads for fear of inadvertantly leaving someone out but it truly is a wonderful thing to remind someone of how special they are. And there are so many special people here and some of them actually fail to realise just how unique they are.
It’s 2am here and I probably WILL leave a few names out, and if so I apologise in advance for nearly ALL here have affected me in some way. But atm those in my mind include:
The wonderful and compassionate ** Scotticher ** who aches with you when you feel down and does her best to cheer you up. The fact that SHE started this thread should come as no surprise to anyone who knows her. Her and ** purplebear ** (queen of hugs) are the probably the sweetest posters here.
**Democritus ** has always cheered me up. His posts range from insightful observations to whimsical wordplays to clever insults. What’s not to love? I’ve said it before: demo is the Fonz of the SDMB. And he and psycat are such a wonderful couple!!
One of the most tireless workers is also one of the nicest. I’m sure we all appreciate the amount of work that ** Shayna ** puts in and I hope she knows it too. She’s sweet, honest and a good cyber-kisser! (Okay I’m just joking about that last one but a guy can dream can’t he?)
**Coldfire ** who - although I guess we don’t qualify as friends yet - is always ready to help or just to spout crap along with me. Someone whose company I always enjoy.
** Doob ** just for being Doob. And ** Nym ** who underneath the cynical facade is a great girl who is intelligent as well as pretty - a fact a lot of people miss. And hopefully she’ll make a good valentine.
There’s simply so much to mention: The passion of ** Spoofe ** - after all he KNOWS the destroyer would whip the Enterprise - the angst, curiosity and flirting of ** ssskuggi, hypergirl ** and co., the delightful creativity of ** SpiderWoman **, the wonderful insight of ** andygirl ** (not to mention her interest in Buffy and Willow and her relationship with ** quietgirl ** my supposed soulmate), ** Swiddles ** whose posts I am continually entertained by, the anime head of the woogirl ** Rasa ** and the wit of her other half **oldscratch **, the delightfully wicked antics of ** Satan ** (where the heck is he lately actually?) and ** DrainBead ** (another cute couple), Danielinthewolvesden who jumps from forums almost seamlessly, the ** IPU ** who gives us food for thought constantly ;).
Chat addict ** Silverfire ** is always ready with a hug and a smile just as ** tiggeril ** is always ready with a lick. **Fierra ** whose sexual ambiguity revolves more around my perceptions than on her preferences (but she makes a damn fine treasurer - notice our trade surplus?). ** Dry ** whose ability to find a quote in context so quickly is nothing short of amazing, ** Tubadiva ** who does a fantastic job though we often take it for granted, **Nacho4sara **who seems so nice though we’ve so rarely crossed paths, **Hamadryad ** who received the first-ever custom dpr sig and who is befriended by all she meets, ** Anth ** who never chats to me but who consistently posts interesting material, ** Wyldelf ** - a good IRL friend who graciously allowed me to introduce her to the boards and then started plotting a takeover, **all the mods **who work tirelessly feeding their addiction while helping us all , ** seadiver ** such an interesting person I want to meet her IRL one day, ** Silo ** who I simply ignored in his early days as a troll but who has turned from the dark side to become a productive member of the community.
And once again I use the word community. At the risk of repeating myself yet again I see the SDMB as a simply stunning community. We’re not faceless names: we’re each an individual sharing opinions and expressing thoughts about the world around us in an intelligent, sharing and caring manner. We share our lives, our dreams, our very souls here. Anyone who doubts that wasn’t around when Wally passed on.
Thank you all for being a part of such a special thing. You have my respect, admiration and some of you even have pieces of my heart.
Those I’ve mentioned here are the ones who I can think of off the top of my head in the wee hours of the morning. Trust me there’s so many more I’m sure.
The fact I named so many indicates how wonderful you all are.
Or that I really need to get into a clique…
1987: The Princess Bride steals our hearts, Fred Astaire died, Soviet Secretary Gorbachev and U.S. President Reagan sign the INF Treaty reduce their nuclear stockpiles, Aretha Franklin becomes the first woman inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Craig Stadler was disqualified from the Andy Williams Open for kneeling on a towel to make a shot, "Les Miserables" opened on Broadway, A jury in Los Angeles found "Twilight Zone" movie director John Landis and four associates innocent of involuntary manslaughter in the movie-set deaths of actor Vic Morrow and two children, Pat Cash wins Wimbledon, Bob Hawke becomes the first labour PM to serve three consecutive terms (he still holds the beer drinking record at Oxford University too), The Bangles had us Walking like Egyptians
This may have eaten into the trade surplus, but I still think it should cover “trade visits” to Kansas