You guys are great

[DrSmellThis]

..and every once

in a while a great gal happens by too, but we need more of you

I guess this is sort of a belated Happy

Valentine's Day greeting.

But I just wanted to thank everyone for hanging out and chatting over the years; or

just for being great people to be aqainted with. It's just a cool community, and I hope it's not too vague or

abstract to say so.

It's too easy to take people here for granted, because it just gets lumped into "that

internet thing" sometimes, instead of individual friendships. For anyone who hasn't felt appreciated, I do

apologise.

Any of you that have interacted in positive way, I appreciate. People here have been so kind,

curious, and respectful. But obviously, I really have enjoyed seeing all you long termers like Gegogi, Kip, Bel,

Oscar, Bruce, Whitehall, workingman, Mobes, sweetbrenda, Watcher, MtnJim, Kool, Holmes, sportswriterguy (whose

handle I forget), AKA, idesign, irish, and all you other folks who have been around. I've left out a lot. You all

have given me so much just in terms of another world to play in, making me feel more important than I am; as well as

being supportive in small as well as large ways.

There have been a lot of extremely interesting conversations

about a world of topics.

Thanks also for your patience when I was spouting off about politics for a time

period. Right or wrong, I believed it important for that particular time to help get certain conversations going in

whatever ways, to help raise awareness a tiny bit during a time when a lot of people felt desperate in a maxed out

way. I'm big on the whole state of awareness thing. And I think there was sort of a shift in people's awareness

for the better, just in general around the country. Not a huge shift, but I felt it was tweaked significantly for

the better. Seems to be a bit more common ground. I wanted to feel like I didn't stand in the way of that

happening. But sometimes when you try to be a "part of something bigger", you deemphasize what might be

best/smoothest for relationships on the immediate scale, which is to say sorry if I was rude (or more

embarrassingly, "crusadey") while pressing a point. It has been a good learning experience in communication skills,

and continues to be as I watch idesign Bel, jim and others discuss things so well.

The point here is, I also

appreciate those good people who have disagreed on occasion, especially Bel and Whitehall, or, say, "Mark the gun

picture guy," who seems like a very nice chap even though I know him less well. (BTW, all of you say lot of things I

agree with too, and have very interesting ideas.)

Thanks for being friends. I'll try to remember more names,

when I'm not so sleepy.

And of course thanks everyone for buying the perfume. But that's a slightly different

kind of appreciation.