This Pisses Me Off ...

Look, I have plenty of complaints with the way my government conducts itself in the community of nations, and within its own borders. I get plenty pissed off all the time. But I also get pissed off when someone uses that fucking swastika to express their political disdain.

Recently, the Republicans have been orchestrating these prefabricated protests against the President’s attempts to enact health care reforms, and at many of those protests, people will hold up signs and placards comparing Obama to Hitler, and displaying the swastika. It pisses me off.

During the long, sad reign of George W. Bush, the many protests against his war in Iraq also occasionally featured signs and placards comparing him to Hitler, and displaying the swastika. Although I was also vociferously against that war, they, too, pissed me off.

There’s just something about making that comparison that pisses me off. It’s because it cheapens the idea just how evil, how despicable, how vile the Third Reich was. Using the swastika, making those comparisons … it’s simply ignorant and selfish. It’s cheap. It’s sleazy. It shows a lack of ability to find a way to articulate one’s political dissent in an imaginative or expressive manner. It's resorting to a simplistic, grotesque exaggeration, one which tastelessly compares the vilest act in human history with whatever their complaint happens to be. It’s a sleazy, lazy, cheap shot, and one made at the expense of those that suffered or died at the hands of Adolf and his vile minions.

My anger doesn’t come from any emotional Nationalism I harbor, or anything like that. I do consider myself a patriot. I love my country. But I have no quarrel with those who would justifiably criticize America’s policies. I may argue with critics who I feel are unjustified in certain criticisms if I feel them to be wrong, but they don’t piss me off like those using that goddam swastika do.

That is why when I came across this LeonValentine fellow, and his despicable profile picture, I felt compelled to speak out. It simply pisses me off.

LeonValentine

http://www.wireclub.com/Galleries/ViewImage.aspx?ImageId=1401347

My Kiwi Friends Will Probably Be Amused By This

You Might Think This Is Really Cool ... #03

Antipodes: Who's On The Other Side Of The World From You?

The most likely answer:

Fish.

About a month ago, Lucy (lumu81) posted a blog entitled “Greetings from Christchurch!” about her family holiday in New Zealand.

http://www.wireclub.com/Blogs/lucymu81/88758

At that time, Mousie (Angelmouse, who was going by the name “NoMoreMrsNiceMouse” at that time … that profile was deleted along with the comments on Lucy’s blog) and I each posted comments speculating on whether she, living in England, or I, living in California, lived closer to Christchurch. I was curious, and with the help of a World Atlas, and a website that provided straight-line distances between any two global points, found that she lived considerably further away. I also discovered that England, particularly the London area, happens to be the furthest land mass from Christchurch.

Today, I was watching the local news on TV, and after the news was over, a quiz show came on. The first question asked pertained to what are called “antipodes,” and the fact that the English supposedly use that word to refer to Australians. Antipodes are two global points that are exactly diametrically opposed to each other, two points that are exactly on the other side of the world from each other.

Seeing that little tidbit of trivia on the TV, I remembered Lucy’s blog, and my relentless curiosity took command once more. A quick look at Google led to this website:

http://www.antipodemap.com/

With this website, you can quickly, and with incredible accuracy, find the exact antipode of any point on Earth.

Thinking back about Lucy’s blog, I used Christchurch as the point of reference. I was surprised to find that the antipode of Christchurch wasn’t England at all, but rather, a spot in the North of Spain. Then I remembered that in my comments with Lucy’s blog, I wasn’t looking at antipodes, but rather the straight-line distances between where I live in California, and where Mousie lives in England. But that still didn’t explain why the antipode of Christchurch was so far from England. Then I remembered another fact I’d picked up. Earth isn’t exactly rounded. It’s bigger in diameter at the equator than at the poles.

Okay. I learned a bit more useless trivia. But this sent me to wondering something else. Unsurprisingly, I wondered where my antipode was. Turns out my antipode is a point in the Indian Ocean about a third of the way from South Africa to Western Australia.

My curiosity continued to reign over me. I wondered about my WireClub friends. First, I took a rough look at North America. It appeared that the antipode of any spot in North America was in the ocean Closer examination showed that a few places in the most extreme northern parts of Canada have antipodes in Antarctica. Australia also has antipodes that are in the ocean (although Perth comes very close to Bermuda). Europe has oceanic antipodes everywhere except for a very small portion of Spain and Portugal.

At first I was surprised at this, but then I considered a fairly well known fact of geography: Earth’s surface is approximately 70 % water. Most of it is oceans. Okay. Now it made sense. If most of Earth is water, most antipodes will also be water.

Curiosity refused to release me. The next question was: Which of my WireClub friends have antipodes that are not oceanographic? At first, I figured it would be a tedious process to click up each friend’s profile, and locate the city (if given) on the antipode locator. But then I realized that the vast majority of my friends, living in North America, Europe, or Australia, were already removed from the equation. So I began looking through my friends for the few others. From a list of 110 Friends, I came up with only three who positively have onshore antipodes, and two that might:

maicome, who is from “Somewhere In The Middle” of Malaysia, has an antipode of somewhere in the area of the border between Ecuador and Peru.

Pablitox, from San Luis, Argentina, has an antipode just outside of the small Chinese town of … I kid you not … Wutang. (laughs)

piNkRasTaBuNny, from “Never Land” Hawaii, has an antipode somewhere in Northern Botswana (unless she happens to live in the paradise of Kauai, in which case she might have an antipode in Namibia).

I have three Kiwi friends. Missteree7, is from Kaitaia, at the northern tip. That puts her antipode a little ways off the coast of Morocco, near Tangier. Holly (That Girl) and Babycool both have chosen not to reveal disclose their respective New Zealand cities. If, by chance, they happen to live in the capital of Wellington, their antipode would be the small town of Alaejos, Spain.

Last but not least is Monica (Cornelius Focker), who lists her location as “Dark Side Of The Moon,” China, so who knows where the heck she lives. (laughs) But just for the sake of completeness, China has antipodes in three countries: Argentina, Chile, and Bolivia.

By the way, the website also allows you to determine, with incredible accuracy, the geographical latitude/longitude coordinates of any point on Earth. For example, I was able to determine the coordinates, within a yard/meter or so, of the chair that I sit in as I type these last few words of this blog.

You Might Think This Is Really Cool ... #02

You Might Think This Is Really Cool ... #01

Dear Lina ...

BITE ME (Revisited)

Months ago Barnsie had a running joke of saying “Bite me” in almost any situation. She said it a lot. And there was also a forum at that time, a forum of nothing but silly nonsense. And Barnsie was saying "Bite me" in that forum. Often. So I made a piece of “emot art” that said, “Bite Me.” I placed it in that silly forum. It’s still there, I’m sure, buried many thousands of pages deep in the General Chat section. But some time soon after I made it, I had the sense to make a PrintScreen of it. I then posted that as a blog, back in March.

But it frustrates me when I happen to look at it. It’s just a PrintScreen. It lacks the emot movement of the original.

Somehow, the subject of it came up in conversation with Barnsie a week or so ago, and I thought then, “I need to replace it with the real McCoy, a version with the actual emot motion.”

Behold, WireClub! “BITE ME” as it should be beheld!

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9/11: Eight Years, And Approximately Twelve Hours Later, I Write These Words ...

Posting this September 11, 2009, at about 10:23 PM ...

The night before the incident, I had been lying in bed reading, with the TV on. I was then sharing a house with my father. As it got late, I turned the sound down to a murmur. It was probably about two o’clock in the morning when I fell asleep, the TV still on.

At sometime in the early morning, my eyes came open. I saw the TV. I saw a tall building on fire. I was still essentially asleep, and closed my eyes again. At sometime between 6:59 and 7:28, California time, 9:59 and 10:28 New York time, my eyes came open again, and again, I saw the TV and a tall building on fire. This time, a thought managed to invade my mind. I remembered that some short time before, maybe a week, maybe a month, I don’t know, I’d seen a news story on TV about a high-rise fire in Seoul, South Korea. I figured I was looking at this. It was compelling to look at this high-rise fire in Korea, and the vision of it began to awaken me. “Wow!” I thought. That’s a really big one. I tried to remember how many people, if any, had been killed in this spectacular fire.

As sleep was struggling to keep me, and beginning to fail, the picture changed on the TV. It showed a city skyline. It showed a huge, ugly grey cloud of smoke. It showed a tall building sticking up out of that huge, ugly grey cloud. As my thoughts began to push sleep away, it suddenly dawned on me. I was looking at the very familiar skyline of Manhattan. And then I began to recognize captions on the screen, to go with the pictures.

New York. World Trade Center. Plane Crash. Terrorists.

I probably said something profound, like, “What the f%zw!?!?” I sat up, and turned the sound up on the TV. In short order, I realized, more or less, what was happening.

I jumped out of bed, and ran into my Dad’s room. He was asleep. I shook him, and yelled something or other, “… get up! Something’s happening! Some sort of terrorist attack or something! …” something like that.

I then ran into the living room, and turned on the TV there. My dad stumbled in, still wearing pajamas. I turned the sound up loud, and we sat there and tried to comprehend what was happening. There was a huge, ugly, grey cloud of smoke, and a burning high-rise in the center of it. I then recognized the building, and realized what the words of the newscasters and the captions on the screen were telling us. I still wasn’t thinking coherently enough to have a clear idea of the fact that the South Tower had already fallen. But by this time, we knew that planes had flown into the buildings. And we knew that the Pentagon in Washington D.C. had been hit.

Then, as my father and I watched, the TV suddenly showed the North Tower go down, in this giant, ugly, grey, mushroom shaped cloud-thing. I could hear someone on the television, in the news room, I suppose, cry out. I said loudly, “Jesus Christ!” I noticed my father’s head momentarily jerk around in my direction. He was more proper than I ever was, and my crying out that epithet cut through even what was happening.

I knew a little bit about the World Trade Center. Some of what I knew was erroneous. I knew that the two towers held about fifty-thousand workers. In actuality, the fifty-thousand was the maximum capacity. There were far less than that in the buildings when the planes hit them. But I thought that I had just seen twenty-five-thousand people die before my eyes on my TV screen.

That is the thought that I have when I think about where I was, and what I was doing on 9/11.

My Long-Winded One Year Commemorative Blog (In Seven Parts)

Preface:
August 25, 2011

With the transformation of Wireclub into this new format, I have found many improvements, and many changes that are distinctly NOT improvements. However, one of the improvements is that blogs no longer have the same limitation of the amount of text you can use. When this essay was originally posted, this limitation required me to devote a separate blog entry for each of the five parts, as well as the two sections that were added after the completion of it. I have now condensed the entire essay, plus the added sections, into one single blog.

By doing this, I was faced with the reality that by deleting parts that were no longer needed, I would also be deleting the comments left by readers. Rather than just deleting those comments outright, I have reproduced the them, and added them to the end of the section that they originally were posted to. You may notice a disjointed quality to the comments. This is because some people commented, and then deleted their accounts, automatically taking their comments with them.

One drawback with the change to New Wireclub is that all blogs were "auto-censored" in the changeover. I will endeavor to find, and restore those censored words here. I may wind up missing some.

What follows is the original essay, added sections, and reader comments.


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A Short Introduction

I’ve been anticipating the impending one-year-in-Wireclub milestone. I approximated it at about a week into September, but in attempting to find the exact day, I’ve found that it actually occurred in the latter part of August. Thus, I’ve already passed that mark. I am, the proverbial, One Year Wireclub Man.

So, I wonder, what should I do to commemorate this milestone? Okay. I’ll go with the obvious. A sort of biography of my time as a Wireclub member. If you know me at all, you know that I tend to be long-winded when writing. My motto: “Why use ten words when fifty will do?” This will be no different.



Part One: The Birth and Poorly Behaved Life of thinkin’dude

First, as these things go, one should recap how they found their way into Wireclub. Same as everyone else. I’d heard about chat rooms, and investigated via Google. I decided right from the start that I wanted to refrain from any sites that allowed children. So here I am.

I gave a fair amount of thought as to what name I’d use. I wanted something that would seem sort of clever, smart, and that simply felt right. I came up with the name of “Thinkin’ Dude,” a dude who thinks, who’s capable of thinking, that sort of thing. So I registered, and in the box labeled “Choose a Username,” I typed:

“ThnikinDude.”

That’s right. Mr. Clever SmartyPants misspelled his own fucking name. And I didn’t realize it for a day or so, until someone laughingly pointed out the obvious to me. JEEZUS! I immediately fired off a message to Admin, begging for them to correct the error, and received a fairly prompt reply (hard to believe, I know) stating I’d have to wait for a week, then request the change. So I had to suffer the indignity of being “Thnikindude” for the first week.

Upon correcting that embarrassment, I went with “thinkin’dude.” And that’s who I was for a while. thinkin’dude was quite a different guy than StuckInTheSixties. For one thing, Thinky was essentially anonymous. His image: that generic question mark. His stated age: 107, the maximum allowed when he joined. After a short time, he changed it to 100, a nice round number. That stated age is a sort of defined ambiguity. It says, “I prefer not to state my age.” It implies, “I’m older than you are, probably by a bit.” This chosen ambiguity was, of course, a result of my actual age (fifty five then, fifty six now), far greater than that of the average person in here. Greater enough to be parental age of most, grandparental age of the very youngest. It was, and remains, somewhat of a source of insecurity for me. It’s something I just live with, although these days it’s not much of an ongoing concern.

Thinky didn’t post pictures. (In fact, I didn’t own a digital camera until I’d been in Wireclub for nearly two months.) He didn’t join clubs. (I still don’t.) He didn’t write blogs. He didn’t post in forums.

He didn’t do much of anything, except prowl around chat rooms. You see, Thinky was a big ol’ horndog. A hornytoad. He was horny. He wasn’t nearly as bad as those pervy dudes that some of you ladies like to toy with and then blog PrintScreens or transcripts of the conversations,. He at least had the wherewithal to engage in some conversation first, and some flirtation, before steering things toward what he really wanted: cybersex.

And he found it. Plenty of it. You might be surprised to know that most of the women he found for this activity were actually very nice people. They were like most people, and ranged from stupid to smart, warm to icy, good to bad. Like Thinky, they were lonely. And horny.

And Thinky was absolutely mesmerized by Wireclub, and chat rooms. His attention was laser-like. The TV was off. He might put a CD on, but when it ran out, it would be silent in the room for quite a while. Thinky spent an amazing number of hours in Wireclub chat rooms, waking relatively early, and staying up very late. It was amazing! He would get only two or three hours of sleep, and somehow, wake up energized, immediately awake and alert, and bound out of bed and over to the desk. In fact, Thinky even neglected meals in lieu of prowling the chat rooms. He actually lost almost fifteen pounds during that first month. It seemed like a great side benefit.

Thinky also began to make friends with some decent people. It wasn’t only about sex. He met a few people who are really good, decent, beautiful people. One of those is a lovely Canadian woman who shall, for the moment, remain nameless. She left Wireclub for personal reasons unconnected with Thinky, and only recently returned, much to my surprise and great happiness. (She’s being mentioned here because she was one of the very first friends I made, and we remain close friends. But because she has only recently returned, she’s not a part of the Wireclub circle of friends that readers might associate with me.) There are a couple of other old friends who are essentially former Wireclub members, although their accounts remain open.

One of those first people was the beautiful, wonderful, lovely person you know as barnstorming_girl. I’m going to abbreviate to a huge degree with this part of my little bio here, and say only that Barnsie and Thinky were one of those Wireclub “romances” for a short time. It went bad, and the reason that it went bad is what I will leave out here. I will emphasize in the strongest way, however: Barnsie was absolutely, completely, totally without fault in what happened. It was a complex situation.

Some of you know, to varying degrees, the details of this part of my story. I’m omitting it for the sake of propriety. Also because it’s also a very long and complex story. There’s simply no way to tell this part of my story without having to go into things that are just plain unpleasant, downright ugly, vile. The astounding irony is that Barnsie and I are undoubtedly better off for it. She’s my closest Wireclub friend, and I love her with all of my heart. And I know she loves me equally. Those who know both of us well know how much we care for each other.

A very critical thing occurred in my real-world life around this time, something that became strongly intertwined with my Wireclub life. My father, who was ninety-three years old, and in very poor health, finally died on October 16. It happened exactly at the time that Barnsie and I were undergoing our difficulties, when I was still known as thinkin’dude. In fact, during the entire seven weeks or so that marked the beginning of my time in Wireclub were dominated by my ailing father, doctors, hospitals, rest home personnel, funeral directors, mourners, and so forth.

Thinky’s tomcatting around led to another pretty bad circumstance. He was spending time hanging around every afternoon in a certain chat room with a certain group of several people, one of whom would daily create the room. This room revolved around three people whom he thought of as “The Three Musketeers.” He was in the orbit of this trio, along with a dozen and a half other people. This group of folks would stroll into the room and hang out. It was a very dynamic, interesting, and fun room. Uber-emphasis on fun. There was just something special about it, a personal chemistry, perhaps, that made that room such a fun, and funny, place to be.

One of the three, a woman, began flirting with Thinky. And it led into the realm of cybersex. And immediately after that, this woman suddenly changed, began to converse in ways that revealed a great unhappiness, a depression, in her life. And suddenly, she, and one of the other three, disappeared from Thinky’s “Friends Gallery.” At that time, Wireclub was notorious for having all sorts of technical difficulties, and on at least two occasions, friends disappeared from his list for no apparent reason. He’d bring it up, and the person, a good friend, would express a “WTF!?,” and re-add him. It had happened twice. It appeared to be purely a computer thing.

And so, as he strolled unknowingly into the chat room, Thinky immediately mentioned that two of The Three Musketeers, including the young woman he’d become involved with, had dropped mysteriously dropped off his friends list. The “best friend” informed him, icily, publically, that I’d been deleted.

Again, I’ll skip the details here, for some of the same reasons. It would simply be too unpleasant, and just improper. But this time I won’t be saying that neither of these two were completely “without fault” (for lack of a better expression). I’ll also mention that the third member of that trio retained my friendship, and remains a good friend today. And I’ll soon return to this plot line of my story, because there is another part of it yet to come.

Comments for Part One:

~~ barnestorming_girl: I you
~~ StuckInTheSixties: I you too, Honey Bunny!
~~ lumu81: Thinky wrote 2 blogs i think, both short stories if i remember correctly..........
~~ StuckInTheSixties: Hahahahahahahahaha! Farming machinery to toilet paper! Too much! Mike, thinkin'dude was a dork!
~~ sweetnsassygal77: hmmm...i hope it wasn't barnsie that pointed out you misspelled your name!! not with her typing record lol
~~ StuckInTheSixties: No, this was in the first day or so. Barnsie came into the picture a week or two after that. By the time I met her, my name snafu had been straightened out.
~~ sweetnsassygal77: I sorta' remember the first time you and I spoke...in a chat room some inuendo dirty jokes were flying out of my mouth lol...as rare as that is lol
~~ StuckInTheSixties: *dryly* Yeah .... rare .... right.
~~ Lina: Aw happy late anniversary Stu!
~~ StuckInTheSixties: (smiles) Thank you, Lina!
~~ Geoff: You know, you should seek an agent. You could get some of your stuff published.
~~ StuckInTheSixties: Wow! Thanks, Geoff!
~~ barnestorming_girl: Geoff is right thou darling!
~~ StuckInTheSixties: (smiles) Wait until you get to part five, Heather!
~~ StuckInTheSixties: (laughs) Not to mention Parts Six and Seven ...
~~ Karma: Loved this first installment. I'll pause and go to bed. i prefer my War and Peace-like novels to be spread out, so as to savor the experience.
~~ StuckInTheSixties: (laughs) Yeah, it's too long. That was a given before I typed the first word, and I made good on the threat. But it's no novel. It's a fact-laden expose. I name names. I give all the filthy details of all of my friends. I take no prisoners. I spare no feelings. I expose the sordid underbelly of abject human behavior that permeates life in WireClub. I tell it ALL. I dish the dirt! ... No I don't. (laughs)
~~ Karma: They don't make dishes that large.
~~ StuckInTheSixties: (laughs) Oversized platter.
~~ niamhis: i really do enjoy your blogs.
~~ StuckInTheSixties: Thanks niamhis! It's a need I have, the need to write. That someone actually gets anything out of them is a nice bonus!



Part Two: The Birth of StuckInTheSixties and the Ignominious Death of Thinky

At about this time, Thinky realized that his life in Wireclub was out of control. It was … well, it was fucked up. It wasn’t right. And so, some decisions were made. First, a new profile was created. A new persona was introduced to Wireclub. That new person was named … (drum roll, please) … StuckInTheSixties. Many of you have changed profile names, keeping your profile intact, and simply changing the name. Some of you have left Wireclub, and returned with a new name.

This was different. In a spiritual sense, in a symbolic sense, I was becoming a different person. And because my reasons for becoming this new person were complex, I took a different approach to how the changeover occurred.

There was a problem, the basic problem at the root of all of Thinky’s troubles. Although Thinky never lied about his age (when asked, he’d allow that he was “significantly older than you” but refuse to divulge a number), there was an undeniable moral compromise in this existence. The main purpose of it was, of course, to make it easier to find cyber-nookie.

But there was a secondary purpose in his anonymity. Thinky was concerned about how someone in their mid-fifties was going to be accepted by all of these young folks in Wireclub. He certainly didn’t want to stop associating with them. Thinky had actually, on a rare occasion or two, dropped into “older person rooms,” for example, a room that was for those “40 and up.” They were positively dismal. Boring. Dead. Pointless. Pathetic. Just bad. Really, really bad. Suckerooni.

Let me emphasize something here. Thinky was NOT, repeat NOT, targeting any particular age group for my horny activities. At first, age simply wasn’t any factor whatsoever. All he was concerned with was gender and willingness. In fact, in fairly short order, unless an opportunity seemed to be falling into his lap, he just plain stopped any cyber-effort towards anyone less than thirty years of age.

Hmm … this is interesting! Until this very moment, as I sit here typing, I didn’t realize this. But while sex was an important factor in my Wireclub existence, women younger than thirty just seemed … childish. Like little kids to me. (laughs) Often very sexy (and LEGAL aged) little kids, but emotionally, they seemed in another universe, and I simply couldn’t relate to them as people. And not just young women, but people of both genders. They just all seemed like silly little kids, and I didn’t have much use for them.

But now, since sex has been taken out of the equation, I find that in many cases, I can get along just fine and dandy with anyone of any age. While there was sex, younger Wireclub members were silly little immature semi-adults. Now, with no sex, I like younger Wireclub members the same as anyone else. With sex, age is a factor. Without sex, it isn’t. Very, very interesting.

I suppose age can play a part in someone’s behavior, and how I relate to them as a result of that. But now, I don’t see those differences as anything to detract from my relationship with them. And again, it bears emphasizing that this now holds for how I relate to both genders. I’m no psychologist, so I haven’t a clue as to why this is the way that this is. But that’s how it is. And I only just now, while typing these words, realize this. And I find it extremely interesting. Hmm … But, as they say, I digress. Back to the loose timeline of my long-winded one year commemorative bio.

StuckInTheSixties had come into being, and thus, Thinky had an impending death sentence. It was just a question of how to retain those friends of Thinky’s that I really cared for. I could simply change the name, but in doing that, people would be simply thinking of me as Thinky with a new name. I didn’t want that. I wanted to be thought of differently, because StuckInTheSixties was, indeed, a very different person than Thinky.

I had a plan.

For a time, I had both identities existing at the same time. A thimbleful of people, most notably Barnsie, knew from the start that I had decided to create a new identity for myself. I slowly, and carefully, enacted my plan. I looked through my “Friends,” and certain ones were obviously “good friends,” people that I valued, that I badly wanted to retain as friends. But I didn’t want them to think of me as “Thinky-With-A-New-Name.” I was different.

As StuckInTheSixties, I began to carefully, and subtly, cultivate relationships with some of those people whom were friends of Thinky’s. I kept the knowledge of my dual identities from them. I simply interacted with them as this new person. And I found that they accepted me pretty readily.

And thus, I found that after only a very short time of keeping this little secret from them, with most, I was able to simply level with them, and just tell them about it:

“Hey, do you know this guy named “thinkin’dude”? Well, get this. I used to be thinkin’dude. That’s right. There are two of me. This is who you used to know, and this is the real me. Don’t think of me as that other person any longer, because this new person, StuckInTheSixties, is a different guy altogether, and not long from now, Thinky has a date with oblivion.”

The reaction was generally the same each time. There was some surprise, perhaps amusement, and then, it didn’t really matter. They could then pretty much see that as StuckInTheSixties, they liked me, valued me as a friend, and understood how difficult it was for me to be making the changeover. The plan seemed to be working pretty well.

The changeover didn’t take too long. Not surprisingly, almost all of those who I didn’t wind up telling were, for the most part, kind of missing from Wireclub. People drop out. And I wasn’t too close with most of those that had dropped out anyway. So they were essentially discarded. During the ensuing months, only a few have turned up, and found their way into a circumstance where I wound up surprising them with the revelation that that thinkin’dude guy that was around a long time ago was me. In only one case that I can recall, the former friend is still around, and has likely learned by now of my dual identities, but we no longer interact.

And so, the time came when thinkin’dude had to leave. Permanently. Over the period of several weeks, I slowly dismantled his profile. I removed the few blogs he had. I deleted, piece by piece, in a little daily ritual, some of the personal information seen on the profile page. I removed bits and pieces, little by little, until Thinky had one of those stripped down profiles with nearly nothing to see on it. And as I did that, the then minimal presence that Thinky still put into chat rooms dwindled to nothingness.

And finally came the day. With a profile stripped down to the bare minimum allowed, Thinky was deleted. Given the inglorious Wireclub-style execution. I went to the “My Profile” menu, selected “Edit Account,” then clicked “Close Account,” and finally, placed the cursor on the rectangular green button.

And clicked.

thinkin’dude was dead.

Comments for Part Two:

~~ barnestorming_girl: I you
~~ StuckInTheSixties: (laughs) I you too, Barnsie!
~~ StuckInTheSixties: At this point, I'll continue to be like me. (shrugs)
~~ Karma: I expected a much showier demise of ThinkinDude.



Part Three: The Personal Evolution of StuckInTheSixties

Once Thinky was dead, I essentially settled into a much more comfortable, much less troubled existence in Wireclub. At first, though, it presented some difficulties. My age did, indeed, become a factor. But in retrospect, it was mostly an internal thing, a perception, something I simply had to get used to and work through.

It’s curious. If you look like me, and you’re my age, and you’re interacting with the public in Wireclub, to a certain degree, it’s like asking for trouble. Some people are just mean. Some people just enjoy making trouble. And those people will see someone like me, and hassle me. The question is: what will I do in response? I was never prone to getting into big cursing matches, but I would, sometimes, engage in little skirmishes. I looked upon it as a sort of game. The rules for me were:

Don’t call the adversary names, or throw around expletives. (Saying, “Fuck you, asshole!” is not going to accomplish much.)

Try to be clever, and make onlookers laugh. (I’m doing this all the time anyway, so why not when an idiot tries to hassle me?)

Try to have fun, and don’t take it seriously. (Why should I give a rat’s ass if some jerk from Pigs Knuckle, Iowa insults me?)

I had marginal success following these guidelines. Mostly, I found it was better to ignore the initial insult or two. Just pretend it didn’t exist. It was a rare occasion when a trouble maker persisted when getting no response in return.

One thing that did bother me: a few times, I would get accused of being a “pedophile,” based on nothing at all except my gender and age. I once went into a room and said, “Hello.” The reply was, “Pedo,” and then, “Pedophile.” That kind of pissed me off, and frustrated me. What was I supposed to do? It’s pretty pathetic to say in return, “No, I’m not a pedophile.” That denial hasn’t near the power of the accusation.

I’ve had one very unpleasant episode since becoming StuckInTheSixties that bears talking about, and one that had a lasting effect upon shaping my Wireclub persona. This requires a quickie recap: If you’ll remember back earlier in this little essay, I described a chat room that Thinky had spent time in, that revolved around a trio and their orbiting friends who would drop in. Thinky had become intimately involved with one of the trio, who subsequently turned on him, along with one of the other of that trio. I left that room, effectively banished, although the third member of the trio remains a good friend.

During my transition from thinkin’dude to StuckInTheSixties, I made a horrible mistake. Mistake isn’t really the right word. It was an error in judgment, simply a bad choice I made, a choice which had both innocent, well meaning reasons, and selfish reasons, as well. But it was a choice made by me, and I must accept responsibility for it.

During that transition, for a time, I would interact with people as one, and interact with them at a different time as the other. Remember now, I was on a mission to “recruit” some of Thinky’s friends, to have them become familiar with the “new me” before I made the final ultimate changeover. Although this period of overlapping identities wasn’t that long, perhaps a month, I was spending all of my Wireclub time then in chat rooms then, an enormous amount of time, and I sort of got used to the idea of being two different people.

And I missed that room. It had been so much fun. So I was tempted, and gave into temptation.

I began going in as StuckInTheSixties. I gave no indication to those people, particularly those two that despised thinkin’dude, of who I actually was. I had no intention of telling them that previously I had been that other guy. And once again, I took part in the single most fun room of my Wireclub experience. And as they got familiar with the new me, I began to relax. And because of that, I became careless.

It’s difficult to live a lie. You have to be on your toes all the time. You can’t relax. And I relaxed. And I inadvertently dropped hints, indications, of the old persona. I said things, used phrases, revealed familiar idiosyncrasies. It wasn’t long before they figured me out. And for the second time, I was effectively banished.

The way I perceive this chapter of my Wireclub life has changed over time. At first, I felt victimized. It didn’t seem fair. After all, I’d never actually lied about who and what (and how old) Thinky was. And without going into detail, there was definitely some hypocrisy exhibited by those two people who despised me (and continue to despise me). They were not without fault.

But now, as time has passed, I realize that this all happened because of what I only now can admit was a basic dishonesty. thinkin’dude was dishonest. He was a sham. He was careful not to “lie,” but he was living a lie. His intent was dishonest. He was unwilling to do what StuckInTheSixties now does: live openly and honestly, regardless of the consequences. And in that instance, I allowed that lie to cross over from Thinky to StuckInTheSixties. It’s ironic that the reason I was dishonest with those people was because I genuinely liked them. I wanted to spend time with them, because that room was, plain and simple, fun.

Part of this dishonesty was founded in a general wariness I had about being online. I continue to be wary in some regards. For instance, only a few people know even my (real-life) first name, let alone things like my full name, address, things like that. I’m cautious about things like identity theft.

Part of the dishonesty was founded in the lack of a clear perspective I had at first when I came into Wireclub as a horny tomcat. I said to myself, “No one is likely to give the time of day to a (then) fifty-five year old bearded chunky funky old hippie. But that was selfish. It was dishonest. It was a lie. I justified it by saying to myself, “Hey, I’m not lying. I’m just not divulging everything.” Technically true, but ethically, that’s pretty twisted logic.

And in that respect, I own an apology to every single person that ever knew me as thinkin’dude, to those who accepted me when I revealed myself as I made the changeover, and those who have subsequently been cast far and wide by the winds of Wireclub time. I owe this apology to those who not only accepted me, but who came to become very, very good, close friends. The only person from my thinkin’dude era that I don’t owe an apology to for that dishonesty is Barnsie. She was able to pry my age out of me right from the day we met, although I didn’t make it easy for her to do so. (laughs) But she knew my real age right from the very first conversation we had.

Time passed, my closest friends stuck with me, and got even closer. My friends who weren’t necessarily my closest friends, but that I liked, got even more familiar with me, and I with them. My position within Wireclub built on itself over time. It got pretty good, and it remains so. As it turns out, I seemed to be able to win friends, and deepen friendships, simply by being my fifty-six year old bearded chunky funky old hippie self. Wonders never cease.

Comments for Part Three:

~~ barnestorming_girl: I you
~~ StuckInTheSixties: Hahaha! You're spamming me! I you too!
~~ Karma: Due to your protecting of the innocent and not so innocent, this chapter is confusing to me.
~~ StuckInTheSixties: This part was difficult to write. It contained a vital part of my WireClub life, a part that had a huge role in shaping who and what I am now. It absolutely HAD to be addressed. But I also HAD to refrain from referring to any individuals, either by name, or by providing information that would point to those individuals. If I was going to err, I wanted to err on the side of protecting the identities of those I was describing in terms that were less than affectionate. I'm an avid spectator of drama. Not a participant.

It really came down to several choices:
> Leave out a vital part of my story altogether
> Tell that part of the story, naming names unambiguously
> Tell that part of the story without disclosing names, and have the story suffer a bit in clarity

I chose the third option.

~~ StuckInTheSixties: I can get combative at times, particularly over racism and homophobia, but not with personal stuff.
~~ niamhis: your a fairy cool bearded guy if i do say so mesmelf
~~ StuckInTheSixties: (laughs) Thanks ... I think! Was that "fairy", or a misspelled "fairly"? (laughs again) Either way I'm laughin' ...



Part Four: The Social Evolution Of StuckInTheSixties

As I’ve settled into this persona, this person that’s actually me, it’s brought about a metamorphosis, a slow, inexorable shift in priorities, in how I see, and how I use, Wireclub. And curiously, this seems to be happening with most everyone I’ve known for a long time. I think it’s the natural progression of how most people exist in Wireclub. And while most people don’t have the kind of peculiar background and history that I have here, it is that peculiar history that led, in my case, to my evolution. It’s curious. My way of getting there is different, but I seem to be arriving at the same “place” as most everyone find themselves here. At least that’s how I perceive it.

The main thing that stands out about this “place” is this: a significantly reduced amount of time spent in chat rooms (perhaps in Wireclub in general), and more time spent reading each other’s blogs, and “communicating by comment. There also seems to be an increased usage in Instant Messaging to go along with this.

I went through a number of different phases with chat room usage. In the beginning, when Thinky joined Wireclub, when using a chat room, his attention was riveted to the computer screen (even when just conversing, and not “prowling”). But after becoming StuckInTheSixties, as time went by, I found that the intensity level of my attention slackened. I found that I no longer simply stared at the computer, waiting for the next text reply in a conversation I was having. And I found that I enjoyed doing other things. And for one thing, no longer would I tolerate chat room boredom.

There was a time when if a chat room was … dead, boring, I’d leave that room, and hit another. And if that one was also bad, I’d move on another. I’d search for meaningful chat room time, and on the fairly rare occasion when I didn’t find it, it was actually very, very depressing. Sometimes there was nothing but rooms in which I somehow was just being ignored, rooms in which the main topic was how bored everyone was, or (shudder) the worst of the worst, a room in which people actually were telling each other what the time was in their location.

“It’s 1:11 PM here in New Zealand.”
“It’s 2:12 here in London.”
“It’s 6:12 here in Vancouver.”
“Yeah, same here in California. We’re in the same time zone.”

Really scintillating conversation. Yes, there was a time when I actually, at least for a moment or four, participated in “conversations” like this. Chat rooms were like a drug for me. Addicting. The immediacy of them was what appealed to me.

But that faded in time. Chatting with strangers became … boring. (These days, I NEVER … repeat, NEVER go looking through rooms of strangers seeking conversation. I’d rather watch TV. Read a book. Anything but that.) It was still compelling, however to be in a room occupied with some strangers if … and a big “if” … if there were a bunch of my friends in there too. And for a while, this was a big part of what I did in Wireclub.

There was a time when I could go to the “Chat Rooms” page, look at the various rooms available, and I would see a couple dozen or more of my friends showing as occupants of those available rooms. It was then a simple matter of deciding which of those rooms looked best, and walking in. And if I wanted (and as many others did), I could hang out in multiple rooms, bouncing from conversation to conversation, an option that was there because I had quite a few friends in chat rooms all at the same time.

This way of using Wireclub was pretty good. When I was in a room, I would look up to the right at that little list of room occupants, and the majority, sometimes the entirety, would be in green font, designated as my friends. If memory serves me right, on one occasion I was in a room with seventeen other people, every single one of whom was on my Friends list.

This period of hanging in rooms only when they were populated by friends coincided with an increased interest in the other aspects of Wireclub, primarily posting and reading blogs, and the posting and viewing of pictures. I had already been slowly gaining interest in blogs over some time.

I purchased a cheezy little camera in November, and started taking pictures. By January, I was beginning to figure out how to use the damn thing, and the number of photos I took increased dramatically. As I continued to learn how to use the camera, my interest in photography increased with it. And as the seasons moved into spring, I began taking many various “nature” pictures, blossoms, flowers, animals, and of course, many shots of vineyards here in the Napa Valley. I started posting many, many photographs. Then in February or March, Dee05 showed me how to make and post PrintScreens. That unleashed a new creative beast in me, and I began concocting all sorts of silly things to do with that medium.

In recent months a curiosity has occurred. Almost all of my friends have joined me in the same observation: “Nobody seems to be in the chat rooms any more, and I miss it.” It’s curious, because there’re enough of my friends saying this so that it begs the question: “Why aren’t any of us creating rooms, so that the others can come in?” I often look at my Home page, and see that twenty or thirty friends are online in Wireclub. Then I look at the Chat Rooms page, and see the names of only two, maybe three of them there.

My own reasons, and I suspect others’ as well, is that I’m not too excited with the notion of creating a room and then hanging out, hoping enough of my friends come by to make the effort worthwhile. For myself, I only rarely create a room, and on the rare occasions that I do, it has to be a “Friends Only” room. I’m just not too enthusiastic about suffering the company of boring, idiotic, trouble-making, or otherwise undesirable strangers.

In contrast to my waning interest in chat rooms, I am quite enthusiastic about what I call “communication by comment.” Often a blog will be created, and the string of comments that result will erupt into a very compelling, stimulating source of entertainment. It’s very gratifying when this happens with one of your own blogs. And the nature of this phenomenon is quite interesting. I have, on occasion, posted blogs pertaining to something I found very compelling, only to have it all but completely ignored by readers. Other times, the most inconsequential blog will transform, by virtue of comments, into a long, continuous source of stimulating amusement. Trying to predict this outcome is difficult, at best.

The blogs themselves run the gamut from intensely compelling to utter wastes of time. One extremely compelling blog, entitled “My Official Stance On Religion,” was posted by marymary. It was a short essay on her avowed position as an atheist. It turned into a wonderful, vibrant long series of exchanges on the nature of religion, agnosticism, and atheism. The comments ranged from intensely intellectual to blatant silliness, from deep to shallow, with everything in between. The comments finally petered out after nearly a month.

After it lay fallow for that time, I’m proud to say that I kicked a second life into mary’s blog with a comment. As often happens with a stagnant blog, someone (me, in this case) will add a comment. Then, someone will see the notification on their home page, take a curious look, and add their own comment. And then someone else. And another. And another. Suddenly, the blog rises out of it’s grave, and takes a new life, as this one did, becoming even more dynamic the second time around, with a long, complex, extremely deep, involved debate between the religious and non-religious. It received nearly three hundred comments total, and remains my favorite blog to this day.

As I’ve previously mentioned, I try to stay out of skirmishes, and avoid the shit-slinging that often occurs in Wireclub, and which is known as “DRAMA.” But I absolutely love standing on the sidelines watching as “DRAMA” takes place. I’m not sure exactly why I like it so much. Obviously, if I care for someone on one side of the battle, and not their opponent, I tend to (privately) cheer for them. I’m only human, of course. But I stay out of the actual combat, and let them fight for themselves. I refuse to publically take sides in these battles. I sometimes do, however, provide some behind-the-scenes encouragement or support through private messages.

There have been two colossal Wireclub battles that I’ve witnessed during this year of my time here, and I thoroughly enjoyed them both. I see people all the time calling for us all to “end the drama.” I’d hate to see that happen. Wireclub drama is like a mixture of Shakespearian tragedy, screwball comedy, celebrity roast, and professional wrestling. As I see it, the participants are involved because they want to be involved. If someone is insulting you, you can always simply ignore them. As I see it, DRAMA exists for a reason: to entertain me. (laughs)

And so, I find that I have settled into a comfortable existence here in Wireclub. While it continues to evolve, it’s settled into a routine. Perhaps it’s even become mundane. I can actually foresee a time when I’m no longer coming into Wireclub. It’s not going to be any time soon, but that’s the direction I’m heading. If/when I leave, it won’t be with a declaration, or at a specific point in time. I’ll slowly participate less and less, until finally I just pop in once in a blue moon to see if any friends are still around. And at some time, I’ll simply no longer come in.

But I think that’s quite a ways off from now.

Comments for Part Four:

~~ StuckInTheSixties: Are you a friggin' speed reader or something?
~~ StuckInTheSixties: (smiles) Well, thank you Mousie, my dear, for your nice comments. If no one else ever reads it (Barnsie and Karma will, at least, I'm sure), those comments will have made it worth the effort.
~~ barnestorming_girl: I already left a comment on 1 2 3 and here! the big comment is on 5... just wanted to remind you how much that I you
~~ StuckInTheSixties: I love you more!
~~ Karma: We should have planned Chat nights/days. Like every other week when we say "At 3 PM GMT we'll have a room called Smirkerama. Come if you care to." Then all the friends can plan to hang for a bit in a chat.
~~ StuckInTheSixties: You've been appointed ...
~~ veronica: you do know that 3pm GMT is like 7 in the morning for stuck
~~ StuckInTheSixties: 8 in the morning for Karma at the present, too. I think she was grabbing numbers out of a hat. But this illustrates a difficulty with the concept. Unfortunately, geography is involved. If only it was a flat Earth ...
~~ niamhis: oh noooo .... the drama ... some of that realllly went on and on and onnnnn lol
~~ StuckInTheSixties: It's been so quiet as of late, although a pretty intense little DRAMA! erupted in the General Chat forum a week or so ago.



Part Five: Addendum: My Wireclub Friends

As I’ve been writing this, and (hopefully) as you’ve been reading it, it should be obvious that although I’ve mentioned my friends fairly frequently, in only a few cases have I mentioned them by name. There are reasons for that. First, of course, there’s the problem of prioritizing. I can’t, of course, prattle on about all one hundred forty six friends as I type these words. For one thing, I probably should trim a good third of them off for various reasons. That would still leave a good hundred of you. If I mention each and every one, this thing will read like a phone book. But if I leave some names off, I’ll have concerns about it. Whether these concerns are valid or not, I’ll still wonder if I’m hurting any feelings or bruising any egos. I’ll be concerned that I’ve left someone out. It’ll gnaw at me, and make me feel guilty, ‘cause I’m basically kind of an old softy. (laughs)

So this is what I’ll do: since this ridiculously long-winded essay is already ridiculously long-winded, and it is, by nature, focusing on my earliest times here, I’ll continue that focus on the early times in addressing my friends.

I’m pretty sure that the friend that dates the furthest back for me is Heather. She’s been gone from Wireclub for a while, and has only recently returned again. Very few, if any, of you reading this will know her at this time. It’s been a while, but we’ve had some very long, very deep, meaningful, emotional conversations. We have a sort of spiritual connection, which both of us recognizes, but neither of us understands. She’s very special, and I care enormously for her.

Lucy (lumu81) is another real old timer. She’s never wavered in our friendship, always there, and I’ve come to care for her enormously. Sparkle (sparkle37) is another oldie but goodie that I’ve remained very close with. She seems to be spending less time in Wireclub these days, though. Sparkle, get your ass back in here, Sexy Girl!

There’s two very old friends, both of whom I met in the first week or two of my time here, but whom are essentially missing in action these days, whom I need mention: acidburnkiss (quite a name, huh?) and lucyknickers (laughs, another good name). Both of these ladies are sweethearts, and I miss them.

My friendship with Karma isn’t quite as ancient as the others I’ve mentioned, but it might as well be. In many ways, we couldn’t be more different. But we have a wonderful, loving friendship, and probably spend more time hanging out with each other, sending endlessly long message strings back and forth, than we do with anyone else. Although I constantly tell her this, she’s reluctant to accept that she’s really quite funny. She thinks of herself as being sort of funny. I know better. She’s very, very funny. She is the pun-Queen of Wireclub. Some of her puns are very, very smart. Some of them are very, very bad. Suffering the bad ones is a tiny price to pay for the good. By the way, we both love poker. (laughs)

What the hell. I’m going to rip off a long string of names here, people that I interact with and care about. Alphabetical order, so as not to assign priority:

BG (badgirl_72): This woman is plainly crazy. Nuts. She’s Barnsie’s sister in law … apparently insanity runs throughout that entire family tree. Maybe it’s just that they’re Aussies, who knows …?

Dawn & Lovergoo: I’ve mentioned them as a pair, because they are one. At the time when I had just recently changed from Thinky to StuckInTheSixties, they helped me enormously simply by being nice to me when a number of their friends weren’t. (This is one of those things where I’m going to have to leave out details, so not to drudge up a great deal of unpleasantness.)

freaki: This young Aussie only pops in on rare occasions. I get to chat with her then. She’s a very sweet young lady, and I like her a lot.

Geoff: He’s one of the smartest, well spoken, yet fun guys in all of Wireclub. He’s good for a deep philosophical discussion or an off-color joke. My kinda guy.

Holly (That Girl): Holly has engendered a great deal of affection amongst her friends, and with good reason. She’s warm, smart, silly, and has astounding powers to create elegant, technically perfect poems, and silly nicknames for her friends. My nickname is “Smirky,” (laughs) and it’s a difficult-to-explain off-color sexual innuendo. She’s a very complex woman, and I care for her.

kath1: Also known as Arkle, this wonderful Brit woman is currently undergoing a tough health crisis. There was a time when I was preoccupied with having my Profile page appear “tidy” and “efficient,” and thus, I used the “Friends Comments” place to elaborate on my own information. I would automatically delete all in-coming comments, which I perceived as “clutter.” Kath had a standard comment which she would send, something like “ xxx bro! xxxxxxx " I would instantly delete it along with the others. It would reappear, and be re-deleted. Over and over. She finally wore me down. I just relented, and of course, came to the realization that receiving comments is just another valuable means of communication. Thanks, Kath!

Laura (AMurderDivine): This woman is nuts! Crazy! She amuses me to no end! She also has a great sense of humor, and knows how to take a joke directed at her! She’s been the target of my PrintScreens a few times. She calls me “Beans.” (You can either ask her why or look in my blogs for a posting I made about this … either way, it probably won’t make any sense to you.)

Lexi (currently she’s gone back to calling herself lulu80): Lex changes her Wireclub name like I change my socks. She’s a loving mum to her five beautiful little monkeys (her sons), and has sexy eyes that slay me. She’s very tolerant of the many silly and lewd remarks I direct at her. I don’t think she would want me to stop.

Lina: She’s one of my newer good friends. It was through Holly that she was introduced to me and a bunch of other friends. She’s a vision to behold. A stunner. But her outward beauty is nothing compared to the inner beauty that resides within her heart. She probably doesn’t realize this, but her friends talk about her behind her back, something like, “Lina is so cool! Did you read her blog?” “Yeah, she can really write!” “That Lina is such a sweetheart.” Stuff like that. We all adore her.

lois_lane: lois is a character! Wacky! Smart! Volatile! Fun-loving! She is truly an original. Although we’ve known each other for quite a long time, only in the last few months have we gotten closer, and more familiar with our respective stories. I really like lois! This place just wouldn’t be the same if she wasn’t around.

marymary: I came across mary through the comment string attached to a blog posted by Snitch (Remember him?). Snitch posted a blog about … I don’t remember, and it doesn’t matter. It somehow became a HUGE, never ending forum for the posting of random weirdness of all sorts, including many comments from marymary. I’d noticed her picture before (Hey, she’s very pretty!), but with this blog, I got much more of a sense of who she was, just by the sheer volume. Now I know her pretty well, and I like her immensely. She posted my single favorite blog (see above).

Mousie (Angelmouse): We may, or may not, have met each other back in the days of “Old Wire.” (laughs) We’re both not quite sure about that. But we certainly know each other well now. She’s feisty, and sometimes jumps headfirst into drama situations. She appreciates a good glass of wine, off-color humor, her role as a mum, and her camera, which she’s getting extremely good at using.

natowar: Nat is another fairly new friend. lois was really happy when we got acquainted. He’s quite intelligent and super easy going. He seems to be quite content with his place in Wireclub, and it’s easy to see that his friends really care for him. We’ve had some pretty good conversations. Just the fact that he’s a dude, and I’ve mentioned him, should underline the fact that I think highly of the guy.

PTB052: She’s another new one. She’s kind of a newshound, and often posts forums on current event topics. Along the same lines, P is often hearing something or other in the news that might relate to where I live in California, and she’ll fire off a message with a question or two or three, which I love replying to. She’s obviously very inquisitive. Coincidentally, her name is also my license plate number. (laughs) No, not really.

rosy_cheeks: Rosy only shows up on rare occasions, when she makes very intelligent, sometimes off-color, always hilarious comments to me. I wish she was around more often, but she has a pretty busy “real-world” life, so I feel lucky to see her when I get to.

shells333: shells is another who isn’t around all that often, but I’m always glad when she is. I met her right around the time that I began feeling comfortable and settled as StuckInTheSixties. She was the first person to call me “Stu” as a nickname. Now there are one or two others.

sweetnsassy77: I’ve known sweet for quite a while. She has a very pretty profile picture. I love the way her hair looks in it. She’s always very warm and kind to me and her name describes her perfectly.

ToadyMama (glowingtoad): Her name “glowingtoad” is one of the best ever to appear in Wireclub. ToadyMama simply warms up any room she happens to come into. She’s very silly. Really silly. I mean silliness that is taken to a level hitherto unknown. She writes beautiful, imaginative poetry that actually rhymes, but she doesn’t write it often enough. People simply adore her.

veronica: StuckInTheSixties finds veronica very alluring and mysterious. She often speaks in third-person. She’s a mod, apparently one of the only mods actually capable of the task. She doesn’t get complaints. She gets compliments. veronica posts the most interesting blogs, which have a very loyal fan base. She created several really wonderful artistic renderings of a few Wireclub denizens, including me. Her own profile pic is one of them. She created Karma’s picture, which, I know, Karma treasures. She captured, in computer paint, the PERFECT Karma. And she introduced the awesome power of the ukulele to Wireclub. StuckInTheSixties thinks she should get a gold medal for that ukulele business alone.

Wooter (antonov3andahalf … and her five, yes five, other identities): Wooter (I sometimes call her Grasshopper too) and I have been good friends for quite a while now. We started hanging out soon after I made the change from Thinky to StuckInTheSixties. She’s very smart, and has an amazing and eclectic taste in things that are artistic in nature. She turned me onto Tim Minchin, for which I’m extremely grateful. Our relationship has a funny quirk in it. Wooter loves to treat me with great disrespect. She often refers to me as “Old Man,” like, “wadever, old man,” or “Shush, old man.” She knows that this tickles me, because it’s a demonstration of how comfortable we are with each other, and that we really do care for one another. She recently began referring to me as “Stubert.”

Okay. That was all really tedious, wasn’t it? But I still want to acknowledge Barnsie again. I’ve been closer to no one, and if not for Barnsie’s loving friendship, I’d have been gone from Wireclub a long time ago. I love you, Darling!

A Closing Thought

Okay. I’m going to bring this damn thing to an end now. In closing, I just want to say one last thing:

“Juices.”

(laughs)

Comments for Part Five:

~~ StuckInTheSixties: (smiles) Thanks muchly for the kind words, Mousie. (laughs) We'll see how long they last before your account gets banned again. I'll take it as I think you mean it. And I love you too!
~~ barnestorming_girl: Well!!! I have waited for days for this! About bloody time!! lmao It was fantastic reading! it really was..

Darling,
I respect you and love you dearly, you know that. Your whole year had its ups and downs! Reading this made me cry, laugh, smile, and most of all it made me remember why I clicked on that little black box one friday night here for me! I clicked it thinking if this bloke is 100 and can use a computer; I so need to know what his secret is!!! lmao (that is what i thought when I scrolled down and saw your name and age)... I tell ya this.. I'm so glad I did that!

We have been thru hell and back, yes! But look at us now thou. Your my wonderful best dear friend I trust with all my heart and soul. I am so happy that I found a beautiful friend that you are, on the other side of the world. Because I found you, you have given me so much.. How! You are wondering.. You help me, listen to me, give me advice, love me, and we have a true friendship that we will have for the rest of our days. When I talk to you on the phone, I smile so much and feel so content.. That is because you are so special.

But also Darling you are a beautiful friend to many here, you always have been and always will be! Just like you have been to me my best friend. Because you are caring, respectful, loving, smart, dam funny.

lmfao omfg lmfao

“Juices.”

Now to you Darling

I you darling foreva and always....

~~ StuckInTheSixties: I love you too, Honey Bunny. I just wiped a tear from my eye.
~~ barnestorming_girl: me to wiped a tear.. But Like I have always told you, you are a beautiful man. Don't eva forget that okay Darling. and I you more..
~~ StuckInTheSixties: I you more!
~~ lumu81: Sits, you have helped me through some harder times, you know what i am talking about. Just having your guidance there made it so much easier. You reassure me and that means alot to me. I have some much respect for you. Not many people would believe how we actually met, but i will remember it for ever. Never change, your perfect how you are!
~~ lumu81: only cause of u my hairy burito!
~~ lumu81: you do you do! beautiful weather here
~~ Dawn: we are one. could be true I read everything but decided to comment on the last one Stuck you mean so much for me and mike. You've always been there and I'm really happy to have met you. I hope we will do this kinda of blog every year haha
~~ veronica: veronica read this blog this afternoon while enjoying the early autumn sunshine and a cup of coffee it added to her enjoyment .reading and learning about you in more detail stuck was one of the first people that i conversed with on wire our first conversation was about the year 1968 and the counterrevolution
the Kennedy assassination(bobby) the riots in France and the death of Che guevara . veronica has endured thousands upon thousands of people on wire and can count on one hand the people that she actually likes stuck falls in to the latter category , he is a huge part of the little community we have all carved out for our selves here
~~ StuckInTheSixties: I’ve fallen behind in acknowledging the kind comments accumulating here. So I’ll try to catch up:

Holly, thanks so much. I spent some time thinking about what I was going to say about you. Lately, it seems, when I’ve searched for the right thing to say, I’ve somehow found instead, the exact wrong thing. I guess this time I managed to get it right. I want you to know how much you mean to me and everyone else.

Star and CAZI, you’re both newbie friends of mine. Thanks for your kind comments. By the way, you’re both nuts. Crazy. Wacky. (laughs) Don’t change!

Lucy, Lucy, Lucy! Our first meeting is one for the books, ain’t it? Books that will be kept under lock and key and the strictest security, lest the masses learn the truth! (laughs) (No, people, it wasn’t THAT sordid!) It’s been a pleasure to watch over the months as you’ve settled into the WireClub social order. You manage to make everyone happy by your presence and somehow seem to avoid making any enemies. (Well, you did get deleted by Whatz-her-face a little while ago …) This place simply wouldn’t be the same without you. Hairy burrito, indeed!

Tink, you’re also another of my “newbies.” I love your daily “Goodnight” s!

Dawny, thanks for your nice comment. It’s lovely having you and Mike as my good friends. Will he ever do that Froggy Dance?

StuckInTheSixties is gratified, nearly beyond words, that veronica “actually likes” him. A sort of corner was turned when veronica posted a video of a large, cavernous train station in Belgium breaking into a complex dance routine to the song “Do-Re-Mi.” He already thought highly of veronica, but when he saw that video, for some reason, he thought, “This is someone I want to know much, much better.” Since then, he’s somehow been able to get a better sense of who veronica is. Like many others, he is in a constant state of eager anticipation, waiting for veronica’s next blog. He wonders when the next “Ted” video will appear …
~~ StuckInTheSixties: Thank you sir, and likewise.
~~ sweetnsassygal77: awwwwwwwwww Stuck I knew it was going to be a long read but I probably should have gotten a pillow for my ass lol I love ya for the dirty ol' man you are that's what makes our sense of humor so awesome...we share it
~~ StuckInTheSixties: Thank you sweet, for slogging your way through all of that and reaching the end. It's a pleasure to have you as a friend!
~~ StuckInTheSixties: My comment string is getting a screwed up! Laura: You're an odd one. A very, very, sweet, amusing, hilarious, gorgeous, dangerous ... odd woman. (laughs) Don't you dare change! *whispers* Creep!
~~ StuckInTheSixties: Thanks Holly.
~~ StuckInTheSixties: You, Holly and I were posting all at the same time.
~~ StuckInTheSixties: That would be nice, wouldn't it!?
~~ Lina: Aw Stu! Please never say cyber-nookie again. love, Lina p.s.
Right now it's 11:10pm in California
~~ StuckInTheSixties: (laughs) And a big ol' to you too.
~~ Dawn: stuck, he just might. you know we dance it around christmas too. I might get him on vid if Im smooth enough *big hugs and lots of love*
~~ StuckInTheSixties: I wanna see that man Froggy it up!
~~ Dawn: haha well. there is yet time
~~ StuckInTheSixties: It's hard to explain our relationship, isn't it, Heather? It's quite complex. We're very dissimiliar in our lives, but somehow have this wonderful, undeniable connection. Having met you has made a big difference for me, and made my life better. xxx
~~ StuckInTheSixties: Thanks, Mike. I appreciate your kind comments. Now break out the videocam and get Froggy!
~~ StuckInTheSixties: (laughs) When Barnsie told me that she'd introduced her sis-in-law to WireClub, I told her to make sure you understood that I wasn't really as creepy as you might initially think from my dirty-minded comments and jokes!
~~ StuckInTheSixties: Hahahahahaha! You just cracked me up with the completely "lois" word "fuckery." Thanks lois! By the way, I snuck into your kitchen and ate some of your Fritos!
~~ LittleAntonov: woot woot old man i wasnt forgotten you big lug..... *does a little happy dance* stubert is insane stubert is insane!!!!! mwhuhahahahaha hey does it count if i've been off and on of wireclub and changed into like 5 diff profiles for the one year thing like for this month cuz i swear thats when i joined but now theres no way to tell.... anywho you silly old goose of a cumudgeon thanks for not forgetting i was getting kinda worried there dude.....Wootwoot one day i'll weld you a ummmm......well i'll think of something stu-bert
~~ StuckInTheSixties: Weld me some sort of sexual apparatus ... trapeze, or something ...
~~ natowar: jesus! I guess now I have to read the first 4 parts to see if there's more about ME ! You are one tenacious scribe my esteemed elder , and a deep kind soul to boot! For those about to plume ! We salute you!
~~ LittleAntonov: hey you didnt answer my question.... and about this apparatus how bout a swing with a um harness for the little doodads (you know) and umm aahhhhh well how bout you draw up the plans and i'll see if i can do it ur the one who would know about these things for i am just a young innocent girl *cough cough* who would never in here life need of or know about things such as that
~~ StuckInTheSixties: (laughs) I'll check the internet for a good design ...
~~ LittleAntonov: You do that old man!
~~ StuckInTheSixties: Wooter, I know you've been in and out of WireClub a few times (way more in than out), but do you remember when you first came in?
~~ LittleAntonov: vaugly i remember meeting this canadian/irish dude and then you in a room with that crazy canadian kid cant for the life of me remember his name had a pic of im with a lollypop and i remember playing the helmet and map "game" for lack of a better word with barnsey rainbow and some of the "old" gang
~~ LittleAntonov: but in september i think midway through
~~ StuckInTheSixties: I thought you'd been in here a while when we met ...
~~ LittleAntonov: no just a few weeks
~~ Karma: I don't need to tell you how much you mean to me. What I most get from this is how I have avoided being friends with some of your friends. A huge loss on my part. We all love you and cherish you. I want to especially thank you for the times you have told me that I am wrong, unreasonable, childish and illogical. That you give me no free passes and yet remain true and loyal and loving is a great lesson on how to be a friend.
~~ StuckInTheSixties: I'm quite sure I've been more diplomatic and socially graceful than to tell you you were wrong, unreasonable, childish and illogical.You're wrong! Unreasonably childish and illogical! (laughs) X infinity, Princess!

My Long-Winded One Year Commemorative Blog: Added Sections

Part Six (added section): Bonus! How I fucked up!

Alternate title: Murphy' Law Strikes My Blog ... Only I Could Manage To Do This (laughs)

If you've read my silly blog, you've read, in the first two parts, my detailed story about how I used to be a very horny guy named "thinkin'dude," and how I used to engage in a fairly common activity which is known as "cybersex."

You also read my description of how I met two of my longest, and best Wireclub friends. One of them, barnestorming_girl (aka Barnsie), was specifically named in that part of the blog. The other wasn't.

Given the way my blog was written, it isn't unreasonable to assume that my hitherto described cybering activity and my described meetings with these two lovely women were connected.

In fact, they were not.

In fact, neither of them were cyber partners.

But it really kind of looks that way from the way my blog was carelessly written. So let me make this plain and unambiguous:

NEITHER OF THEM WERE CYBER PARTNERS! I HAD PLENTY OF THAT STUFF GOING ON, BUT NOT WITH THEM!

Sheesh! (laughs)

Curse you, Murphy, and your law!

Comments for Part Six

~~ Outbackjack: Yes it had me scratching my head.
~~ lumu81: I am taking a leaf out of veronicas book NO COMMENT LMAO
~~ StuckInTheSixties: I was sort of creepy then. But not with Barnsie. We were platonic. Romantic to the max, but not sexual. Jeesh! How did I manage to fruk up like this?!?!
~~ lumu81: because deep down we are all dirty pervs lol
~~ StuckInTheSixties: *turns around, bends over* Someone please kick me in the ass ...
~~ barnestorming_girl: Fricken hell!!!! Some people just read to much into things that are not even there!!! I know that your a good man and that I'm a good lady! And we have a great friendship..
~~ StuckInTheSixties: I love you Honey Bunny!
~~ barnestorming_girl: I love you to Darling!
~~ StuckInTheSixties: Mmm ... I'm not sure, P. (laughs)
~~ Babycool: You two are both great ppl, I dont know how the hell some idiot cud have got that wrong!!!
~~ natowar: Well sits is awesome , in fact , when you die you have to go before him and he will ask you what the riddle of steel is..if you don't know he will cast you out of his vinyard and laugh at you! .. that's sits... strong in his orchard.
~~ StuckInTheSixties: Very, very poetic ...
~~ LittleAntonov: dude
~~ StuckInTheSixties: dudette ...
~~ LittleAntonov: wa.nker
~~ StuckInTheSixties: It's just a misunderstanding.
~~ niamhis: hehe yup its my law as i like to call it hehe murphys law indeed teeheehee
~~ StuckInTheSixties: I'm an agnostic, but I have a firm, committed, unshakeable belief in Murphy's Law.




Part Seven (added section): The Last Word On This Thing … (hopefully)

Last night I realized that the wording and structure of the first two parts of “My Long-Winded One Year Commemorative Blog” seemed to lend a strong implication that my confessed explorations into the realm of cybersex also involved the two women mentioned in that early part of my story. The problem was just that my story, and the way it was laid out and worded, while factually correct, left out a critical point of clarity. It failed to clarify that the two women mentioned in that early part of the story were, in fact, not cyber partners of mine. They were both quite important to that early part of my story, thus they were mentioned. But my story failed to clarify that while they were a part of it, neither was a part of my described tomcatting activities.

Upon realizing that incorrect implication, I immediately wrote and posted an additional “Part Six,” in which I stated unambiguously that those two lovely women, were in fact, not involved with me in that particular little pastime. When I later logged out, as I was getting ready for bed, letting my mind wander, I came to yet another realization that I felt should be addressed. I think that there is a matter of opinion here, an important matter of opinion, that I should have elaborated on, and I think that I should not let this matter be neglected.

In my first Wireclub incarnation, thinkin’dude, I was a rampant cybersexer. When I changed into my present persona, StuckInTheSixties, I gave up on that little hobby. What needs illumination here is the REASON I gave up those pursuits, lest I cultivate yet another incorrect assumption.

The first two parts of “My Long-Winded One Year Commemorative Blog” could reasonably be conceived as being “confessional” in nature. I appeared to be confessing how I had conducted myself during that part of my Wireclub life. And, of course, when one confesses, one confesses one’s “sins.” With that in mind, I find that I must clarify my story. This clarification should have been made back there in the chronological point of the story where it belongs. That was my error, an error that led to a bit of confusion, which I cleared up in Part Six. I shall now further clarify.

While one might reasonably perceive my story to be “confessional” in nature, that I was confessing the sins of cybersex, this was not my intention whatsoever. In my story I detailed how in my early Wireclub days, I was a horny tomcat, and I explained how I later gave up such activities. One might assume that I realized that cybersex was something that was wrong. Immoral. Creepy. Pervy. Especially when I hurriedly made a big production out of declaring that my two friends mentioned in that early part of the story were not cyberpartners.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

When the notion of cybersex is mentioned in Wireclub, there are always those who will express how distasteful they find the idea. “Eeewwww! Perverted! Yuck!” etc. etc.

I disagree strongly.

I’m pretty confident that most people, in Wireclub and in the real world, view sexual activity between two consenting adults as a fairly normal thing. And cybersex certainly requires that both parties consent to the practice. As “safe sex” goes, it’s about as safe as it gets. So why the squeamishness about it?

The notion of two people, who are completely anonymous strangers, encountering each other and engaging in such a practice, bothers some people. That’s the reason for the squeamishness.

It’s the ENCOUNTER that seems weird to those folks. (laughs) It doesn’t help when you have idiots whose opening line is “hey baby I have a big dick” and similar. But in reality, it’s not really too different, in concept and practice, to having an encounter in a nightclub. And nightclubs are normal. We have a sanctioned nightclub right here in Wireclub.

But it’s a practice I no longer engage in. And I find myself now compelled to shed a little more light, some more clarity, on why that is, and how that relates to my opinion that there is nothing immoral, creepy or perverted with cybersex. The point of revealing that I had been involved in that in the first place was to tell the story of how my life in Wireclub evolved into what it is now, how I evolved into the Wireclub person that I am today.

One thing I want to make crystal clear is that although I gave up that practice, it wasn’t because I came to the realization that there was something wrong with it. I gave up that activity for two reasons.

The first reason involves my age, and the basic dishonesty I was living by not divulging it outright while I was tomcatting around. Although I wasn’t “lying” about my age, but I wasn’t being clear about it either. And that caused me problems, as I detailed in my story. The cybering activity didn’t cause the problems. The problems were caused by my cybering around without divulging just who and what I was. It was dishonest. And my story certainly did “confess” to that dishonesty.

Dishonesty was my sin. Not cybersex.

The second reason is that I simply found that I no longer had that compulsion, that desire. It was, I suppose, a phase that I entered and passed through. I found that my heart was no longer in it.

But I want to make this very clear. The fact that I no longer engage in this activity should not in any way be interpreted as a notion that I now find cybersex wrong. Nothing is further from the truth. I have no shame whatsoever for having done it, and don’t have the slightest problem with anyone else involved in it. If cybersex is something that you are interested in, then I wholeheartedly encourage you to go ahead and have a good time.

I make no judgments about cybersex. It strikes me as a reasonable, if perhaps exotic, activity for consenting adults. I once did it. I no longer do.

(laughs) Any questions?

Comments for Part Seven:

lumu81: wanna cyber??? lol
StuckInTheSixties: (smiles) We're kindred spirits, you and me, Mousie!
StuckInTheSixties: Lucy, wait your turn. I'm busy with Josh at the moment ...
lumu81: lmao! well i wont be waiting very long then
StuckInTheSixties: Ouch! (laughs) I'm not sure which one of us just got insulted! I think both! (laughs)
lumu81: lol, I was aiming that at josh! Sigh, off to work i go!!! Have a great night sitsy!
StuckInTheSixties: Thank you my dear! Don't work too hard! (like there was any chance of that ...)
LittleAntonov: muhahahahahhahahaha
StuckInTheSixties: Thanks TCG! Kind words, indeed. Shush, Wooter! (laughs) You're creepin' me out with that sinister laugh!
barnestorming_girl: no questions from me! I you darling.
StuckInTheSixties: I'm certainly not going to judge anyone. So far as I'm concerned, it's just not a big deal. The only reason why I felt I needed to revisit the issue was because I'd unintentionally left an incorrect impression in regards to two people, and in correcting that, unintentionally left an incorrect impression that I might have developed a critical attitude about it. I do, however, want to draw a distinction between engaging in normal activity between consenting adults ... and dorks who open their conversation by simply asking if you wanna see their dick on cam. (laughs) Those guys make great blog fodder.
LittleAntonov: mwuhahahhahahahahahahahhahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahaha i'll show you to shush
StuckInTheSixties: Do you have a big castle, and wear a black cape or somethin'?
barnestorming_girl: Hey lois! wanna cam???? lmao
StuckInTheSixties: Hahahaha! Cam 0rgy!
barnestorming_girl: lmao lois lmfao
barnestorming_girl: lmao okay!!!
StuckInTheSixties: If there's going to be any WireClub 0rgy, there's someone else who's gonna have to take part, part of the original Old Wire 0rgy club ...
barnestorming_girl: lumuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu
StuckInTheSixties: Lucy, aka lumu81. We might elect her President of the chapter. (laughs) I wonder what people reading this are thinking?

"Do those perverts have cyber 0rgies, or what?"

Readers: The explanation is complex and you'll likely never read it, but the answer is both yes, and no. (laughs)

Are You Familiar With These Commonly Available American Grocery Products?

A short time ago I was having a conversation with Barnsie (barnestorming_girl). For some reason, the conversation turned to breakfast cereal. (Not the most scintillating topic for conversation, but talking to Barnsie is always a pleasure.)

This led to me wondering: What commonly available American Grocery products would those of you who aren't from North America be familiar with? Obviously, certain products like Coca-Cola are sold worldwide. But what about others? Barnsie wasn't familiar with, for instance, some very popular American products like Grape Nuts cereal and Skippy Peanut Butter.

I took my camera into my local Lucky's supermarket, and took pictures of an assortment of products. I chose only products that were sold in every corner of American (and I assume Canada too). My apologies for the poor quality of some of the photos. It was a little weird wandering the aisles of the market with a camera, and I didn't want to make too much of a nuisance of myself. Take a look, and tell us products you're familiar with, or not. You may even be curious as to what some products are. For instance, are you familiar with "Rice-a-roni"?

By the way, the first shot is the selection of "good" wines offered by the store. Also, the Laura Scudders Peanut Butter apparently isn't distributed to every part of North America. I included it because I wanted to show you the very best peanut butter available anywhere in the known universe.

"Squirt Cam For Free"?!?!?

I was messin' around on my Home page, looking over people's various blogs, pictures, etc., and a little surprise popped up on my computer screen (See PrintScreen #1). I laughed, of course, and my finger immediately stabbed at the "Prtscn" key. I felt this little goodie should be shared with the audience at large.

Ladies and gentlemen, presenting, for your dining and dancing pleasure ... (drumroll, please) ...

s3jasmine!

Here profile is rather sparse. Besides what I'm showing here, there's a few photos. (She is rather pretty, however.)

I have but one question:

What the f%&x is "squirt cam"?

Whatever it is, I'm quite certain it's not gonna be for free. There's gonna be a "per minute" charge to the credit card. Actually, there won't be. s3jasmine will get my credit card number when hell freezes over. I'm also quite certain that conducting business as blatantly as she's doing here in WireClub, she'll be banned by Admin quite soon.

*waves* Bye bye s3jasmine!

Brain Strainer … Some More: Answers And Answerers

First, the following is the text of Brain Strainer … Some More as it was posted August 27, 2009:

Here we go again! Another Brain Strainer.

The last time I presented one of these, it was an unmitigated, total, complete Fz@x-UP. I fw*w*$ up almost every single aspect of it that could possibly be fw~$%* up.

This time (hopefully) is different.

Procedurally, it works the same as last time:

Below is a photo of a geometric figure. Click on it to expand it to maximum size.

How many different triangles can you find within this geometric figure?

When you think you know the answer, send that answer to me as a message. Do not share your answer with others. (You are honor-bound to follow through on this.)

You will be allowed only one single attempt to answer this puzzle. Answering more than one time will cause all of your answers to be deleted and disregarded. ONE TRY ONLY, SO BE SURE!

DO NOT LEAVE YOUR ANSWER AS A COMMENT BELOW THIS BLOG! Any comment left will be deleted as soon as possible. Again, send your answer to me as a message.

After a few days I will edit this blog, adding the correct answer, and changing the title of the blog to show that the answer has been posted. I will also provide a means to make a quick and easy assessment of the puzzle, and I will also provide a list of those who submitted answers, and what their answers were.

Here is one single clue for you: This puzzle is more difficult than you might think it is!

Good luck.

Okay. Next, here is a record of the various people who responded, and the answers that they gave:
That Girl:
“I say 27.”

sweetnsassygal77:
“24 triangles...but then my eyes are tired lol”

pablitox:
“23 triangles ...”

snowy_xx
“23 is my final answer lol”

FoamBorn[SUPREME]
“i counted 27?”

lois_lane
“First look...24 for the brain strainer?? I didnt know where to answer bahahaha...Didnt want the fear of DELETION hahahahaa...of the comment that is!!lols”

antonov3andahalf:
“i believe the answer is 24”

Tink:
“29 : ) “

Karma:
“Brain Strain Guess: 26. Yeah, I know it's wrong on several accounts - It was easy ... which your clue said it isn't. I was a mile off on the last one and if anything am even dumber now.

Doodsy:
“G'day SITS. I reckon there's 26 triangles mate.”


missteree7:
“Regarding your brain strainer nos 2 ( i can see 27 triangles only )”

Okay. And the answer is … (drumroll please) …

27.

Below are two pictures. On the left is the original figure; on the right is the figure with the key. Each point with intersecting lines is labeled with a letter. Each triangle is defined by a three-letter combination, with each letter of that combination showing a point of the triangle within the figure it represents.

A note: Holly (That Girl) registered her answer EXTREMELY quickly, within three minutes, and her answer was, of course one of the only three that were correct (along with Foamy and miss). She also was correct with the first Brain Strainer I presented, despite the fact that I screwed that one up. I suspect that Holly has some quirk in the way her mind works that allows her to quickly, efficiently, and accurately examine the figure and arrive at the solution. It’s pretty impressive.

By the way, as you can see in the original text of Brain Strainer ... Some More, I specified: "DO NOT LEAVE YOUR ANSWER AS A COMMENT BELOW THIS BLOG! Any comment left will be deleted as soon as possible."

Now that the answers are provided, feel free to leave any sort of comment you wish.

30 Facts Tag List Doodad Thingy

30 Facts Tag

I got “tagged” by Laura to do this damn thing. It’s been quite a long time since I’ve done one of these chain blogs. Usually, I’m quite resistant to doing them, partly because I’m mildly irritated by someone having what I consider the audacity of imposing this task on me, partly because I tend to resist “going along with trends,” and because they usually bore me.

But I’m going to do this one for these reasons:

> I’m not answering a list of prefabricated questions. I’m just listing things that I care to list.
> The “tag” list for this thing is relatively short, only six people, and I confess to being flattered that Laura would see fit to include me, for whatever reasons, in that short list.

But because I’m always “trying to be different,” and to impose a higher degree of challenge on myself, I’m going to limit my own “30 facts” to things about me that pertain to my existence as a WireClub member. (Laura’s blog, which I was “tagged” with, has no instructions or specifications whatsoever as to what the “facts” should pertain to.)

So to start things out, I’ll simply reiterate several facts that this little “prologue” has already revealed.

1. Laura (AMurderDivine) recently “tagged” me with a “chain blog.”

2. The last time I participated in a “chain blog” was when I posted one gotten from Holly (That Girl) on June 5, 2009.

3. I often like to make fun of certain kinds of common blogs, and I create parodies of them, which I then blog.

4. I’m even more irritated by “chain comments” sent to me. I delete them at the speed of light.

5. As I write this, I am about one week away from having been a WireClub member for one full year.

6. My longest continuous relationship in WireClub is that with barnestorming_girl.

7. I used to never give more than a passing glance at my Home page, or read others’ blogs. I simply went immediately to the Chat Rooms page and found a room to go into.

8. I now never give more than a passing glance at the Chat Rooms page and spend nearly all of my time on my Home page.

9. StuckInTheSixties is not the profile I began WireClub with. I started out as a dork named “thinkin’dude.”

10. I have a secret profile, quite fleshed out, with a profile “image” (not a fake photo, though), with all of the personal facts stuff all filled out, with a moderately sized friends list, etc. … all the trappings of a regular profile … that NOBODY in WireClub knows is me.

11. I have another profile, Biff_DeBoffe, which is a parody of “fake” WireClub members, those who represent themselves with a stolen photo of an attractive person, etc. He openly acknowledges himself to be “as fake as a three dollar bill.” He is extremely over-sexed, and has no apparent interest in much of anything besides “boffing.” Curiously, Biff gets unsolicited “friends requests” by unfamiliar pretty women all the time. Biff welcomes anyone to add him, including you.

12. I almost NEVER join clubs.

13. I love being a spectator of the various episodes of “drama” that erupt periodically in WireClub. I find drama fascinating, for some reason, and extremely amusing. I’m constantly astounded at the lengths otherwise calm, cool and collected people will go to when they become involved in drama.

14. While I love being a spectator of drama, I try very arduously to not be involved in it myself. I’m generally successful.

15. Although I carefully avoid becoming part of any drama, I do like to make smart-ass comments about it. This can be a tricky proposition at times. I like dropping sarcastic comments into dramatic situations, but always try to do so in a way that’s ambiguous, so that I don’t appear to be aiming a caustic comment at any particular person.

16. I have twice been involved in WireClub online “romances.” Both ended badly, but one of them ultimately evolved into a very warm and intimate friendship, which I can’t even begin to describe how precious and meaningful it is. I never exchange so much as a word with the other, and have no intention to do so in the future.

17. I have no interest in becoming involved in an online romance in the future. Twice was enough, thank you.

18. I love to flirt in WireClub, and find that it’s a real “art.”

19. What I enjoy most in WireClub now is being able to come up with something that makes people laugh, especially if it’s creative.

20. I have a “nemesis” in WireClub, someone whom I, for some reason, get great pleasure out of picking on. He is the one and only person I treat so shabbily and with such disrespect, although I don't "hate" him. He is a denizen of the Forums. He posts the most ridiculous, asinine, incorrect or misleading “facts,” and I get great pleasure out of showing, with references, corrections, etc. how inaccurate and inane his posts are. (laughs) He hates my fwx#@zw guts.

21. I have a friend who refers to my nemesis as an “asshat,” a word which gives me great amusement.

22. I have recently crossed paths with another person in the Forums that I detest. I find his posts absolutely loathsome. Strangely, they are so incomprehensible, and so annoying, that they have this peculiar quality to them where the only thing I find that I might reply with is something along the lines of “[unnamed], you’re an idiot!” So I essentially remain mute.

23. There are two blogs, maintained by Administrator Rod, that I love adding ridiculous comments to.

24. I have one single “friend” that is kept for purely “political” reasons. I figure that deleting this person is likely to cause me more difficulty than maintaining a fake friendship and leaving them. It’s somewhat hypocritical, I realize. But I’m a pragmatist, at least in this case.

25. One of the faces that commonly appear on the login page is a woman that, for some illogical reason beyond all normality, allures me. It’s not just beauty (although she’s beautiful). In fact, while bored and sifting through those “Awesome People Online Now, I once found her, and hence, her WireClub name. She was on the first page. I was curious. Who is she? What does she do? What is she like? I did a search, but alas, her profile is private. Before you start thinking how creepy that might be, I want to assure you that I NEVER had any intention of making contact. It was simply a matter of curiosity. If I was gonna be creepy, I’d have sent a message or a “friends” request.

26. I have never seen the slightest sign of this mystery woman in WireClub other than that described above.

27. I believe I should probably be spending less time in WireClub, but as time passes, I spend less and less time here.

28. I am fully aware of how long-winded I am. Although I see it as a shortcoming, I don’t even try to change that. Writing is like breathing for me. I must do it.

29. I must admit to having at least a certain measure of … let’s call it “insecurity,” for lack of a better word, about the fact that I’m quite a bit older than the typical person in here. It’s a weakness, and I should get over it, but I’m human. It’s just something I have to deal with personally. It’s no big deal, actually.

30. I can envision a time when I am no longer much of a presence in WireClub. It’s highly unlikely that I’ll announce my departure. In all likelihood, I’ll just be one of those who log in less and less and less often until I simply don’t log in any longer, leaving my profile to gather dust and spider webs. But I don’t see that happening anytime soon.

I am tagging (in alphabetical order) for this thing:

barnestorming_girl
Karma
lois_lane
lumu81
marymary
Natowar

You tagged folks, remember two things:

I only included “facts” about me that are specific to WireClub. You don’t have to do that at all. In fact, you probably shouldn’t. It’s just me being “different” or something.

By nature, I’m long-winded. You don’t have to be writing a fx&z&y’ novel as I apparently have done.

Good luck, and forgive me.