I won't likely be able to post on the 31st, so I'm taking this moment to make a post now, in honor of my 2-year anniversary at JWN. Happy mother frakking anniversary, sd-7!!
As we ponder it, we start to realize just how much I've grown. And yet how little, simultaneously. In my early days, and many times since, I've talked about a lot o' personal crap and thus invited a lot of pretty harsh but real responses. In hindsight, I think I was extremely immature and I made all the wrong choices.
I really wish I'd reached out to some other people, or that I was on my own a bit sooner. I let myself end up under the thumb of emotionally abusive women who just wanted a free ride, and caused a lot of problems for myself and others. I had it coming. I couldn't really look at women objectively until I'd truly experienced a relationship, which I hadn't before two years ago. I traded one corrupt manipulator for another, and another.
When last I mentioned anything about my marriage, it was that I'd separated from my wife and was planning to divorce after being apart for a year. I won't discuss my personal relationships here, of course. I've met some nice folks who I'll talk to in a more personal way about all those issues in the near future, if I haven't already. Awesome people I need to update include: zoiks, elderelite, serenitynow!, cantleave, nugget, Nobleheart, Desillusionee, and...I'm sure there are many others I'd probably need to talk to, the strong, tough types like undercover, and...Mad Sweeney, and...maybe even the deadly assassin known only as james_woods.
I want to say, oompa, thanks for keepin' it real. OUTLAW, thanks for the brief, but brutally honest responses and baby pictures as needed. out4good3--critics call your responses "raw, gritty, and street-smart--out4good3 brings the goods in a hard-edged thriller every time he types." Palmtree67 is always nice. Snowbird--you recognize that, as I so often have told my wife, blackness is something that doesn't have to be proven, but is in fact, a way of life. I've actually been thinking of a good stage play called "I Don't Have To Prove My Blackness To You" followed by "I Don't Have To Prove My Blackness To You, Either!!" and the epic conclusion, "I Still Don't Have To Prove My Blackness To You!!!"
Okay...let's make sure we remember people. Sherah--your name is classic. The Princess of Power was my first crush as a child, until Dad took the She-Ra doll, thinking I was going to be gay, when I was really just in love with her... Um...what else? Cyberjesus is a great name and concept. Um...there's No Room for George, who always has interesting anecdotes and borders on misogyny and controversy every so often, which makes it fun to read his stuff, not to mention that the ladies just seem to love him. You're cool, and yet because of the quantum mechanics of it all, not cool at the same time.
leavingwt has a great avatar. And great one-liners. Never ceases to say something insightful or helpful.
Anyone who has a sci-fi character in their name, such as darth frosty and baltar 447, automatically gets bonus points and LEVELS UP! Strength +5! Agility +3! MP +10! HP +5! Your job status is upgraded to Kingpin!
So...thanks for getting on my nerves and for comforting me. Thanks for the private messages, phone calls, encouragement, and harsh realities. I guess all those things are what true friendship is all about, eh? If I had half the common sense and emotional wisdom of you folks, I'd be watching Blu-ray movies while sitting on a throne, sipping chocolate milk.
So...here's to many more years of JWN'ing! Take care, everyone!
--sd-7/Christopher