Something sweet about each of my friends
24-Dec-02
I wrote one nice thing about each of the people on my friends list.
Note: [S] means I know them from volunteering on the Support board, [UF] means they’re from User Friendly, [R] means that I know them in Real Life, [N] means I know them from NaNoWriMo, and [C] means I gave them an invite code. If there’s more than one item, like I know someone in real life and on User Friendly, it’s [UF,R].
- [S] You are one of the cleverest people I know. I love the way you are never afraid to say what’s on your mind, even at the risk of being harsh. I particularly enjoy the fact that you and I have both let corrupt us into at least not despising pikas (and where is Tenshi– why isn’t she on my friends list?)
- I searched for people in California who are interested in greyhounds and found you when you were 7 months along with your daughter Emma, born on September 11, 2002. Your post that day was so incredible, and reading your journal when you have time to update it is really special. It’s nice to be standing on the “other side” and to meet other survivors there.
- [UF] I added you to my LiveJournal in August, when your daughter was dying. You’ve posted things on the User Friendly board that are so personal, yet you were always so open, so willing to share your very human experiences. I know you face challenges every day of your life, but anyone who knows you online can see what an incredible, strong woman you are. When I think about all the people in my life who are “broken” in one way or another, I think about you and how you overcame so much, and it gives me hope that they will be able to do the same for themselves.
- [S] When I started answering support questions, you had been there for a little while. We started having close to the same # of points, and I decided that a friendly rivalry was in order. You’ve been very sweet about that rivalry, never letting it get so competitive that you stop having fun, and I appreciate that. I admire you for your maturity as well as your childlike enjoyment of silly things in life– I don’t get enough silliness sometimes, and when I do, I can usually count on you having something in your journal to seize on and be silly about.
- [I] I gave Beth an invite code, and she’s been unable to get the client to download. I hope she posts a message to Support because there’s a solution, but I don’t know what it is.
- [S] IKE! Right now, you are talking about Agent and how entertaining it is. You are a very fun person to be around online. You are also a great person to know on the Support board. I originally kept getting annoyed at you for always answering custy requests that I thought I’d provided a good answer for, but I’ve come to like and respect you very much. You are totally mad toaster, man.
- [S] One of the few people on LiveJournal who hasn’t met me and yet calls me by my real name. It’s really refreshing to meet people who can remember details like that, especially when they use those details (like “Hello, Stephanie”).
- [UF,I] A German UFie (who journals in English, by the way) who is One Cool Dude. Sorry about your leg, but I’m glad you’re almost completely healed now (though by no means “better”), and I hope you get all healthy soon.
- [R] I searched LJ for “bass clarinet” and “San Jose” and found you, and I am so glad I did. You’re a really COOL person who I have enjoyed getting to know. I hope that you and Drew and John and I can get together more in 2003, because we had fun. Plus, John (despite having an “oooh shiny” disorder) would loooove to see your techie toys!
- [R] I’ve known you for about 9 years now. Your adventures in St. Kitts are amazing, and you have this lovely writing style that really tries to capture the beauty and serenity of the place you’re in. I hope that you still find time to update your journal now that Kevin has joined you.
- [S] One of the most active support people on IRC, and someone I am glad to call a friend. I know the rough time you’re going through– I’ve been there before, and I hope that you don’t mind my rambling little lectures too much. I enjoy talking with you about silly things and about Illinois, the weather, and did I mention silly things?
- The dark side of one of my friends– I’m honored that you invited me in to see your less positive thoughts and posts.
- [S] I added you to my friends list because I made a couple of tutorials for Web Interface and wanted you to be able to see them without making them fully public (they use a filter now). But I also enjoy reading what you have to say to others in the support board, and I appreciate the hard work you do to make LiveJournal better for everyone. I look forward to reading your journal more now and getting to know you better, and am honored that you’ve added me to your friends list.
- [R] Another person I’ve known for 9 years. Wow. Well, you know I love you; you’re a brother to me. One of the things that makes you so incredibly special is that any of your friends can count on you, any time, and without being judgemental. You are one of the best people I know.
- [R] This is the journal of one of my gamers. She’s never updated (yet), but I want her to know that she is special to me, and that I am glad she and her daughter have become part of my life.
- [R] Another person I’ve known since I moved to CA, this is a person with whom I spent most of a gaming night (LARP) on top of a roof deciphering a code clue that he had received. He and I became good partners in-game, and good friends outside of it. He used to call my house asking for “Geri,” my LARP character, and I never knew it was him because he wouldn’t stay on and say “No, from the LARP game– I can’t remember your real name.” He’s a very beautiful person, both outside and inside, who has matured in the 8 years I’ve known him into a truly wonderful human being. I wish he didn’t live so far away now.
- [N,R] You are one of the silliest people I know in real life. You kept us motivated during NaNoWriMo, and you have a real “joie de vivre” that is so fun and so captivating. Sometimes I just don’t get your jokes, because I’m frequently clueless when it comes to puns and all Monty Python references, but I think you’re fun, even when you’re not funny.
- I think you wandered into my journal one day, left a comment, and added me to your friends list. Anyway, I hope you update more often, because you’re cool. And I want a utilikilt, too. Also, you’re great because you use the lj-cut tag all the time.
- I am so glad you’ve decided on a direction to take your life– goals are great. I’m sad because I know you from , but you have to decide for yourself what is right for you. You have the second cutest dog, and I am so glad that your life is going so well for you right now.
- I added you to my friends list because I saw how into music you are, and I invited you to the community. You are someone I can count on talking about music in just about every journal entry, and I love reading about how you use music to heal or soothe or just to enjoy. When I think of the way a bard’s magic should work, I think of you.
- [N,I,R] Another cool NaNoWriMo-er who now has a journal. You are a very interesting and funny person whose sense of humor doesn’t go over my head nearly as often as ’s. You’ve been very supportive of someone who really just kind of dropped into NaNoWriMo and was intermittent at best in terms of actually attending events and write-ins.
- [S] I added you recently because I see we are both in the Tuesday night . I will admit that I don’t know you very well yet, but I look forward to gaming with you because you’re intelligent in IRC and on support forums, and you seem like a cool enough person. Even if I can’t pronounce your username yet.
- [UF] You’re a cool person on User Friendly, and I’m glad that you’re on LiveJournal, too. I enjoy reading your comments on UF, though you rarely post here on LiveJournal. Hope you come back soon.
- [R,I] My sister. There’s not much I can say here, because you are so incredibly important to me. They say that the relationship you have with your siblings is the most important relationship you’ll have your whole life– it lasts the longest and is the most emotionally binding. I am completely in love with your children, and am glad you have two incredible miracles that I can spoil be wonderful to. I look up to you, and I look forward to seeing what amazing thing you do in the next year. Because I know you can do anything you set your mind to.
- [S] You’re kind of a mentor to me in support, and you’re also a great person to hang around with online. You are funny without being hurtful, and you have a real knack for getting people past the learning curves in their support experiences.
- [UF,I] You’re another one of those silly people, I suspect. But it’s great– the world needs more playfulness in it; we just do not have enough people telling us it’s time to play!
- [I,N] This is the NaNoWriMo journal of . And a successful novel was born!
- [R,I,N] I’ve met you at NaNoWriMo gatherings, but sporadically as I seemed to come to the ones you missed most often. But you’re a fun person to be around and I hope you continue with the South Bay Wrimos so that I can get to know you better.
- I found you through , and have found you to be a very compassionate, emotional person. I look forward to reading your journal, even when my heart breaks in doing so. I can only imagine how drained, physically, financially, and emotionally, you are right now, and I just wish I could give you a huge hug and tell you that you’re another one of those strong people who gives others strength when they need it, maybe even without realizing you’re doing it.
- I found you the same way I found . I can always count on you having the silliest and greatest quizzes in your journal, no matter how irrelevant or irreverent the results are. Still, you have these moments of real drama that you post about, and I hope you post more about this stage in your life.
- I hope you update more often. You’re a fellow Santa Cruzer, and you’re planning a wedding, which is always hellish and fun at the same time. I find your journal interesting, if only because it reflects a very “normal” side of Santa Cruz– work, home, boredom, etc.
- Another Santa Cruzer, but on the opposite end from . Your journal entries are always full of these beautiful photographs, sometimes of artwork you’ve done yourself, and sometimes they are just works of art themselves. I love the way you look at the world and see it as art, or something to make art from (or perhaps both). You remind me of why a professional, trained artist is so worthwhile.
- [R,I] As you go through life, you tend to meet people who are just, for one reason or another, Really Great to Be Around. You are one of those people in my life. I enjoy hanging out with you. I know you once said you didn’t know if your sister’s friends hung out with you because of you or because of her, but I want you to know it was both. I got to know you because of her, but I consider you to be a friend even without her. I am in closer contact with you than I am with her, anyway, and the journal certainly helps with that.
- [S] I added you to my friends list recently because you’re in the Tuesday session of . But you’re a pretty cool person yourself– I enjoy your little sarcasms as much as I appreciate your very beautiful journal style. Also, you are one of those creative kinds of people who has multiple creative talents (writing, drawing, etc.), and I appreciate that.
- [UF,I] I gave you an invite code and now look what you’ve done! Seriously, I love reading your journal. Intermixed with the “daily life” doses, you’ve posted a lot of wisdom in your entries, and they touch me.
- [S] Another one of the great support admins, you are a gentle guiding hand in LiveJournal Support, but you do so with a sense of humor and an “edge” of toughness that we really need to get the job done. Plus, I adore you for starting because I’ve been dying to play in a game for sooo long. You are definitely mad toaster.
- [S] Well, I’ve only recently met you, but you are so cool. I can’t think of much else to say than that, but I feel like I’ve known you for years, despite having only just met online. Anyway, I look forward to starting the new year with new friends like you.
- [N] Partway through NaNoWriMo, you admitted defeat. And I don’t know if that depressed you or not, but what I did notice was that you kept coming to the write-ins, to be supportive and to hang out with people, even though you had basically stopped writing. I love the fact that you didn’t take what you wrote, declare it trash, and throw it away, and I look forward to reading your NaNoWriMo stuff as a series of short stories later.
- [S] Someday, I want you to tell me (or post in your journal) why you hate Christmas. But any way, I enjoy meeting you on IRC, and I love reading your journal. You’re another one of those survivors who has chosen to share her story so that others can benefit from it, and I really admire you for that.
- Technically, I guess you are my second friend on LiveJournal, because was first (that’s how I learned about LiveJournal). But you are a really neat person to talk to. You’re very spiritual, but in a way that doesn’t make other people feel bad. And your experiences with certain people in your life reminds me of some of my experiences with people in my life. I really hope you come down to the Bay Area some day for a visit, because I really want to hang out with you and maybe go sightseeing.
- [UF,R] Yep– gotta love UF for bringing barely-related people closer. Seriously, though, I’m glad you’re part of my family, and even more glad that I’ve had a chance to get to know you better and become friends with you. I always find relating to my in-laws a little weird– and not just because of them, but because I would feel that way about any in-laws, I think. But you’re someone on the other side of the tree that I can get along with and relate to, and we have things in common. We don’t talk much about family, but the few times we have, I’ve appreciated the fact that my words stayed confidential and that you were supportive of the troubles we were having here.
On a side note, I saw your mom on Saturday morning at the P.O.– don’t know if I mentioned that already or not.
- I think I ran into you in ’s journal, and decided to add you to my journal. I sometimes find your journal entries just a little bit brutal, but I love the way you don’t hold back when you’re venting about something that’s really upset you or pissed you off. I always thought of bunnies as being sort of passive pets, but you’ve really given me a new perspective on them, because you talk about yours as though they have personalities the way cats do. And I suspect that for someone who knows how to care for them, they do.
- [S] Stephen King ROCKS! Okay, now that that’s out of the way, I like the fact that you’re on Support and are confident enough to tell people when something works or doesn’t work. I like your sense of humor. You travel a lot, and I envy that– I hope whenever you go on your various journeys that you remember to update your journal, because I love to read about the places you’ve been and what you’ve been doing.
- [N,I] Rarely updated, your journal is a reminder of how tough NaNoWriMo is when you have a life to live.
- [N] As I recall, you were due to deliver your son just a few days after NaNoWriMo ended. Of course, no plan is perfect, and you had him a few days late. I can always count on you for linking to a site or an article that I hadn’t encountered yet, and to have some quippy comment about it.
- [S] Another person I added for . You’re an amusing person– frequently very upbeat on IRC and fun to be around. You have a really beautiful LiveJournal layout– functional as well as attractive. I like it.
- [R] You were the first person I Friended on LiveJournal (which I found out about and joined because of you, even though there was no way I’d be able to ask you for the invite code). You haven’t updated since you left Africa. You started your LJ because you went into the Peace Corps (and if anyone, especially reading this hasn’t read Susan’s journal, please do– it’s good reading), and you and I have known each other for several years through the NWU, in addition to being born on the same day as Davy Crockett. You’re another one of those people who I look up to and admire, but with whom I am not afraid to be friends as well.
- [S] You have made me stop hating pikas, though I still prefer Cthulhu. 
You are a very positive and upbeat person whom I am glad to call my friend.
- [I,N] I think I met you through NaNoWriMo. Your journal entries are always full of sarcasm and wit that’s amusing without being pathetic. I don’t know if you finished your novel or not, but when I give out an invite code, I never judge how someone uses the journal they create with it. Still, I enjoy yours immensely.
- [S] I think you’re another one I added because you joined , but I haven’t regretted it yet. You and I have a dark past in common (Amherst), I love your journal layout/style, and you’ve got that needed level of maturity on my friends list that would be easy to lack here in LJ-land.You’re also sweet and supportive– one of those people I feel I could ask for a shoulder to cry on if I really needed it.
- You still owe me a beer, man. 
Seriously, though, I already mentioned you’re my most prolific friend, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing, you know. I can always ignore you if I want to (grin). I was glad to see your goals today, and I love the fact that you’re so open about your life in general. I hope someday to meet you in person, because I think that would be a lot of fun. You are the person I go to when I have a Mac question, and you definitely played a role in my decision to “Switch” for my next computer. Though I love Linux, the Mac hardware is sooooo goooood.
- [N,I,R] Wow. You’re so comfortable with your sexuality (or maybe just so confident in expressing it), I really respect and admire that. Plus, you make sex seem fun, which is not always easy to do. You remind me that it should be fun and explorative and silly and serious and basically all the things that art can be. And yes, I guess that means that you remind me that sex is more than a movement, it’s also an art form.
- [R] I met you at WorldCon. You were easily the funniest guy at the Zen Scavenger Hunt. When I ran into you the next day, I had sadly missed the LJ meeting that morning, though I wished I’d been there. You were wearing your LJ tag still, so I introduced myself and got your username because I really wanted to keep up with you. You’re a funny guy in person, but your journal has been a bit more serious than I expected it would be. I’ve really enjoyed reading it, though, because again, there’s that level of “grownupness” that is kind of a relief. It’s when someone reaches that point in their lives where they realize that everyone has drama in their lives, and some of the drama is worth worrying about, and some of it isn’t. Also, you do have a sense of humor which is fun to read, especially when it’s levelled at the guv’ment.