Hec, I like the way you think of lurking Buffistas.

Dee said it was both weird and exciting to recognize JZ and Emmett when they came in. I think it was probably similar to the sensation we all had when big batches of us first met at the Chicago F2F. You know these people through their words, and some pictures and then BOOM there they are in front of you. Almost like a character had walked off a page.

You can really see a lot of MM's bone structure in that arm-reaching anime eyes picture of Emeline. When I met her I mostly noticed the Aimee elements in her face.

This was, unsurprisingly, a big thing in the freak-ass church. They equated any sort of consumption of porn (i.e., reading Playboy, renting a movie, even if you rent it to watch it with your spouse) with porn addiction, and therefore all porn is the devil's work and destroys families and society.

That's like saying that drinking one beer is alcoholism and therefore all beer is evil.

Like you said, Connie, addiction to *anything* (porn, booze, gambling, shopping) is going to cause serious problems in a relationship. It's the addiction itself, and not the object of the addiction, that's the problem.

"Actually I'm a lurker who supports you in email."

Do you know, I think I might actually tag that, because that's pretty much where I'm at wrt the boards these days, with the best will in the world, and because I think that is just SO fucking cool. Bless. Go Team Sooper Seekrit Buffista!

People can get obsessed in anything to the point of neglecting their family. There's some people in my office who have a problem with fantasy sports, if you ask me.

Word. It's not like marriages didn't break up before the Internet.

I agree to some extent that the internet tends to speed things up, though. I think everything from email to divorce is a little faster nowadays. And having another form of escape makes it easier to dodge issues facing a marriage and it certainly opens up whole new worlds filled with fascinating strangers who can seem like the totally "get" you. That can be enticing to people who feel lonely, alienated and estranged.

Still, I hate it when people blame the means. It's ultimately a person's choice. The medium they use shouldn't be tarred as a result.

Emma is, I'm not the first to observe it, a lovely, elfin-looking girl child.

~ma to Burrell.

Connie, you are very wise to navigate the waters of your family so wisely. I have to be in a separate time-zone from mine in order to preserve sanity.

Thanks, all, for your good wishes and thoughts.

It's not like marriages didn't break up before the Internet.

So true. It only exposes a problem that was already there. It's the catalyst, not the cause.

People can get obsessed in anything to the point of neglecting their family. There's some people in my office who have a problem with fantasy sports, if you ask me.

Agreed, and if people are looking for something to obsess over or to help them escape from their lives they will mostlikely find it.

Hey, I resemble that remark.

Well, having seen Emma, I can better understand Evil Mother in Law's baffling comments - she does look like she could be an elf. She's a remarkable wee person, in that she looks nothing like Winston Churchill. Go figure.

But, for the love of God, The Empress is a babe. Maybe more of an Eowyn babe than an Arwen babe, but, hey, I know which one I'd rather shag spend time with. Ahem. Silly MiL.

probably similar to the sensation we all had when big batches of us first met at the Chicago F2F.

Or really, anytime Buffistas meet F2F. That sense of continuing a familiar pattern of conversation, just in an additional dimension, is the same no matter how large the group or how small. Hec, I'm really glad the reading went well, and it's so cool that Dee de-lurked in person. (Hi, Dee, if you're lurking now!)

That arms-out pose of Em's looks like she's attempting to fly. Miracleborn Baby! Up, up, and awaaaayyyy!