I LOVE this thread. Can we do it again next year?

That is the plan!

Why, I may even end up advocating that we have a Delurker thread quarterly or so, for those of us who are lurky or pressed for time or whatnot.

I got a little verklempt reading Nilly's post. It just feels right that today, on the last day, Nilly posted. Congratulations on your marriage. As a lurker, I never got to say that. I've caught a few Nilly posts and loved every one of her Firefly love letters. They were a joy I luxuriated on.

I hope you do get the time to post more regularly even if I never do.

I can't even begin to describe the effect b.org had on my English. It was so welcoming here - I was always (and still am!) encouraged to ask, to correct my mistakes and to play with the language. Fun in and of itself, even before the content.

THAT. From me, and my sometimes-endless-edits too, thank you.

I often have endless edits and English is my only language.

Trudy, his mother calls him Theo. Which is the form my mother got tattooed on her arm, along with her other grandkids. The diminutive seems to have convinced her that there isn't an l in the full name. The'onious isn't easy to say, so she sticks to Theo and remains confused. It's a vicious circle. (Note to self: get off your lazy ass and send her a couple Monk albums.) I used to call him Squirmy because he was very fidgety. Now I call him Squawky because... I'm sure you can figure it out. Today I've called him all sorts of stuff. He's overtired but won't stay asleep, so he gets more tired. Another vicious circle. And one that's much worse than my mother's inability to pronounce her grandson's name. Anyway, come see him! Come see the house! Come see us! It's been too long.

I have only known one other St. John's alum...he was an, shall we say, odd duck

Bonny, that is, shall we say, redundant. Or at least it was when I was there 25 years ago. Freak was the norm. I would be interested to hear your friend's name & any other Buffistas' friends who went there. It's a very small school, and I was involved in running alumni activities for six or seven years so I met a lot of people who graduated over the past 70 years. My profile addy, a nod to my Faulknerian homeboy Isaac McCaslin, is good. Or stop by music. I think I'll start posting again.

P-C, my best friend in high school was named after Quentin Compson. (Actually he was named after his father but was always called his Faulkner-inspired middle name.) He has a sister named Candace and a brother named Ben. He has a cousin named Jason, but unlike his siblings' names, that's just a coincidence.

HA HA HA HA. Wow. That...just does not seem like a good idea.

Joe, my great-grandfather, William Kyle Smith, taught philosophy at St. John's Annapolis from the 1930s I think. He died in the early 1980s. My great-uncle Billy (WKS Jr.) is St. John's 47, and hale and hearty, if married to my Crazy Aunt Nancy.

I got a little verklempt reading Nilly's post.

me too. I just skipped about 1000 posts to go ahead and do my official introduction although I am far from a lurker.

My name's Liz and I've lived in Los Angeles for 9 years but I still feel like Chicago is my home. I've been a waiter, a horse-and-carriage driver, and a movie theatre manager (among other things) but I am currently unemployed and very much unsure of what to do next with my life.

Probably 90% of what I type in the posting box I never end up posting and I still manage to step in the guacamole from time to time yet I always feel loved and accepted here at b.org.

I'm pretty sure I am in favor of everything on the List of Contentious Things. Olives, cilantro, fernet, and serial commas. I've never had a muffaletta but I'm positive I'd love it.

Flea, I was class of '89 so I just missed him. I haven't met Uncle Billy but I know his classmate, John Van Doren (brother of Charles, the quiz show guy, class of '46.) I thought that Chuck Nelson, father of Annapolis president Chris, was class of '47 but he's '45. My all-time favorite Johnnie is George Levine, class of '44 (Atlantic Records founder Ahmet Ertegun, one of my heroes, was his classmate.) Last I knew George was working on a musical about his adventures as The Phone Ranger. He brought one of the landmark cases that led to splitting up Ma Bell. Guy is a trip.