I was literally knocked out of my chair laughing by the Great Anthropomorphized Lightbulbs vs Candle Flames Debate

Good times, good times.

And I think I mumbled that Steph was someone I knew from college. I'm not sure I ever told you that, Steph!

Well, I did visit you at college, so that's ballpark-y. Or the parking lot of the ballpark.

Yay! I finally made it to the end of this completely awesome thread! I've been giggling at it out loud for the past couple of days.

One of the problems with the b.org is that several of our members are pretty much real-life Mary Sues, ruining it for the rest of us.

This is so true! We have the most kickass people ever (sometimes literally) here and it makes our lives just so much richer. I think if you didn't all exist I'd have to make you up.

Anyway, welcome, welcome, lurkers and rare posters and crazy all the time posters! I am so happy to see you and to know about what's going on in your lives. Totally learning a bunch of stuff I didn't know.

Oh! And I'll do my own intro later, but for the moment I must say that sumi is not a one name only!

I'm a Sumiko, too. Imagine the odds. It's my grandmother's name. But we got the classic Japanese-American thing, with an American first name (Lisa! Of which we also have many!) and a Japanese middle name. Then I married, so my name seems completely Anglo at first glance, or over the phone.

Kprinkle is Anglo???

Bwahaha! Yes! Didn't you know? We come from a long line of Kprinkles who, err, okay, yeah, I got nothing.

Actually the real name was probably originally Schpreinkel or something, but the SO's family has no real idea about their lineage long term.

So in total out of character forthrightness on the internet, that makes my full name: Lisa Sumiko Mihara Sprinkle. See how my Japaneseness is all sandwiched neatly in there? When I got married I tried to keep the Sumiko because I loved it so much, but it hurt my parents because it felt like I was rejecting them wholesale (remember, whole failed eloping thing) so I kept all four names.

As for fondness for ellipsis... you're kidding me, right?

No, no kidding involved. Wikipedia lists one use of the ellipsis at the end of a sentence as an indicator of "...a trailing off into silence." That's pretty much how I speak, so....

As to how I "...refer to stuff you learn here @ b.org...", I rather stumble through "Umm, on the message board I read..." and no one inquires further.

I've been wondering all day whether Kevin had returned to complete his 'tried to arrest the Prime Minister' narrative. That's a story that needs to be finished, if only so that I can stop thinking about it.

Whoo!! Look at the size of Vortex's Oxford comma!

(No, I couldn't resist. I just got done writing an exam. my brain is numb.)

Poor lurkers. Now we are back to being all gang of 14 about everything and "oh well I've stayed at more houses than you have!" and writing 500 posts in a week.

I've been skimming that *looks at feet*

I think if you didn't all exist I'd have to make you up.

So says Miss "Gave up everything to bring Rock and Roll to the Needy".

Oh, I forgot to mention that my SiL with whom I am currently staying, has 2 cats: a skinny male, monkey thug named Sobey and an orange tabby named Larry, who is female.

I learn things here that are often extremely relevant, witty, thoughtful, or just damn well worth repeating. As asked, therein lies the dilemma. I have tried explaining the website to family and close friends, but as a lurker, it’s that much more difficult to explain how I learned something through active non-participation. Add to that it’s fandom roots and I completely lose my audience as my RL family and friends have not one iota of love for science fiction (or fictional storytelling in general) and are very suspicious of my Buffy lovin’ ways.

This doesn’t stop me. I am usually somewhat vague about the source and will hand wave an explanation that includes “I found this online.”

I am really enjoying learning more about regular and infrequent posters. I confess I’m a little sad that there haven’t been more true lurkers, people like me who don’t have a personal link to a Buffista and haven’t posted much or at all. I guess I’d hoped to feel less lonely in my quirky lurkerdom.

I’m marveling at the speed with which this new thread is moving.