Hey Fiona! Hey Anne! It is good to see you despite the circumstances.

Happy birthday, sumi!

There are USB rechargeable heated socks.

What!!??!! Sounds like a Midwestern necessity.

I have been catching up this weekend and join you all in mourning DX. It does feel like he was just talking about figuring out teaching very recently. I always admired his username. That username may have been one of the early indicators that in this group I had found a home (semi-obscure Classical reference used with the assumption that everyone would get it? My people!)

I am also thinking (not for the first time) that I really should write up some Just In Case instructions. I forget sometimes how much I live in my own head...like there are a few of you that I think, "I could have so-and-so call them, we're friends," but then go "Wait, are we really friends, or do I just think we're friends because I think of them so fondly...but then neglect to actually follow up with calls or messages or whatever and they think of me as just some rando that they barely know that they maybe shared a meal with that one time..." So just some Sunday afternoon overthinking things. Whatever, I love you guys.

Dana messaged me last night about Ed, and I'm just gutted by it. He was the one who supplied me with tapes back in the olden days when I didn't have access otherwise, and I hope he knew how much it meant to me that I could still participate in fandom because of his kindness.

BTW, has anyone contacted Norah/Burrell? I haven't seen her on social media in quite a while, but there are several platforms I'm not on. Any current or former LAistas reach out to her? If not, I think I have her phone number...

That's a sweet memory of DX. It just speaks to his character and personality. So much is so hard and so sad right now.

How is your dad doing?

BTW, has anyone contacted Norah/Burrell? I haven't seen her on social media in quite a while, but there are several platforms I'm not on. Any current or former LAistas reach out to her? If not, I think I have her phone number...

Epic, no one has mentioned that they reached out to Burrell. I know Kat knows. I don't know how close the LAistas still are in real life, so I don't know if Allyson, Burrell, Kristen, Polgara, etc. know.

I don't know what to do about that, and I don't know if people who are posting in other threads have missed Beep Me, or just don't have the spoons to comment here, right now.

I also don't know how much people are gone because they just drifted, or just because their lives got too busy/social media is easier, versus how many are gone because they made a conscious choice to be gone.

I read Beep Me (Javacat pointed me here in a FB comment) so I read about DX's passing at work and am finally home and unwound so I can reply.

I kept thinking "but he just posted something". Because it felt like a couple weeks ago. Which obviously it wasn't.

It's been lovely to see pictures popping up on FB, I have some physical pictures but I need to scan them and then I think Ihave some scanned or digital on my back up drive that I need to find and check.

Parker, search for "usb heated socks" on Amazon.

I also don't know how much people are gone because they just drifted, or just because their lives got too busy/social media is easier, versus how many are gone because they made a conscious choice to be gone.

I know I drifted because things got busy and weird in my life. But I'm not drifting away again.