Thank you so much, Liese!

It snowed here today.

April Fool's!!

I'm not nearly caught up here (though I do still intend to read each and every post), and I'm about to have very minimal computer access (let alone internet access) for the coming ten days or so due to Passover. I don't know where the discussion is at the moment, I don't know if what I'm about to write is in any way relevant, but I'll say it anyway, because this is what I thought and felt while reading this thread during the past few days.

A couple of weeks ago I got the most amazing gift I have ever gotten, in my entire life. And it was from you guys, and I mean 'you' in the most plural sense that the word can have. From the community, or the collective, if that's how you prefer to call it. It was through specific individuals, of course, but I don't think it ever would have happened if it weren't for the community, the board, this place.

And I'm not talking specifically about the money that was collected in order to give me the present of a plane ticket to the USA, as strange as it may seem (though that was, indeed, incredible). The money is the result of that gift, in my eyes, if that makes any sense, its physical or technical implementation. The very existence of the emotions behind it, the very fact that people from all over the world could connect in such a way through words-on-a-screen - that is amazing, in my eyes. The ability to know people I would never ever had any other way to know, in any different circumstances, and not only 'know' in the sense of having casual conversations and debating plot-and-character points, as much as these things are indeed fun and started this whole forum, but also know in the personal, emotional, level. And getting them to know me. I have never felt so rich in friends, as in that morning (my timezone), never felt so blessed.

And like I said then, it wasn't about me - it was about the goodness that came from your hearts, about reaching out all over across the ocean, both the one full of water and the one full of the cultural gaps, and being able to be friends, really regardless of gender, color, religion, or language. I got to see how wonderful, considerate, caring, enthusiastic, cooperating, generous, sharing, reaching-out - I can go on until my vocabulary runs out, here - you are. And when I say "you", I mean it in both the singular and the plural sense, both as each one of you whose generosity still brings me to tears when I think about it, and as the plural-you, the group that contains all those individuals, and without it, nothing would have happened.

I'm trying to explain this place to people I know IRL (well, "in real life" is not a good term, because you guys are just as real as any person I've met face-to-face, so maybe I should use that term). I've tried in the past, but now that I'm sharing my plans to go to the USA during the summer, and meet as many of you as I will possibly be able to, and stay over at your homes, I find myself doing that in a higher frequency. I try to explain that you are not just user-names who express opinions on "Buffy", that so many of these names have a whole personality for me behind them, a whole person, many times with history, current information, unique personality and character. That I can tell you apart by more than just a name, that each of you is a person to me. That I feel like I know, at least some of you, and moreover, that you really know me. That this is a community, that people share their lives here, that through the technology there's a human connection, different than the one developed when meeting people F2F, perhaps, but sometimes just as strong and significant. That it's something I treasure and feel blessed to be a part of, as small and distant as my part may be.

Like I said, I'm far from caught up, and I have no idea about the specific nature of the current discussion, but I just want to remind this to, well, I'm not sure whom, maybe myself, after reading throughout a lot of hurt emotions. You We are a wonderful group of people, who has done a lot of great things, both to individual members of the group and to many other worthy causes 'outside'. I am going to have quite a little internet access in the coming couple of weeks, and I'm going to miss you - to Nattering with you, to knowing how you are, to be a part of your lives, in this 'virtual' but very real way.

I'm not sure how to make my point, here. What I'm trying to say is that we're doing good, we're good people. I love us. And, yes, just as there are times when I am doing something that is wrong in my eyes and I'm disappointed in myself, there are times when things don't work out 100% OK in a more general sense. I want us to be able to get through this rough patch (as we got through rough patches in the past) and continue to be friends. But on the whole, I love us.

t allergies

Hell, peeps. Posting process rather than content. Yes, The Cheesebutt Lawspeak has details on stuff like how to propose, because we all keep forgetting. The short "How to Propose" checklist is as follows:

Voting Checklist

____ No other proposals are currently on the table

____ You post a formal proposal (use words like wherefore!) in Bureaucracy

____ Four other people say "I second that"

____ Someone in Bureaucracy volunteers to count votes

____ A Stompy Foot opens Light Bulb immediately

____ You post in Press the text of your proposal, and link to Light Bulb

____ You post the text of your proposal in Light Bulb

____ Light Bulb discussion for (roughly) 4 days.

____ You take the text of your proposal and phrase it for the final ballot (You may change the language from your original proposal if you choose, or not.)

____ You send the final ballot text to Jon B.

____ Jon B. notifies you that the web ballot is ready and gives you the link.

____ You post in Press the final ballot text, the link to the ballot, and the dates and times of voting opening and closing (3 days total)

____ You post in Light Bulb the same as you've just posted in Press, ending discussion in Light Bulb

____ You wait for the voting period to end and the vote-counter to count.

____ The vote-counter reposts the final ballot text with the results (number of votes, winning vote, percentages)

____ Everybody takes a nap.

passes box Tissues?

Everybody takes a nap.

Can we just skip to this stage?

t /stayed up late, didn't sleep well last night

(ETA what the Net ate from my original post)

t takes several.

thanks.

Me too, please.

Love you, Nilly.

Nilly, from where I sit, you're the one who's given us the gift.