this is not what you think it is

[anastrophe]

or maybe it is. as someone who does not participate in FG nearly as much as he used to, perhaps y'all might read some deeper meaning into it. well, there's no deeper meaning, but there is a meta-meaning. and it won't have a meta-meaning if i explain what it is, or even what meta-meaning means. clear?

so, a bedtime story. it's 3PM-sh where i am, but somewhere in the world it's bedtime. in fact, yes, one of my customers is a school in Khartoum, Sudan, and it's midnight-ish there, so here's to Khartoum.

I started on the internet in 1986. lots of people think that's crazy, cuz 'the internet didn't start until 1994'. well, the World Wide Web began about 1994, but the internet had been around a LOT longer before that. this isn't the time for a history lesson, so i'll just refer you to 'google'. before 1986, i'd spent some time in the BBS world - a realm that sorta kinda if you squint just right kind of looked a little bit like forumgarden. in the BBS world, you'd dial a specific phone number to connect to that BBS. often a long distance call. if the BBS had only one phone line, then you'd be the only person who could post while you were connected. the more popular BBSes had multiple phone lines, but it was rare for a BBS to have more than three lines. so often you'd have to 'demon dial' in order to get on, if the board was popular.

i was never a heavy participant in the BBS world - mainly just looking around for interesting software for my Amiga. at one point, i set up and 'ran' (such as it was) a tiny BBS for a friend of mine, that never really went anywhere.

in 1986, i opened an account on The Well, after my brother told me about it (he'd gotten his account about six months earlier). The Well was an extremely influential online community - some might call it the first real online community. The Well's history is fascinating in its own right. http://www.well.com for more info. I imagine i spent literally thousands and thousands of dollars while on the Well - for most of their history - up until only a few years ago - you paid by the hour to be online on the Well. i believe it was $3.00 an hour way back when. plus, it was a toll call.

i closed my account on the Well just two years ago - i was a member for 18 years. The place over the years became increasingly insular and xenophobic to certain mindsets, and i found less and less to participate in as a result, since i hold a sort of unconventional ethos.

so, there's a few bits of info that may or may not be "Things you find interesting." to fit into this particular subforum. but wait, that's not all! NOW how much would you expect to pay?

when i was eleven years old - 1971 - i started growing my hair long. i didn't cut it until i was sixteen, in 1976. by then it reached to my tailbone. here's a link to what may be the only surviving photo of me during that time, aside from yearbook mugshots: http://www.anastrophe.com/hair.html . That was about thirteen, 1973.

i'm left handed.

i'm six feet tall, even though my dad barely reached five foot six inches. both my older brothers are taller than me.

i came within seconds of not even being here to write these words back before i hit my teens. it's not an exciting story, really, but reflecting on it some 30 years later, it kind of takes my breath away, so to speak, to imagine how close i came to being a blurb on the evening news. http://klaatu.anastrophe.com , my paltry attempt at the world of blogging.


so, is this what you think it is? or is it really my idea of what you might think it isn't? i'll never tell. or, you'll never tell me. or, uh, what was the question?

i'll leave only this of substance:

There is a sublime thieving in all giving. Someone gives us all he has and we are his.

Eric Hoffer

[chonsigirl]

Oh, I like your hair!

Thanks
That was a great read.The hair is kinda nice

[sunny104]

That was very interesting, tell us more bedtime stories!

I LOVE the long hair!

[telaquapacky]

You are a very interesting chap, Paul (I knew that anyway). I also had a near death experience- fell off a cliff in Malibu. I was also a cub scout.

What I was wondering is, if "this is not what you think it is," what were we supposed to think it was?

[anastrophe]

When you are at sea, keep clear of the land.
Publilius Syrus

[AussiePam]

Interesting !!!! And that's a particularly scary title line too, Anastrophe! I am trying to keep my mind blank! So you can't see my innermost promptings as I gaze in rapture at your long locks. .. um.. I was once told that a blank mind leaves a lot of space for the Devil to cover with graffiti. Hic.. But I digress.. Graffiti in my head would be in surreal limerick form anyway. And so you'll never know what I thought you'd think I was thinking.

I used to ride horses in the madcap way I do most stuff.. grin.. and came off on my unhelmeted head when I was about 19. Galloping through the bush, the horse had put one foot in a wombat hole. I woke up a week later, and have always felt I was somehow granted an extension and should probably try to use it well.

[OpenMind]

So, I guess that if the father had made some kind of deal out of it, it would have been more than just a scary 'rollercoaster ride'. Glad he saved you all, and here you are now, keeping the FG, as we know it, alive.
Thanks, Anastrophe.

[chonsigirl]

Originally Posted by anastrophe

When you are at sea, keep clear of the land.
Publilius Syrus

Anyone can hold the helm when the seas are calm....................steer us straight, O Captain!

[AussiePam]

Yeah, what Chonsi and OpenMind said !! And don't steer us, O Captain, like unto the captain in King Kong (which I watched last night) - lest we fetch up on the rocks and encounter lost tribes of nasties, raging prehistroic beasts or very large primates.