Better safe than sorry: an early goodbye.

I feel as though I've done a lot of growing up in the process of participating in this forum, and while some of you might think that quite odd, I don't. Being exposed to all sorts of points of view and so many different varieties of talent and creativity, such a well of truly gifted people, has given me a bigger and better model to work from. Every single contributor to this forum has given me something to grow on, from Ned's, Ally's, and Dan's incredibly welcoming arms, to Julia's, luna's, Nichole's, Sam's, Pinkpanther's, Archel's, teeny's, Di's, and Anna F's "beautiful souls" girls society, to Chris P's, Chris V's, Anthony E's, oops's, Tep's, Martin S's, NA's, Matos's, and your [addressing you here, Andrew] "beautiful souls" boys society, to stevem's, miloauckerman's, Martin M's, gygax's, Dave S's, John D's, Rob Bolton's, and so many other individuals' excellent (even if differing) viewpoints, to... you know what? If you're even an occasional contributor to this forum, I need to thank you. Even in this one particularly rough patch I experienced last year, some of you were thoughtful enough and concerned enough to actually try to reach out and contact me offline to see how I was doing. This does not happen everywhere online, I'm well aware, and is one of those signs this forum is so much better than any of the other ones out there.

You people care. Even when you don't think you do, you care.

You people are welcoming. There are no set cliques around here. This does not have the feel of high school about it. If you want to be in with one of the regional crews, all you have to do is be around them enough. There's a creative group that only demands its members be creative. Practically all the socialists on this forum have already shown how welcoming you are of die-hard capitalists such as myself. There is no "popular" group around here, no gang of individuals who insist on turning every single thread into their own person playpen.

For all of these reasons and for so many more, I am anxiously anticipating the return of this forum. Because all of you are beautiful. Thank you.

also to my favorite posters Ned, gygax, deanomgwtflol&^%^, Mandee, the Alexes, Darnielle, oops, CUrtis, Ally for her email addresses, the ILB boys, the ILF crew, the Mods, the sods, the cods, and my never-met unnamed good friend to the slight west who keeps me entertained daily with non-sequitor emails about nothing in particular and whom I find to be a wondrous person.

well now I feel silly...

paging...

http://www.xoxmag.com/images/metem/dr_awkward_front.gif

Have a great trip Ned! Are you gonna bring us back some photos?

Um... that really didnt come out the way I meant it to.

Dear ILx: you are still cute.

I love everyone here i've become friends with, obv. If we've emailed each other off-board, we visit each other's blogs, we send snail (!) mail or we AIM then I mean you.

I like to hope I won't come back b/c like andrew suggests there are so many other things to be done. If I do. . .well you all knew I wasn't much for self-control. If I don't. . .look for my book about the past two years I spent in hell b/c ILx will be in there somewhere.

Rock on till later.

So thank you everyone. I will be back in two weeks, no doubt.

Was very interested to read this and your view. Thanks.

(x-post)

hahaha, DEAR GOD, Perpetual FAP...(actually that would RULE)

get thee hence, or suffer the consequences!

I was originally an occasional ILM poster, and lurked on ILE for a while. I fully admit I was intimidated about posting here. Once I started, though... holy crap. I started out very polite, then relaxed a bit into the fella that I am here now (which is pretty much how I am in RL). Having moved to London from Toronto, I didn't know that many people here, and FAPs proved to be a great way to meet some very cool folks. Hell, it's even getting me in shape thanks to my tennis thread! ILX - both online and offline - has played a big part in keeping me happy and sane over the last year or so. Sure, I've got my own enjoyable 'real life' and all that, but some of you are among the most interesting people I have ever met (I don't get out much, clearly). I will state the obvious that this is like no other message-board/online community-type-thing out there. To be honest I would never participate in ANY online forum-thing, but this place is a little... different. I've been able to have serious political discussions, openly talk about my life which has brought back memories both good and bad, learn all sorts of things every time I'm here, and just talk shit about music, Canada, toilet paper, poutine... whatever.

I have no problem with Andrew doing what he's doing, nor do I have any issues with the moderators, although I am very passive in that respect, and generally don't find myself involved in anything heated (must be a Canadian thing).

Although he may be downplaying it now, I totally agree with Andrew's comment about us needing a little break. The timing is impeccable. Things have been getting a bit wonky here lately - people are getting their blood all angered up, people are leaving, etc. Hell, I've also been pushing my luck at work by being here so much (the other day my boss was waiting for me in a meeting, and I said "hold on a sec.." as I finished reading a bunch of posts, which I hoped looked like I was reading something work-related). So yeah, a little 'down-time' is definitely wise for me. Plus, it's summer, dammit! Get away from the computer as much as you can. I think we'll all feel much better when we come back.

Lucky you, huh? ;)

(Ha, xpost! Rob, I had no idea you were intimidated as well!)

http://askforjanice.com/photos/kittenpie.jpg

(i bet that's still not working. dunno)

I think many of us were, when we first came here.

I never was 'intimidated' as I guess I started on ILM, so had a 'wealth' of musical knowledge to kick in with.

Although I took time to get into posting on ILE. I think the first thread I started was "Whizzer and Chips Classic or Dud", which started off as being a satirical thread, but then...

I'm not particularly enjoying reading anything here, and it's also contributing to the general sense of dislocation between what's 'real' or not in my life. I only have so many mental/emotional resources at the moment and it seems ridiculous that a message board is competing for them along with everything else.

But again, this is not a grand statement of me 'leaving' or anything.

I only don't share the ILB bit b/c I sign off all of my literacy when school lets out for the year.

I just wonder if J0hn D hadn't decided to make so public his decision to leave (he could have quietly gone on hiatus or reposed in lurkerdom for a while, without announcing anything) - how much indeed would any of this drama be unfolding.

Or did that one action simply embolden others to "out" themselves with their hidden, smoldering, long-burning desires to quit ILXing.

Prayer

God  grant me the Serenity
to accept the pages that won't load

Courage to
click on other sites that do

and Wisdom to
know the difference...

Bring on 'reality'.

I completely understand his reasons to leave.

I don't mind saying I'll miss this place -- when I'm bored at work, I'll stary bored.

xpost

Hi, Archel.

Oh and Andrew F, you still have me bookmarked on there. -;) Any particular reason why?

ILE is just really addictive in a compulsive sort of way. I could really do without it sometimes, but hey. It fills the tedious hours in the office.

ilx has never really included ILM for me b/c I hate that board.

and like I've said before (and will continue saying until the word is spread across the land). . .GIVE UP THE FRIEND NETWORKS!!

They implant spyware on yr machine, they are nothing more than marketing data collecting tools and now, well into the '04, they are tres lame.

Cool kids aren't on friendspacetrikut anymore. ;)

Or maybe not.

If you think it's bad enough people harken back to the golden age 2001/2, think about this...

In a year, they will be looking on now as a golden age. "Before the outage" will be the new "2001/2". You know it.

-- Sick Mouthy (sickmouth...), July 2nd, 2004.

That's the way I resorted to utilizing my lurkerdom throughout '04 and hell yes it's true - it made me realize just WHY I even got drawn into this place when I first made my landing three autumns ago - the plethora of super-knowledgable musical people / writers who were open-minded enough to discuss any genre in any way.

I stopped participating right around the time that I realised that it was *not* the friendly and safe place that it appeared to be, and that really, you were just providing your deepest thoughts for the entertainment of bored office workers and random people.

But I think that it's grown enough into something of its own that it would be nice to see it take root and flower elsewhere.

If you keep me on your friendster list then yay. (I forget Friendster exists most of the time I'm afraid.)

Wha? This place peaked with the music press thread on ILM in Sept 2000.

crosspost x2

Mark what the fuck would you know about ILM? You probably haven't got excited about a record since fucking Viva Hate.

Of course you could go there for the next half an hour and search for Kompakt/Dizzee Rascal/Basement Jaxx/Daft Punk (a whole host of other things) and find lots of enthusiasm but then I guess you couldn't pretend you were wiser than ILM and not missing both the discourse and the music.

If you're a regular poster there of course it won't make sense to you. You aren't part of the conversation. And that's what it is, a conversation.

Cool kids aren't on friendspacetrikut anymore. ;)

Um, yeah, this proves again why hipsters/cool kids are only the ones who care about what everyone else is thinking, right (or wait, aren't the uncool kids online really the cool kids, ala summer noise dude whatever whatever? whatever). FWIW Sam, almost your entire network of e-friends is still on there, but if you'd like to call them uncool now (now ....that we're all being separated! wah!) that's up to you...as for me I was just happy with finding scores of old peeps I had lost touch with in the 90s from back home, and it's a nice way to keep in touch (and more convenient than email), fuck the spyware (much better on a mac anyway).

And go fuck yourself if you think I don't care about or don't know about music.

FWIW Sam, almost your entire network of e-friends is still on there, but if you'd like to call them uncool now (now ....that we're all being separated! wah!) that's up to you...

I know Vic. And my (snarky, note the winky) point is to try and get them to abandon those data-mining sites as well. It's working, slowly but surely.

x-post

dear ilx: it's not me, it's you.

The reason people argue there is because they value the subject matter, this is also the reason there are threads with great enthusiasm. One without the other and you might as well be playing with a helium balloon in a broom cupboard.

ILM has recently turned my ass onto Laurent Garnier

This has made my day!!!

Dry your eyes mate
I know it's hard to take but her mind has been made up
There's plenty more fish in the sea
Dry your eyes mate
I know you want to make her see how much this pain hurts
But you've got to walk away now
It's over

So then I move my hand up from down by my side
It's shakin', my life is crashin' before my eyes
Turn the palm of my hand up to face the skies
Touch the bottom of her chin and let out a sigh
'Cause I can't imagine my life without you and me
There's things I can't imagine doin', things I can't imagine seein'
It weren't supposed to be easy, surely
Please, please, I beg you please
She brings her hands up towards where my hands rested
She wraps her fingers round mine with the softness she's blessed with
She peels away my fingers, looks at me and then gestures
By pushin' my hand away to my chest, from hers

Dry your eyes mate
I know it's hard to take but her mind has been made up
There's plenty more fish in the sea
Dry your eyes mate
I know you want to make her see how much this pain hurts
But you've got to walk away now
It's over

And I'm just standin' there, I can't say a word
'Cause everythin's just gone
I've got nothin'
Absolutely nothin'

Tryin' to pull her close out of bare desperation
Put my arms around her tryin' to change what she's sayin'
Pull my head level with hers so she might engage in
Look into her eyes to make her listen again
I'm not gonna fuckin', just fuckin' leave it all now
'Cause you said it'd be forever and that was your vow
And you're gonna let our things simply crash and fall down
You're well out of order now, this is well out of town
She pulls away, my arms are tightly clamped round her waist
Gently pushes me back and she looks at me straight
Turns around so she's now got her back to my face
Takes one step forward, looks back, and then walks away

Dry your eyes mate
I know it's hard to take but her mind has been made up
There's plenty more fish in the sea
Dry your eyes mate
I know you want to make her see how much this pain hurts
But you've got to walk away now
It's over

I know in the past I've found it hard to say
Tellin' you things, but not tellin' straight
But the more I pull on your hand and say
The more you pull away

Dry your eyes mate
I know it's hard to take but her mind has been made up
There's plenty more fish in the sea
Dry your eyes mate
I know you want to make her see how much this pain hurts
But you've got to walk away now.

what record did you get dave? search for the "laboratoire" mix. it's one of the best dj mixes I've ever heard. "excess luggage" is sort of good too. oh and if it's garnier's own production you've gotten into as opposed to the djing, then you absolutely must get "knights of the jaguar" by the aztec mystic.

Now Ernie loved a widow, a lady known as Sue,
She lived all alone in Liddley Lane at number 22.
They said she was too good for him, she was haughty, proud and chic,
But Ernie got his cocoa there three times every week.

They called him Ernie, (Ernie),
And he drove the fastest milk cart in the west.

She said she'd like to bathe in milk, he said, "All right, sweetheart,"
And when he'd finished work one night he loaded up his cart.
He said, "D'you want it pasturized? 'Cause pasturized is best,"
She says, "Ernie, I'll be happy if it comes up to my chest."

That tickled old Ernie, (Ernie),
And he drove the fastest milk cart in the west.

Now Ernie had a rival, an evil-looking man,
Called Two-Ton Ted from Teddington and he drove the baker's van.
He tempted her with his treacle tarts and his tasty wholemeal bread,
And when she seen the size of his hot meat pies it very near turned her head.

She nearly swooned at his macaroon and he said, "If you treat me right,
You'll have hot rolls every morning and crumpets every night."
He knew once she sampled his layer cake he'd have his wicked way,
And all Ernie had to offer was a pint of milk a day.

Poor Ernie, (Ernie),
And he drove the fastest milk cart in the west.

One lunch time Ted saw Ernie's horse and cart outside her door,
It drove him mad to find it was still there at half past four.
And as he lept down from his van hot blood through his veins did course,
And he went across to Ernie's cart and didn't half kick his 'orse.

Whose name was Trigger, (Trigger),
And he pulled the fastest milk cart in the west.

Now Ernie rushed out into the street, his gold top in his hand,
He said, "If you wanna marry Susie you'll fight for her like a man."
"Oh why don't we play cards for her?" he sneeringly replied,
"And just to make it interesting we'll have a shilling on the side."

Now Ernie dragged him from his van and beneath the blazing sun,
They stood there face to face, and Ted went for his bun.
But Ernie was too quick, things didn't go the way Ted planned,
And a strawberry-flavoured yogurt sent it spinning from his hand.

Now Susie ran between them and tried to keep them apart,
As Ernie, he pushed her aside and a rock cake caught him underneath his heart.
And he looked up in pained surprise and the concrete hardened crust,
Of a stale pork pie caught him in the eye and Ernie bit the dust.

Poor Ernie, (Ernie),
And he drove the fastest milk cart in the west.

Ernie was only 52, he didn't wanna die,
And now he's gone to make deliveries in that milk round in the sky.
Where the customers are angels and ferocious dogs are banned,
And the milkman's life is full of fun in that fairy, dairy land.

But a woman's needs are many fold and Sue, she married Ted,
But strange things happened on their wedding night as they lay in their bed.
Was that the trees a-rustling? Or the hinges of the gate?
Or Ernie's ghostly gold tops a-rattling in their crate?

They won't forget Ernie, (Ernie),
And he drove the fastest milk cart in the west.

Yes, I do lurk on ILM - I've even posted there, you know, though I suspect not on the threads you both spend much time on. But EVERY time I'm there I literally have to leave after a few minutes of browsing because the obsessive-compulsive nature of so many threads turns my stomach.

ILE is deeply flawed but the gems it comes up with are based on an interest in society, not escapism. On the whole.

...okay just to indicate my own perspective: I could talk about bukkake, kittens, people having noisy anal sex that you can hear, etc - with my neighbor. (i'd have to be high, but I could). But I couldn't so easily find people to answer a musical-life altering "PLZ IDENTITY THIS SONG FROM 198? " or talk about why band X was such a greater performer back when than band Y, with a (oooh) experienced rawk critic who's seen both, or perhaps written much about this subject. It makes a difference to me, and others I think, who care about such shit - which you might of course call trivial or etc., and that's fine. But the sort of on-going, moment-by-moment commentary this place engaged one in regarding the production/consumption of popular (musical) culture, was kinda unsurpassed. That's all.

Goddamnit, there are entirely too many Marks in this place's sunset hour....

Mind you, maybe the nu-Kate likes football. Who can tell?

a shared love of over analysing music.

xposts

"QUICK! I'M PLAYING MARIO BROS. WHICH TUBE DO I GO DOWN??!?"

which would make me want to give them a hug (that maybe why they never come knock on my door)

Was most disappointed at no takers for my food board suggestion though.

if you don't actually love everything, you really shouldn't post on i love everything.

ILE fills the gaps at work for me, although there are some great discussions. The amount of football knowledge among posters is astounding.

When ilX returns I want to start people using cnut more.
THIS IS MY NU ILX RESOLUTION.

so why don't we all just sign our name now onto this list here of "more people who don't intend to return" ? go ...start someone

It tests the 'ooh, aren't I rude' mettle of people who wear fcuk stuff the rest of the year.