New members, introduce yourselves here!

[Elessar]

I can't believe I never actually noticed the lipstick on his cheek there...

Yea I run the place... 'pparently. Where's the smiley with a Game Warden chasing a bunch of hopped up game hens around a cowpen, that's sorta what it's like.

Just out of curiosity EK, why does Mirror T'Pol---> look like David Crosby circa 1974?

[WarpGirl]

Welcome! I've always at the lip print.

[Cogito]

Actually, I did a double take when you used the term 'near death experience' there to my wondering if I had cancer for that week. (I'm one of those 'weirdie' semi-New Age-rs who would be utterly fascinated by having the classic definition of a 'near-death experience' - you know, the kind where you briefly are considered clinically dead and you float above the scene before going through a tunnel and see this bright light and maybe even talk to a spirit in the hereafter before being rudely tossed back here to finish living your life in this world. Well, skeptic here isn't sure thats what really happens or if it's just a hallucination caused by your brain shutting down when you die; but I've known two people who had that happen to them and they swear its true and I'd love to have an NDE (of that classic definition) so I could find out for myself whether there really is a hereafter or not. (The paranormal fascinates the hell out of me, and even if I'm not sure how much of it I really can believe in, I sure hope they are right about it).

I've never met anyone face to face who has had that type of near death experience, but my sister in NZ has. The lead up to 'imminent death' of course was no fun at all, but once past that trauma apparently everything faded away and they were left with a feeling of warmth, comfort and safety. That's what they remember, anyway. I have to admit that I'm in the "random neurones as the brain shuts down" school of thought but I found this story very reassuring anyway.

[Kevin Thomas Riley]

Hi there, teacake and welcome!

[justTripn]

Welcome teacake!

@Marchale: Yeah, I recently had to kick myself in the butt to get up and do some things that make me happy. My three boys all left for college, almost at the same time (the youngest are twins). I had always defined myself as a mom and I was lost. But I remembered some things I'd always promised myself I would do once the boys left: one was play ice hockey and the other was get a new kid, lol . . . Well now I play ice hockey and I have a foriegn exchange student. It's hard to remember what the big disaster was about the kids leaving for college. I hope you pursue your dreams whatever they may be! Good luck to you.

[enterprikayak]

Just out of curiosity EK, why does Mirror T'Pol---> look like David Crosby circa 1974?

It's one of those inexplicable Star Trek mysteries.

[Distracted]

I love the expression on Gary Graham's face in your sig, teacake. It's like, "You have GOT to be shittin' me!"

[marchale]

Hi,

Sorry I'm so late in answering the sweet folks who were kind enough to write to me on this thread, but I've been having such a blast since I got here that I didn't realize how badly the housework had been piling up till I ran out of clean plates and thought I better spend some time washing dishes, doing the laundry (which I have to hand churn the old fashioned way because of my psoriasis), taking out the trash, vacuuming, etc, before it gets too far out of control, LOL. Sucks how real life can interfere with your fun online, doesn't it?

Anyway, to get to the replies......

justTripn - Thanks for telling me you "recently had to kick myself in the butt to get up and do some things that make me happy" too. Thats not a good feeling to walk around feeling lost because life changed for you. Actually, I know what you mean about the 'empty nest' feeling too, while I don't have any kids - I was mom's caretaker for the last several years of her life (she died of cancer, but her emphysema was getting really bad the last several years). Glad to hear you've got a foreign exchange student and are playing hockey too. Good for you! That's great news, a person really needs whatever will give them that joy in their life because it just sucks too much without it. And I'm very glad you can look back on that hard time now and wonder what all the fuss was about. I was adjusting alright to the empty nest thing as far as getting used to living alone and feeling like my apartment is finally starting to feel like home to me too, but I was just kinda going through the motions being 'asleep at the wheel' till that cancer scare woke me up enough to start having fun again. Thanks for wishing me luck with that. I wish you all the best of luck with your fun too! My dreams? Oh, it might be fun to do some travelling in the future and hopefully learn how to cook and bake well enough so I can stop feeling intimidated by it, and I'd like to save enough money eventually so I can relax if an unforseen emergency happens like when this computer dies (it's either my 6th or 7th computer, I don't remember anymore) but basically, I just wanted to get back to all the fun I used to have with trek stuff years ago, you know - talking with other fans, and hanging out reading postings and fanfics and visiting websites to see what other fans are doing and playing around with my own fan art. With all the trekkies out there, it's kind of like we've got our own virtual world online, you know? (and thank God we at least know how to deal with the characters better than TPTB ever did, thats for sure!). Anyway, thanks so much for writing!


cogito - Thanks for telling me about what your sister's friend or acquaintence went through in their near death experience, I appreciate that. I think that feeling of warmth, comfort and safety is pretty standard or universal in NDE's. My mom had one when she was briefly dead due to complications from giving birth to my sister, and my aunt Ruth (mom's sister) had one due to a drowning accident. It was kind of strange though, it wasn't until after my mom died that I found that neither my mom or aunt had told each other about their experience. My mom had told my dad, sister, me and her closest friend about it, but that was it - and before Ruth told me about it, only her husband knew, he was there when it happened, I don't know if she's even told her sons yet, though I was pleading with her to do so, telling her that I found alot of comfort in knowing mom had gone through an NDE before she died. I don't know why people are reluctant to talk about it. Hell, there's been plenty of books on the subject, the Biography Channel has a tv show about it called "I Survived - Beyond And Back" where every week a few folks discuss their NDE's (it's on Sunday nights after their regular "I Survived" show). Yeah, I haven't decided yet if I believe it's actually happening or just a hallucination when the brain is shutting down - I want to believe its real because it is very reassuring as you said and I did feel comforted that my mom had gone through it before she died, at least she wasn't afraid to go and was looking forward to seeing her loved ones again. And I miss my parents so much, I'd give anything to see them again after I'm gone. I really, really hope it's true - but even though both my mom and Ruth tried to calm any doubts I've got - I'll just feel better when I can see it for myself. In any case, thanks for writing, I appreciate it.


enterprikayak - Oooo is right! I think this proves the theory that great minds think alike. What are the odds on meeting someone who not only shares your interest in TnT, but is also into photoshopping fan art and likes new age stuff? That is getting almost weird and freaky in itself, you know? Yeah, I agree- playing around with our little collections of decapitated heads probably does have something to do with it. I suspect it's probably the knowledge leaking out of their brains and into ours that turned us into such wise and enlightened beings that we just naturally gravitated towards an interest in such fascinating subjects. Either that, or we've just crossed into The Twilight Zone..........

Ahhh, another couple of things we share in common - yes, I have read those books you mentioned and you were right, I did love them - and I don't care for religio-labels either, they are useful for giving a person a vague or broad generality so that Atheists and Catholics and New Agers can tell each other apart and have an idea of where each other stands, but it seems like New Age thought is so unstructured or tenant-free and diverse or expansive it's sort of a "none of the above" answer to every other theological belief out there, like where you end up if you don't accept the other choices. Anyway, it probably is only natural that New Agers don't care much for labels because labels try to define and pin a person down on points A, B, and C and if you're turned off by that "pinning a person down" or labelling way of thinking, well - you're probably going to naturally be drawn to more unstructured, thinking outside the box like New Age stuff is. Does that make sense? Anyway, I don't care for labels much either, maybe because I don't know how to label what it is I believe except to say it falls in the general New Age catagory, though I'm skeptical or undecided about certain things. I hope we are right though - I think it's a lot more of a fair and humane and sensible sounding thing than anything else I've heard. And speaking of New Age thought, are you familiar with Sylvia Browne, James Van Praggh, John Edward, Arthur Ford or Allison Du Bois (hope I spelled her last name right, she's the real life medium behind the tv show "Medium"). Well, I'd love to hear your thoughts on them and if you're interested in them, can we discuss them in more detail privately in emails? My email address is writeme@pro-ns.net (if you're not familiar with them, please still email me anyway, since you're into Roberts and Monroe, I think you would probably love them too and I'd love to introduce you to them).

So, you's mostly play nice here but every once and a while have an interesting spat over religion - hmmm, that sounds intriguing! I don't want to step on anyone's toes or see anyone get hurt feelings at all (I'm a firm believer in live and let live and to each their own), but as long as it's more of a friendly debate than a fight - hey, I'm game for that too! I was a philosophy student in college (so you know I Love a good argument) and religion is my favorite subject to argue about.

BTW, thanks so much for explaining your signature there too (it's really nice being able to put faces to names) and what happened at that con and the non-con there. Sorry to hear they cancelled that con halfway through (why did they do that?) but I'm glad to hear you still had what sounds like a great time in spite of that (I hope you did, your non-con sure sounded like fun too!). I've only been to two cons - the first was to see Connor and Linda after season one; and the second con I seen Shatner & Nimoy and dig this, I even got a chance to talk to J. Paul Boehmer and got a personalized autograph picture of him as Mistral (or is it spelled Mestral?) from the Carbon Creek episode. Wow, is that guy ever a honey! I was really floored by how nice and sweet he was too and he told me that he loved working with Jolene in that episode but was disappointed that he didn't get a chance to meet the rest of the Enterprise cast. That was a real treat meeting him, Carbon Creek was one of my favorite episodes and I thought Mistral was such a sweet character too (for anyone reading this who isn't familiar with that title, it's the episode where T'Pol's great-great grandmother (played by Jolene) and these other Vulcans crashed on Earth in the 1950's and Mistral seemed fascinated by humanity and got involved with the woman who ran the bar who's son wanted to go to college but couldn't afford it and T'Pol's great-great grandmother sold velcro to get that kid the tuition money he needed and when a Vulcan ship came to rescue them, they pretended Mistral had died in the crash so that he could remain on Earth to study humanity).

[Cogito]

Either that, or we've just crossed into The Twilight Zone..........

Yeah, well, about that ...

[Silverbullet]

marchale, actually I was one of many who wrote a follow up story of what happened to Mestral after the other Vulcans left Earth. In my story he marries Maggie and they have a hppy life together until she dies when he ends up in a Tibetan Monestarhy where he ends his days. I did a follow up too that story also. Anyway, they are in the Archive.

SB

[marchale]

marchale, actually I was one of many who wrote a follow up story of what happened to Mestral after the other Vulcans left Earth. In my story he marries Maggie and they have a hppy life together until she dies when he ends up in a Tibetan Monestarhy where he ends his days. I did a follow up too that story also. Anyway, they are in the Archive.

SB

One of many? Cool, I'll have to check yours and the others out too (and sorry I mis-spelled Mestral there). Yeah, Lorian was my favorite character who was only in a single episode (he's a real honey too!) but next to him Mestral was definately my next favorite one episode character. Thanks for telling me about that, I appreciate it!

[justTripn]

Ahhh!!!! Yes, I was just going to tell you about Silverbullet's Mestral story. I was the beta on that and was able to help with some geography, since the fictional Carbon Creek is near the real Pittsburgh where I live. I also have a strong attachment to the Carbon Creek episode and all elaborations on it. But then you said you love LORIAN!!!! I humbly consider myself a Lorian expert having written like a 100,000 words on the E-squared universe and an AU version of it. AAAHHH!!!! Lorian's coming of age from around age 14 to adulthood are a big subplot of my story: How he deals with being half human and half Vulcan and his unique half-Human half-Vulcan sexuality; how he deals with the pressure of being especially smart and a probable future leader; his clashes with Captain Archer over the mission. I also love Lorian, in a parental way!!! My E-squared stories are here: E-Squared Series The first one is all Trip and T'Pol. Lorian plays a big role in Heresy and Brainstorm.

[Cogito]

Say, Marchale, do you fancy helping us out on the "Guess Who" drabble challenge?

[Silverbullet]

Marchale, you might start a Thread asking anyone if they know the titles and Authors of other Mestral stories. There different takes on what hapened to him. It is interesting what the various people have him doing.

SB

[marchale]

Ahhh!!!! Yes, I was just going to tell you about Silverbullet's Mestral story. I was the beta on that and was able to help with some geography, since the fictional Carbon Creek is near the real Pittsburgh where I live. I also have a strong attachment to the Carbon Creek episode and all elaborations on it. But then you said you love LORIAN!!!! I humbly consider myself a Lorian expert having written like a 100,000 words on the E-squared universe and an AU version of it. AAAHHH!!!! Lorian's coming of age from around age 14 to adulthood are a big subplot of my story: How he deals with being half human and half Vulcan and his unique half-Human half-Vulcan sexuality; how he deals with the pressure of being especially smart and a probable future leader; his clashes with Captain Archer over the mission. I also love Lorian, in a parental way!!! My E-squared stories are here: E-Squared Series The first one is all Trip and T'Pol. Lorian plays a big role in Heresy and Brainstorm.

Oh man, I sure can't wait to check this out, thank you soooo much for telling me about this!!!! Glad to hear you love Lorian too, even if it is in a parental way. Not sure if my feelings are neccesarily so "parental" there - but I do think NOBODY beats Lorian's dad when it comes to sheer sexiness though!