This tangled path...

[tshuma]

So, I went and created a new filter here today, called "Just Peeps". I wanted to weed out all the blogs and rss feeds I had coming in on my main filter, and also make sure that there was a way to be certain I was reading people. My main reading filter for the last three yeas has had a limited scope within my friendslist (and I wasn't exactly certain of keeping up with what I had).

There are a *lot* of names on here. Some of them I no longer remember who they are or why we are connected. And the vast majority don't seem to post.

So, a question, if you have a moment. Who are you, how do you know me (if you do), and why are you here, reading this journal?

(Comments screened by default. Go wild. If you would prefer to not be unscreened should I wish to reply, say so.)

Comments

[pushkie.livejournal.com]

Ummm...I'm not sure if my last commend made it to you or not. Will you let me know? My LJ just hiccuped.

[tshuma]

It made it and was most amusing.

[mg4h.livejournal.com]

I met you at Spring Carnival at CMU one year, Brian introduced you to me. I think we had some brief interactions those few days, and in an effort to keep in touch the lj friending thing happened.

On the upside, I've been able to read about things that have happened to you and him over the years. On the downside, that's about the depth of the relationship, but such is life in these modern days. I hope I have never overstepped the boundaries of acquaintance, I know you've never done anything to make me less than happy.

I hope this note finds you well :)

[tshuma]

I hope this note finds you well :)

It does, thank you!

I definitely remember that meeting, but I actually think we'd met independently of B several years prior. You would have known me by a different name and title and in somewhat different clothing, accompanied by a tall, shaggy, Viking-like creature by the name of Vytas.

[madbaker.livejournal.com]

Via SCA and Crosston, and this is about the only contact we have these days.

[tshuma]

That is somewhat sad-making. In spite of that, I have this weird sense of heightened familiarity about you thanks to the fact that you are one of the few remaining regular bloggers here.

[misterjustin.livejournal.com]

This one time, at band camp....

[masterfiddler.livejournal.com]

Hi. It's Dave, the fiddler. I've known you for sixteen years or so at this point. I'm here because I still consider us friends, and I like hearing about what's going on with your life and the lives of other friends I still have floating around on LJ.

People, as a tendency, post meatier or more fully thought out content here on LJ than, say, FaceBook. I like that, which is why I'm still here.

(*Hugs*) Talk to you soon. You're also welcome to un-screen and follow-up, should the mood strike you.

[glad2dance.livejournal.com]

I'm still here and still reading. I don't post because I've been going through an introverted phase myself, though it's delightful to keep up with people and what they're doing.

[rustmon.livejournal.com]

I am the Rusty. There is only one of me. Thank goodness, I'm not sure if the world could take more of this strangeness.

I have lived many places and done many things, but I believe in the power of whimsy and rubber duckies.

[jacquez.livejournal.com]

I am here to study your species. I abducted you years ago and put a probe up your nose. (Why is your species obsessed with anal probes? Do you think you keep your brains down there? The nose is the way to get to the brains, fyi, humans!)

I am reading this journal to see the results of the implant. You may unscreen this comment. I have also probed many many of your friends and they will not be surprised to see me.

[rbus.livejournal.com]

I don't knw about these *other* earthings,
but my brains -are- in my arse.

If the probe topic ever comes up again.
I'm just sayin...

[nacht_musik]

Hi! I'm the Eric who is married to Johanna, living in Boston. I think you're nifty; I like hearing what's up in your life. :-)

[tshuma]

The feeling is mutual!

[madbaker.livejournal.com]

Oh, and I blame you for introducing me to xkcd.

[tshuma]

Delighted to be guilty as charged.

[eeyore42.livejournal.com]

I read you because I care. :-)

[tshuma]

awwwwww.

[angelbob.livejournal.com]

I seem to recall you hooking up with a housemate of mine awhile back. The two of you really seemed to hit it off. There was some drama or something -- I wasn't really paying attention. I'm pretty sure you were around sometimes after that.

And you taught me that amazing trick about cutting off the corners of sponges to indicate the grossest area they had been used to clean up!

:-P

(Yes, you can unscreen this if you like.)

[angelbob.livejournal.com]

(As it turns out, Krissy just showed our new housemate the same trick yesterday. We definitely still use it)

[tshuma]

My legacy is secure. =)

[simplykimberly.livejournal.com]

Wait, what's the trick? Sounds intriguing! :)

[tshuma]

Well, it's easier to explain visually, but simple enough I guess. In the co-op I used to live in, multiple people were responsible for cleaning things on any given day, and we bought sponges in bulk, so there was no easy way to differentiate a sponge that had been used to wash dishes from one that had been used to clean counters, let alone one that had been used to clean floors or toilets or shower stalls. So we instituted the following three-tiered system:

1) a whole and complete sponge had only been used for washing dishes and food or for quickly swiping kitchen counters/tables without chemicals.

2) a sponge with one corner cut off had been used to clean tables, counters, stoves, etc., with chemicals, and thus should not be used to wash dishes or vegetables.

3) a sponge with two corners cut off had been used to clean toilets, showers, floors, or something else particularly gross, and thus should not be used to wash dishes or food, or tables and kitchen surfaces.

A sponge started its lifecycle as a dish-washing sponge and then would gradually get demoted as it got more worn and/or as the next level required a sponge (except on the rare occasion when there wasn't an appropriate sponge to demote -- then we'd get a fresh one out and just cut off however many corners fit what we were going to use it for). As part of the rule, if you demoted a sponge you replaced the one pulled it from, but that was the least important bit; what mattered was that you always knew what you could or could not use a given sponge for no matter who had used it last.

There were other preferences as to which corners were cut based on the original shape of the sponge and how obvious a cut corner would be, but other than that, that's it. Whew!

[devonapple.livejournal.com]

I went to high school with B~; also, we met at a house party.

[aoibhill.livejournal.com]

LOL. Your old band played a party at my house a meeeelion years ago, and I haven't seen you in person since. I read your journal because I like your "story"--seeing you get things done and accomplish things despite various difficult situations.

[tshuma]

Best party ever. That was a surreal night for me in general.

I like reading your stories, too.

[mangosteen]

You met me at a party at and/or a couple of years ago. I don't remember the exact context beyond "interesting person it would be good to keep up with." I've been keeping up in the way that LJ allows. :)

Much like you mentioned in my LJ a while back, I do hold out some vague hope that we'll end up at a party (on either coast, as the case may be) and get a chance to hang out again.

[dakini-grl.livejournal.com]

How do I know you? When did I not know you? Well. We can always blame thaemos.

I will always read you here, and I am thinking of you.

[imnotbob.livejournal.com]

Honestly I have no idea how we met but we have Lots of mutual friends so I feel it is safe to blame them. I do recall that I have been reading your LJ for a long time though.

BTW, my name is John, I currently live in Yosemite and I'm in Fezziwigs, if that helps you place me.

[ef2p.livejournal.com]

You always seem to be about to grab my butt or kiss me when you realize I'm not bk2w. It's a shame you're so perceptive. ;)

[tshuma]

I'm....sorry?

[phantomdancer.livejournal.com]

Pretty sure I met you at the Starry Plough on Monday night irish dance...

[tshuma]

I thought I met you through Charlie Anderson first, then the Plough?

[tshuma]

Since all of that was screened anyway, you're probably safe.

[tigman.livejournal.com]

I remember you used to dance, a lot. And were quite good at it. Back then I think I danced a little too, although it could have just been that I was trying to find a place to have a beer and that irish pub looked like the place. And you were at my wedding. No, really!

I keep meaning to start posting on LJ again, Facebook has way too many family/friends I haven't spoken to in a decade or more/etc but like with many things, procrastination is, well, a really long word. So I come here to see how things are going and try and keep up with life.

[simplykimberly.livejournal.com]

I'm Kimberly, I'm not sure if I met you through the Choirloft, or Johanna, or ... where, exactly. But I'm a pretty impressive kitten-pusher, and somehow managed to sucker you in! ;)

No need to keep screened.

[tshuma]

Truly, your success on that score has been astounding!

[labelleizzy.livejournal.com]

I read you because you have tasty tasty brains.

Also because you're still speaking to me and hanging out with me after I've been antisocial for the last three Waldorf years. =)

Gosh, how DID we meet? I can't remember not knowing you in my post-college life. Must have been Traveller's and Faire?

[tshuma]

Yep, I met you at my first introduction to Traveller's at a dance practice at J&T's. M had just been born a couple of months prior.

[dixiemouse.livejournal.com]

I am a fig newton of your imagination ;)

[tshuma]

Tasty, delicious, and wholesome?

[noirem.livejournal.com]

I'm the girl who used to have your dream hair.

[tshuma]

Nah, you still do.

[plantgirl.livejournal.com]

We met through LJ. I'm not sure how we found each other on LJ. Maybe through warsop? I believe we've been interacting here since sometime in 2004. Yours is one of the LJs I always make sure to catch up on, even when I've been gone a long time. Among many many other things, I like that you occasionally nest even more parenthetical comments than I have ever managed. :)

I'm trying to come back to posting regularly here. I miss the LJ community & I miss writing.

I think I see you in person about every other year at somebody's party, which is less than I would like, but seems to be what works with the levels of introversion & busy-ness involved in our lives.

By the way, while I was poking back through my journal trying to figure out when we "met" I found a poem I'd completely forgotten I'd written. It was from the early days of my being on LJ so it wasn't tagged. Thank you!

[tshuma]

Nice!

I definitely met you here on LJ via warsop's friend pages. That was back in the early days, when I wasn't reading very many people, so I occasionally cruised the "friends of friends" reading page.

I don't really feel like you stood out as a person in my mind until your call for help regarding the plants you had to leave behind while on a trip. I'm a sucker for helpless, needy plants.