I'm back - that is, if you still want me...

[mi]

Hey guys, I'm so, so sorry I've been gone for such a long time, I'll explain some other time. All I can say now is, I miss chattin with all of you so much and would love to be part of this community again, if you still want me around...

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IF???  mi's back!! Whoo Hoo!!!   

[mi]

  I'm really sorry about all this time. The thing is, you see, I have a new idol now, and the most ridiculous thing is - it's someone from a soap-opera... I don't know how many of you watch the "Young and the Restless" so I'll just say I'm talking about Kevin Fisher - I know exactly what soap operas are worth, you know - how shallow and stupid and unreal they are - that's the only one I ever watched, actually. I just couldn't help falling in love with him, there was a certain scene that somehow pushed all my right buttons... I'll tell you more about it later.  Anyway, to those of you who don't know, this actor's name is Greg Rikaart and I do think he's amazing in spite of everything. However, as I started looking for information about him it turned out I wasn't the only one - I joined a fan club of him in facebook but it was never the same like being here, you know - here I always felt like part of a family.  I was just stupid, you know - I was so busy with that I neglected this place, and then just too embarassed to show up again - I've been hasitating for months before I did it. That's just me - always hesitating for ages before I do something... anyway, I have to run now to take a cerain someone from preschool, but looking forward to catching up with everyone!

[mervap]

Mi, you are welcome here FOREVER! I had wondered where you'd gone, but I figured life was getting busy and stuff. As far as soap operas go, my wife watched "Days of Our Lives" for years with no ill effects, so no worries!

Welcome Back!

[Greg]

I think the best thing about the internet is how it connects people.  I've heard people say that it's just a message board or that it's cyber-this or cyber-that.  I don't look at it that way.  We are people communicating in this format.  We are actual human beings behind these thoughts, comments, and messages.  Glad you're back.

btw.
For me  the internet has about as many downsides as up.  Message boards, facebook to a point, videos, information quickly are incredible.
At the workplace.  Forget it.  A nightmare.  I get 20 emails a day about mostly nonsense.  Do we really need to communicate every stupid little thought at work?  idk.

[mi]

I agree, it's great to be able to communicate with people around the world who share a hobby or an interest with you - it's something we didn't have when we were younger. I remember feeling, as a teenager, like a real outsider because I was a Beatles fan. It wasn't very common among teenagers in the 90's, you know. I remember thinking I wish I was born 30 years earlier...
 Thanks Greg - your name is very special for me at the moment, you know...

[chris]

hey mi, it is awfully nice to be reading you post again. glad you are back. your baby (thats how long it's been) has to be quite a bundle right now. i look forward to seeing what you have to say.

[Kylenz]

I remember feeling, as a teenager, like a real outsider because I was a Beatles fan. It wasn't very common among teenagers in the 90's, you know. I remember thinking I wish I was born 30 years earlier...

I know that feeling all too well.

Regarding Days of Our Lives, I too used to love watching it in the school holidays, when Patch & Kayla were in it, Bo & Hope were in love, and there was the evil Stefano Dimera (sp?) and Victor Kiriakis. And there was a weird storyline with TWO Roman Bradys, and Marlena had to choose who was the real deal to her! Fun times.

I'm addicted to Shortland Street, a medical soap here in New Zealand, I love it.

Anyway, good to see you posting again. Cheers :)

[Greg]

If Kylenz or mi have time I'd be interested in your recollections of being a Beatles fan in the 90's.  Can you elaborate?

In the 70's we all (my high school classmates and I) liked The Beatles including the solo Beatles' stuff.  I don't think the early Beatles would have been acceptable so much though.  You wouldn't get criticized for liking or listening to Please, Please Me, but you wouldn't go put it on at a party or anything. 

We also caught grief for hinting that we might like a disco tune or saying that a Manilow, ABBA, or Carpenters' tune was catchy.

The Beatles, of course, were the cool group that the cool college kids liked when we were kids.  The frat house up the street from us would play the White Album all the time in '68 into the Spring of '69, and it would blast out their windows and door.  This frat was way cool btw.  Freaks and hippies.  We didn't think of The Beatles as "old" or their music as "old music".

[mi]

Oh I have so many recollections from these days... actually it wasn't THAT uncommom to be a Beatles fan among teenagers - there just weren't so many of them in my area. I remember this little story - when I was about 14 I finally found a friend who was a Beatle-maniac like me. I remember, one day she and I met in a bookstore and were going through some Beatles books - we  went through the pictures and naturlly started giggling and squeaking and everything, you know how teenage girls are... as we left the store, a girl who was a few years older than us stopped us and asked - "excuse me for interrupting but I'm just curious - what were you two so thrilled about"? we told her it was the Beatles and she just looked at us as if we were crazy and said something like - "Beatles? nowdays?" It just sounded like - "what are you two, like freaks or something"? that was 1992...I remember my friend and I reacted very diffrently - I told her such encounters upset me and really made me feel like a freak.  She said she liked meeting these people so she could spite them - "Yes, Nowdays!". I could learn from her, I guess...

[Derek]

Hey, Grampa!

[Greg]

Great story.  Great story.

...and I guess that little story was actually quite significant.  For one, you remembered it.  Secondly, it was just one of those moments that signified something. I don't know what, but I'll bet many, many people thought exactly like that girl who said, "The Beatles?  Nowadays?"  And it was that small incident that just impacted you into realizing that you, are not out-of-step with most people, but have an interest that is outside many persons' realm.

I guess I do remember, after reading your post, that I too ran into this guy who was a Beatles freak.  We became friends after that.  There is something different about "Yeah.  I like The Beatles" and "I'm pretty much a Beatles fanatic".  It does build a bond...probably like any great passion for something.

[mi]

hey mi, it is awfully nice to be reading you post again. glad you are back. your baby (thats how long it's been) has to be quite a bundle right now. i look forward to seeing what you have to say.

Yeah, here he is - that's near the dead sea! You can see I'm raising him properly - see the shirt I'm wearing...
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/838/img7402x.jpg/

[Greg]

Ok.  I'll regret this, but I'll put a pic of me up for a few days.  It's me goofing around at a gig a few weeks ago.  Someone came right up to the stage and aimed the camera right at me, and I made a face that had her laughing.  I just look like an idiot here.

http://www.beatlemoney.com/images/ltb.jpg

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Holy Crap! t's Marshall Crenshaw!!