Journey to the Edge of a Rhinestone Reality

mamma, you and I have spent hours every single day for months, devising plans and hopes and working our tootsies off in the last couple of months, trying to keep TM running, fresh and fun once the novelty of a new toy wore off. You’ve been my filter, you’ve been my leaning post, you’ve been my sounding board and sometimes even my mamma when I’ve been broken or sick or just tired. Even when you wanted to be other places with other people, you’ve been in TM or behind the scenes with me, egging chat on, even sitting invisible in chat just to get people’s icons or “babysit”. The hours and energy you’ve given to me personally and to the site and chat have been invaluable. You are a treasure and I count you among the jewels in my life. Thank you so very much, my right hand in this project.

*giggles* PS. I’m so very glad I had that “oh, mamma’s single. Viper’s single. Oh oh oh ohohohohohohohoh” moment, lol. You are so wonderful together, even if he is a stuffed shirt. I’m still just bouncing with glee.


Caught, you know. It’s been that way for years. You always just know. Thank you.

FF, you have been such an adventure. You have taught me more than you know in how to listen, how to lead and how to let go and let other do the leading, too. Your time in chat and your boundless energy have been such a blast to work with. Thank you.

andone, your persistence and your commitment are so commendable. Thank you so much for running Top Tens and playing in so many other games. You have helped me to clarify and rewrite rules and games and cement everything in my head so that I always knew what I was doing after giving it a good “what would andy think?” thought. It’s your face that I think of when I am down about the site and it's you that I so very much don’t want to disappoint.

Cowboy, thank you so much for your time and your thoughts. I know it was difficult many times for you to come play with us, especially when life became so stressful and difficult for you. Thank you so much for joining us when you could. Your time and energy is so appreciated.

Haru, your creativity and your willingness to pitch in when someone else was unable or unwilling has made you a superstar in my eyes. The things you come up with in your games are amazing. The energy with which you thrust yourself forward into the fray is so admirable. Thank you for always being there, able to fall back on and always wanting to make things right and make things better and having such a smile and such a bolt of lightning coming from you to give everyone a kick in the pants. Thank you.

TarheelsFan, your time guiding Story Orgy and joining us on Friday night has been invaluable and downright fun for so many people who look forward to that hour. Thank you so much for sharing your creativity with us.

Kari, thank you so much for bringing truth or dare to TM. It became a staple of chat. I wish you joy in your coming adventures.

Sexilicous Soul, Scattergories was a huge success. Thank you for sharing your time with us.

Song, while you were with us officially and unofficially, you were a light and a good friend. Thank you.

Last, but never least, ember, there is so much to say and so few ways that I can say thank you for your hard work. You spent so much time learning the back end of the digichat system and coaching me through how to work it again myself. Thank you. The dozens of avs that you made and coordinated with me took so long – lol, I remember those long nights with my eyes crossing over photoshop, kicking things back and forth with you and muttering “I can’t see it, what is it? Did that work? Should I paint the background?” Just getting the chat set up with you was such great fun, thank you. Kicking ideas around with you and mamma for our contests and especially for the pole dance contests and the icon incentive really made bringing chat back to TM alive for me. Without your help on the digichat site, the new one could not have looked and felt half as good – it really is your influence that I moved over to the new format. I was so sad when your offline life and having to move became so stressful for you and it cut short our budding friendship and your amazing help with the website. I hope we can work on both of those things again.

c.


I am working on making some final choices when it comes to TM chat. I have so much frustration about it but there are several of you that really care what happens to this new home we've made together. I do think I will be bringing it back but I need to work out some ground rules for myself and for the people that have been making me crazy over the last few months. I can't let myself or any of you be walked over in the name of an addiction. I know that if I'm screaming silently, I can't be the only one. The promise that I have made to myself is that if it does come back, that it won't go away again - and so I need to find out my rules for sanity in it.