Kevin's Watch

Well. My 10 year anniversary is coming up in October. It seems just yesterday that I was an angry 17 year old using my school's computer to post and rant here, and now I find I have my own computer and not much else has changed.

Ah, the memories... I remember yelling at danlo, then befriending him. There were a few other people. Sorry. My memory is fuzzy as I'm so old here. I recall Fist and Fast, Duchess of Malfi, and some guy named Biff. Biff was an amazing commodity here at the Watch but sadly gone too soon.

Ah, and Furls. All kidding aside--Furls... Nothing else need be said.

I remember my trends: I tried to post in the TCTC board but found it boring, then when the Close forum was made I spent a long time arguing violently with Christian Watchers. The Think-Tank was also a source of many awkward debates! Oh boy. And finally I mellowed out, gaining mod-ship of Vespers, Hall of Gifts, maybe one or two other places. Then there was the babybottomfeeder hoax/prank that still might be going on and he may return. I like to keep that myth alive. Who knows. And who could forget (or at least try to forget!) Foultars.

My main contribution to the Watch, of course, is over 700 or so useless topics, many of them extolling the virtues of Tony Danza and Ted Danson. Ah; and the Pr0n Thread.

All in all I suppose I was a bit of an ass.

Here's to 10 more years!!


THANK....YOU....EVERYONE!!




A few of my greatest moments:

The Ted Danson Thread
How do you feel today?
Loremaster, your Foultar is ready
Myste, your Foultar is ready
How did Noah fit all the animals in the ark?

That's pretty much it.

I thought you were Ron Burgunihilo.

Happy not-quite-anniversary, LF.

N00b

To add a little spice and Indian curry flavor to this topic, I've made a critical decision: I, as an entity, will cease to exist on Kevin's Watch on the date of my 10 year anniversary.

Why? Mainly because it's some dramatic shit, but also because I think having finite, limited time is something arresting and cool. The point is: I haven't posted but once or twice a month if at all, and even when I do it's a random poem here or there.

I think it’s important and eventual in life to move on. I’ve quit playing video games. Totally. I believe in cutting ties now and then as one evolves and experiencing life in new ways. It’s all part of a grander scheme we often do to ourselves without knowing. I don’t read fantasy books and don’t consider myself a fantasy fan, for instance, as I think only Tolkien, Donaldson, George Martin and a select few others are even worth considering. It would be boring, to me, to endlessly plumb the fantasy catalogue just because of one watershed experience in my youth with hobbits.

Instead; again; I believe in trying new stuff or going on the spur, such as trying history books, religious texts, biographies. Classical lit. and treatises. I’d like my library to be more robust than just novels.

And then the ultimate entry to that library: me, turning into the statue of KW; the main character or narrator in Yeats’ Sailing to Byzantium. Totally submerged in his longing for purity. I will still exist here but only in the past, never answering back.

Ikkyu wrote:I won't die I won't go away I'll always be here
no good asking me I won't speak

Of course; if someone wants my Summonsing mod-ship they're free to it. I've been lax there. But I would hope I keep my Hall of Gifts mod-ship, as I'd still perform that if someone PM'ed me to delete/move a thread.

Anyway. Another wrinkle to the Foul experience.

O sages standing in God's holy fire
As in the gold mosaic of a wall,
Come from the holy fire, perne in a gyre,
And be the singing-masters of my soul.
Consume my heart away; sick with desire
And fastened to a dying animal
It knows not what it is; and gather me
Into the artifice of eternity.

High Lord Tolkien wrote:I thought you were Ron Burgunihilo.

I just read his posts, HLT, and man--I wish I was. I love that guy. In every way possible. And to the highest degree. In fact, here is his gift:

sgt.null wrote:i don't believe a wierd of it.

still, meet me at the old bar and we can have a drink.

You will join me in quitting-ness, null, or I will consume you. Know that and DESPAIR.

Congratulations!

To get to the meat of why I am here,
Looking at the smiley arrangement you put together in the OP,
I wonder what combinations, large and small, prove most prevalent, most unique (I know you can't be most or least unique, but you get what I mean), etc?

Holsety wrote:Congratulations!

To get to the meat of why I am here,
Looking at the smiley arrangement you put together in the OP,
I wonder what combinations, large and small, prove most prevalent, most unique (I know you can't be most or least unique, but you get what I mean), etc?

I have been doing smilie combos since about 2003 I guess. Maybe sooner. In 1997 and 1998 I also experimented with ASCII combinations. In either case I think there is a story, but if I were to tell it you would stop having to eternally scratch the surface of its mystery.

For that reason I must withhold.

As for uniqueness:

Did you ever think that, perhaps, we are the most unique? You and I are the co-stars of the Watch. The rest of these people die in the first hour of the movie, 15 years of the website's existence being the first hour. Also, buy my poetry book:

Lord Foul's Poeticisms!

Lord Foul wrote:You will join me in quitting-ness, null, or I will consume you. Know that and DESPAIR.

you can have sgt.kafka

kevinswatch.ihugny.com/phpBB2/profile.php?mode=viewprofile&u=2135

My
Very
Educated
Mother
Just
Served
Us
Nothing?

Ahh Foul, first you say "to another 10 years" then you say "I won't be there on the watch in my present state" (or something)
You try to confuse!

Also, I will have you know that a thread I love so much that I go and re-read it now and again is the argument between you and Holsety here:
Human Exceptionalism... and its detractors!

It is GLORIOUS, and I just about died laughing last time.

Only problem.. is after that comment about you and Holsety being co-stars of the Watch, I shouldn't let you get a big head about it...
Also, you're comparing the Watch to a horror flick? Huh, huh?

Also, at the time I was so busy laughing my head off I didn't realize what a huge number of topics SEVEN-HUNDRED topics is.
How do you do it?

Ah, I remember some good times! Like when you and TF turned Andelain into Air Strip 1. Classic.

I'll be seeing you, in all the old familiar places...

Linna Heartlistener wrote:Ahh Foul, first you say "to another 10 years" then you say "I won't be there on the watch in my present state" (or something)
You try to confuse!

Somewhere in the middle of 10 more years of me and none at all is the answer, I'm afraid. Confusion? Never!

Linna Heartlistener wrote:Also, I will have you know that a thread I love so much that I go and re-read it now and again is the argument between you and Holsety here:
Human Exceptionalism... and its detractors!

It is GLORIOUS, and I just about died laughing last time.

Only problem.. is after that comment about you and Holsety being co-stars of the Watch, I shouldn't let you get a big head about it...
Also, you're comparing the Watch to a horror flick? Huh, huh?

That was a great thread, though Holsety and I are still reeling from it and have to network on the phone in order for the wounds to heal. It definitely is an interesting topic though!

I still think we're the best thing ever. Humanity that is. Not Holsety and I. Our star-status is perhaps another topic.

Linna Heartlistener wrote:Also, at the time I was so busy laughing my head off I didn't realize what a huge number of topics SEVEN-HUNDRED topics is.
How do you do it?

You know that part of your head that says, "This isn't a topic worth discussing!/I shouldn't bother making it!"? I don't have that! It's missing. It happened one time when Fist and Faith and I (man, that's awkward) had a very in-depth discussion; so in-depth that I got a 104-degree fever and fell down the stairs.

After that my topic-creating activity ratcheted up about 70%.

But in all reality or seriousness: I suppose I am just the type, over the 10 years here, who goes, "Oh, what about this/or I have an idea on that!" and I'd post a topic a few seconds later because no one else has discussed it.

To be honest I'm surprised it occurred too. 700 topics? Apparently my mind just wheels with so many questions they invented Wikipedia. And Twitter pretty much ripped off "How do you feel today?" from me. I just know that one reason I'm a writer is that I wanted to make stuff I'd never read of or felt/experienced before, and perhaps my modus operandi for topics is similar.

Lord Foul wrote:Somewhere in the middle of 10 more years of me and none at all is the answer, I'm afraid. Confusion? Never!

okay, good. carry on.

LF wrote:That was a great thread, though Holsety and I are still reeling from it and have to network on the phone in order for the wounds to heal...

LOL!

I still think we're the best thing ever. Humanity that is.

I dunno... I actually try to see if I can change my vote on a regular basis, so that the detractors have more than a piddling 18%.
I keep not seeing a mechanism to change it, but that doesn't stop me from goin' back there, in spite of the improbability that I'm missing something.
In spite of the fact that I like to think that I'm a pretty intelligent, rational human.

You know that part of your head that says, "This isn't a topic worth discussing!/I shouldn't bother making it!"? I don't have that! It's missing.

Oh, okay. Is there any way I can get like... part of it surgically removed? maybe just a little part of the part that gives me massive inhibitions about starting topics / taking conversations where I would want them to go rather than otherwise.

It happened one time when Fist and Faith and I (man, that's awkward) had a very in-depth discussion; so in-depth that I got a 104-degree fever and fell down the stairs.

After that my topic-creating activity ratcheted up about 70%.

Only 70%? Then we can't actually blame that much of what happened on that incident.. unless it increased by 70% the next week, and the next, etc.

But in all reality or seriousness: I suppose I am just the type, over the 10 years here, who goes, "Oh, what about this/or I have an idea on that!" and I'd post a topic a few seconds later because no one else has discussed it.

Seriously, I am tempted to just start the 5 threads in The Close that are at the top of my mental queue / bucket-list (wait, did I imply I have Watch thread topics on my bucket list?!?!? umm, this is perhaps sad.), and then say I created it "in honor of / inspired by Foul's 700 (mostly) unique topics" -- as a sly way of blaming my actions on you if people turn out to not like them?

If I start threads, I don't necessarily have to continue to participate, do I?

To be honest I'm surprised it occurred too. 700 topics? Apparently my mind just wheels with so many questions they invented Wikipedia. And Twitter pretty much ripped off "How do you feel today?" from me.

Nice.

Lord Foul wrote:To add a little spice and Indian curry flavor to this topic, I've made a critical decision: I, as an entity, will cease to exist on Kevin's Watch on the date of my 10 year anniversary.

Recently, I thought it would be fun to completely change my visible identity on the Watch and play a "guess who I am" game with it; but of course, people could just search my posts and figure it out pretty quick. I suppose coming up with a whole new identity would also be interesting. (And yes, I know there's a Mallory's game along the same line, but no one will play.)

I don’t read fantasy books and don’t consider myself a fantasy fan, for instance, as I think only Tolkien, Donaldson, George Martin and a select few others are even worth considering. It would be boring, to me, to endlessly plumb the fantasy catalogue just because of one watershed experience in my youth with hobbits.

I haven't found other Fantasy to live up to the expectations, either. In fact, that's why I waved off the Chronicles when I was in college. When my friends said "like Tolkien", I knew nothing could be like Tolkien. I don't remember why I finally decided to read them, but became a confirmed fan. But there ain't much else out there in Fantasyland, to be honest.

Instead; again; I believe in trying new stuff or going on the spur, such as trying history books, religious texts, biographies. Classical lit. and treatises. I’d like my library to be more robust than just novels.

Of course!!

And then the ultimate entry to that library: me, turning into the statue of KW; the main character or narrator in Yeats’ Sailing to Byzantium. Totally submerged in his longing for purity. I will still exist here but only in the past, never answering back.

In other words, becoming a Durance on the Watch. By whose Appointing? They got some splainin to do.

Ikkyu wrote:I won't die I won't go away I'll always be here
no good asking me I won't speak

Are there really confirmed lurkers like that?

Show yourself at least once or twice a month, LF, even if it's to start random topics in some reincarnated version of yourself.

Lord Foul wrote:To add a little spice and Indian curry flavor to this topic, I've made a critical decision: I, as an entity, will cease to exist on Kevin's Watch on the date of my 10 year anniversary.

Why? Mainly because it's some dramatic shit, but also because I think having finite, limited time is something arresting and cool. The point is: I haven't posted but once or twice a month if at all, and even when I do it's a random poem here or there.

I think it’s important and eventual in life to move on. I’ve quit playing video games. Totally. I believe in cutting ties now and then as one evolves and experiencing life in new ways. It’s all part of a grander scheme we often do to ourselves without knowing. I don’t read fantasy books and don’t consider myself a fantasy fan, for instance, as I think only Tolkien, Donaldson, George Martin and a select few others are even worth considering. It would be boring, to me, to endlessly plumb the fantasy catalogue just because of one watershed experience in my youth with hobbits.

Instead; again; I believe in trying new stuff or going on the spur, such as trying history books, religious texts, biographies. Classical lit. and treatises. I’d like my library to be more robust than just novels.

And then the ultimate entry to that library: me, turning into the statue of KW; the main character or narrator in Yeats’ Sailing to Byzantium. Totally submerged in his longing for purity. I will still exist here but only in the past, never answering back.

Ikkyu wrote:I won't die I won't go away I'll always be here
no good asking me I won't speak

I wouldn't worry about endings. There are plenty of beginnings/endings in life that you can't do anything about, even aside from the big ending. Certain things are expected, and possibly even legally required, of us when we hit a certain age. And we all get fired from and quit jobs. And, for many of us, one day we're single, and the next we're a spouse. And one day we're not responsible for another human being's life, and the next we're a parent. And one day we're awarded a college degree. And on and on and on. Just my opinion, but there's really no need to put more endings into life than we already get thrown at us.


BUT!

Lord Foul wrote:Of course; if someone wants my Summonsing mod-ship they're free to it. I've been lax there. But I would hope I keep my Hall of Gifts mod-ship, as I'd still perform that if someone PM'ed me to delete/move a thread.

Fraud! It seems you can't let go after all. You already know you can't. So don't bother trying. Just hang out, relax, do the Foul thing.

deer of the dawn wrote:

I don’t read fantasy books and don’t consider myself a fantasy fan, for instance, as I think only Tolkien, Donaldson, George Martin and a select few others are even worth considering. It would be boring, to me, to endlessly plumb the fantasy catalogue just because of one watershed experience in my youth with hobbits.

I haven't found other Fantasy to live up to the expectations, either. In fact, that's why I waved off the Chronicles when I was in college. When my friends said "like Tolkien", I knew nothing could be like Tolkien. I don't remember why I finally decided to read them, but became a confirmed fan. But there ain't much else out there in Fantasyland, to be honest.

Oh, there most certainly is! When I was 43, decades after reading the 2nd Chrons, Lucimay introduced me to Malazan. I've never read anything even half as quickly. The closest I can describe it is like a new romantic relationship. "O you entirely possess me!" I read the first four books, then read them again before reading the fifth, wanting a better understanding before moving on. After reading the tenth book in the main series, as well as three of the companion books, I read the first four again. Every reading of every book was at breakneck speed. It was, literally, nearly the only thing I thought about for many months, even when waiting months for the next book to come out. (I didn't start reading until the first six books of the main series were out, and the others came out once per year, so it was a happy time for me! )

By comparison, I've read the First Chrons three times since the early 80's, and the Second only once. Of course, I've discussed the books to an extensive degree here, (I might still have the highest post count in the 1st & 2nd Chrons Forum, but MM isn't around to tell us. ), so my understanding of them is as thorough as it would be with more readings.

And Malazan jump-started me into reading again. I've read many stand-alone books, or short series, since then. I've read the first books of a couple series, but didn't bother going on. And I've read a ton of Warhammer books.

All because Malazan is so freakin' good!!!

Fist and Faith wrote:BUT!

Lord Foul wrote:Of course; if someone wants my Summonsing mod-ship they're free to it. I've been lax there. But I would hope I keep my Hall of Gifts mod-ship, as I'd still perform that if someone PM'ed me to delete/move a thread.

Fraud! It seems you can't let go after all. You already know you can't. So don't bother trying. Just hang out, relax, do the Foul thing.

I am relaxed and hung out. More than ever. I’m not speaking about changes in life (marriage, jobs, death); they come and go of their own will, yes.

I’m talking about doing different things that you or I might never have realized were better for us. Often in life I’ve found that there were things I wasn’t doing in the past but am now doing that have really opened up my outlook and positivity in unparalleled oodles of amounts: church, working out at the gym, going outside, forcing myself from the comp or the TV and out of my comfort zone into social engagements in various ways. I can feel a part of me continually coming out and improving but it’s only me doing it; not life.

So I will go. I will see what effects it has and how much more into reality I feel I am being pushed. I am not saying being a Watcher makes one an agoraphobic slug; far be it; I’m just saying a bit of discipline and self-denial never hurt. Secondly: I have reached a singularity here at the Watch. I’ve pretty much said and done everything I ever could here. I’ve commented on music, philosophy, books, my own writings, the opinions of others; agreed; disagreed. A wide gamut of shouting-matches but also make-up-kiss-fests and pats on the back. I feel that I’ve nothing left to say. It’s not a bad thing to say: it’s just that.

I have come; I will go.

That said: I would hope I'm a staple of Hall of Gifts, and as just a small honor I'd be mod there no matter what.

This is a thing I have begun and will continue. I will meld into mystery until my presence here is but an echo.

My last post will be October 26, 2012. Pretty epic shit. I like it. If you have any questions or want to speak to me I suggest PM’ing! 'Cause this old horse is laying down.

But Fist.... Before I go. You may touch the face of Foul.


Don't quiver little boy, your daddy's with you now
It won't be long anyhow
It's just around the corner
The destiny that I embrace with you

Don't get too close to my fantasy
Don't be afraid to clutch the hand of your creator
Stare into the lion's eyes and if you taste the candy
You'll get to the surprise



Lord Foul
2002-2012

Lord Foul wrote:So I will go. I will see what effects it has and how much more into reality I feel I am being pushed. I am not saying being a Watcher makes one an agoraphobic slug; far be it; I’m just saying a bit of discipline and self-denial never hurt. Secondly: I have reached a singularity here at the Watch. I’ve pretty much said and done everything I ever could here. I’ve commented on music, philosophy, books, my own writings, the opinions of others; agreed; disagreed. A wide gamut of shouting-matches but also make-up-kiss-fests and pats on the back. I feel that I’ve nothing left to say. It’s not a bad thing to say: it’s just that.

I have come; I will go.

You've still never met me in the flesh.


Quitter.

Cagliostro wrote:

Lord Foul wrote:So I will go. I will see what effects it has and how much more into reality I feel I am being pushed. I am not saying being a Watcher makes one an agoraphobic slug; far be it; I’m just saying a bit of discipline and self-denial never hurt. Secondly: I have reached a singularity here at the Watch. I’ve pretty much said and done everything I ever could here. I’ve commented on music, philosophy, books, my own writings, the opinions of others; agreed; disagreed. A wide gamut of shouting-matches but also make-up-kiss-fests and pats on the back. I feel that I’ve nothing left to say. It’s not a bad thing to say: it’s just that.

I have come; I will go.

You've still never met me in the flesh.


Quitter.

I've never met any Watcher except me.