Compiling YOUR Stories

[Jastroch]

Guys,

I didn't want to announce this until it was a sure thing, but I've received a million dollar grant from the Library of Congress!

I'm compiling an oral history of the great AIC forum blackout and need your help. Do you remember where you were when The Lights Went Out! ? (That's the title of my book. If you have better suggestions, I'm all ears.) If you do, please share your struggles and triumphs of that fateful night long ago, last night, in this thread. I'll consider the story for my book!

I got the grant based on writing a 1,000 page history of the Welsh in America. But frankly the grant writing process was so exhausting that I don't have it in me. I'm sure the Library of Congress won't mind. The AIC is a fascinating topic that will appeal to academics all across the globe!

[Aden]

I was sitting on my sofa looking at Facebook when I saw a panicked post from Shannon McCormick stating he had been banned from the forums. I quickly verified that the same was true for me and then left the snarkiest remark I could muster as a comment on the Facebook post. After that, what could I do? I went back to my bejeweled blitz and TV watching. Whew! Glad that's over!

PS I will need all million of your dollars if you use my story in your book...and clearly my story is so awesome, you need it.

[Rev. Jordan T. Maxwell]

i was one of the fortunate few who was blissfully unaware of the dark times while they were occurring. fortune saw fit to bless me with getting hit by a car on my way home last night, so i was thankfully ensconced in freezing rain and police reports while my brethren were suffering. no, i did not even know it had occurred until i woke up this morning and saw all of the casualties on Facebook. the panic, the fear, the desperation...and the questions! why me? why US? where do we turn? who can we call upon? why has no one written a new Wu Yun chapter in so long? a desolate wasteland of unblinking eyes, staring to the heavens for answers that would never come. i counted myself as fortune's favour in that moment, to have been spared this hardship.

but then i think of the dawning hope that arose when Bob strode across the night, miles and hours away, and gave new life to that which had died, called forth fire where there had been naught but ash and cinder. i think of the cheerful hearts that celebrated this brand new day, with tears and laughter and promises of renewal and remembrance. and gazing upon the dizzying heights through which they now float, though i did not suffer the trials and tribulations they had to crawl through, i wonder now...who is TRULY the blessed between us?

[Jon Bolden]

I think I was doing dishes. I believe I washing some round Pyrexes. I don't remember if they were lids or the main containers. I'll have to get back to you on that.

[Spots]

Heavens. Why must we all relive this awful memory?





How could God let this happen?

[LuBu McJohnson]

I don't quite know how to explain it, but I was pretty much a BAWS the entire time.

[Jessica]

It was horrible. I was a little late posting the Maestro cast (as usual.) I signed in at the Hideout to throw it up really quickly, but I saw that [gasp] I was banned. I assumed right away that I had done something horrible, but I could not figure out what it must have been. Then I somehow made it through my show - Story Time with Andreas - it went well despite the angst I felt about the posting.
Then once I was at home and in bed there it was again - I was banned! I IM'd Jon Bolden to ask if he was getting the same response. Once he told me he was I sighed a deep breath of relief because who in the world would ban Jon Bolden? Then I realized that I could NOT POST MAESTRO! Oh God! The Humanity! The cast members sitting at home anxiously chewing their fingernails.
Fortunately, I was engaged in some witty and elucidating Facebook conversations when suddenly it hit me - I could post the Maestro list on my wall! Even better I could tag everyone who was in the cast and crew so they would know they were set for Saturday.
With that undoubted tragedy narrowly avoided I let myself drift into slumber. The next morning I checked again and the forms were alive and well - so I re-posted Maestro on the brand new shiny forums. Happy and relived to see that order had been restored.

[Mike]

I had just returned home from work. Logged on to check e-mail, typed a few responses, then it was on to the usual sites to see how the better folk lived.

I was shocked at what I saw.

Banned.

Banned, but how? I thought I was careful; I had taken such care to cover my tracks, to behave on the boards, to fit in.

My mind raced at a hundred miles per hour. Someone knows something. Maybe Lampe, possibly Topping. Several names came to mind; they would all have to be dealt with before I could move on and re-establish myself in yet another city. I had moved from New York to Austin almost a decade ago and now all my work had fallen apart, and I'd have to move yet again. A few calls to associates set things in motion. Within minutes, several people were dead, and more would never live to see the dawn.

I grabbed my bug out bag, extra passports, and duffel full of currency. I hoped that my decision to keep the cash half in dollars and half in Euros wouldn't come back to haunt me; I knew I should have added some gold to the stash. After a quick look around the apartment to see if I had missed anything, I collected my bags, the cats, and head out the door after setting the charges for the incendiary devices I planted in the walls back in '08. The only thing they would find in the morning would be that charred 'human' body and a bunch of empty file folders; the life which they contained as fake as the boobs on a stripper.

I sat in my truck messaging my handler. "No go." was the reply. I've been dropped and am now out in the open.

As I put my .45 automatic under my chin, preparing to accept my new fate, I figured I would check out my facebook page one last time and say goodbye to the facade people had known for the past decade. It was then that I noticed Kareem's response to my status update : "It's a bug. Everyone's banned!"


Heh. A stupid computer bug. Never saw it coming. But I had set a series of events in motion, and none of them could be stopped, mistake or not. I returned to my apartment, stopped the countdown on the incendiary surprises, let the cats out of their cages, and opened up my laptop. Apparently there were numerous comments from improvisors all over the city. The forums were down, and would be repaired soon.

I put everything back in its place and fed the cats. I'd have to answer for the bodies, but it's not like I haven't ordered people to be murdered before. Then it was off to bed; unfortunately there was the civilian job to deal with again.

Damn. I was looking forward to bugging out; Luxembourg is usually nice this time of year.

[Rev. Jordan T. Maxwell]

you know...the driver who hit me that night DID seem to yell "HUZZAH!" as he sped off into the night...and what sounded like the opening lyrics to "Once Upon a Dream"...

MARQUIS!!!

[PyroDan]

Somehow I was gloriously ignorant of what was happening. Nothing to print here.