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Old 01-12-2003, 11:45 PM   #26
Estelyn Telcontar
Princess of Skwerlz
 
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Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: where the Sea is eastwards (WtR: 6060 miles)
Posts: 7,645
Estelyn Telcontar has reached the Cracks of Doom and destroyed the Ring!Estelyn Telcontar has reached the Cracks of Doom and destroyed the Ring!Estelyn Telcontar has reached the Cracks of Doom and destroyed the Ring!Estelyn Telcontar has reached the Cracks of Doom and destroyed the Ring!Estelyn Telcontar has reached the Cracks of Doom and destroyed the Ring!Estelyn Telcontar has reached the Cracks of Doom and destroyed the Ring!Estelyn Telcontar has reached the Cracks of Doom and destroyed the Ring!Estelyn Telcontar has reached the Cracks of Doom and destroyed the Ring!Estelyn Telcontar has reached the Cracks of Doom and destroyed the Ring!Estelyn Telcontar has reached the Cracks of Doom and destroyed the Ring!
Silmaril

Belated congratulations, Lush m’dear, and to you too, Squatter! Happy Downsiversary! I’ve tremendously enjoyed reading your posts, and both of you are special to me because I’ve had the opportunity to meet you personally. Each of you has a unique brand of humor that makes your contributions so much fun to read. Congratulations to you too, Alkanoonion - you put so much effort into supporting the Downs, and I appreciate that!

I saved my greetings for this date for a Purpose: First of all, to tell you that I am immensely fond of you all and that one year is too short a time to be dead among such excellent and admirable ghosts! Secondly, to celebrate my deathday – today is my first Barrow-Downs anniversary! Thirdly, to contribute my reasons for consorting with the dead. Since I like to put first things first, I will begin with the most important one:

1. The Books forum – The first thing I fell in love with on the Downs, a wonderful place where I finally found people who enjoyed talking about my favorite book! This forum has informed, entertained and challenged me, enriching my life. May this fascination last a long time!

2. The Movies forum – Granted, I have mixed feelings about this forum, with its tendencies toward actor swooning and the repetition of ever the same topics, but it is the one on which I made my very first post and started my very first thread. I shall ever be grateful to the movie hype for making this site known so that I could find it.

3. The chat room – It took me awhile to get up enough courage to try it out, since that was something new to me! And it took some time to get used to that unique style of communication and to learn to use IRC. Then I enjoyed the personal contacts, the real-time talks with great people, and the Tolkien discussions (before it became almost impossible to carry on discussions on the #barrowdowns chat). I still enjoy chatting, though most of it happens in private rooms…

4. The Barrow-Downs forum – I enjoy getting not only information (tantalizing glimpses of the way things used to be in the old threads!) but also the personal touch of many threads on this forum, threads such as this one and my favorite, “The Tolkien Coming of Age Club”. I like that community feeling!

5. RPGs – I was not particularly interested in them for a long time, since I had never tried RPing. Then I let myself get talked into picking up a deserted character on the Rohan RPG, and the bug bit me! Now I’m enjoying it thoroughly, even having started a game of my own.

6. The humor – I have smiled, chuckled and laughed out loud so often when reading so many wonderful posts here!

7. More books – Reading discussions about the Silmarillion, Unfinished Tales and the History of Middle-Earth, as well as the Letters and minor works, made me eager to read all of Tolkien’s works. I have most of them now, though I lack the time to read them, what with being here so much!

8. Moderating – I consider it a great privilege to be able to help make the Barrow-Downs an enjoyable place to be. Sometimes it’s a chore, yet often a pleasure, because I find gems on threads I probably wouldn’t have read otherwise. It also gives me an overall view of what’s happening on the forum and makes me aware of the people who are posting.

9. Other site features – There’s not always time, but I do enjoy occasionally looking into the fan fiction section or reading Malbeth’s prophecies, just to name a couple of them…

10. The people – It takes all kinds to make a world; among the various kinds that populate the Downs, I’ve found many congenial spirits (ghouls, spectres etc.). It has been my great pleasure to get to know you all! I don’t know half of you half as well as I should like…

And this is not the END – I hope it is only the beginning of much more!

(Sorry, this speech turned out longer than Bilbo's...)

*leaves with a blinding flash of light*

[ January 13, 2003: Message edited by: Estelyn Telcontar ]
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'Mercy!' cried Gandalf. 'If the giving of information is to be the cure of your inquisitiveness, I shall spend all the rest of my days in answering you. What more do you want to know?' 'The whole history of Middle-earth...'
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