How are you today?

[RobB]

Today I went to check a Tori board for the first time since October, and was stunned to read of the death of a regular poster I've talked to for maybe ten years online. Rob, I'm sure you'll know Rachel, aka KundaVega, from the Kate Bush boards? I simply cannot believe she's gone, it seems completely unreal.

I remember her KundaVega name from the Kate boards and i recall a lot of friction associated with her which resulted in her leaving the boards very suddenly. Until i saw the notices of her death i wouldn't have recalled her name was Rachel though.

I'm pretty sure you all know how much our little community here has meant to me over the years, but I just wanted to say so, because you never know what life will bring.

Your a cheerful little soul today aren't you? Still, the odds are on Dave falling off Stina fan perch first,....given how much older he is than the rest of us. [angel]

[blue]

I guess the shock of finding out about Rachel has made me rather contemplative today, Rob. We hardly ever tell people what they mean to us because we're all under the impression everyone is immortal, but sometimes you get shaken out of that complacency.

Did Rachel actually leave the Kate board? I didn't know that, she was a fiercely devoted Kate fan and I can't imagine she would have found many people disagreeing with her there. She was a very combative soul, though, she could probably start an argument if there was nobody in the room but herself. You guys think I'm argumentative - ha, I got into it a couple of times with Rachel over Kate and Tori, and let me tell you I backed off sharpish!

She was a real character, full of life and passionate energy. It's hard to take in that she won't be around anymore.

[sound world]

Hey, I'm still around, not falling off any perches yet

I know exactly how you're feeling, Beth- someone I 'knew' from another messageboard died a couple of years ago-took his own life, actually- and I was left reflecting on this strange half-artificial/half-real way of friendships that the internet and forums brings about...
And mortality has been uppermost in my thoughts lately-one of my neighbours fell off a ladder a couple of weeks ago, hit his head on concrete, and died in hospital five days later having never regained consciousness-his skull had 3 fractures plus he had a punctured lung. Really shocking- and terrible for his wife.

Nice to see you back again, Beth. It's been incredibly quiet here lately-I think about max. five of us posting in the last three months or so.
I'm pootling along much the same as ever but trying to force myself into some creativity-it's my last week of teaching and I'm setting up my room with three keyboards and Logic at the ready to make some music once the last of the kids has signed off this week. Also I'm building a shadow show for Christmas, aided (very enthusiastically) by my son, making a soundtrack for it etc. I'm sick of the endless round of mammon and presents nobody wants every Xmas, so I thought I'd make something creative.

Talking of my son, RobB, he asked me the other day 'Dad, have you ever heard of a band called 'Kings of Convenience'?'-so I was able to dig out those two CDs you sent me and give them to him! Thanks for helping me appear a little cooler in his eyes-he's at the age where pretty well everything we do is 'so embarrassing'!

[blue]

Hey, I'm still around, not falling off any perches yet

I know exactly how you're feeling, Beth- someone I 'knew' from another messageboard died a couple of years ago-took his own life, actually- and I was left reflecting on this strange half-artificial/half-real way of friendships that the internet and forums brings about...

It is so odd when you think about it, the way you can think of a complete stranger as a 'friend', and the way in fact many of us probably talk more thoughtfully with our cyber-pals than with the people in our everyday life. I thoroughly enjoyed discussing music and films with Rachel, something I hardly ever do with anyone I know in real life.

And mortality has been uppermost in my thoughts lately-one of my neighbours fell off a ladder a couple of weeks ago, hit his head on concrete, and died in hospital five days later having never regained consciousness-his skull had 3 fractures plus he had a punctured lung. Really shocking- and terrible for his wife.

It's all so horribly random, isn't it - frightening if you stop to think about it. Rachel was only 39 years old and apparently died in her sleep from a pulmonary embelism, a blood clot in her leg that worked its way up to her lungs. So sad.

Also I'm building a shadow show for Christmas, aided (very enthusiastically) by my son, making a soundtrack for it etc. I'm sick of the endless round of mammon and presents nobody wants every Xmas, so I thought I'd make something creative.

How cool! And very creative indeed, a lovely antidote to the meaningless rituals we usually celebrate Christmas with these days.

[RobB]

Did Rachel actually leave the Kate board? I didn't know that, she was a fiercely devoted Kate fan and I can't imagine she would have found many people disagreeing with her there.

It must have been a year or two ago i just noticed that she wasn't posting anymore. I think she went on FB or something instead. Not sure what happened really but presumably she met her match on the forum and didn't like not having her own way. I think she died just before her 40th birthday which is no age.

[RobB]

Talking of my son, RobB, he asked me the other day 'Dad, have you ever heard of a band called 'Kings of Convenience'?'-so I was able to dig out those two CDs you sent me and give them to him!

Ahh,so thats what i did with them. I was looking for them the other week as i was rounding up a load of cds that i don't listen to anymore to donate to my shop. And i remembered those KOC cds but couldn't work out what i'd done with them.
Oh well,thats one mystery solved anyway.
Hope your son enjoys them.

[blue]

It must have been a year or two ago i just noticed that she wasn't posting anymore. I think she went on FB or something instead. Not sure what happened really but presumably she met her match on the forum and didn't like not having her own way.

Goodness, that must have been a formidable person indeed to chase Rachel away! She could argue tirelessly, trying to debate with her was exhausting and I think most people just gave up in the end.

I went over to the Homeground forum today for the first time in literally years, to read the thread about Rachel there - one of the posters, someone called Quorbur or something, made me laugh out loud by saying he thought she was boneheaded and prone to arguing endlessly even when she was patently wrong. Clearly he must have had a few debates with her! And I have to say, he was exhibiting the kind of honesty that Rachel herself embodied, not giving a damn how his opinion might be received. She would have understood that totally.

Reading through a few other threads on HG made me realise how far I've left Kate behind, strangely.

[paul-pgss]

The snow has finally cleared here today, but I guess there's more on the way. We seem to be returning to old-school British winters, which is actually rather reassuring given all the talk of irrevocable climate change. Terrible for the heating bills, mind.

Bigger contrast between the summer and winter is a sign of the climatechange that is happening. Luckily my house contains a fireplace where we can burn wood. It keeps the energybills a bit down but is also very cosy.

It's nice to be back here for a little while, another couple of weeks anyway. Whenever I get back online this is always the first place I check, just to see everyone's still here, even if nothing much is happening. I've been musing on the strange connection I feel to you all, despite never having met or even spoken to most of you.

It is quite silent here nowadays with no news of new stina material (yet). But there are enough topics to discuss here. Sadly it comes down to a few people who keep it going (Rob, Dave and you, Beth). Although there isn't much going on, I keep returning here for nostalgia reasons. I'm still thinking that after a new album will be released the activity will be bigger and perhaps new people will join the good old clan here.

Today I went to check a Tori board for the first time since October, and was stunned to read of the death of a regular poster I've talked to for maybe ten years online.

That's sad to hear.
Earlier this year I was really worried about you. You suddenly were offline and didn't attend our meeting without further notice. I know Rob, Dave, Witchy and I have tried a couple of ways to get in touch with you. I was so relieved when you popped up online again. It is quite funny that after just writing for ten years on a messageboard, I have a connection to you all.

[sound world]

There's always been something a bit special about this board-nice words, Paul. It was good to acknowledge our strange little community last year by meeting, but such a shame that Beth couldn't be there.
BTW has anyone heard from Witchy lately? she hasn't been in for ages.

My bloody heating packed up yesterday!! on the coldest day of the year! aargh! we were huddled around our oven most of the day (which runs on bottle gas) while Mike the plumber tried in vain to discover what is wrong with our oil boiler. Today he is close to success, thank God-really has been a case of Sod's Law. The most spectacular frosts everywhere today-the woods around my house look amazing-everything dusted in expanding hoarfrost so that every plant resembles a white bramble, thorns of frost everywhere.

[alx5962]

Every year, 1.2 millons facebook users die, I was surprised by this high number. But for now I feel happy to not have one of these in my contacts

I felt very tired / sad for a month, I supposed it was the weather and shorter days but today my medical exams confirmed my thyroid doesn't work well anymore; I didn't expected that as I thought it was an older people disease only.... I'm getting old I guess

[blue]

Bigger contrast between the summer and winter is a sign of the climatechange that is happening. Luckily my house contains a fireplace where we can burn wood. It keeps the energybills a bit down but is also very cosy.

You mean they were lying to us when they told us global warming meant that our winters would get milder and wetter, until eventually our little island would be completely submerged by the sea and we'd all drown?

The last two or three years we seem to have come out of that phase of extraordinarily hot dry summers and mild wet winters we were in for a good decade or more, and gone back to how things always were - fairly rubbish, wet summers and bitingly cold dry winters. I seem to remember this as pretty much the norm, here.

It is quite silent here nowadays with no news of new stina material (yet). But there are enough topics to discuss here. Sadly it comes down to a few people who keep it going (Rob, Dave and you, Beth). Although there isn't much going on, I keep returning here for nostalgia reasons. I'm still thinking that after a new album will be released the activity will be bigger and perhaps new people will join the good old clan here.

I think there are still people discovering Stina even without a new album, it's just getting them to join and post. It'd be so nice to see more activity on this board, but also I rather like the fact that long-time posters just pop back now and again to say hi and let us know how they're doing.

That's sad to hear.
Earlier this year I was really worried about you. You suddenly were offline and didn't attend our meeting without further notice. I know Rob, Dave, Witchy and I have tried a couple of ways to get in touch with you. I was so relieved when you popped up online again. It is quite funny that after just writing for ten years on a messageboard, I have a connection to you all.

Dave mentioned something along similar lines when I eventually got back online, it didn't even occur to me that you all might think something was wrong, I just assumed you'd know I was without my net access again. But it kind of raises the issue of 'how would any of us know if something happened to one of us?' Other than the fact that we just wouldn't appear on the board anymore. Going back to Rachel, the online community of friends she'd gathered around her only found out about her death via her Facebook page, when one of her real-life friends posted a message there. Lots of people happened to visit her page that day because it was about to be her birthday and Facebook had sent people notifications. Extraordinary, really.

I'm so sorry to have concerned you all earlier this year, as I say I had no idea you might be thinking the worst, given the recurrent problems with my connection. But at least a few of you have my correct current mobile number now and I've written down some of yours, so if I'm offline again for the next few months (which is highly likely given that I need to devote all available funds to heating over this winter), I'll send a text to let you know I haven't jumped off a bridge or run off with a sailor.

[blue]

I felt very tired / sad for a month, I supposed it was the weather and shorter days but today my medical exams confirmed my thyroid doesn't work well anymore; I didn't expected that as I thought it was an older people disease only.... I'm getting old I guess

Oh Alex, I'm so sorry to hear that - you've certainly had your share of health problems, haven't you?

Is it hyper or hypo thyroidism? I read up on thyroid illness earlier this year because one of my colleagues has it, and she'd advised me to go to the doctor to see if I might have it due to symptoms of extreme tiredness and low mood (turned out I was diagnosed with depression/anxiety instead, blood tests for thyroidism came back normal). I'm glad you've actually been diagnosed anyway, apparently many people go for years with thyroidism which is never diagnosed because the tests are not that reliable. Leaving it untreated for a long period of time exacerbates some of the symptoms, so it's good that you'll at least get the proper treatment.

And you're not old! Oh my god, you're what, 20-something?!

[blue]

BTW has anyone heard from Witchy lately? she hasn't been in for ages.

Yes I've been wondering about her, she doesn't seem to have been around for a few months. I heard from her once after I got back online and nothing since. She has a Facebook page, doesn't she? I seem to recall her saying she was much more active on FB than in forums, these days. Maybe if any of our other members have FB pages they can check on her?

My bloody heating packed up yesterday!! on the coldest day of the year! aargh! we were huddled around our oven most of the day (which runs on bottle gas) while Mike the plumber tried in vain to discover what is wrong with our oil boiler.

Aargh, I do sympathise - being without heating in this weather is absolutely no joke. I hope he's managed to fix the boiler?

The most spectacular frosts everywhere today-the woods around my house look amazing-everything dusted in expanding hoarfrost so that every plant resembles a white bramble, thorns of frost everywhere.

Same here, I was up till gone 7 this morning and it looked beautiful outside - I particularly love spider's webs when the frost covers them, they're quite amazingly beautiful.

[paul-pgss]

I'll send a text to let you know I haven't run off with a sailor.

I'd be happy for you if you'd run off with a sailor! But only if the weddingceremony could function as a new forummeeting.

[alx5962]

Oh Alex, I'm so sorry to hear that - you've certainly had your share of health problems, haven't you?

Is it hyper or hypo thyroidism? I read up on thyroid illness earlier this year because one of my colleagues has it, and she'd advised me to go to the doctor to see if I might have it due to symptoms of extreme tiredness and low mood (turned out I was diagnosed with depression/anxiety instead, blood tests for thyroidism came back normal). I'm glad you've actually been diagnosed anyway, apparently many people go for years with thyroidism which is never diagnosed because the tests are not that reliable. Leaving it untreated for a long period of time exacerbates some of the symptoms, so it's good that you'll at least get the proper treatment.

And you're not old! Oh my god, you're what, 20-something?!

I have health problems since my childhood (I started with a pneumonia at 4 days old!) so I'm never suprised with a new one....
So doctors tend to a hypo thyroidism or a thyroidism but more tests are needed for now. To link extreme tiredness and low mood with thyroid was not obvious for me so I guess it must be the same with many people, that's why it can be useful to communicate about this.
I have no treatments yet as it will only start when I finished all the medical exams so for now I have to stay at home and to rest a lot so it's not that bad after all