Subject: Been a long time...
From: Awellyth
Date: Mon, 15 Jul 2002 16:17:28 GMT

It's been a long time, truly... two years, actually. Two years. I first delurked on July 15th, 2000, after two months of 
lurking in the shadows of the majestic threads and post floods. This place felt like home immediately... and it still 
does. Of all the newsgroups, communities, rpg-chronicles and whatnot that I belong to online, AFD is something special. 
Never mind the occasional "civil wars" and troll attacks. Never mind the rapid shifting between overly fluffy and overly 
serious moods. Never mind the constant flow of people, with new members arriving and old fruits returning. We're rarely 
on-topic - but then again, very rarely so completely off-topic that someone starts complaining.

After I came here... I was offered literally mountains of choklit. Pies. I was given an ever-cold disc that'll hover 
over my head and keep me as cool as an ice drak can. I got into a battle with Britney Spears. I joined Choklitism and 
donated ice-cream to a good cause. I founded a new religion with Aarnia. I was accused of infiltrating Choklitism. 
I got involved with "Sing along with me" - that thread hasn't ended, and I'm still posting to it. During these two 
years, I have left once or twice for a longer period. I've found friends here, even one very dearly beloved wing sib, 
I've had serious conversations, I've fooled around like there was no tomorrow. I've participated in troll hunts and in 
rpg-threads. I've been involved in snowball fights, food fights and mud fights. I've participated in religious wars and 
signed a treaty of eternal friendship between two religions. I've tried to drive others crazy with Finnish, Fingliss 
and Fennya - sorry, I like fooling around with languages. I've posted a few poems and stories. I've had good times and 
I've had bad times.

And I'm still here. AFD still feels like home. Even though this place has changed during these two years, it still gives 
me the same feeling of belonging and being accepted.

Like someone (Kaji?) said - you can take the dragon out of AFD, but you can't take AFD out of the dragon! ^_^ I keep 
coming back here, and I shall continue to do that. I'm a double fruit, strawberry, like I decided last year. Using both 
the time-based and attitude-based Fruitiness charts, I decided to add one plus. I feel like it. ^_^

Long live alt.fan.dragons! Kauan eläköön alt.fan.dragons! Longg liv alt.fän.träköns! Cauan cucoistacón alt.fan.dragons!

-- Awellyth Hopeainen