Infinet Talker.. (June '95) It is still miraculous how I managed to unerringly zoned on into this Chatsite, just after a few minutes of my first ever Internet Log-on. I guess, going to Netscape's What's Cool List helped, and having heard so much about Chatsites, I was eager to try out the single chatsite listed, all guns blazing, take no prisoners, come what may.. My main reason for having waited 6 months for my Italian Apple Reseller (Proxima Solutions) to sort out its nascent Internet Connection Capabilities! Well, apart from wanting to do some nifty Computer Graphics a la ToyStory..

Log-On. Welcome to Infinet's Talker, brought to you by that man Glenn, or whoever!.. Choose a handle, choose a pic.. Albie.. I think I may have selected the Golden Labrador as the icon. Ahhh.. ermmmm.. Or was it some abstract pic?

Hello.. Hi.. Eh?.. The Entry.. Well, I didn't realise it was the Entry that first time, nor the next few log-ons.. It took me awhile to figure that one out, that one can be in different rooms, but all essentially the same, only Entry was the more crowded place where Newbies like me tended to congregate..

Can't recall much of all the details that first time, was too busy trying to figure out the landscape, the mild sensation that all must be unreal. Real-Time Chat! Loved it. It was like a duck taking to water! Soon, I was merrily chatting away, like a seasoned pro, until Eskimo asked if I wanted to do a 1-2-1 with her! The seasoned pro had to pretend he understood, and continued on chatting with all at Entry.. Found out a few days later that I was invited to go to a private room with her.. Darn!! But at that time, it never occurred to me that that was a possiblity.

And I started to see the same handles turning up. Names.. People.. Friends.. Glimmer, Bink, Deanna, Clare, Jojo, Woodruff, Batman 4Ever, SK Wish.. I began to hang out more and more there, ignoring wonderful stuff like actual Net Surfing. The hours began to pile up, I was getting less sleep, it was the beginning of an addiction.

Addiction to Web Chatting is detrimental to your health, and should be stated so from the beginning, like all those cigarette packs. Hours were being frazzled away in front of the console. I became a regular, always there, holding court, jestering, being astounded by the mind-boggling HTML   BLINKING   skills of some Nerds appearing onscreen, getting to know more people, Misty, Trixi, Mistry Man, the NightWatcher, Sunflower & Daisy, Karli, Tinkerbell, Amanda, Abby, Amethyst, Veggie, Nair, SurferGirl.. from around the world, venturing into the various rooms, hanging out at the Pool, sometimes in the Gallery, the Bar, the Kitchen, even occasionally at the Showers!.. I found out what Cybersex is like too..

CyberSex.. Cybersex is.. Get that Camel off me, Betty! Gobshite.. Er, everyone's been to Bianca's?

Chic, Mountie, Bethany, and Albie were a fierce foursome at the Pool. Of course, there was the dog and Roscoe, Mountie's sidekicks! Role playing came into its own here.. Lotions and Potions, and Virtual Swimming, and Peeing in the Pool! Poems and Songs, and Apples and Spiders. And Sadie, one night at the Pool.. On a wing of an Aeroplane.. a la Bjork.

Dancer, Moon, Case, Feng, RoadRunner,Silvi, Hthaiwon, Ilusion, Yepla, Parker, Judie, Watchman, MoonFlower, Riceman, Captain, Lady Raven & Albee, Samba, Retro.. Romance also began to blossom in various corners of the place.. There were going to be a few Cyber Weddings.. Definitely some Cyber Engagements. Being a designer, I got to dictate the color schemes. No one cared..

Also, eWorld's chatsites were rapidly becoming more popular, after a few initial setup hiccups aka Crashes.. A friendly environment, indeed, with CCCs and hosted channels, and I was Zong in there, making Mac-literate friends abound! MacGroove, Nikki, Dels, Birdie, Fly.. Alas, Apple took it all off! All of it, all the rooms, all the channels, everything..

For awhile, it seemed everything was swell and kewl at the Talker, but as time passed, so did more people, and the LAG became more and more noticeable, and annoying! Added to that, we were getting some real sicko types in there too.. The ones who come in to disrupt, the ones who get a kick out of messing about with HTML, the ones who are just plain lop-sided in their grey bits up there. Demented Demons, for one.. and Talker was getting a bit too slow updating the messages. Lag became, at times, unbearable..

Moon invited, well, more like twisted our arms into going along to this brand new chatsite, in Germany! The first time I ever logged on to the CyberBar, it was surreal! But, despite the initial apprehension about a strange new place, with strange new commands, and strange new people, it was much faster than Talker, and we migrated to the swanky new site. Friends from Talker, Chic, Traci, Misty, Dancer, Judie, Case, Feng, Silvi ( *Schmusekatze* ) .. were coming in there too. Slowly, unperceptively, I began to travel back to Talker less. A new Home!

And new cyberfriends... Maid Marion, BrightEyes, EvilLurker (FrankRizzo), EvilBabe, Scorpio, Aaron, Samba (chugga chugga boom boom)..

My first ever F2F with any of my cyberfriends was at Frankfurt Airport. I was on the way back for a vacation to Malaysia in the summer of '95, and we made plans to meet for a couple of hours at the airport, while in transit. Moon, Case and Feng travelled up to Frankfurt, and eventually we found each other, despite all the best laid plans to meet at a certain strategic slot!.. We had ourselves a few beers, we hugged each other, and I spent the rest of the flight to Kuala Lumpur in a stupor!

Of course, being in Malaysia that summer meant my second F2F with my Malaysian Cyberpal, Traci! Like all good Sam Spade novels, our rendezvous was at a hotel she'd booked for me, on her Island of Penang. At the Lobby! With a newspaper, sunglasses, white panama hat! LOL.. No, not quite.. My Hostess with the Mostess in Penang, she turned me into a tourist, driving me around the few days to gawp at the scenery, stuffing me with the local food, strolling on beaches, but we never made it up the Penang Hill!

Back in CyberLand, Cyber@Bar is the place still! And on, we chatted.. More amazing HTML, more hugging around, more Private rooms, more romance, more scandals, more time online.. More friends.. ChinaCat, Cricket, the Laughing Bard, Sun, Lil Princess (Deborah), Angler, She, Carrie, Madam Butterfly, She Who Rules, Claudia, Itso, Mary Jane Manson, CoolCat, Diver, Deepo, TooMuch, Kally, Steph, Rose, Magnum, Kristin, White Ranger, Iron Eagle, Blue Eyes (Kesser!!!), Slyfox & Giggles, JoeM, Mariah, Abyss, Lia, Pilot, Mimi, Shannon, Dave, Gigi, Jenna Rose, Lonely Viking, Ginger, Monet, Wildflower, Ariel, X-Girl, Imzadi, Monisha, Dented Souls, Nevada, Pinball Wizard, Pacman, Caryn, Catwoman, Girl From Ipanema (beijos), Lulu, BladeRunner, PaperBackWriter, Tristan H, Jamie/Chloe.. and plans were being made for the extravaganza at the Cyber@Bar, in Germany, for the New Year's Eve Party.

It was a bittersweet occasion. The recent death of Dancer a few days before the trip, the sorrow of Moon, mingled with the pleasure of the reacquintance with Case, and meeting for the first time, Silvi, Maid Marion, ChinaCat, Amanda, Desperado, Sun and the actual CyberCafé that is Cyber@Bar in Goettingen. A real life CyberBar!!! Daisy, Lynx, Ann-Kathrin.. German beer, SunPinas, TGVs, and Curry Bratwurst is a mouthwatering delight, with chips! We had joy, we had fun, we had Seasons in the Sun.. We also had our downs, but the highs were better.. Snow on a country drive, Discoing with an aching belly, nekkid table dancing.. On the night itself, the New Year's Party, we were at the Cyber@Bar, with buddies logging in from around the world, wondering if anyone is sober at the Café.. ***Squeak***

She - Way ta go girl....we have to stick together....his legs are kinda sexy now aren't they....laughing
Albie - Can I let go now?..lol..
China Cat - I've got Albie.....here's the new batteries.....let's get started!.... We wouldn't want him to go around looking like this now, would we?...hehehehehe

Back at Talker, the Lawn sometimes became a welcome respite from the pace and absurdity of Cyber@Bar! Amanda introduced me to new friends, Gizmo, Cosmic Charlie, Pal8, Hecate..

CUSeeMe (Video Conferencing) made some tentative appearances around on various reflectors, but I never kept at it enough to find my way blindfolded across the rooms.. But, it will no doubt be revived on those odd occasions where.. ahem..

And IRC.. gallons of Lag..

And as surely as night becomes day, Cyber@Bar began to suffer the fate of Talker.. Lag congestion, HTML freaks (Zerox), and some quirky personal problems and hang-ups within the group, led to the search for a new site..

MicroBiz.. a new dimension, a new beginning.. Nancy, Phoenix, Alan, Osii, Beckles, Lynnaea, Cinderella, Christopher, Izabel, Tori, Wendy, Amber, Rox, Noxas, Eviem, Loulou, Arclight, Minx, Chandra, Cinnder, Dianne, Susie, Di, Lobo, Krille, Saleena, Freeordead, Helene, Smurfer, MrBill, 50eggs, QT, Pipi, Cass, Nightwing, Doc26, Blacksun, KittKat, Kitara, LaDawnna, Jane, Letia, Tbear, JungList, Chip, including the old guard of Traci, Chic, Moon, Samba, Judie, Case, Cricket, ChinaCat, LadyBlueEyes, Giggles, MrGrinch, Girl from Ipanema, Silvi, Travis, EviLurker.. This time, there are Personal Messages! Or PMs, which I mistook to be Post Menstrual Stress at the beginning, which on hindsight, seemed to be rather relevant..

Personal Message from Blacksun at 3:53 pm
Yes I have been wondering where everyone has been.. what is IRC? I should have it

BeastEnders was born, an idea from, I am not too sure who should get better credit, but it was between Arclight and Eviem.. An online soap opera, with us in role-playing stunts way ahead that of which the Poolsters at Talker never dreamt of!.. Riff (Albie) makes his grand entrance, but it took 3 episodes for him to be noticed, and then only because he was covered in batsheet. Mageenta (Nancy), his dearly belurved sistah with whips and other nasty things, Jenny Armour (Cricket), and her handcuffs and 4 poster beds which eventually led to her being impregnated by someone, the Knight Good (Noxas) with his various untrackable aliases, incl. Salesman,New_Age_Freak, JET (Traci), in a mirror image with handcuffs, trying to be as nude as Jenny Armour, Countessa (Eviem), the referee with her bloodlust for the Count, who happened to be Count Raff (Arclight), who also happened to be different Counts at last count.. Count_Hart, Thor, AlienFiend, Loulou, as Riff's saviour, Scarlet (Judie), the ever so demure damsel.. Minx, as Lolita

Sooner or later it had to happen, but this time it was due to a much less LAG related problem.. It was a breach of Gobshite that some of us had felt was badly mismanaged, however. The Company took flight, reaching out to all corners of the Web, for a suitable exotic location for Beastenders, found Firefly, and nestled in there for the shortest time ever.. as far as I am concerned. I had suggested the Maldives.. Needed a tropical location.

Although Firefly/Buzz is good, and really good, my shortcomings with IRC were at this stage being unshorted, and thus I was spending more and more time at Internet Relay Chat, a region Traci and Albie first dabbled with together, along with Misty, Cricket, the Ping Pong games with Laughing Bard, Sheri, Andie, Versus, Kinners, Orge..when we were still at Cyber@Bar, way back when..

Riff was never able to get back into the swinging of the Cat-O-9-tails and bits at Firefly, so after having made a Homepage in there, he proceeded to ignore the Cast and spend his fulltime chatting on IRC's Uppernet, #tj..renaming himself Albie.. in the grand company of his old cronies, Cricky (BWSSKL), Traci, Eviem, Noxas, Nancy, Tige, Pilot, Misty, Hart, Beckles, Janpeter, Scarlet, Brighteyes aka Microdot, EviLurker, ChinaCat, Bill, Roy..

..meeting more new people: NYChick, g_9, Karna, Anita, Mad_Jock, Julia, Babe, WaizFisZ, Barbie, Balinor, Spectre, PhyrKrykr, TB, gr8one, Cheeser, Robosteve, Shoarma, SS_Woutan, kory, Stace, Yasemin, Merlin, Arica, DiscoKid, SvenJo, StZubb, God, A-jay, WC, Snoerke, Elena, speedy..

And hugging up with Evie & Noxas in London, the summer of '96, and getting blasted by Australian Beers, in English Pubs, and French wines at Chinese Restaurants. Cyberia, another CyberCafé, where the PCs made me go a bit nutty, but the cappuccino and fudge brownies, and beer, were good! Will not mention what happened that night, but the bed was big enough, just!.. Then, curry at an Indian Restaurant in Southend, Blackouts at Evie's, Smirnoff at Noxas'.. The man can only take so much :-)

..trying to get into grips with Bots Liza!!!!: 1d100s Rolling Dice!, Ops, Kicks, Floods, Uncalled for Bans, CTCPs, Fingers *Wear some gloves*, Wavs, spousey duties with darling wife Izumi, *quacky* bosoms with NYChica, hair-raising stunts with Cass, hubs & nubs with Lisa, spectremanning Spectre, sayanging with Traci, warbling with Waizzy, snulloing along to Misty, Kaleidoscoping Robosteve, hottubbing Anita, Stargurling Loulou, putting up with Crimson's singing, half baked philosophy with xamp, deciding it was not really worth the hassle and the Votings (!!) after all, and stumbling on to other Nets.. thus neatly sidestepping any unpleasant confrontations with the Nut named DOL and various other creeps and drips.. And poor ^TJ^.. Now, if only he/she can stand his/her ground.. Seriously uncool..

Speaking of drips, Riff makes a comeback at the #hottub at the Undernet.. |Tori|, who is a great IRCOP online, DaffyDuck who is positively hyper!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LadyKill, babe(Australian), ^Kit_Kat^, Goldfisch, Misty (New Zealander), Nonnie, eppo, Spunk, Qazar, Milla, Dove, Z.

And at #StormsHaven and #Silk&Steel; on the Dalnet, where the Gorean Legends make one wonder if Beastenders wasn't a bit too tame.. ^tara^, jade, StormRyder, valary, _nitesong, ^kasumi{^D}, lil'pixi. Tal! Paga, blackwine, silks & sandpits. Goblets of kissed kalana are sensational.. 18+ Bondage W/a smile, Gor Style, Castle, The Lost Squadron, Koroba..

^kasumi{^D} glances up and looks to the entrance of the Great Hall.. watching PCI entering... Welcome back to Castle Stormshaven.. this one is so happy that you have returned to us safely...

_nitesong rises and gracefully walks to the serving area, fills the mug with blackwine, turns to face Master PCI, smiles and brings the mug close to her breast, and as the steam rises she walks back to Master PCI, she kneels, her back straight, head held high and looks up, her eyes sparkling throught the steam as it rises, then she lowers her eyes and raises the mug to Master PCI and says...

Then, the next F2F with Cricky, Mad_Jock, Julia, Spectre, Kinners, Hart, Tunes, St Zubb, Catherine, Walker, Julie (boinnngg), Roy, Nana, along with Evie & Noxas again, in London & Hockley in December, '96. The Party at Evie's house.. It was great meeting up all of them/you. Roy's Gin & Lemonade?! Anyone remembered what the Interview was about? What was Hart's jacket like? What happened to the Mouse?! Did we really drink ALL that?! Where's my sleeping bag? Who's on TOP? And just WHAT did Julie and Albie get up to?!!!

Meanwhile, back at the MicroBiz front, Amber1, Bill, Mysteri, Bluzman, Letia (Barns & Blouses), Chandra, Lacie, Minx, Hart, Izumi (lickie galore!!), Alison, are all still hanging out there, and the PMs are still cool.. and Chatbot is delightfully Insane.. Alan has been busy..

Further adventures in #tj: Olivia comes online, goldschlagering & backseating with Angelina aka Karna, Maid Marion comes in as Nienett, Catherine returns as Julie, and sniffs along, Misty gets crowned as DiscoQueen, the prodigal son Laughing Bard hangs up his table tennis Pings, discovering who really is Sunshine, Salsa saucing with Nitewing, Catherine as MsZubb, Arclight dons on Shadow, and yet more silly little games of KICK and BAN and INSULTS with ^you_know_who_you_are^. It's so much more useful, and pleasing, this feature called IGNORE.. than eventually having to have to resort to whatever it may seem kewl.. to some. Flood begets Flood, An Eye for an Eye, and all that Jazz..

KingLokki, Winona, cromatic, Toba, Flodis, Eagle, blueiyi... and still more to come... ItalianSt goes ABSOLUT, ny looses her chick, LaDawnna is a scream, Karn gets screamier and extremely Fluffy, Susie is preggers, Traci gets all the puppydog licks from Hart, Janpeter la la las, Cricky develops a liking for UPs, Case is back!, g-9 is still scanning, Anita does triple axle sommersaults in the Tub, and Izumi's LuvTunnel is under repairs...

And along comes mIRC 4.7 colors!   Arghhh!

..There is still a lot we all/some of us have to learn about getting along with each other. It is remarkably easy to say one thing, and have it interpreted as another, yet until we have some leeway of tolerances, and less oneupmanships, misunderstandings and anxiety attacks are bound to set in. After all, this is the Net, and unlike Sandra Bullock, we do not have the luxury of looking for, I quote Roy, "body language", not even on CUSeeMe.. [Cass, One Armed Bandit, you hear? *LOL*] let alone staring at the acsii on screen, and wondering just what the other person meant by (((((((((((*LOL*))))))))))) .. Wished the CASTING COUCH is Real.. and when a Camel is a Camel.. And BRBs mean Be Right Back, and not something else.... *ROFLMAO&ICGU!*

And suddenly, too much incessant bickering (what bickering?) at #tj again, just too much! So much so that it is time to chill out, on the odd occasion, at MicroBiz. One of life's great thrills is the ability to adapt. Not easy, being spoilt by irc, but nevertheless, it is a joy to be able to slow down, wait hours for the messages to refresh, think about what you are actually reading, and reply just as senselessly. Old buddies still hanging out there - Minxie, Dianne(Hands on whose Hips and 14), Susie, Amber, who dropped her '1', as a new year resolution, Chandra, Bluzman, Hart, Olivia, Alan, Brighteyes.. Meeting Boze, LuckyLady's Closet, Koa, Odin, Dana, Joseph, Jezebel, Medaea's mac, Ccclassic's flirtations, Sandra, Tatianna, and other assorted lurkers..

C O M I N G     S O O N !
The Far Flung MisAdventures of a Vertebrate Amongst Asteroids . . . . .
A Zany Guestbook Travelogue - the Best & Worst, and all lumps in between . . . . .

To Infinity and Beyond


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