Funny how things turn out. A little over three and a half years ago I was in a crappy job and looking for ways to save money in case the business closed or there wasn't enough work to pay my bills. I did the usual thing after work in a small town and hit my favorite watering hole for several hours just drinking and hearing basically the same old stories with different names attached to them. I spent a lot of money doing this.
One day in late November of 2005 a guy I met was moving and wanted to sell his old beat up computer. He had been trying to sell it for about a week. It had mostly new components. I sat there thinking about my job and how I wanted to find something better. Stable with more money. And if I found that job I would need money to live on until the first check came in. Then the obvious hit me. Hard.
I'm sitting here spending money because I really have nothing else to do. I am sitting here listening to the same old bullshit out of years of habit. What I spend a week on drinking could easily buy that computer and each night I could go home and try to figure the damn thing out. One outlay of cash and it would be mine and then I could save money for my escape if it presented itself. I bought the computer the next day.
I played around with the computer after finding a desk that would hold the old dinosaur with the monitor that took up most of the desktop. I learned the hard way about viruses and what the thing could and couldn't do. I learned that a few simple words in the search engine and ten bucks a month for access could open up a whole new world for me. I remembered a very special lady in my life who use to tease me about being an old fashioned gentleman who was satisfied with just what he needed to get by. At the time I had a decent business and I had her. I was satisfied. I remembered her all those years ago and how close we were. Then I started musing about the warm summer nights and how we occasionally entertained ourselves. I typed tickling in the search engine and pressed enter.
I found this website and lurked for about a week then joined. By the end of April 2006 I had saved more than enough in case the job I applied for came open. It did! This sounds really crazy but in a way the TMF got me (mostly) sober and helped me to escape a dead end job. I met people young and not so young over the internet who I could connect with who had somewhat similar backgrounds and stories like mine. People who I became friends with without ever seeing their faces or hearing their voices. This was a place to help me find my sense of humor again as well as my sense of worth.
I'll tell you the truth. Even without my love of laughter, I hope things would have steered me here anyway. I have never met the caliber of people you can find here and would still find a home here even if I hated tickling.
Funny how things turn out.
One day in late November of 2005 a guy I met was moving and wanted to sell his old beat up computer. He had been trying to sell it for about a week. It had mostly new components. I sat there thinking about my job and how I wanted to find something better. Stable with more money. And if I found that job I would need money to live on until the first check came in. Then the obvious hit me. Hard.
I'm sitting here spending money because I really have nothing else to do. I am sitting here listening to the same old bullshit out of years of habit. What I spend a week on drinking could easily buy that computer and each night I could go home and try to figure the damn thing out. One outlay of cash and it would be mine and then I could save money for my escape if it presented itself. I bought the computer the next day.
I played around with the computer after finding a desk that would hold the old dinosaur with the monitor that took up most of the desktop. I learned the hard way about viruses and what the thing could and couldn't do. I learned that a few simple words in the search engine and ten bucks a month for access could open up a whole new world for me. I remembered a very special lady in my life who use to tease me about being an old fashioned gentleman who was satisfied with just what he needed to get by. At the time I had a decent business and I had her. I was satisfied. I remembered her all those years ago and how close we were. Then I started musing about the warm summer nights and how we occasionally entertained ourselves. I typed tickling in the search engine and pressed enter.
I found this website and lurked for about a week then joined. By the end of April 2006 I had saved more than enough in case the job I applied for came open. It did! This sounds really crazy but in a way the TMF got me (mostly) sober and helped me to escape a dead end job. I met people young and not so young over the internet who I could connect with who had somewhat similar backgrounds and stories like mine. People who I became friends with without ever seeing their faces or hearing their voices. This was a place to help me find my sense of humor again as well as my sense of worth.
I'll tell you the truth. Even without my love of laughter, I hope things would have steered me here anyway. I have never met the caliber of people you can find here and would still find a home here even if I hated tickling.
Funny how things turn out.
