She says...
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He says...
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Sanguiness dons her StoryTeller robe and settles in to tell
her side of the saga....
Picture it. Winter 1997. The redheaded woman spends the day making contact
with a few of her old chat friends who have been with her during her on and
off relationship with the WWWeb over the last 4.5 years. One of them suggests
she load IRC.. she inquires as to where...the friend says "go to yahoo and
search for it". Not knowing the ins and outs of yahoo search engine yet,
she sees the flag for "chat" at the top of the page and goes to the down
load site. She spends a few hours trying to make a friendly connection that
cold dark Kansas day , the 24th of February.
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Well, Sanguiness and I first met wayyyyyyyyyyy back in March of
'97. Both of us on just to make new friends. Chatting for fun. I was chatting
to fill time, as things were not so hot in the Tucker household at the time.
And, as it was March, the weather in Ontario, Canada, as in Kansas, was not
condusive to outdoor activities.
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A week or so later, under the name "SanguineSiren", still seeking
out nicknames of people she has met on the net, she spies the nickname Marshall-tucker
across a zooming 30s' room. "Kewl nick name, M-t, you a fan or a band member?"
The laughing reply informed her gently that he was a fan. A few people inquire
as to the origin of her nick and she stops to reply, watching the name of
the interesting stranger fade from her room list, as he leaves, surfing for
another room
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Sanguiness greeted me with an often heard, "Hi, are you in the
band, or a fan?", or something to that effect. Tho' I've played music for
nearly 20 years, I can only wish they'd call!! Over the next couple of months
we visited, did the chat silliness, but neither of us were looking for anything
more. Yet, her nick-name intrigued me. Not sure why, maybe just the way it
rolled off my fingers in pm, or the fact I new it meant something pleasant,
or positive. When we first met, Sang was a 5 year veteran of different chat
forums, (she was among the first in the world to chat as we do in Yahoo,
but with Prodigy), I was a relative newbie, chatting on a dinosaur with win3.1.
(I still don't know how to do mass hugs or pm's etc.LOL). Sang would never
hesitate to help me as best she could with the commands and computer knowledge
that is in her head.
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Sang and Raze have become fast friends IRL, Sang introduces Raze
to chat, and the two begin spending their Saturday nights on line together
at Sang's house, performing all sort of devilment as The_Evil_Twins and putting
down many shots chased by beer. Again, Marshall-tucker wanders through a
room. Sang is at the keys, Raze at her left elbow, and the twins are engaged
in a pun war with no_mean_feat, amusing the stuffing out of the room, and
getting a few chimers in. No_mean is making the two transcriptionist twins
break into brain sweat as they search their combined vocabulary for medical
puns to throw back at him, but a giggle riot has broken out in Sang's living
room. "Hi, Marshall, long time no see...", and the twins have now befuddled
him. He hasn't seen us online together. Thank goodness for ICQ, and Sang clues
him in as to who the twins are.
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In the second week of June, my then-wife and I decided that a
split was in order. Incompatibility is a tough thing to understand. Especially
when you can get along with just about anyone you meet. I took it very hard,
and , as move out time got closer, I turned more to chat. Sang, as well as
a few other, very special friends became my counsellors. After my split, being
alone 24/7 became a very new thing for me. I'd have morning coffee with friends
from Australia as they were having evening tea. Remember Dellla? or my breaky
while chatting with Night_mom after she got home from work in Montana. But,
as the days progressed I was drawn to talking more to The_Evil_Twins, Sang
and Razenkoehn.
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The_Evil_Twins
Sanguiness and RazenKoehn
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Then Sanguiness has a few very dark and stormy days in her emotional
life and Raze is trying to comfort her, not wanting to leave her friend in
a time of need, but not feeling quite 'the ticket' to brighten Sang back to
her usual state of optimism. Raze pops on line, wanders around while Sang
is dampening her pillows in a rare emotional cloud burst. Raze connected with
M-t online, and began to clue him in on Sang's mental state. Finally emerging
from her cocoon, eyes redder than her hair, Sang reluctantly agrees to sit
at the keys and converse with this casual friend.
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It was Raze that kind of nudged me towards Sang. I thought she
was doing it to stretch our friendship a little further. Now I realize that
Raze had seen the spark between me and the woman I thought of as out of my
league. We clicked. Personal things happening in Sang's life had her wanting
someone to talk to outside of the rooms. Raze saw in me, someone needing
more than a shoulder. Thanks Bubbette! In those early days, Sang saw pretty
well every facet to my personality. I was going thru more emos than a yahoo
list! But she hung in there.
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Ten hours later, with giggles mixed between the occasional tear,
Sang and Marsh bid adieu for the night, having conversed exclusively in ICQ
and suffering from chatter's butt. Next day, Sang logs on and who appears
on her list but M-t. Intending a quick "howdy, and thanks for listening",
she finds herself drawn into conversation with the gentle heart that had so
soothed her the day before. Fourteen hours pass, and they feel like mere
minutes, but again, no other voices in the conversation but the two friends,
passing time. Raze drops by on day three, smiles and says "So, you're talking
to him again?" Sang gives her the tally of hours spent. Raze stares in wonderment,
and joy, and Sang finds herself spilling to Raze all the thoughts and feelings
that have been flying through her head, and how nervous she is to reveal
those feelings to M-t, afraid that they may be too much, could frighten him
away.
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We rapidly grew together, spending as many as 70 hours a week
online, just the two of us, either in icq or in a private yahoo room when
icq wasn't co-operating. By the first week of July, we were online sweethearts.
The one greatest thing about the two of us was, at the time as now, we were
both single, unattached and open to a new relationship. We both agreed to
take things slowly....yeah right! Within a week, I'd asked Sang to cybermarry
me and she accepted.
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The romance bloomed, carefully, tenously, nervously tended by
the two gardeners. Both holding back, concerned to come on too strong, trying
not to rush the other. By the time of Raze and Blue's cyberwedding, Sang
was feeling definite tugs on her heartstrings. It didn't take long after
that, for Marsh to begin making his feelings known, pulling Sang into his
inviting arms, making her feel protected and loved, 'home'. Weeks pass, Sang
agrees to cyberhitching with Marsh.
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On Aug 3rd, in front of 117 chatters in one room, we exchanged
very special vows, written by ourselves and officiated over by the Rev_Sodafizz.
Fizzy also stood in as my best person, while Raze was matron of honor. Some
may see this as Chat silliness, but if you read our vows and especially the
little speech I made at the start of the ceremony or cybermony, you'll see
how we keep it in context.
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