Message-Board Junkie

I am a message-board junkie! I am--I admit it. I was thinking about this a while back--how I like Internet message boards and spend too much time on them. Then I realized how much I guess I really do enjoy them--and for how long.

Over the years, I have "belonged to" message boards about scrapbooking, weddings, being newlyweds, babies, moms, children's clothes, etc. There are even more that I have visited less frequently--I guess I go through phases.

So as I was thinking about this ... I realized something else. This goes back much further than I realized. In 1986--yes, 1986 ... that is not a typo!--I belonged to a computer bulletin board back in East Tennessee. It was called Q-Link, if I remember correctly. I was in the sixth grade!

The sixth grade, people! 11 years old!

We had a Commodore 64--remember those? Remember the floppy disks? LOL! I was all about the Commodore 64--we got one when I was in the third or fourth grade, and I was so excited! Back then, I was pretty advanced for my age, if I do say so myself. That is hilarious to think about now because I am very behind the times when it comes to technology these days.

Anyway ... back to Q-Link ... the connection was S-L-O-W--all on dial-up, of course. I actually made a friend on there. I can't remember his name, but he was an Asian guy who was in high school. (It was completely innocent, so get your mind out of the gutter.) It was so neat to talk to someone on the computer like that back then. I actually met him in person at a computer-club meeting. My Dad took me to the meeting, which was held at Central High School's library. LOL! It's funny to think about now. There were all these computer guys there (my Dad included) ... and me and my sixth-grade self. haha!

Q-Link was a lot of fun. I was disappointed, though, when my friend Amy was trying to call me to tell me about our middle-school Valentine's dance and couldn't get through because our line was busy when I was on Q-Link. :o( I missed the dance because it had been rescheduled due to bad weather.

On a sad note, a very sad note: My Asian friend (I can't remember his name) was killed in a car accident when I was still in middle school. We had only talked on the computer (and not even that frequently--nothing like talking on the computer today) and met that one time at the computer meeting. I saw his picture in the paper with a story about the accident--I think his brother was killed also. :o( I think his dad worked at Eastman, like my dad.