blonde poker forum

Edit: apologies in advance if any part of this post upsets anyone - that is not my intention at all - I had hoped the overall feeling of the post would be a 'feelgood' one.  I'm not a great wordsmith like others on the forum, and sometimes I don't say things very well and dig holes.  Suffice to say I won't attempt any more posts like this again!   Peace and love xxx


By pure chance I just happened to notice my post count sitting at 9999.  I know it has become tradition on blonde for those reaching the 10k post milestone to post something intelligent, thought provoking and memorable to mark the occasion.  I very nearly wasted mine with my usual drivel (ok, I'm just about to do that anyway!!)

Now the time has come, I don't know quite what to write, but given some of the happenings of recnet days and the huge support I have received from my friends on blonde, it seems only right that this post should in some way pay credit to the fantastic community we have built here.

As I understand it, the blonde forum kicked off in April 2005.  I'm not one of the old guard, I joined in February or March 2006, a few days after meeting then moderator Heid at a betfair marketing jobby.  I'm so glad I went along to that.  I'd been playing poker for a couple of months and, to be honest, didn't have a clue.  I occasionally look back and recognise that day as one of those events that occur that is instrumental in shaping ones llife.  If I hadn't gone along to that marketing event chances are I'd have given up on the poker a couple of months later, having never improved my game.  I'd have never made the friends I have here.  There are too many to mention, but special thanks for help/advice/laughs/support/fun over the years go to Tantrum, Laxie, Bolt, Kev, Tighty, Kingpoker, Kinboshi, Dingdell, Madasahatstand, Suzanne and, of course, Matt.  Of course a special thanks to Tikay and the other founders of the blonde forum, without whom I wouldn't have met all you wonderful people (and that tag applies to many more of you than the handful listed above).

That's it, I think (although I reserve the right to edit this post if at any point in the future I think of something else cooey-wooey to say about blonde or the blondeites!)

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OK I can't sleep so I have come back to add to this post, as I previously reserved the right to.  As I was lying in bed, I was thinking of some of my 'milestones' on blonde.  The first one that sprang to mind was not a pleasant one.  I don't know what happened that day in December 2006, but things seemed to take a turn for the worse, and I very nearly left the forum.  I probably shouldn't mention this on what is suppposed, after all, to be a 'cooey wooey' post, but if this is to be an accurate account of my journey on the forum, then the rough goes with the smooth.  Some of you will remember the almost infamous 'female moderator' thread.  To this day, I don't really understand what caused the wave of hostility that was directed towards me on that thread by some of the more senior members of blonde.  Although to the casual observer it probably looks like just another thread, it cut to the heart of me and upset me immensly.  I was accused of being underhand and dishonest and trying to undermine the moderators.  I can't really put in to words how distressing it is to be accused of such things when they go so against your very nature and the values you hold dear. I put that down to the fact (maybe mistakenly) that no one really knew me then, and would not reach the same conclusions now that they do.  I also presume that there was probably other stressful stuff kicking off behind the scenes at the time.  Although it's all water under the bridge now and things and people have moved on, I do sometimes wonder if people still hold those kind of views about me, but I hope now that people know me better they know that there was no ulterior motive (and no, I did NOT instigate the thread, lol!!!!).  I don't mention this event to put a downer on things - I mention it because it was at the time that happened, ironically, that I first realised the value of the friendships I had made on this forum and the blonde way of looking out for each other.  Then (as recently) I received a flood of supportive PMs which got me through, and persuaded me to stay.  I knew that even if the mods didn't like me, plenty of others did, and that was enough for me.  That's the last I'll say on that matter, as it's all water under the bridge, and I am not one to hold a grudge.  It goes wihout saying that I think the mods do a difficult job very well, and that their work in keeping blonde as it is is hugely appreciated.  I should also make clear that I consider some of those people to now be dear friends - as indicated above.  I came back to edit this post with the intention of taking out the sections about my thoughts and feelings at the time, but as they have now been quoted that does not seem right or fair.  Blonde is like a family, families have spats, and they make up.  Yes there may be infighting sometimes, but when it comes to protecting 'our own' we're all in it together.

Other highlights in my blonde adventure include, of course, the blonde bashes I have attended.  BB3 in Walsall was my first, and I got to meet many blondites for the first time.  BB4 in Luton was just great, and the first time I met the lovely Paulina, Tantrum, who was my roommate for the weekend.  Although we'd not met in person before, we hit it off straight away and got on like a house on fire.  She is now one of my best friends on and off the forum, and I'm so glad she agreed to share my room that weekend.  When I get married again, Tantrum will be my maid of honour :)  Love you T xx  BB4 of course also saw the birth of the might Team Chorlton, the best heads up team ever known to all mankind.  We kicked ass.  Go team chorlton!!!!  That bash was unique, as I actually came home in profit on the whole weekend :D

BB5 co-incided with my move to my current home.  I was a bit gutted about the clash of dates, as I had started seeing Matt a few weeks previously.  At the time, he was still living in Manchester and we were doing the long distance thing, which was hard, as we could only see each other every couple of weeks, and I missed him terribly.  I knew after about two weeks of us hooking up that I was head over heels in love, and every minute until we would see each other again felt like a day.  I managed to make it to Cardiff for a few hours on the Friday night before the bash to spend some time with him, and it was worth every minute of the long train journey :)  We're still going strong.  We've had barriers to overcome, but they have just made our relationship all the more solid and united.  Matt - I love you from the bottom of my heart.  I'm so glad I found blonde, and then stayed on blonde, and found you.  I don't think I would ever have truly lived to my full potential if you had never found your way into my life xxx

Last of the BBs, but certainly not least, was BB6 at DT (http://www.dusktilldawnpoker.com/index.php?affiliate=blonde)D (http://www.dusktilldawnpoker.com/index.php?affiliate=blonde).  I'm sure most of you won't have noticed, and will be very surprised to hear, but I was very drunk all weekend.  I had the most fantastic time though. With every blonde bash I have been to I think that I couldn't have a more enjoyable weekend, but then the next one rolls around and I get proved wrong.  Technically, I shouldn't be able to make bb7, but I'll do my damndest to see to that :)

OK - that's all my musings for now but, again, I reserve the right to edit if I think of anything else I want to add.  In fact, I might stick at 10k posts and just edit this one every time I thinlk of something else I want to say.
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Long live blonde!

Congrats on the 10k milestone..... cant guess ive been out all night!
Hope to see your 20k post soon.


Jason

brilliant 10k post well done

Yes great post Claire, nice sentiments and well worthy of #10,000. Congrats on making the milestone!    ;applause;







But yes.......being honest, posts 1-9999 were total drivel !   ;nana;   ;hide;

Fantastic 10,000 post.

I will HAVE to come to Reading now just to give you a big huge HUG xx

not too huge - I will be sore!

Oh, ffs...gather yerself!  It's not an operation, it's only a piercing!!!  Sigh.   rotflmfao

nah i prefered the first post. ;hide;

at least if it was an operation they'd knock me out.  it's the nerves that are keeping me up.  I am officially a lightweight!!!!

i want to get my tounge forked but cant pluck uo the courage

Ahhhhhhh....its not where I thought it was going to be then  rotflmfao

I had my tongue pierced, it was fine. The worst part was my flat mates getting curry the day after, you're not meant to eat for like 4 days but I was hungry and there was curry. It was quite painful trying to manoeuvre curry around the piercing, and even when I managed that I seemed to start chewing the stud, which hurt!

no no i want my tongue forked not pierced i wont hijack this post but it's cutting a inch of your tongue in half so you half a snake like forked tongue, and you can move both bits independently

I know, was more a "it's not as bad as it seems" response to clawwwwww

ahh sorry, ... wont hurt at all claw

I knew that even if the mods didn't like me, plenty of others did, and that was enough for me.  That's the last I'll say on that matter, as it's all water under the bridge, and I am not one to hold a grudge.

Yep. That's the way to put it behind you Claire. First rake it up again, then give your version of events making all sorts of insinuations and assumptions, then finish by saying you won't talk about it anymore. Great.

Claire talks about "the wave of hostility that was directed towards me on that thread by some of the more senior members of blonde"  but for the sake of clarity, although many people got involved, I was the main protagonist.

Well for the record Claire, it cut to the heart of me and upset me immensely too. I was, like you, also accused of many hurtful things.

Also (like you again) I received a flood of supportive PMs, for which I am grateful.

Lastly, (and amazingly like you yet again) as far as I'm concerned it's all water under the bridge. I don't hold a grudge either.

In fact, the only real difference between you and I Claire, is that If I want to let a sleeping dog lie, I don't kick it in the ribs.

Apologies Tom.  I thought we'd made our peace now and that it was far enough in the past to be referred to in a historical sense, and to highlight the fact that, although things go off here now and again and people get upset, we're just like a big family in the end and make up.  I'm sorry if it appears like I'm raking it up - I would have done it long before now if that was my intention.  This is a retrospective, and I'm looking fowards, not back. 

Apologies if my post has upset anyone else too, I didn't intend it that way at all.  Although I'd rather not have to censor it and leave just the happy stuff in, I will if that's what's wanted to retain harmony here - I really don't set out, or want to cause any trouble.

It also saddens me that I was clearly wrong to hope that peoples' opinions of me might have changed.  No hard feeling here towards anybody xxx

I've read my post back to myself, and I take on board what you've said - it doesn't read as it was intended to - It was late, I was stressed, and I'm not very good with the written word.  I don't want to amend it too much, but I do want it to reflect the spirit in which it was intended, so I'lll edit it accordingly.

My apologies again x

:goodpost: ;iagree;

well done on the 10.000th clare..

liar!

Great post. blonde wouldn't be the same without you.

thanks Ian ;) xxx

If i want to let sleeping dogs lie, i dont kick it in thr ribs

i'm not trying to be clever here tom but if the above statement is true then you shouldve just posted something like:"congrats on your 10,000 post" and left it.

you've sort of done everything in your post that you've accused claire of.

anyway, congrats on your 10,000 post and glad you're in a better frame of mind.

was surprised to see i was still included in the friends you've made on blonde ::) ;hide;

hehe - always xxx

Congrats on 10,000th post claw

i'm mucking about with the webcam on the lappie i baught, how do i post pics on here?

Great post Claire.

Good milestone xxxx

I remember when we met at Luton, and it was a blast...

slightly disappointed that at the last blonde bash i could not share a room with you ,  but the prelude with Laxie and yourself on Friday was enough for me to forgive you....

xxx  

Oh contrare Bolty, When I posted, it was in response to something that had been posted today, not a year ago. Neither did I reiterate my version of  events. I did not make assumptions or presumptions regarding other peoples thoughts and motives. and I did not draw conclusions.

I am (as I was before) happy to let things lie. I really do bear no grudge, I don't want to go over old ground, and I have come to look upon Claire as a friend.

BTW Claire, Congratulations on your 10,000th post.

But if you'd said nothing 90% of the readers wouldn't know you were a protagonist. N'est ce pas ?

Assez de ceci qui discute mon mon chéri, m'embrasse maintenant et nous serons dans l'amour pour jamais.

This vista is JARRING my head, i plugged my mp3 into it, how the f*ck do i copy the songs to my music, XP was so easy to do?

Get a room you two....lol :)

Woo hoo, well done!!

Does the bookies pen add to the ambiance when gambling? lol

Claire... well done for 10k posts and may there be many more

BB7 was my 1st BB, and I was treated like an old friend by a good many people, especially Bongo, Suz and yourself, so I thank you for that :)

PS you MUST go to BB8 :)

vista is SH*t

XP FTW

exactly, i dont even need this fucking thing, i was gonna have 800 on the jolly in the first at ascot yesterday but i was still mashed at 9am when i went out to have the bet yesterday morning after serious session and ended up going to pc world in charlton to get some speakers and coming out with a laptop and only had 200 + 200 on line the jolly which done it nicely in the end but it's pissing me off now, xp............open removable disc and copy to my music, where the fuck is that option on this thing?

I need a new lappy and they all come with Vista now. I'm seriously considering blowing it out and installing XP when I buy one.

Gotta agree with that.    Bolty for mod!!    :)up

Gotta agree with that too!     Mondy for Mod too!!  :)up

Good call!!   Red for Mod aswell!!     

Oh he is already?    I must be a good judge on these things then!  ;D

You should definitly change to xp str8 away, i would but i'm just to lazy hmm.

Oh and KeithyB for mod as he's good mod picker  ;D

thats what i want to do, i dont think i'll be using this much for my poker, maybe if i'm 1-2 tabling watching a film or laying in bed having a laptops handy but i dont even know why i baught it, how do you change it to xp, my pals got a cop of an XP disc and even though i dont think i'll be this lappie that much i dont want to mangle it by installing a moody version of xp, how much is a genuine one and do you know how to uninstall vista and install XP?

Trust me, just this once. KeithyB - or you - would NOT wanna be a Mod......;)

I think XP costs about £60 but if you have another PC you may already have access to a legal copy.

As for installing it, I'm going to use the "Take it to someone who knows what they're doing" method.

LOL I certainly wouldn't Ticky i am very lazy person and would probably be the worst mod in the history of modders.

PS I mostly appreciate the opinion of an older wiser head than myself

PPS FLUSHY FOR MOD  :)up

In one sense, Lord Flush deserves to be a Mod....:)

Only as a punishment

It's a different operating system - you just have to get used to it.

I've got XP on my desktop and Vista on my laptop. I don't really see that many advantages of Vista over XP (i.e. they didn't need to mess about with it as much as they did) - but after using it for a bit I also don't see that many disadvantages. I wouldn't have thought it was worth the effort of changing it to XP unless it was really messing with your head.

lol, i took that pic down!!! ::)

it's like a security blanket having a betting shop pen in your mouth or atleast behind your ear!! lol

c'est tres heureusement

xx

I'm gonna stop jamming up the site with pics of me now anyway, although it is the only fu**ing thing ive sussed out how to use on vista, sigh!

LOL @ this whole thread.

how do i switch a laptop off?

Congrats on your 10,000th post Clair.

Well done Claire  :)

MACs are better......and now you can run windows as well....

Why.... ?

No seriously?

They cost more.

But they look prettier

they are straight from the box ready to go, they are pretty, their interface is beautiful, and now you can run two systems, no need  for PC.

and yes they are absolutely beautiful.....

not sure they are much more expensive - Imacs are affordable and pretty fast....

but why would I want 2 systems? I'm happy with the 1 I've got on PC.

I'm sure there's good reasons, I just have no idea what they are

2 systems just in case you have to communicate with others who did not catch up on mac...

the only site that you can poker on mac is ft, most pirate torrents are written for windows, as well as most viruses....


seriously i don't know anyone who, once they have tried mac (new one) wants to go back to windows, except those who operate linux, which btw can be run on macs as well.

1. cost - long term macs are cheaper
2. easier to use
3. on mac it takes you fewer key strokes to do most of the operations
4.macs are faster
5. virtually virus free
blah blah blah - just great

Didn't Stars release a beta for the mac?

Macs are lovely, I'd love one, they're really slick bits of kit well and they are superb for photo/video stuff.  What I really want is for the missus to get one for her general surfing and looking at photos, then I can have a go and keep my pc at the same time

yes they did:) thanks for that just downloaded- it looks a bit weird and i can't choose the sit but better something then nothing... at home i have an old mac at work dual processor, at least now i don't have to play poker while at work...

I've got 2 macs, although I did buy one for £10 and have never used it...

Love the laptop though, and the OS has some very nice features.

Bongo - you know you want to use the mac, just go for it;)

although i must say the new keyboard is a bit weird, it takes time to get used to- so thin and slick ----

btw the pokerstars beta thing have a cool interface - better then the windows version;)