| Author | Message | ||
     Troy AALBC .com Platinum Poster Username: Troy Post Number: 1787 Registered: 01-2004 Rating: N/A |
For the first time that I can recall there have been only 37 new discussion board posts in the past week (just over 5 per day). I know posts slow down around holidays like Mothers day, but normal post rates usually recover a day or two later... Is everyone on Facebook? Are y'all tired, "board", have not read anything new, or covered all social issues? Traffic is marginally down, but it is normally lower in May than April (one of the peak months). The old posts generate a lot of traffic from search engines which brings new readers, but the fresh contributions are what keeps people coming back. Admittedly I have only approved a handful of new accounts over the past year. I'm not being snobby it is a technical problem. I have to manually review every single account request. For every legitimate request there are 100 "spam-bot" requests. There are about 1,000 "new account" requests a week and tens of thousands queued for review. If I don't check and approve a single "spam bot" request it will spam the board which is an even bigger headache. When someone emails me to ask why their account was not approved that is when I approve it, because I can just go to it directly. Well I hope to read more from y'all soon. | ||
| Cynique "Cyniquian" Level Poster Username: Cynique Post Number: 13720 Registered: 01-2004 Rating: N/A |
There are a lot of things going on in my life right now that I find provocative but I just don't know whether other people would be interested in hearing about them. Maybe I'll share some of the weird phenomenon that I am witnessing as I live around the clock and witness the things that go bump in the night after the bewitching hour of midnight... | ||
| Yvettep AALBC .com Platinum Poster Username: Yvettep Post Number: 3545 Registered: 01-2005 Rating: N/A |
I'm interested, Cynique! Hey, Troy (waving)! | ||
| Cynique "Cyniquian" Level Poster Username: Cynique Post Number: 13723 Registered: 01-2004 Rating: N/A |
Then prepare to read an account of my surreal experiences... | ||
| Ferociouskitty Veteran Poster Username: Ferociouskitty Post Number: 743 Registered: 02-2008 Rating: N/A |
Can't wait, Cynique!! | ||
| Cynique "Cyniquian" Level Poster Username: Cynique Post Number: 13726 Registered: 01-2004 Rating: N/A |
Well, it all started last year with the visits I was paying to my older brother who was in the terminal stages of cancer. Once a week I would go to sit with him in his room at the retirement hotel where he stayed. In addition to the cancer that was ravaging his body, his eyesight was also failing and as the end drew near, on the final visit before he slipped into a coma, as we sat there in his darkened room reminsicing about the good old days, I noticed how my brother's eyes had almost a neon quality to them. When we would make eye contact I could hardly look away because his glowing eyes almost mesmerized me. This was the beginning. In the months that followed my brother's death and the heart bypass surgery I was advised to undergo, I began to have strange experiences. It was like I had acquired a second set of eyes, eyes whose vision was enhanced by the "drugs" prescribed for post operative cardiac patients. Eyes that allowed me to see a second world. To be continued... | ||
| Ferociouskitty Veteran Poster Username: Ferociouskitty Post Number: 744 Registered: 02-2008 Rating: N/A |
Keep it comin', please! | ||
| Troy AALBC .com Platinum Poster Username: Troy Post Number: 1789 Registered: 01-2004 Rating: N/A |
Cynique, For real!? This WILL be FASCINATING! Hey YVETTE! | ||
| Cynique "Cyniquian" Level Poster Username: Cynique Post Number: 13728 Registered: 01-2004 Rating: N/A |
As part of the recuperative process for my heart surgery, I began my chanting ritual, something I have done from time to time down through the years to reinforce my desires and aspirations. I dabble a little in Buddhism and this is one of its practices that resonates with me. While droning the traditional chant of "nam mio ho renge kyo" I visualize my wishes on the belief that the sound waves of the chant will energize the brain waves of my mind and turn thoughts into things. I'm certain that my chanting did, indeed, speed up my healing process. Like prayer, it's a lot about the power of suggestion. I have a theory that this ritual also did something else. It provided a channel for the paranormal things that began to manifest themselves in the wee small hours of my nocturnal solitutude... more later. | ||
| Chrishayden "Cyniquian" Level Poster Username: Chrishayden Post Number: 7931 Registered: 03-2004 Rating: N/A |
For the first time that I can recall there have been only 37 new discussion board posts in the past week (just over 5 per day etc. (I know that most of the posters on this list will not believe this but I just don't have anything that brilliant to say all the time. It's true, it's true Virginia! Lots of times what appears to be an out of control, intemperate, off the cuff burst is really well thought out and considered. I often hold my fire and think it out-- Ah ain't smart like summa y'alls be. I gots to THANK befo' ah talks. Well, it all started last year with the visits I was paying to my older brother who was in the terminal stages of cancer etc. (You don't need to waste this on us. You need to make this into a short article or story) | ||
| Chrishayden "Cyniquian" Level Poster Username: Chrishayden Post Number: 7938 Registered: 03-2004 Rating: N/A |
You know also we have had great numbers of posters who have quit or passed on or maybe gone off the web. Plus on that sites have proliferated so that it seems everybody got one. Everybody got their OWN blog and 6 or 7 people that follow them. Maybe you should try to draw in new blood. You could start posting personal ads. For kinky sexual practices. Maybe give Zane a chatroom for her Naughty Neices and Nephews. | ||
| Hen81 Veteran Poster Username: Hen81 Post Number: 188 Registered: 09-2007 Rating: N/A |
I have been absent while getting my new book on the economy ready for publication. I will post more as I wait for it to populate on all of the bookseller sites and databases. | ||
| Yvettep AALBC .com Platinum Poster Username: Yvettep Post Number: 3549 Registered: 01-2005 Rating: N/A |
It provided a channel for the paranormal things that began to manifest themselves in the wee small hours of my nocturnal solitutude... Ooo, Cynique! Can't wait for the next installment! This is perfect timing, as I am currently reading "Drood." It is a fictionalized account of Charles Dickens' last 5 years of life when he became obsessed with all things paranormal after surviving a train crash. Great stuff! | ||
| Yvettep AALBC .com Platinum Poster Username: Yvettep Post Number: 3550 Registered: 01-2005 Rating: N/A |
Oh, sorry. I meant to begin my post with condolences about your brother. (I got too excited about your story!) Sounds like he was surrounded by loved ones in his final days. In that, he--and you--were fortunate. | ||
| Cynique "Cyniquian" Level Poster Username: Cynique Post Number: 13729 Registered: 01-2004 Rating: N/A |
Thank you, Yvette. And at your urging I will continue my account. (Nobody would publish this, Chrishayden.) I live alone - by choice. All of my kids are just a phone call away and are frequent visitors. But at night, I am by myself. Or at least I thought I was.. Since time does not impact on my life, within the confines of my den I sleep when I'm sleepy, eat when I'm hungry, and do whatever diverts or amuses me. The TV, my PC, and the lamps are rarely turned off. Although, lately, the lights have started to mysteriously blink. On this particular night, there on my recliner where I have dozed off, I am gradually emerging from my deep slumber, suspended in the limbo between wakefulness and sleep. My eyes are open but my eyelids remain closed and when I slowly lift them, much to my surprise, the room is bathed in a redness! Shocked, I quickly close my eyes and am afraid to move. Then, I open my eyes again and, as if a shade is being raised, the red fades and the room returns to - normal? No. Now standing just to the side of me is a little blond girl dressed in what appears to be a white confirmation dress and veil. I pause and then reach out to touch her but she disappears. Yet, again, I am not alone. In the middle of the floor is a tiny mouse standing on his hind legs, staring at me, as if he, too, has seen the girl. I bolt up right and as he skitters away I know that I am not dreaming... More later. | ||
| Sisg Veteran Poster Username: Sisg Post Number: 339 Registered: 01-2004 Rating: N/A |
Wow...Cynique...this is good! Keep it coming...i am entranced...i guess bc i so believe in the otherworlds, and paranormal. I too have had some very scary experiences with it. | ||
| Ferociouskitty Veteran Poster Username: Ferociouskitty Post Number: 745 Registered: 02-2008 Rating: N/A |
What Sisg said! All of it. I have had what would be paranormal experiences twice, both at times in my life that I consider "extreme." I wasn't physically ill/recovering but I was not fully "myself" during either of these times. I never thought about the idea of something "triggering" these paranormal events, but now that you mention it, Cynique, it makes perfect sense. Looking forward to the next installment... | ||
| Cynique "Cyniquian" Level Poster Username: Cynique Post Number: 13731 Registered: 01-2004 Rating: N/A |
So, a pattern seems to be developing. And the setting seems to be expanding even as I begin to wonder why am I now experiencing strange things, even as I decide that it has something to do with how I have changed my lifestyle, no longer following an orderly routine where I sleep straight through until morning, functioning solely during the day. Over that past year, I have turned into a peripatic denizen of the night and, in my world, night time is different. It is dark and quiet and eerie. My son has offered to set traps for the mouse who scampers around my turf, always pausing to exchange glances with me. But I tell him to hold off, deciding that me and this nocturnal little critter have bonded. And as the atmosphere in my sanctuary grows more organic, the quantum physics thing seems to be kicking in. A while back I became fascinated while reading about the enigmatic properties of this weird science which proposes that the eyes integrates what they see, and that what they see, changes when they look away. This could explain how certain things I glimpse out of the corner of my eyes are not there when I turn to view them head-on. My focus dissipates the protoplasm they are composed of. So while alone in the wee hours doing whatever commands my interest, and lights begin to dart and shadows start to hover in the perifery that exists just outside my line of vision, I am not afraid because my direct stare can make these intrusions disappear. During the day is the time for contemplating the significance of the "beta blocker" and "ace inhibtor" medications my cardiologist prescribed to stave off heart attacks and strokes. "Drugs." And always the flashback of how luminous my dying brother's eyes were as he expressed gratitude for the company of the baby sister who was all he had left in the world... I no longer choose to sleep. Sleep chooses me, overtaking me with an irresistible drowsiness that plunges me into a wonderland of dreams. But it is on the threshold of wakefulness when a succession of entities continue to make brief appearances, always preceded by a ubiquitous redness that my blinking eyes can disperse... to be continued. | ||
| Chrishayden "Cyniquian" Level Poster Username: Chrishayden Post Number: 7941 Registered: 03-2004 Rating: N/A |
But I tell him to hold off, deciding that me and this nocturnal little critter have bonded (Mice are filthy, disease ridden, nasty creatures. If you saw one you probably got a dozen on the premises or soon will. They get into everything and leave turds everywhere. Kill it) This could explain how certain things I glimpse out of the corner of my eyes are not there when I turn to view them head-on. My focus dissipates the protoplasm they are composed of. (You could be experiencing a wondrous opening to a psychic world-- or you could be going cabin crazy. Been there. Done that. Only was fun when it was over. If the images become terrifying you need to get out. Start getting out, visiting. Go to a senior citizens center. If you cannot stand the idea of being around a bunch of old people do some volunteer work someplace. Go out and sit in the park. | ||
| Cynique "Cyniquian" Level Poster Username: Cynique Post Number: 13732 Registered: 01-2004 Rating: N/A |
I am not looking for an escape. I have immersed myself in this alternate world of the supernatural because I find it mind-expanding and interesting. I've even entertained the idea that I am being prepared for death - or what we perceive as death. Because these episodes could, indeed, be symptoms of a brain tumor. I did, however, go ahead and allow my son to set some D-Con lures around because I realized the mouse had mated and was reproducing. In the meantime, I will soon wrap up my tale. | ||
| Brownbeauty123 AALBC .com Platinum Poster Username: Brownbeauty123 Post Number: 2214 Registered: 03-2006 Rating: N/A |
Well, posters aren't responding as quickly as they used to. I like prompt responses, I hate it when you all take hours or a day to get to a post. | ||
| Chrishayden "Cyniquian" Level Poster Username: Chrishayden Post Number: 7942 Registered: 03-2004 Rating: N/A |
I did, however, go ahead and allow my son to set some D-Con lures around because I realized the mouse had mated and was reproducing. (No good. They eat that crap up like candy. Sometimes die but often in places where you can't find them and they stink up the joint-- Best, a cat. Even the smell repels them. Good, the good ole spring operated mouse trap. Put a big hunk of bread on the end where the bait goes. Tie it on with thread (use rubber gloves smeared with grease or something to disguise your smell) I have killed up to ten mice with the same supposedly one shot trap. You do have to pickup the trap with the corpse still in it, though. The mouse with his mouth dug into the hunk of bread. Eyes bulging out. I hate the little buggers so bad I have killed them with brooms and such--usually after the poison slows them down. Good hunting-- | ||
| Libralind2 AALBC .com Platinum Poster Username: Libralind2 Post Number: 1221 Registered: 09-2004 Rating: |
Well..in your state..mah sistah..could you "see" some lotto numbers..shoooo liLi | ||
| Cynique "Cyniquian" Level Poster Username: Cynique Post Number: 13741 Registered: 01-2004 Rating: N/A |
You know, LiLi, that was one thing I considered but no numbers ever came to me so I bought some lottery tickets and put them on top of the TV hoping the "fairy dust" would enchant them and turn them into winners. No luck. So far.  I think I would just have wait for some numbers to spontaneously appear before me while I'm in one of my semi-awake "trances" and then go and play them. This all has to be a natural process and one that can't be forced. | ||
| Carey AALBC .com Platinum Poster Username: Carey Post Number: 1915 Registered: 05-2004 Rating: N/A |
LiLi, don't make your move to soon. You gonna have to share that pot when the numbers appear, so don't buy that cabin in the sky right now. Yes sir, as soon as ol'Cynique drops the load, am hitting lotto on-line ***sticking out tongue*** | ||
| Chrishayden "Cyniquian" Level Poster Username: Chrishayden Post Number: 7957 Registered: 03-2004 Rating: N/A |
I think I would just have wait for some numbers to spontaneously appear before me while I'm in one of my semi-awake "trances" and then go and play them. This all has to be a natural process and one that can't be forced. (using this up to date, logical scientic method you will certainly make somebody very rich--somebody else, that is. The way to win these things is for you to enter into a pool with several others and all of you to buy thousands of tickets with the most likely combinations to occur-- The only people to make money gambling is The House) | ||
| Libralind2 AALBC .com Platinum Poster Username: Libralind2 Post Number: 1223 Registered: 09-2004 Rating: N/A |
Hush Carey Chris..hush. I know people who hit the lottery (3 and 4 digits) on a regular basis and a few who hit the lotto (one couple who won 16 million some years ago)..soooooo Cyn, when you get the right combo..if you dont play I will and you wont EVER have to worry about a thing.."Oh ye of little faith Chris" on the other hand.....LOL LiLi | ||
| Troy AALBC .com Platinum Poster Username: Troy Post Number: 1799 Registered: 01-2004 Rating: N/A |
Brownbeauty123, actually the ability to reply when you can is one of the benefits of discussion boards. Like many people I'm just too busy to read or post here everyday. I try to check in every day to make sure the board is actually working but I can go days without contributing. Libralind2, hitting 3 digits is "realistic" assuming a "straight" bet the odds are 1 in 1,000 with a $600 payoff (street odds lotto pays less) for a $1 bet. Over time the "odds" are that you will ultimately loose money and the "bank" will win; simply because the payoff is less that the true odds of winning. The odds of winning millions are so astronomical as to be absurd. I agree with Chris on this one. However I also understand that people who play the lotto are buying more a "dream" and the value on that is unquantifiable. | ||
| Ferociouskitty Veteran Poster Username: Ferociouskitty Post Number: 750 Registered: 02-2008 Rating: N/A |
I just joined Twitter, to promote my co-parenting site. I can see how it can be a time sink! I'm off and on Facebook, but mostly just trying to finish my book proposal (in the home stretch, Yvette!) and promote the site. As for my posting here, it ebbs and flows. FB isn't a "replacement", however, because the conversations I have over there and the ones happening here are apples and oranges. Each satisfies a different taste. ;-) | ||
| Cynique "Cyniquian" Level Poster Username: Cynique Post Number: 13748 Registered: 01-2004 Rating: N/A |
Good luck on your proposal! | ||
| Ferociouskitty Veteran Poster Username: Ferociouskitty Post Number: 751 Registered: 02-2008 Rating: N/A |
Thanks, Cynique. I really am going to celebrate when this thing is done! | ||
| Libralind2 AALBC .com Platinum Poster Username: Libralind2 Post Number: 1224 Registered: 09-2004 Rating: N/A |
Hey Troy, while the odds are "high" they say, there is always an excepetion LiLi | ||
| Carey AALBC .com Platinum Poster Username: Carey Post Number: 1917 Registered: 05-2004 Rating: N/A |
I just read that with Twitter the users are restricted to a limit of characters! I know nothing about Twitter but that alone would limit it's users. On a side note and a good sounding note, when Thumper was more involved and the discussions were more about books, the themes of those discussions had more meat to them. How many times can one talk about babies mommas, dead beat daddys and huge booty. Many may not know that the cultural part of the board wasn't always there. Like Troy said in another post, it takes a special kind of fool to walk up in here and fend off the initial "welcoming party". The parent to this board is an African American Internet book site.I will assume that many found their way to this board while looking for books. If a person just wants to talk a little shit, they can go to the happy hollow tavern or text their bff. On another side note, Troy should have at least on occasion passed out some popcorn or candy. That reminds me, Thumper used to pull our coats on special coupons. I don't want to sound like an old negro league player but the game done changed. People are not playing the game for the love of the game ....MONEY MONEY MONEY. As I am typing this post, there's a white women looking at me trying to sell me some Lasik or some shit. Tomorrow it could be some fool telling me to call her or call any one of a number of lonely women waiting to be hustled. Authors used to stop by and chat, not solely to sell their books. Now when authors hit the board, they have a bag of books and a chest protector. Yep, some even wear a cup because somebody might try to kick them in the nuts. | ||
| Troy AALBC .com Platinum Poster Username: Troy Post Number: 1814 Registered: 01-2004 Rating: N/A |
Libralind2, there is always an exception, a winner, of these lotteries. However we always hear about the winners. We never hear about the 100's of millions of loosers. The people who essentally squander what little money they do have on a dream. This is basically a government sanctioned crime againt the population. If the media put into perspective the astonomical odds against winning and the amount of money collected versus the little is actually awarded then TAXED. I believe fewer people would allow themselves to be robbed of their money. The street "numbers" game was a much better for the player. Dutch Schultz tried to muscle in on the numbers racket in Harlem, but the real gangsta is your beloved government... | ||
| Cynique "Cyniquian" Level Poster Username: Cynique Post Number: 13758 Registered: 01-2004 Rating: N/A |
It should be noted that the odds of winning the lottery increase with the number of tickets you buy because you get 2 sets of numbers for a dollar. Playing the same series of numbers every time instead of going for quick picks also ups your chances. I don't think anybody goes broke or hungry spending what they would waste on something else by playing the lottery. And although everybody doesn't win the big Jackpot you can still win substantial amounts of money without having all 6 numbers. The most seductive reason for playing, is the "Somebody has to win. Why not me"? philosophy. Over the 36-year period that the Illinois state lottery has been in existence, I know 3 people who have won million+ dollar pots. 2 of them right here in my home town. | ||
| Troy AALBC .com Platinum Poster Username: Troy Post Number: 1817 Registered: 01-2004 Rating: N/A |
Cynqiue, sure the odds of winning increase if you buy more tickets (and choose different numbers), but the odds of winning are so astronomical, that it makes no real difference -- even if you brought 1,000 tickets - which some people actually do. You can argue that one would waste their money elsewhere if you like, but that does not change the fact that the Lottery is a waste of money. Agreed about the reasoning for playing. In the last 36 years, do you know how many people lost money, and how much money they wasted? I, don't, but I can guarantee you if was FAR less that was actually won. | ||
| Cynique "Cyniquian" Level Poster Username: Cynique Post Number: 13761 Registered: 01-2004 Rating: N/A |
All of our indulgences are a waste of money, Troy. Necessities are are the only thing that justify spending money on. | ||
| Troy AALBC .com Platinum Poster Username: Troy Post Number: 1818 Registered: 01-2004 Rating: N/A |
Cynqiue, Relentless' talent with the camera and technology in general is prodigious. I can only image what he'd be doing had he not spent 10+ years locked down. I also wonder where he would be if he did not use his talents to create a video like this... ...then again I could ask similar questions about myself over the course of my life. |
