Well, it’s been one hell of a year. The flipside forums have shifted from the old site which originally covered a number of comics to it’s own space in the flipside domain and with that shift we gained a new start to many threads, lost some and brought back a whole range of debates and conversations which had been spoken before but forgotten.
New forumites joined us including fellow Australian Churba who shared with us his plight to help a friend and survive in a foreign country despite all adversity. Andre who quickly swooned the ladies with his ripped abs while I sent them screaming with my beer gut. Leana who knew Selan from other forums or places and threatened her anonymity at every turn. Sister Aluicious who is probably the only family member of a forumite to join our number and together with her sister, Smiles, continues to bring nothing but happiness to the forums. We also regained P-Fae, an old forumite who returned to find the forums completely altered and refreshed but reminded us of old times and past members who had helped make this the wondrous place it is. There are many more who should be mentioned here but the truth is I can’t remember the forums without you so I hope you take it as a complement.
We’ve said goodbye to a few as well, such as Dragon the Huik and Evil Kitten who were long time friends on the forums and ran a side comic that the old forums often referred to. Their wisdom is still missed to this day but their legacy continues in rules that are still found in the debate room today to help keep discussion from turning into argument. Razzly shared her trials and joys with us and joined in many of the discussions with open and honest opinions from someone who’s seen much of the harder times that life and has moved on but still finds the time to wish us a Merry Christmas. Deatzh made her exit a bit more permanent as she deleted her account and all her posts except for those which held topics, but she is still remembered as one of the more knowledgeable artistic talents and for the rages she shares with all of us together with the good times that made her smile. No one can forget the more dramatic exit of Apocolypto who deleted not only his account and posts but a large number of important topics that he had started which were full of discussions that are now lost forever in the bits and bytes that make up the internet. Malki who had been involved in many debates and other discussions left us to join the military and Chag4 is still a frequent visitor but awaits the reawakening of the RPG forums… which is probably my responsibility. Finally we all remember the insane Lordkat who still seems to drop by once in a blue moon to inject some insanity where it’s needed and none of us will soon forget the man who has hopefully gone on to a successful career as a comedian since his time in the Flipside forums.
Flipside herself has progressed from late chapter 19 where Suspira (Inverness) nearly killed Maytag in a moment of hysteric grief and rage as she sought her vengeance for Kindred’s death on Bloody Mary but it ended with the truth that Mary was incurable and a hint that things would develop between Suspira and Crest. Bloody Mary herself was the topic of many debates on criminal punishment and rehabilitation, together with discussion on blame and responsibility in 2008 but showed us an ending that seemed to suit everyone as she disappeared into a life that would see her punishing criminals but never again knowing love or friendship. We then returned to our Scooby gang as they begun a journey by carriage and the secret of Maytag’s infidelity was finally revealed to Bern only for us to discover that she wasn’t nearly as stupid as we’d all presumed and knew all about the naughty jester’s deviations. This resolved to a new commitment between the girls as Maytag swore to remain faithful to Bern and the two found their relationship stronger than ever in what I still regard as one of the greatest shows of compromise between the conservative and the liberal thanks to love. We then moved onto our rocky horror show as Danzig made them a bed and breakfast with a bathwater that saw Bern turn from Maytag to begin something steamy with our cool pervert Glyph which sparked up more outrage in the forums as people suddenly wondered if Bern had gone straight. Our heroine, Maytag, fortunately overcame the bathwater’s enchantment and put a stop to anything further as she dragged Bern away from the situation but right into the next trap that awaited them. This moved on to our staircase dilemma as Crest and Suspira faced their never ending descent but were able to overcome it together and hint even more strongly at a developing love interest between the pair despite the recent loss of kindred. However they two were captured despite Suspira’s power and we instead watched as Maytag was reintroduced to the second book 0 character to make a re-appearance this year when Regina suddenly became very frisky and tempted Maytag before dissolving to nothing but an illusion from yet another new character to enter the series. Finally we ended the year with the proof we’d all been waiting for that linked this haphazard party of new characters to the very boy who seemed responsible for turning the young and innocent Mary into the cruel, violent and ruthless Bloody Mary. Beyond that a shirt became available with the awesome villain of Book 3-4 and we continue to look forward to the future developments in the group’s epic journey to find Bern’s father and the second anti-magick sword he holds together with Maytag’s reappearing and disappearing arm
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Back to the forums and the debate area sparked up many new and old topics that saw heated yet intelligent debate and discussion with a wonderful group who still manage to argue like mad in one area and play Jellow Strip Twister quite happily in another. The RPG forums started strong but slowly ground to a halt as many found the time too much or moved on to other areas and just generally got lost. But there are those who still hold vigil for a return and I myself hope to assist that sometime early in the new year, probably to much glee of those who wait. The Hall of games has caused many to tell truths they probably regret while others have revealed their plans to blow up the world and still found the time to put their hands and feet in the right colours to retain their clothing or various other items until only one remains outside the Jellow Stirp Pool. But we still try hard to describe each other with quotes or make quotes up for them and run each other into the ground with Haiku while guessing who the hell is going to come next and fight for the last post in the Last Post wins.
Finally, other threads have popped up over time to mourn the loss of Michael Jackson, Patrick Swayze and most importantly, Farrah Fawcett the woman responsible for so many of our father’s boyhood fantasies. But we’ve also been invited to comment on Razzly’s puppy who became the loved Freya that she introduced to us while Akashayi introduced us to many new advanced in technology and CDSM converted many a Forumite to the religion of Awesomeisim. I myself decided that we were all gods and decided to try and fit us into the various aspects that would be the Gods of Flipside while Kaeoden Silverstride worked out how it could be played in a card game which has become the latest craze and wonder as we watch ourselves defined by RPG rules. Akashayi begun a thread to discuss bondage which became interesting for some time and an area for psychological discussions on the Shrink Sofa was opened by UIS. The forumite picture thread continues to be a grad place for images of our forumites and their rooms together with discussion on it and ninja photos by those such as Selan who continue to retain their anonymity or No.Na’s never ending collection of hats and goggles that cover a face we’ve seen maybe once. But most of the blokes such as Pozf, Churba, Oddball, Andre, CDSM and myself still show our ugly mugs whenever possible. However none of these threads seem to compare to the mighty Sex Thread which has seen steamy images of cartoon girls and boys together with real men and women and cosplay that’s made us quiver in delight. Of course none of that compares to the pictures that forumites posted of themselves which begun with images of people’s feet, hands, tummies and underwear (not forgetting my Smurfette jocks) before progressing to some images from Akashayi which resulted in a competition from myself to replicate the images and went on to many other forumites doing the same or creating images for the two of us to replicate. Bums were seen from myself Akashayi and Smiles who posted some very sizzling postures following Selan’s classy B&W SNes shot and Akashayi’s awesome sword stances but finally the forumites ripped their eyes from their sockets as I posted full frontal photos of myself that were later made safe by some helpful Smurfs. It continues to be a thread that has seen some serious discussions about various sexual topics and even a point for relationship advice but, thanks to Akashayi’s hard work, has retained it’s sexyness. If Ronin Angel continues his return then we may see some of the more deviant topics and discussions return to it and the debate thread but only 2010 will tell.
Now it wouldn’t be a message from me if I didn’t open my heart to you all once again and let you know what, not just this forum, but all of you have meant to me this past year. I can’t tell you how much I love the intelligence and excitement combined with the friendly atmosphere of this forum. You’ve all shared your tears and triumphs with myself and everyone, together with giving your support those in need and seeking it from us when you’ve need it. You’ve all helped make it an interesting, wonderful and glorious year for me and I aim to stick around and see what we can do together in 2010 as one decade ends and another begins.
Hooroo.
P.S. on a side note. I'd like to share with you a whole range of resolutions (or maybe more, goals) that i've made for the new year. Some of these might change as I notice a lot of them involve learning something rather than necessarily doing something but in total it's
43 things. Many of you may have heard of the site
43 things but it's basically a place for making and setting goals which becomes very popular around the new year. Make and account and see what goals you'd like to make or pick from the millions what already exist.
HERE ARE MINE but I'll list them below as well. As before, they may change but many of them are things I already have a knowledge in but have let die overtime while more still are things I only ever half learned and wish to finish. It's not in order but my number 1 goal for this year is to sort my marriage be that to turn it into something that brings me happiness with or to end it.
1. improve my memory
2. master sudoku
3. Learn to play go
4. brew my own beer
5. camp
6. travel
7. learn to play the harmonica
8. financial independence
9. learn to invest
10. crosswords every day
11. Broadcast myself on Youtube
12. learn photography
13. Learn to speed read
14. renovate my house
15. improve my IQ
16. get a tan
17. Read more non-fiction
18. twitter more
19. Exercize brain
20. have a costume party
21. write a book
22. learn how to massage
23. learn to dance
24. Get back into Martial Arts
25. draw manga
26. read more manga
27. watch more anime
28. master linux
29. Create something in the steampunk style
30. Learn Japanese
31. sort out my marriage
32. Organize my workshop
33. Tone up, get fit and become more flexible
34. master IBM Tivoli Storage Manager
35. master poker
36. cook more
37. keep up with housework
38. make a comic
39. plant a garden
40. PMP certification
41. become ITIL certified
42. learn OS400
43. Take AIX Sysadmin exam