[the_old_crowd] Introduction - What to Expect if You're a Newbie

[Mike Gray]

Heya Kristy!

Did we meet at Accio? I sorta think so, but I can't
quite remember.

Anyway, after welcoming Warren with what's gotta be
the most inarticulate and badly spelled post in ToC
history (it's, umm, like, all this real smart strategy
to, you know, make folks feel at home?), I've gotta
say that you're interested in some pretty cool stuff.

I'm a wannabe theologian trying to get a doctoral
dissertation(1) off the ground. I presented a version
of the proposal at Accio - and a lot of material is
stuff I've either tried out on or stolen from folks on
this list. I've noticed that the process of
formulating ideas for list consumption has really
stretched me as a theologian - and has started some
fascinating conversations (aka brawls) to boot. So
don't be shy! You don't need finished chapters - just
toss out an idea you happen to be mulling and step
back (quickly) to watch the action. 

What to expect? Well, here's a run down:

Whatever you write, Barry will immediately start
banging on it with a scary collection of polysyllobic
jokes and pointy quotations. (And no, I don't know how
to spell polysyllobic, and I'm not bothering to find
out either.)

Pippin (whom I have, rather suspiciously, as yet never
seen in the same room as Barry) will swat Barry over
the nose with a (very old) newspaper full of
mythological quotes, learned asides and Talmudic
wisdom.

Neri will shrug it all off - a remark or two delivered
with the sort of aplomb only a really smart atheist
biologist can bring off.

David will launch a sly remark that says more
intentionally contradictory, funny things in a single
sentence than a whole stack of encyclopedias
theologicae pottericae. 

Rita will magically combine seven intelligent replies
into a single, multi-slashed post about Hermione's
love life, WB merchandising, neo-pagan sociology,
cyber-politics and the cooking habits of obscure
suburban tribes.

If you get really, really lucky, Lexicon!Steve will
give it to you, chapter and verse.

>From the looks of it, Waldo!Warren will say something
worth reading, I shudder to think what.

Penny, if she lets herself get drawn in, will say
something perceptive and helpful.

Amy Z. Curmudgeon will tell the truth.

I'll misplel somthing.

Someone else is sure to apparate in the shape of a
truly astounding acronym - IDIOTGOAT, for example -
that apparently refers to 27th time this theory was
hashed out back in the heyday of HPfGU, when it had a
membership of a mere 12,649 souls, as opposed to its
current count of half the geeks in Christendom and a
posting rate that would put a mainframe off its
breakfast.

Everyone else will be everyone else: 

Neil will roll his eyes; Nora will poke someone with a
sharp object; Catherine, realizing that she has enough
presentations to keep things hopping until Accio 2035,
will forget a bubbling crock-pot full of Saxon produce
and oriental culinary philosophy, leading to the
wholesale destruction of the entire Norfolk
countryside and several neighboring continents. 

Oh yeah: And Randy will be. Unless you're a Brit, in
which case he'll be something else instead. In fact,
he'll be "something else" no matter which way you cut
it - I mean, him and Neil were the funniest guys
around back before HPfGU was even a Yahoo group, and
guess what: there he still is.

Not that that last bit had anything to do with
theology, unless you're really meta- about it. But it
was amusing and it kept me from having to study.

So just fire away, Kristy. You're in the right place.

Baaaaaaaaa,

Mike the Goat

(1) OK, what gives? When I tell a fellow Yank Im
revving up for a dissertation, they look impressed;
when I tell a Brit about it, they pat me on the head.
Obviously, this is a Yank-Brit thing. Im guessing
that a dissertation is gets you less academic mileage
on ye olde side of ye pond.