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Forum Home » Off Topic » The Prancing Pony » Fans Over Forty ~ Part XXVI

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Gandolorin

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on: August 03, 2019 12:44

Arveleg said:Gando, I see you are here talking to yourself!

Three times in four months is nothing to worry about at my age!

NenyaGold said: Actually, the first Fans over Forty thread was started by RangerNorlin on June 26, 2003, now 16 years and 26 threads ago! Yikes! Where did the time go?

2003 - even back then I would have been well qualified, at 47.

swabbythewhite

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on: September 15, 2019 01:11

Greetings, all. Yes, I'm still here and even check on these posts from time to time. My half a heart that they patched up back in '09 is still working somewhat, but together with that and my having seen too many winters, I move at the pace of an arthritic snail. Didn't I hear that Amazon was working on a LOTR series? Lord willing, I'm sure going to watch that! With this new, more orange Saruman rising from Mount Doom, let us keep our spirits strong.

tarcolan

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on: September 15, 2019 08:45

Hi swabby, good to hear from you. The Elders aren't here as often as they were. The old site is still rattling along thanks to Rivka.

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arienelle666

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on: October 01, 2019 08:34

Hi everyone, it's been a very very long time since I checked in here! So much has gone on for all of us and so much...well...life! Lovely to see some of the old (and new to me) faces still on here. Big hug to Swabby and all of you fantastic FOF family still going strong. Blessings my friends xxx

swabbythewhite

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on: October 04, 2019 12:53

Hello, Tarcolan and Ariennelle, and hugs to you both. I guess a few of us "mature" fans are left, after all. Wouldn't it be great if there was a LOTR revival and this place started hoppin' again?

Gandolorin

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on: October 04, 2019 02:26

Hi swabby, I certainly still remember you name and avatar. I joined in late November 2013, were you still active then? Maybe mainly in this thread?
Evil~Shieldmaiden is also still around, though her doing most of her own gardening this summer kept her on almost only a once-a-month schedule.
Who knows what Amazon may bring. The first announcements about who's on board (actors, scriptwriters, consultants) have partially caused some raised eybrows.

[Edited on 10/04/2019 by Gandolorin]

swabbythewhite

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on: October 04, 2019 07:00

Hi, Gandolorin. I don't recall exactly when I joined this site, but it was well before 2013. It seemed that the LOTR-themed conversations dwindled to nearly nothing, so I pretty much quit participating. (Although I've never ceased to come by occasionally to see what was going on) I noticed that you were the most frequent poster for a long time, along with Awelyn. It would be nice if folks would return and get stimulating conversations going again.

Gandolorin

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on: October 05, 2019 01:30

With most active poster, do you perhaps mean Lindarielwen? She sadly passed away in July 2016 at not even forty. She was the first active member that I saw break through the 10 thousand post barrier - perhaps only NenyaGold had surpassed that threshold before – to be followed by Evil~Shieldmaiden and myself. We all three also passed the 20 thousand threshold, this inflation mainly caused by three-way “epic battles” in the Games Forum (at times all three active at the same time).
Lindarielwen was active in a much wider range of sub-forums than I was, so I had no chance of keeping up. Evil~Shieldmaiden has since passed Linda, as we also called her for short (those multisyllable user names do get the Hobbit shortening treatment, I think specifically The Gaffer’s, very quickly …

), as well as surpassing the next threshold of 30 thousand.
Those still reasonably active pretty much fall into the category of veterans – many in respect to the site, or like myself being eligible for the FoS thread (I think with perhaps only one sporadic exception, we have all passed the Hobbit coming-of-age level of 33). And if I have this right, there are more mods than non-mods still active here. And only one Realm appears still to be active, the “Realm of VairÃ« the Weaver” (should be Vairë, that messed-up spelling is the result of the latest hack). With the same disproportion of mods and plebeians.

NenyaGold

Legend of Lothlórien & Head Chocolate Thingywidget of Yavanna
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on: October 05, 2019 10:58

Hi Swabby the ~~Grey~~

White! Yes, I’m still here.

No idea when I reached 10K posts, Gandolorin, but I’d have more if way back in the early 2000's we didn't delete threads to make room for more because the server was so small. At that time, most of my posts were in the RPG section. And, way back then, post counts weren’t posted. It was what you contributed to the building of the site that counted and how we received our special titles.

I’m still active, but mainly in the Realm of Yavanna, which is still going. The Great Realm Reboot of last year helped.

The new series on Middle-earth might garner more activity on the site but I don’t think it will be as much as the movies since it isn’t accessible to everyone.

I never thought that on February 16 of 2003 when I signed up I’d still be here nearly 17 years later. It was so great to find others who were as enthralled with Tolkien’s writings as I.

"He had a ring, a golden ring, a precious ring." ~ from The Hobbit

Gandolorin

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on: October 06, 2019 12:39

Oh yes, I remember the times when server (disk) space was pitiful compared to today. I was involved in a large software project with the company starting in Spring 1995, for two-and-a-half years full time. They probably had two-digit Gigas at the time, as the tower PC I bought in 1997 had a 2.8 Giga hard disk (to which I added a “big”, “fast” 4 Giga second hard disk). I remained involved in company IT things as a (add appropriately bombastic, though mainly vacuous, consultant term) user up to my retirement, though this was part-time. Just one step away from being in the actual IT department. One could watch the nominal server (disk) capacity rise to, then surpass the Tera threshold. No idea where they have progressed to in the almost two-and-a-half years since my retirement.

NenyaGold

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on: October 07, 2019 01:34

Like you, Gando, I’ve watched the increase in digital capacity, and the drop in price, but with cameras. The first digital camera I bought in 2001 had a whopping 4MB of memory. Now they have 128GB memory cards! And the photos themselves went from 100KB to now, with my four year old camera, the largest are a little over 4800KB!

As a side note, I still have my original Polaroid SX-70... Obviously pre-digital...

"He had a ring, a golden ring, a precious ring." ~ from The Hobbit

Gandolorin

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on: October 07, 2019 07:59

Old digital cameras - now that brings back a rather dim memory.
Something about one such camera, also used in the company; I have no idea exactly when that was, just that foggy memory that one had to download the pictures from the memory and clear it after maybe 10 to 20 pictures - rather the former than the latter! I’m guessing it was a bit outdated when then still in use, and soon replaced.
For my Konica Minolta Dimage Z3 (4 megapixels, but a 35 to 420 mm equivalent zoom) from 2004 I started with a 512 Mega SD card, then added a 1 Giga card, which were good for maybe 200 respectively 400 JPG pictures at about 2.5 Mega per picture (though they seem to range from 1.5 to 3.5 Mega).
But I found myself snapping pictures all over the place whenever I had it with me, kind of missing out on the "live" moments. I think the last time I used it was during our 2011 vacation, since then I've "come clean".

gondolinian

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on: October 20, 2019 05:17

Technically I've no business posting here, as even after over 12 years on the site I've only just come of age (Hobbit-wise, that is). So not past the magical threshold of 40 yet, my apologies for intruding. But I myself was just reminiscing about the old days of the site, thinking back about the long chat sessions deep into the night (in the old chatrooms, if anyone remembers those!), browsing through old PM's, some of our dearly departed Bereth and other long lost friends, ... Felt very much like strolling through Imladris during its final autumny, empty days. And then I had a look at this old thread that I used to follow once in a while, and saw it was still going, so I wanted to drop in, say hi, and drop out. Great to see some of the old regulars are still checking in once in a while. It's weird how such a community can be an important part of somebody's life. But it surely was and is, at least for me.
Ok all you youngsters, I'll be back here in about 7 years! Keep this thread alive till then.

It's a dangerous business, going out your door...

Gandolorin

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on: October 20, 2019 09:25

gondolinian said:... Ok all you youngsters, I'll be back here in about 7 years! Keep this thread alive till then.

Seven years?!? Awks! I would have been FoF1 had I joined when the site first went online. When I joined in late November 2013 I was deep into FoF2 territory. I have since progressed to the FoS1 bracket; in seven years it would be FoS2 ...

arienelle666

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on: October 22, 2019 04:43

I too remember Awelyn, also lovely to see NenyaGold on here too! I agree with Swabby, it would be great to get some Rings conversations going again like the old days. The Amazon Prime show may just bring some back to the fold, you never know. I read online today that it is possibly going to be about Numenor and the second age, and the actor who played Benjen Stark in GOT has one of the leading roles as a bit of a bad guy. Sounds quite good so far and we get to see some more of beautiful New Zealand as well so that will be fantastic! Hi gondolinian, that made me laugh, it's been about 7 years since I posted regularly!!!

tarcolan

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on: October 24, 2019 12:47

Hi everybody
Awelyn hasn't logged in for over a year now. I hope she's ok. Belle hasn't been here for ten months.
Uncle Benji? Great! Master of screen hogging. "I do what I can..." very long closeup shot "...when I can." There were quite a few great actors in GOT, I hope some of them get asked.

We had a pretty good year at the community orchard and the strawbale apple store got finished. One of the plum trees went mad, we had to thin out about half to stop the tree falling over. It's a Czar, which are fat juicy purple ones. I made some delicious jam with some. It was another good year for bilberries up on the moor so lots of jam from them as well. A lot of the apple trees had a year off after last year, I don't blame them.

Gando, I'm still shooting black and white film with old cameras. When there's only 12 frames on the film it makes me think carefully before pressing the shutter. I got a Nikon D70 second hand because it accepts all the old lenses I've got. It's all about the glass.

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Evil~Shieldmaiden

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on: April 28, 2020 09:43

My goodness, it's been over 6 months since anyone posted in this thread!

I hope this post finds everyone in good health, and coping well with the self-isolation recommendations. I have managed to avoid contracting the virus, despite going grocery shopping weekly for fresh veg and milk. And, I must say, the response of the local businesses in protecting staff and customers has been most impressive. Although there was considerable confusion to begin with, they quickly set up sensible precautions: keeping both staff and customers safe; and keeping toilet paper on the shelves.

I've been surprisingly busy enjoying the exceptionally dry weather for this time of year. There has been a bit of a drought, which mean full steam ahead with gardening and other yard work. The lawn has been mowed twice, and needs to be mowed again this week. It's not my favourite job, but I'll get it done - barring rain. I'm looking forward to planting my summer flowers later in May. We're still having frosts overnight when the high pressure systems hang around so it's a bit dodgy at the moment.

I'm off to play some games.

I hope everyone has a great week.

tarcolan

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on: April 30, 2020 11:10

Get yourself a scythe E~S, it keeps you fit and means you can let the lawn grow tall. Our groundsmen are furloughed so the lawn hasn't been cut for weeks and some lovely wildflowers are popping up; Lady's Smock, Speedwell. Plenty of butterflies and other insects around too. And it's nice and quiet without all the traffic. I hope people realise that life doesn't need to be so frantic and busy, that there's more to life than just working and shopping. A fool's hope perhaps.

Keep well all.

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Hanasian

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on: June 15, 2020 10:29

I don't think I've stuck my head in this thread for quite some time.
I trip over Gando on a rare occasion on AU, and more often on Tolkien Forums.
Hoping everyone is doing well in these bug-infested days.

Eighth King of Arthedain - It was in battle that I come into this Kingship, and it will be in Battle when I leave it. There is no peace for the Realm of Arnor. Read the last stand of Arthedain in the Darkest of Days.

Evil~Shieldmaiden

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on: December 26, 2020 01:42

Wow! I can't believe how long it's been since I last posted here.

I hope everyone survived 2020, and the odds and sods that have defined it, in some semblance of style. Between pandemics and weird politics, it's certainly a year to remember, if not fondly.

I have managed to avoid COVID-19 without completely losing my sanity. Although I live by myself, there's a psychological component to being given mandatory "orders" to self-isolate that pulls at the naughty side of me. Fortunately, everyone has done their best, and we've had a fairly small number of infections. Living on an Island helps I'm sure.

I hope everyone has had a wonderful Christmas, and that the coming year brings you good health, happiness, and a return to some semblance of normalcy.

... to everyone.

ES

Hanasian

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on: November 05, 2021 12:22

.... and suddenly it is November 2021.
Are there any fans over forty still left or has the plague cart claimed everyone?

tarcolan

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on: November 08, 2021 06:12

I suspect that most of us are the wrong side of middle age now.

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Evil~Shieldmaiden

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on: November 09, 2021 03:27

... and we're all aging with the utmost dignity, as befits those of us on "the wrong side of middle age".

Hanasian

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on: November 21, 2021 08:42

What's so wrong about it?

Dolwen

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on: November 27, 2021 02:52

I am technically a fan over 40 at 48 but I wasn't when I first joined CoE nearly 17 years ago so I never got in the habit of posting in here. So hello fellow fans over 40.

swabbythewhite

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on: February 16, 2022 09:49

Greetings, all. I Just saw the Amazon LOTR clip, and new enthusiasm charges through me. C'mon, September! Now that I've said that, it's back to the rocking chair. (I'm nearly 74)

awelyn418