I am wuapinmon
 

Hello,

I'm 35, Southern, convert at 17, mission to Costa Rica, married, 3 kids, PhD in Latin-American Lit, teach Spanish at Coker College in South Carolina.

I am a CUF member, but I was never here before the schism, and I barely posted on CB as "timsfriendmac."

I enjoy CUF quite a bit, and, as an outsider, I've noticed that many of them talk fondly, but conflictedly, about MikeWaters and his intellect and personality.

Since I had no dog in the fight/rift that occurred, I have been reading some of the postings on this forum, and think that the Cuffies are right......there's some serious intellectual power here.

I don't begin to know what happened between everyone....all I know is that I had a dream tonight that I should come here and post a message like this and see if there's some way that people can reconcile. I know in my own life that sometimes I've had to take the first step towards reconciliation, even though I felt I was right and justified and that the others had wronged me.

I hope this message is well-received....I don't know anyone here at all, nor do I really know anyone at CUF....I just felt impressed (by what, I can't say) to come here and say this.

I will post from time to time, and I look forward to contributing to your conversations.

Don't feel bad if Waters doesn't extend you the hand of fellowhip despite the nice things you said. He treats everyone with indifference or like crap. He's still a worthy intrerlocutor.

I have no expectations....it's rare that I feel impressed to do something. I acted on the impression, but I have no plan beyond saying what I did and hoping that it's taken as sincerely as I meant it.

On a side note, that Auster trilogy is one of my favorites, and I plan to teach it in a course on detective fiction in Fall 2010.

I'm doing what I've always done for a long time: post here about what is on my mind.

Why did I break from Cougarboard? Because I wasn't allowed to post about what is on my mind.

The audience has always been small. It's probably as small now as it has ever been. That's ok.

Perhaps people that know me so well that they know what I am going to say before I say it, do not need to listen anymore. Nor do I need to tell them.

Yeah, I think currently the welcome wagon is broken down back at the shop, and the mechanic is out. But I think anyone who remains here must get something out of it. I hope you find something as well.

This is like evolution. One group of the species is going to stay in the water, the other is going to crawl onto land. And never shall the twain meet again.

We have separate destinies.

I would also like to add that CG, as it is now, is much more than just me. There are several others. Ok, several may be an exaggeration. There are a few others who have hung around.

In other words, this zoo has more than one animal. When you are done looking at the animals, well, you do what everyone does. You leave the zoo. But the animals, you see, never leave the zoo. The reason zoos are not open at night is because of exactly what I said: animals never leave the zoo. Whether alive or dead.

What about Star Trek IV?

Wuapinmon gave us helpful information about where to stay in New Orleans that would keep us from getting murdered. And full of beignets. And Marsupial got kissed by some Irish dude. Two out of three is not bad.

Glad I could help.....how was the trip?

You didn't like the beignets? I spent New Years in Nola and couldn't get enough of them. I saw a mix at the World Market but have no confidence in my ability to replicate them.

I think you misunderstood. We LOVE the beignets! And we loved New Orleans. We plan on going back soon. Thanks for the help Wuap.

We just made beignets (from scratch) at our playgroup this morning (in honor of NOLA, since we did this art project fundred.org). I'd been craving them since hearing about the danisupial's trip.

Welcome aboard the SS Cougarguard. Missed this the first time a year ago. Hopefully, you too can become an efficient manager like lanejared.

I think I shut this post out of my memory the first time I read it.

What is up with all these nincompoops on CUF, who were never on CG, coming over to me, trying to get me to "reconcile?"

It is extremely annoying. And offensive. And grandiose. And delusional.

I started a new board because I was tired of cougarboard. People hung out here, and then started a new board because they were tired of what was going on here. I stayed. End of story. I'm staying in the house that I built. I'm not a nursing home kind of guy. Not interested in the nursing home. Never will be.

"But you'll make so many friends." "They have activities." "It's much better than you imagine. You won't have to do any yard work, or keep up with the house."

Screw that.

Is it just me or are you overflowing with a little extra bile these days?

Screw that, indeed; I was trying to be magnanimous. People speak very highly of you and the unfortunate circumstances of their departure. Being innocent of what happened, I thought I should come see what you were about. I was naive and thought that you'd be civil instead of misanthropic. If this still pisses you off after a year...maybe it's the latter, and your detractors were not off base.

Okay, tough guy, either shoot me or get used to having a neighbor who doesn't cut Kowalski's lawn and tries to get you to be nice.

"your detractors." Funny.

What pisses me off is people coming over here telling me how to act and feel. What pisses me off is when my personal information is shared with people on that other site. What pisses me off is when people who were never here on this site, reveal that they know personal information about me, and come over here and tell me what a dumbass I am for staying here and not going over there.

I really don't enjoy the drama. That's the best thing about what happened. I don't have to listen to complaints and whining. I'm not in charge of the dumb little children anymore. Thank goodness. My current companions are highly preferable. A few holdovers. A few spammers from China and India. And a handful of search engine bots.

If Lebowski et al. came to me and apologized, and told me it was a horrible mistake, and that they were shutting down CUF, and they were coming back here......as unlikely and preposterous as that scenario might be.....it would not bring me any satisfaction, and I would be opposed. If Lebowski et al. offered to turn over complete ownership and control of CUF, I would decline.

Let's not pretend that when all of this happened, that things could ever be the same afterward. I was the primary casualty. They knew that.

I think at some level they sensed that I had begun to despise many of the people in CG, and I didn't agree with what CG had become. I had let it organically grow as the community dictated, and suddenly I am spending my time managing and owning something I don't enjoy. I don't know that that is the absolutely correct characterization of my feelings, but it is at least partially true.

I spent a lot of time and effort starting and running Cougarguard. I feel like I am owed something in return: the right to be left alone and not questioned and bothered about my choices.

Some of the very few who have stayed on here, have told me they have done so based on their values and their own personal code of conduct. I really do appreciate and respect that. Thank you. It lets me know that my own sense of loyalty and honor is not complete off-base. It has been a gift to me. If that is the only thing holding you back from moving on, however, you are free to go if you wish without any hard feelings.

I never asked a single person to stay. Not one.

I don't actually enjoy discussing this. I would prefer not to. I do so to lessen the confusion of others, and to let them definitively know that I will never be going to the other site. Never. Please do not ask anymore, and please discourage others from asking. And I would appreciate it if you all would move on and not discuss me on your site any further. The revolution is over. My suggestion is to stop looking backward, because nothing can undo it, and you would be better served by focusing on the future of your own community.

Mike's got some understandably raw feelings about the situation, wuap. You might too if a handful of folks co-opted 90% of your community, and did it right in front of your face.

If you want to participate here, probably best not to talk about reconciliation and how magnanimous you are. Just post your opinions, have discussions, and leave the topic alone.

I'm not sure if you're referring to me or not. If so, I think it's a bit of a mischaracterization of my intent and words. If not, then thank you for sharing your thoughts. I'll not mention it again, here or there.

Agreed, but I hadn't mentioned it until it was brought back up; I was trying to participate genuinely, and not motivated by some under-handed 'CUF Hometeacher' kind of way. I'm not talking about it anymore. However, I reserve the right to talk about how awesome and magnanimous I am whenever the mood strikes.

Mike doesn't make nice unnecessarily.

And Robin thinks I'm an a..hole, just fair warning.

Sure you can, though that won't exactly distinguish you from the rest of us.

Well, I'm morbidly obese. I've heard he's not fond of that either, but I'm not worried.

As for Robin thinking you're an <redacted>, well, he thinks the same thing of me, so fair warning. However, I think that's a compliment coming from him. I know that Robin is persona non grata around these parts, so I won't mention him again.