Got a happy story XXII? (GBCW-FN edition)

by Carnacki

Community

(This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Sunday, Jun. 12, 2005 Sunday, Jun. 12, 2005 at 2:33:20pm PDT

I admit: I'm superstitious. I believe in the supernatural power of prayer, karma, positive energy and good vibes. The sharing of joy and happiness can help us defeat the cold and darkness of this administration.

Let me state up front this is NOT a GBCW diary. I'm not saying goodbye forever. I'm saying Good Bye Cruel World For Now. Au revoir. See you soon. TTFN. BRB. Later, alligator.

Tonight's happy story is about you guys. I've got to confess, you people helped me get through a very rough spot in life.

There's been times in my life when I've experienced depression. In January, I was sick, physically and emotionally, when I marched in the counter inauguration with juls, Brody V, and DCDemocrat. I was exhausted and not feeling or looking my best when I sat down one Friday night and wrote my first "Got a happy story diary?"

Ironically, people thought I did it for them. The truth was I needed something to cheer me up. And it worked.

You guys helped me feel better about the world at large. Reading your happy stories made me happier than you can imagine. Many of them touched me deeply. Many made me laugh. A few made me weep. And I read all of them again and again.

Doing this diary series each week made me focus on what made me happy. And as I did that, it helped drive away the despair and anger and the sadness.

So it's tough for me to do this. But I need a break from DailyKos.

I'm not saying goodbye. I'm just taking time off from this community. Call it a summer vacation. I'll be home to my online neighborhood soon, probably by August. Maybe September. No later than October.

I've already cut out some other features I had fun doing. On BooMan Tribune, I wrote a weekly homage to Cheers and Jeers called Carnacki's Chiller Theater with Chills and Thrills.

I'm not withdrawing from the good fight. I'm going to be busy helping SusanHu's FOIA project. There's a lot of work with our Berkeley County Democratic Association and our Panhandle Grassroots for Democracy.

There's personal reasons too. There's my own blog. I want to return to writing fiction. I've got a tree house to build. I also recently took a second job working 10 hours on Saturdays so I'm working 6 days a week. I'll be honest, we dug ourselves a financial hole in 2004 giving to different candidates and causes. (I don't begrudge a single dime we spent.)

But I'm time starved. Something has got to give. And for a while until September...October at the latest...that something is going to be DailyKos.

McJoan, a dear friend though we've never met, suggested cutting back. The thing is, call it a character flaw, I've never been good at half-measures. I'm either all in or out. If I just post on Friday nights, I'll soon be sucked in to posting all the time.

I could have just faded away. But for several reasons I didn't want to do that. ONe reason is Avila, a kossack I really enjoyed reading. She suddenly stopped posting and I've wondered what happened to her. I sent an email once, but never heard back. JamesB3 disappeared for a time after the election, taking some necessary time off. JamesB3 could have been the anti-Carnacki with his frequent, pessimistic assessments of the 2004 race when I was optimistic. Fortunately he returned and I could tell him that he was right and I was wrong. He was extremely gracious and no one, I suspect, would have preferred being more wrong than him. But for a time some of us wondered what became of him because he was a frequent poster. I just want to say, Listen to JamesB3 well.

So I hope you forgive my self-indulgence of this "Got a happy story?"

Because I want to thank you and let you know I'm not riding off into the sunset. I'm just going sort of away. If you need me, you can email me or visit my blog. There's talk of another get-together like Harpers Ferry later this summer or this fall. Please email me the details when it's planned.

But there's only so many hours in a day. And I'm feeling tired and time starved and there's so much work to do here at the local level where we got knocked on our ass in November despite our hard work. Yet our group of local volunteers picked ourselves up and brushed our selves off and we're working harder than ever. In late November the Berkeley County Democratic Association met. Two people showed up. Since our grassroots group has moved in, the numbers are growing. About 40 people attended our last meeting.

I want to ask one last favor before signing off for now. The Republicans are going to becoming hard after my State Senator John Unger. He's a great Democrat. He's got a 100 percent listing from the West Virginia AFL-CIO. The Republicans want his seat. They smell blood in the water because of the presidential election results of 2004 in this county.

In April, we stood talking after our county association meeting. He sounded down as he discussed the 2006 campaign. I told him I'd work hard to help him, that he was a great senator.

The next meeting he spoke at he was as fired up as ever. He thanked me and the county association president. But the truth is we just reminded him that he had people behind him and supporting him. Sometimes we all need someone with a happy story to encourage us and to remind us what we're fighting for.

Senator Robert C. Byrd has the national party and Move-On behind him.

I've got Senator John Unger's back. And I've always known that the DailyKos community is watching my back.

If you'd like to help, if I've ever inspired you to do anything, please send any amount you feel comfortable to the John Unger for State Senate Campaign Fund. PO Box 2415, Martinsburg 25402.

He's a state senator who deserves our support.

We have an uphill battle. West Virginia is a blue state, but our section of the state is changing and the Republicans outnumber us. The odds are against us. But to steal a line from one of my favorite movies, Never tell me the odds. If we're going down, we'll go down swinging. But I don't think we will. We're waking up the people and they're opening their eyes to the truth.

So I've got some things to do. And I'll return soon.