Somebody gave me a gift subscription. To whoever you are, thanks. I became a registered user in 2005. I lurked for a long, long time before that. I've wrote a lot of Diaries here and maybe too many comments. But I can vividly recall one of my first Diaries.
I had just driven with my parents for like 18 hours. From Southern IL to Florida for my brother's wedding. I wasn't that close with my parents at that time. In fact that 18 hours was the most time I'd spent with them for like a decade or so.
My parents are Republicans. In that drive we had a wide ranging conversation about politics. Wide ranging.
That night in the condo we rented I got to hear Bill on Fox Noise calling us Nazis. The next morning my father and I went to this little coffee shop to check our email. I wrote up and posted a Diary here about our conversation.
The response was massive and maybe about as polite as you can get. At one time I spun my laptop around so my father could see the comments and said, "you know me, I am not a hateful person, see this is what this community is about."
It was at this time I was hooked.
I don't know who gave me a subscription and I don't even want to know. I gave out two myself and I wanted them to be a random gift. I didn't want anybody to thank me. And to be honest I feel guilty I was given this.
I joked in a Diary, hey why didn't I get one of these? I was joking but I've found that often my sarcasm is lost on people. Maybe I am not so good at it. I then said, hey cause I can afford to buy one myself, don't do this for me.
But somebody did and I really appreciate it.
You might wonder why I never got a subscription myself. Well the reason is simple. I've worked for like 20+ years in advertising. Ads don't bother me. I just figure it is the cost you pay for a free site, newspaper, or TV show. It is how I've made my living darn it.
But I have to admit not seeing any ads here is NICE. So thank you random person.