Shireroth

yo people i ot my name changed!! so im lettin you know so there wouldnt be any confusion!

B0O0/\/\!!!!

I'm confused

I'm not!

lol whats there to be confused about?

I dunno, that random "B0O0/\/\!" in there threw me off a bit...

yes random BOO/\/\s do kinda do that...... i guess

They ought not to.. they happen often here..

*points to "hello, my name is..." sticker on shirt*

Still getting used to being a new citizen...

Oh yeah... wow.. I forget how few old timers I have around these days.

do i count as an old timer? XP

It will be awhile for that. I've been here over 2 years, and I still feel like a newbie. You almost had to be here from 2002 or 2003 to have gained that stature, IMHO. By my reckoning, that means I will be an old hand in 2 more years. You can judge your status as you choose.

Actually, it's not a relative term. You have to have been here since Tymaria to really qualify as an old-timer

That's why I still feel like a newcomer--I don't remember any of the old times--I knew nothing of micronations until my daughter got involved in some strange new community online, and I started lurking to see what kind of weirdos they were, and stayed.

Creepy...

Erik--

Just wait until you have kids and are trying to make sure they are safe. You just might see things as I did when I first found out about Shireroth. And if Shireroth had not been worthwhile, I would never have stayed, and I would have discouraged her contacts here. Parents need to be wary about some of the things their kids get into, especially with all the real dangers lurking online.

My parents never payed attention to what I was up to... I just kinda did my own thing.. and I came out okey..hehe

hypatias mom wrote:Erik--

Just wait until you have kids and are trying to make sure they are safe. You just might see things as I did when I first found our about Shireroth. And if Shireroth had not been worthwhile, I would never have stayed, and I would have discouraged her contacts here. Parents need to be wary about some of the things their kids get into, especially with all the real dangers lurking online.

You're right.

My parents never payed attention to what I was up to... I just kinda did my own thing.. and I came out okey..hehe

I said: she was right!

Ehmm, excuse me... your Majesty...

To each there own... I'm an oddity for my age... and I'm also male.. so... yeah... My parents gave me a lot of freedom... until I screwed up.. but I never did.. so...I never lost my freedoms...

My daughter didn't lose her freedoms, mainly because she and I continued to be able to talk about anything freely, and she encouraged me to go on the Shireroth website to see what it was all about. She also told me about a lot of other things in her life, some of which I approved, and some I disapproved, but at least I knew pretty much what was going on in her life. This gave me reassurance that whatever she was doing she was running past me (not every detail, but the broad areas). I think communication remains key.

Though I'm quite a bit too young to know anything firsthand about parenting, it seems to me that Carol's last scentence is the ultimate truth. However, it also seems to me that the vast majority of people tend to maintain a distance between themselves and their parents particularly during the rebellish teenage years. So I think its better if parents call talk to their kids and vice versa - but I think its more than natural for this ease of communication to be missing, and the children still end up fine most of the time. Problem is the parents are caused much stress in the process - but that's life as they say.

I think the key here is that I always told my children they could talk with me about anything, as long as it was done in an atmosphere of mutual respect. And my husband and I always tried to be vulnerable with them, and apologize when we knew we had wronged them. This, I feel, allowed them to learn how to also be vulnerable with us. If parents treat their children with the respect deserved by sentient beings, while still keeping them accountable for their behavior, I feel they grow up better able to make good choices and become autonomous adults.

That was my dad's policy... my mom tried to control a bit more.. but I just didn't cooperate.. but never gave her a reason to restrict me... Also, the more freedom I used.. the more I showed I knew how to use it.. so.. I kinda just claimed the freedoms I enjoyed on my own.. and they didn't stop me cause I never screwed up... And I rarely spoke with my parents about much of anything.. they had no real knowledge of my life till I got to college and things in my life began to fall apart...2ish years ago... Now I talk with my dad about a lot of things.. and mention some to my mother...

I liked my dad's policy of giving me as much freedom as I wanted unless I screwed up. He even outright told me this was the policy when I was like.. 16... and could appreciate it.. He only once vetoed one of my plans.. to go with James(fax) down to Southern California to visit Scott and hit a theme park or two.. ONLY cause I was still 17.. and could not legally bail myself out of jail or such... and he would have to go down there if something happened... I was irritated.. but respected the decision...it made sense..

My parents were also pretty lenient with the few errors I made.. like when I got home at 3am one night... but aside from.. "you got home rather late last night..." and a brief apologia from me.. it was never cared about again.. Normally I got home on those nights around midnight..ish...1am at the latest... after spending the day with my gf who lived 30 miles away.

They even let me make the trip to Sonoma with few restrictions... just that I called the first time I did it.. subsequent trips I wouldn't call and just told me mom when she insisted that I do that.. I would most likely forget anyways... so assume everything was all right unless she heard otherwise... No news is good news. My dad took no stance..

actually.. my mom and I had battles of will all the time... She wanted to restrict me in some ways.. my dad didn't.. and I claimed independence on my own terms...(though I tried to do so respectfully)

And why did I just tell you all this?

I don't know, unless you felt it was somehow confession time. You can talk with me anytime you need to on AIM, if you wish.

*shrug* not a clue... not like I hide that time period of my life.. I was happy then.. life was good to me... and I look on it fondly... the time I don't talk about came later.. and is part of the reason I was gone for so long... Of which some have some information about... But generally I keep to myself.. cause no one wants to hear me go on about it.. (not even my friends seem to wanna let me talk about it...) so.. I keep it to myself..

Your Niftiness, can I ask an off-topic question - do you use the ellipsis in real life as much as you do on the forums? I tend to punctuate my written and spoken word with an unusual level of hypens. Are you the same but with more "."'s?

I use them when I would pause in speach... guess they kinda do the same thing as comas, but with more of a pause... or when I would change pitch in my voice... or something..

lol oh wells XD everybody is bound to do it every once and a while anyways