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Post by joan1 on Feb 23, 2008 10:26:30 GMT -5
As I have mentioned to Gitte,( pm'ed) and in agreement with Phread, there is a very REAL aspect of this forum world.
I really quit smoking, ( 54 days now) and I am not exaggerating when I say the thread here on this forum, and rather specifically certain bits by Gitte herself, REALLY made a difference. There were some view points none of my " real" friends here had every suggested, and alot of support from various posters.
So , here, thousands of miles away from Paris, there is a person, who lives on an island off the west coast of Canada , who may in fact live a little longer because of this forum and the " real " people who contribute to it..
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Post by Shoesy on Feb 23, 2008 11:34:47 GMT -5
Joan - That's wonderful news. I'm so proud of and extremely happy for you.  |
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Post by sandy on Feb 23, 2008 12:00:49 GMT -5
Gitte,
This is one of the wisest things of all the wise things you have ever said. I think we should all cut down our computer time and go out more. Except for those who are planning a close trip, we don't really need to check in every day. But this forum has become an addiction for many of us, not only to know things about Paris but to catch up on everyone's "real life" events.
This said by someone who is on the computer on a beautiful Saturday afternoon.
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Post by geordy on Feb 23, 2008 15:01:00 GMT -5
Yes Joan it is wonderful that you've been able to stop smoking! Think of all the happy, healthy years you'll have to enjoy..and go to Paris! I'm so happy for you.  |
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Post by Becky (Berkeleytravelers) on Feb 23, 2008 21:50:40 GMT -5
Wow, Joan - WAY TO GO!!  |
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Post by joan1 on Feb 23, 2008 22:19:27 GMT -5
Thanks for support all, see , you all really cheered me up today!
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Post by Shoesy on Feb 23, 2008 22:58:31 GMT -5
For me the forum is not a matter of a real world versus a non-real world. I too am VERY addicted, as you can all see by my zillions of posts, and I find myself popping in very frequently. Of course as someone who barely knows Paris  , my posts are neither pithy nor full of helpful information like Gitte's, and they're basically little old me just adding a comment here and there and talking to my forum friends. However, as a retired person, I don't feel that I'm shirking any duties by spending time on the forum, and I certainly have enough time to do whatever I want. My point is that I believe that what is right for me may not be right for somebody else, but it's up to every individual to be the judge as far as that is concerned. |
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Post by sistereurope on Feb 24, 2008 9:34:59 GMT -5
Yup, Shoesy is right...everyone has the right to make his or her decision about how he or she spends his or her time. I think that we're all adults here (and some of us have been so for a long time!)
Gitte - your insight, wry and witty humor and vast knowledge of Paris helped contribute to the growth of this forum. I would hope that you wouldn't pack up your things and go away because of what appeared to me to be a total misunderstanding, and that you would do what Cigalechanta suggested. But if you feel that you must, then that is a decision that you and you alone can make and I wish you well...
However, I feel that I have a very active life that includes this forum. I believe that visiting here enhances my already full life, as opposed to distract from it. What everyone here did for my "kids" just reinforces that view. I feel that I have, as Phread suggested, made many "friends" whose life I care about - like happy, who I consider one of my BFF's. And joan, I am SO happy and even just a little proud that I was able to contribute to her resolve to kick that nasty habit (yea Joan!)
So, those are my thoughts. Gitte, you know that I also considered you one of my forum friends, so I hope that you take these words in the spirit in which they were written. Which was from my little ole heart.
Now I have to go make breakfast!
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Post by susanb on Feb 24, 2008 19:47:56 GMT -5
Gitte, I will also miss your keen wit and all of your knowledge. I have learned so much from you,
and not just about Paris! I know that we will be in your thoughts and you certainly will be in ours.
Please don't give up on us. You will be missed.
Susan
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Post by susanb on Feb 24, 2008 20:02:01 GMT -5
Joan, You will never know how happy that I, and my stepmother are that you quit smoking. She had oral cancer from smoking and had half her tongue cut out, half her jaw removed and reconstructed from a bone in her hip and lost all her teeth. She was in ICU for 3 weeks and that still isn't enough to make her grand-daughter STOP.......... You keep going girl and be so PROUD of yourself. Its a long road but I promise, it will get easier.
Susan
I tell her about everyone I know that has quit smoking. It is so important to her.
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Post by Happygoin on Feb 25, 2008 7:35:17 GMT -5
I agree with SE saying that this forum enhances our lives. True friendships have been formed. At one time or another, I think we've all gone away from our computers wondering if what we said came across correctly, and agonized about it until we go back to our computers and see that it's all blown away. I know it's happened to me on occasion. It's the nature (and danger) of the techno age. It's so very difficult to emote just through words alone, which is why all our posts are strewn with those funny yellow faces. Gitte, you are among friends here, and it would be a shame to lose one of our own.
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Post by susanb on Feb 25, 2008 10:19:42 GMT -5
I so agree with Happy. I've written to Becky a few times with my insecurities. Its difficult to communicate without anothers face in front of you, but just think.........we are bringing writing back,
and thats a very good thing. Maybe thats why we're so sensitive, its been a while for some of us!
Susan
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Post by cigalechanta on Feb 25, 2008 10:22:05 GMT -5
This is the sanest forum I have joined. Some of the nicest people in cybor space here.
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Post by luckyluc on Feb 25, 2008 11:54:35 GMT -5
Cigalechanta, I could not agree more.
I think we are lucky to have this place to exchange and share our love of Paris and France while making friends at the same time. It was not our original plan when Doug created the blog, the forum took a life of it own, I must said that I am always looking forward to read you all.
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Post by GitteK on Feb 25, 2008 13:59:20 GMT -5
I cannot tell you how touched I am to read your posts, when you comment on the reality of our being together here. So hearts can in fact move out and meet in cyberspace ? Even if we sit all alone in our livingrooms staring at the 17" screen ?
Not only are you the sanest (as cigale puts it), but also the kindest cyberpeople I know.
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Post by framboiseetrose on Feb 25, 2008 14:27:23 GMT -5
How true that is, Gitte. Cigalecenta has a real point there. I find this forum to be fun and the people are kind and helpful. Can't help feeling that satisfaction when I read what people have to say and looking forward to meeting as many of us as possible.
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Post by Darcy on Feb 25, 2008 20:27:27 GMT -5
Gitte, please put the photo of Mae West back here where she belongs. Enough with the space aliens already!
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Post by joan1 on Feb 26, 2008 11:06:35 GMT -5
Susan, how awful for your stepmother, and Susan,, I watched what smoking did to my own mother. I watched her waste away, , in pain, and die, and on her very last day of conciousness, she begged my sister to take her out onto the deck ( she oddly refused to smoke in her home in her last years) as she did not even have the strength to walk,, so she could have a smoke. She collasped on the way to deck and died 1 1/2 days later.
My sisters SIL , who was only 46, died of lung cancer. She collasped, on the way outside to have her last smoke also,, she actually was throwing up blood, and was still begging her family to " carry me outside" ,, for " one last smoke"',, shocking.. anyone who has never been addicted really has no idea.
The pictures of black lungs do not faze me, not even all the things I had witnessed or heard about.. I wanted what I wanted.
I am very grateful to this forum, and it was a long time coming( of course I was going to quit many many times ) but, it wasn't until I really looked at the whole smoking thing differently that it helped me.
I do still think about a smoke,, I imagine being in Paris , at a cafe, with a smoke,, so I am very grateful that Paris has gone non smoking, it will make it a little easier.
Gittes specific advice to stop looking at smoking like a reward, and that the smoke was in fact decieving me,, helped alot, and everyone on this board who offered words of encourgement helped alot too.
PS Even posters who talked about how nice it was to be able to dine smoke free in Paris now helped, I was actually embarrassed when they talked about how smoking disgusted them ..
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Post by Megan on Feb 26, 2008 16:07:31 GMT -5
Joan1 - well done for giving up smoking. I am trying trying trying to so I know how hard it is ! Wish me luck
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Post by joan1 on Feb 27, 2008 10:48:52 GMT -5
megan( may I shorten your name, LOL ) ,, way to go.. it does get easier,, and how you feel about yourself will really help keep you going.. I don't know how long you smoked, but I smoked almost 30 years, with three breaks of about a year( three kids, LOL ) ... so I know how hard it is to stop,!
Read Gittes posts on the smoking thread, they really helped me look at quitting at a different angle.
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, my posts are neither pithy nor full of helpful information like Gitte's, and they're basically little old me just adding a comment here and there and talking to my forum friends. However, as a retired person, I don't feel that I'm shirking any duties by spending time on the forum, and I certainly have enough time to do whatever I want. My point is that I believe that what is right for me may not be right for somebody else, but it's up to every individual to be the judge as far as that is concerned.
hahahha