THE FRIENDLY TIMES

Index:

Hello everyone!

I hope everyone has had a great month, and for those of you that have taken up New Year resolutions, I hope that you've kept them! Spring is arriving here, and the birds have taken up the courage to leave their cozy nests and find food. I'm sure that you people in warmer climates are happy to see spring revitalize your landscapes!

I'm very happy to say that this month's newsletter is huge! Thanks to the abundant participation of our writers, you will find an array of articles that are sure to make you laugh. Special thanks to these people that write for the Times and make an effort to make it so great every month. :)

Special thanks to Hiko, for having the patience of compiling this month's Friendly Times for me. Equal thanks to Super, our #Friendly paperboy, for distributing a copy of the Times to each month. I just hope he doesn't mail you all a bill for it afterwards!!! ;))

Enjoy!

The Trouble Making Section

- by Super

In an attempt to give Cancerian a heart attack, I will not spell check this section of the text to see how much it bothers him. *evilboy*

I will keep this short and sweet. I was driving with Mar21 the other day and I turned to her and remarked that #friendly is excatly where I want it to be. Being a Cservice admin takes up a lot of time for me but I also see a lot of the problems that channels run into. I am glad that #friendly does not suffer from any of these problems.

Thanks to everyone for making #friendly the best place on the net.

Super

THE OP SECTION

Hello #Friendlies!!!

With #Friendly looking more and more like a daytime soap opera script, you'd think we'd start scaring people away... but it's just the opposite. In fact, this month we have 9 new Ops ready to help us with the casting of As the Channel Scrolls (TM) and to take on the rigor of #Friendly. No major business to take care of this month, so let's just get started!

*** New Ops! ***

A Note from Nobody

-- Angel111

Hey gang, yet another month has passed. A new year has started. A new chance to start afresh. As titled, this is a few thoughts from nobody, which maybe someone will take to heart, and therefore benefit everyone.

"The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude in life. Attitude is more than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break an organization... a home. The remarkable thing is that we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past... We cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude... Life is 10% what happens and 90% how we react to it. And so it is with you...you are in charge of your attitude."

As the "Net" grows in popularity, #Friendly shares a unique place in history. From a fledgling idea, it has grown to international proportions. #Friendly has gained notoriety throughout the Undernet community, the press, and by word of mouth of loyal guests. We are faced with many challenges in maintaining the atmosphere that has come to be expected on #Friendly. A relaxed, inviting, cordial, "friendly" place to visit. Between language and cultural barriers just to name a few, this can be a difficult and frustrating "job".

One thing to remember is that being a #Friendly Op doesn't make you better than other users. Being a Op is a privilege and a responsibility; it can't be abused.

One of the things Super has done with the structuration of #Friendly is to try and avoid the channel politics that have taken over many of the other channels. To make #Friendly a place where the Ops interact with the users and don't form a distinguished clan.

With the formation of OpCom, this has given all #Friendly chops access to an extended ear to Super. Any and all gripes or compliments will be relayed to him, in confidence if need be. There are now 5 more people to air their complaints to, the criticism, the compliments, or whatever.

It has also been brought to our attention (OpCom's) that there has been some disagreement to the new addition of Ops. If anyone at all has a gripe or complaint about someone being considered for auto-ops, PLEASE talk to or E-Mail a member of the OpCom or Super. Any input is welcome.

As #Friendly has grown, it has been neccessary to form some guidelines for Ops, and these will be available to everyone on Buddybot. You are encouraged to read them as they have lots of helpful hints, channel information, and lots of other stuff. To get any of these files on the bot, such as the #Friendly.times:

	/msg buddybot files
	*buddybot will return a dcc chat prompt*
	*next a file list will be sent to you showing all the files on the bot*
	*to get the file you want*
	/msg buddybot get file name
	*buddybot will prompt you with a dcc get*
	/dcc get buddybot

THE ENTERTAINMENT SECTION

Chicago Meeting!!!!

-- by Mel

Mark your calendars everyone....we've finally managed to pick a date for the Chicago Meeting!! Thanks to a lot of you...we were able to come up with a date that most people could attend. April 19th-21st, the 3rd weekend of the month has been chosen for the meeting. Now what exactly is on the agenda for the weekend? We're not sure yet. I'm hoping to sit down with BadPlaid and see if we can get some great activities planned. Some things we were tossing around were possibly going to a Cubs game, Navy Pier, dance clubs, trying to get on Jenny Jones or Jerry Springer...and if BP has his way..well have one night of fun for the entire family and go bowling!! We are open to any suggestions for things to do :)

Ode to the Guys

- by babybunny and allison

There are two girls named allison and babybunny
they confess they are trouble makers, but you must admit they are funny
At the same time there are two guys that call themselves brothers
Posty and Cancerian, kind and gentle, so unlike all the others
To babybunny, Cancerian is a french beauty
and to allison, Posty is a sweet cutie
The way they giggle and the way they blush
it's no wonder allison and babybunny have such a crush
Cancerian is far too sweet for da lil' babybunny
but she wouldn't trade him for a truckload of money
Babybunny loves the way he *hugglz* and the way he cares
with him, her hopes and dreams she will share
Allison has talked to Posty and he gave her no choice
but to fall in love with that sweet, sexy voice
With his warm caring personality and his scarlet face
Allison can't imagine life without Posty on her case
After all this has been said
allison and babybunny ask, "are you boys red?
We dare you to top this "Ode to the Guys,
and if you suceed, you'll both get a prize"

Funny and Interesting WWW Sites

-- by Stever

Heya everyone! Now for the part of the newsletter that you've all been waiting for! Er..umm... Yeah. Well, anyways.. This is the Web sites section. Each month I'll list 5 cool or useful Web sites. The sites are ranked from 1 to 5, 1 being the best.

A #Friendly Goodbye.....

-- by Elaine

Well this is it.... my last good bye to all of my #Friendly friends..... it's been great meeting and knowing all of you... you all mean something special to me... it's very hard leaving your guys.. you are great! #Friendly was the first stop i made as i ventured onto IRC and no place is like it... the people are great and the Ops are great.. you guys made my stay wonderful ;) You all have helped me thru a rough time in my life.. and I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Most of you know that my love life has been hell.... and I'm working on making it a tad better...and IRC was a bit too much of a strain on my marriage..... so that is why i am leaving. My marriage is the most important thing to me, other than my 2 gorgeous girls. You all became a part of my life for a while.. I came here because I was lonely in my marriage and I met new people and new friends and maybe friends I shouldn't have met.. I don't always pass on things when I'm tempted.. lets just leave it at that....

OK here goes..... guess I'll start at the top.... Super... u r great and I'll greatly miss u... you're so kind and compassionate... take care of Mar21 for me ok? Mar21.... you're just the sweetest..... we seem to be a lot alike and I will miss you tons...keep an eye on Super... Cancerian a.k.a. Dorothay...... you're the sweetest young thing I have known.... fun to chat with... "moneyman" will always love ya ;) Hiko; well I would have loved to have had you cook and clean for me ;) but ya know how things go... u r great! Keep it up babe.. Surly I have a feeling u will be the next one to leave... but under better different circumstances then me... you're great... we have had wonderful times chatting... I will miss u bunches!!!! ohhhh!! and btw... today is Black lace ;) Jimbo I will miss your warm welcomes and caring ears .. u have the warmest heart... and one day .. ya never know.. I may take you up on that breakfast ;) Tiger; haven't seen u in a while.... hope u find that special someone soon.. you deserve it sweetie... take care *hugs* Mach 3 *hugs*hugs* Just recently got to be your friend and glad I was....thanks for everything.... good luck in life sweetie... Sparks/Bee *wave* ha ha ha well.. what can I say bout u 2? Other then I will miss u guys alot... had tons of fun with ya... take care Mel/tharia/Allison U guys r the sweetest things.. I'll greatly miss you... to Mel/LeM... I leave tons of *hootiehugs* Hope u girls get everything out of life you deserve.. u are all the best! LP Oh honey.. I will miss u bunches too.. I hope everything works out for u and baby.... give Duo hugs for me and u guys Take care! Indians; Well how many more days till opening day? ;) Well u r fun and I had a ball..*hugs* u take care HellSpawn What can i say... i enjoyed every chat we had ;) You are one of the sweetest men i have had the pleasure of knowing.. don't work too hard... take care sweetie.. Beeze *wham!!* j/k! was Probey talking not me ;) I'll miss u.... Ladee *hugs* I dont want to go but I have to :( You're one of the sweetest things here.... I don't want to leave but I have to.... ya never never know.. I may be back one day ;) Slowhand *waves* *knuffles* Oh geeesh.. its hard saying bye to u... I think ya know how i feel about u huh? *hugs&kisses* bye sweetie Laughers Geesshhh I never got the chance to see that dance of yours... hmmph! well I guess I'll live.. you're great! *hugs*

I'll miss u *hugs* too everyone...Angel111...ifek....all of the #friendlies i havent listed... I'll miss u all GREATLY!!!!!!!! Muttley and SourPus *hugs* u made my #Friendly experience even more the better with u guys there ;) Gosh.. I hope I didn't forget anyone... you all made #Friendly such a fun place for me... I'll miss flopping down on the #Friendly couch and landing on AliB... and the warm welcomes I received when I entered... and I'll miss kicking the lamers too..can sorta be fun sometimes too ;) I'll look forward to reading the Friendly Times... Jimbo promised to send them to me via snail mail.... so if any of you would like to mail me u can send them tome at work...at:

Plymouth Asthma & Allergy
9341 Haggerty
Plymouth, Mi. 48170
Attn Eilene!!!!!

Elaine!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
in real life Eilene ;)

Notice of Auction

-- by Mar21

The Op Portrait

This month: Mar21

I'm not really sure I'm up to follow Surly's Op Portrait; I just don't think I'm nearly as interesting or worthy... but since I said I would do it, here goes...and oh yeah...Surprise Hiko :)

My Nick...Mar21. Story behind my nick? I'm sure everyone has heard many many times, so this is the final time I'm ever going to tell it. It doesn't stand for Mary, 21 or married at 21, or my birthday. It does in fact mean March 21st. It happens to be Super's birthday. Why do I use it you may ask? Well simply, for guilt purposes and sort of as a trophy. You see, one night a while back as I was putting on my coat to head out of Super's room for the walk home. Just after midnight I made the mistake of asking him one simple question: "So, when is your birthday anyway?" As is the case for most things with Super and I, nothing is ever simple and he refused to tell me, simply to annoy me -- it worked. I took the coat back off, and spent the next 6 hours keeping Super awake and repeatedly asking when his birthday was. Unfortunately, Super has an incredibly high tolerance for annoyance and simply kept laughing at me. He then made a tactical error, and got out of his bed to go to the bathroom. At this point I climbed into his bed and refused to let him back in until he told me when his birthday was. 20 minutes later, Super was tired of attempting to toss me out of his bed, so he decided to just get into his bed, no matter how he had to do that. Thus, he sort of jumped in, landed elbow first on my ribs, cracking 2 of them. He claims that he won this battle by the way, since he inflicted bodily harm. I, however, claim victory in the case that he felt so bad for causing me pain that he actually told me when his birthday was, March 21st. So Mar21 has been my reminder of guilt for him as well as my trophy ever since....and for the record....I WON!

My age, well if we are talking chronological physical age I guess I'm 23, born August 9th, 1972. I use the following reasoning: I'm a Leo to account for my attitude and that little stubborn streak I have. Actually, I believe I stopped mentally at around age 5, definitely still a Toys R Us kid and probably always will be. You know what they say, you can't stay young forever...but you can stay immature. :) I'm living proof.

Actually my attitude, and the fact that I'm a little off center probably have to do with the fact that I was born and raised in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario... ask any of the Canadians on the channel for Sault jokes and I'm sure they'll have a couple for you. Yes there are more liquor stores in Sault Ste Marie than there are schools and yes the population is made up of a lot of young breeders... it's Northern Ontario, like there's anything else to do up there. I'm technically only a part-time saultite these days since I've been at the University of Waterloo, in Waterloo, Ontario for most of the last 5 years. Moved 8 hours south to find out how normal people live... and I end up hanging out with Super... go figure. :)

As far as my occupation, well it isn't a paid position but I do hold the title of official P.I.T.A. to Super. It's more than a full time job, but somebody has to do it. Actually I'm, in all honesty, just a lowly biology student who happens to be graduating soon and has no clue what she is going to do with the rest of her life. Suggestions welcome... and before I get suggestions from any of the DOM's on the channel... lap or table dancing aren't things I want as job descriptions. :)

Been an Op since before I even knew how to use ops :) Uhm actually as long as I can remember. Way back when there were just a bunch of Waterloonies and Soozie (who was constantly making trouble) around #Friendly. :) In fact, I've had ops since the second day I've IRC'ed, so the truth is out, I didn't earn 'em :)

Cancerian wants me to tell you what I like best about #Friendly, tough question. I'd have to say the fact that I have removed Super's god-like status...before I was around constantly, people actually feared Super. Now they realize he is simply a bonehead, who is just as human as the rest of us and who should be laughed at just as frequently as he is feared. Sorry Super, bet that made ya lose a few more adoring fans. Who are we kidding? I'm not at all sorry. :) And I'd just like to thank Ladybelle, Soozie, AliB, Kytty and Teal for helping me out with the dethroning of Super.

Now Cancerian expects me to tell you all the most embarrassing thing I've ever done. I've been trying to weigh all the possibilities and they are abundant... but since some people already heard the "milked by the rugby team" story, and a few others have heard about my frosh week haircut, so I'll indulge Cancerian and let you all see just how lame I can be. This all stems from the Mar21 incident...since Super gave me a copy of his birth certificate as a gift when I was leaving for a work term at home post exams... technically this, like all else, can be considered his fault. Background info. leading up to this... my New Year's resolution last year even though I was going to be in Sault Ste Marie for the first four months of the year was to stay on the wagon, no alcohol at all for the year. Believe it or not, that lasted until March, when St Patrick's day rolled around. You also need to know that I'm not Irish :)
I didn't want to go out on St Patrick's day but I had been having a very bad last couple days before it, so my friends decided I was going out no matter what, and Sal literally threw me over his shoulder and took me to his car. (No shoes, or jacket and it was March in Northern Ontario remember, so I couldn't run from them) They brought along the necessities, for example shoes, but put them in the trunk so I had no chance to bolt. They took me to Jimmy John's where I proceeded to break my New Year's resolution in record time and with great flare. In about an hour, got a marriage proposal which I turned down, and then started accumulating pins and balloons that said "Kiss Me I'm Irish". Being a border town, when last call on the Canadian side rolled around, we headed for The Back Door in Sault Michigan. Now comes the embarrassing part... coming back from Sault Michigan I was feeling pretty happy and as we pulled up to the border, I couldn't stop myself from sticking my head out of the car window from the back seat and saying to the customs guy: "Kiss me I'm pretending to be Irish". Hmmm... in case you don't live in a border town... you may not know that the border officers don't have a great sense of humour. He was somewhat concerned as well that this highly intoxicated female was in a car with 4 guys. So he asked where we were all from.... no problem with that question. He then asked to see our birth certificates.... I handed him mine, except it was actually Super's. He asked how long I had been a male named, David Low. My friend Sal had to pretend he was actually Dave and that I was simply holding onto his ID for him. Sal then took my wallet, and found my birth certificate. The border patrol then realized just how drunk I was and asked me if I was going with these 4 gentlemen willingly... since I hadn't wanted to go out in the first place of course my answer was "No." Needless to say we spent the next 4 hours in customs trying to explain that I didn't really mean what I had said. In fact we were there until I sobered up and could swear of my own free will that I was with these gentlemen and wanted to be. The nice border patrol man then explained how he could have fined me for what had just happened and how he never wanted to see me in that condition with an attitude again. The guys at home don't take me across the border anymore...especially when I'm "pretending to be Irish". Now that you all think I'm a moron.. let's move on to the next question.:)

Now this funniest thing one of my friends has ever done question, seems like a ploy on Cancerian's part to get a Super story out of me. Well, I'm not sure I should tell a Super story since he didn't tell a Mar21 story while doing his profile... but what the hell lets dispell the "Super is a god myth a little more shall we?" Once again I have way too many choices here. So I'll tell you a classic Super story. In fact it involves Super and Salid...who you new Ops won't know... but the old crowd probably misses just as much as Super and I do. Super and Salid were making a turkey dinner for about 25 people in village on one of those holiday type week-ends when people normally go home but our friends seem to just hang out around Waterloo instead. The only problem with this scenario is that they had never cooked turkey before. They actually realized they had to take the contents out of the bird before attempting to cook it, however they found a little red nob on the breast of the bird and didn't know what it was. (This is all on video and extremely funny...Siskel and Ebert gave it 2 thumbs up, if ya get the chance I suggest you watch it :)) Super and Salid discussed possible reasons that this foreign object was in the bird and seemed greatly disturbed by its presence. Unable to identify it and still not knowing what it was, they decided to get rid of it just to be sure none of their guests would be alarmed when the bird was done and has a red thing in it. Of course, Salid was the brave one and grabbed onto it and ripped it out of the bird. This took a great deal of effort and almost caused the bird to end up on the floor. Now having removed the object... it dawned on the two of them, as it probably did on you 5 minutes ago, that it was not a foreign object, but the pop-up timer for the bird. Another discussion of what to do next, an unsuccessful attempt at putting the timer back in followed. This was not mentioned to the guests by the way. They were also having some minor problems baking potatoes because they wrapped them all in foil and assumed they would be ready in about half an hour, needless to say, dinner was started a little later than expected. They also did not mention to the guests that they had licked the turkey. I don't exactly know the reason for it, but like most things with Super, there really isn't a reason, things just happen. And to think people actually ate that turkey, the video is well worth adding to your collection if you get the chance.

My biggest fantasy is actually one of the easiest questions on this list... to have Super just once admit without any buts, conditions, or having to beat it out of him, that he is wrong about anything.

If I had a million dollars, hmmmm well I have no clue what I'd spend it on, I'd probably buy Super his own 7-11 and Laser Quest franchises in the same building, then spend the rest at Toys R Us :) If I had to spend it on the #Friendly people, I'd expect you all to beg me for it cause we all know I'm really a bitch right? :) Just kidding. I'd set up a #Friendly wish fund... and if your idea or wish was completely frivolous and/or just plain fun and stupid... I'd give you the cash to do it... unless of course your name was Hiko. :)

That leaves us with the anything else question... hmmm you should probably know that I was very close to being named Penny. That would have meant I would've been named Penny Nichols (pronounced nickels, yes my parents were cruel; Actually, I think they were stoned when filling out my birth certificate). I found out recently that being woken up by somebody licking your foot from heel to toe while you are soundly sleeping isn't the best way to start a day (Thanks Super). Oh and most importantly, Super an I are not, nor have we ever been a couple.

So that's me folks... yeah I know completely boring, I told you getting me to do the profile wasn't a great idea...but at least Hiko and Cancerian will get off my back now. :)

Seeya around the channel,
Jackie Nichols
(Mar21) :)

Laugh of the Month

-- by Laugh

CLASSIFIEDS SECTION