Did You Say Tornado?

We are all used to the little "blips" that happen on the net.  A swift boot in the middle of a good chat, the top half of your screen disappearing before your very eyes, the sudden disconnection from your server, and on and on... but have you ever been disrupted because of a tornado?  It goes like this...
"um.... if I suddenly disappear, you know the tornado has hit."  YIKES.... "okay" I say, trying to sound as if its the most natural thing in the world... feeling the panic arising in my stomach.  But wait... I love natural disasters.. and so does he.. what do you do? You share the experience!  An instant web site is given so we can watch the approaching storm by radar.  Hey, cool.. I say.. "gee, that looks awfully big... tell me again, where are you on that map?"  he says..."see that little green area right in front of the BIG RED stormfront.. thats us."  Great...hmmm.... reloading the page every minute and watching as the inevitable, I very calmly ask if he is well prepared.. "of course, I  have my camcorder, and a tank full of gas... all set."  I grin.. hmmm.. sounds like what i would have prepared... As the storm approaches, the conversation is sparse.. we are both reloading the radar site, watching..his scanner is at work, telling of the damage left behind in other areas.  I am saying, how great it is that we can share this and then....."blip"... he is gone.
"thump, thump..thump thump" heart in throat I look again at the radar screen.. I cannot see him on the map anymore... all I see is BIG RED.... minutes tick by, my fingers grow tired from loading, and reloading that DAMN site... and then.. "blip" his name appears... I wait... "hey, you there, he asks?"  .. grinning I say.. "Did you get the picture?" and.. WE ROLL WITH IT....

Kids SEE The Darndest Things:
 
 Have you ever wondered what your chat partner's environment is like while you are chatting?  Do you ever ask?  Its surprising.. at least I found it to be so one night.  The hour is late, you are feeling comfortable with the world at large.  You are happily chatting away, responding in like to your partners posts... you throw a scenario out there... just for the fun of it.... and WHAM.. while you are expecting a similar posting back.. you receive the ultimate cold water wake up.. "Ummm... you know that last post.. the one where you... well you know... one of my daughters happened to peek over my shoulder... and guess what?... she is laughing hysterically right now!"  Yikes!!  Yes.. let this be a warning to all you late night postees.... be sure of the environment... unless you don't mind a little cold water snapping you awake. and... yeah you guessed it.. STILL ROLLING!
 
"Please Don't Save This Buffer":

For all you chatters out there, a buffer is a transcript of your posted conversations in chat.  Ever wish you could just wipe away something you said... ever wished you could just hide for a bit.. Been there.. done that... When your little "private idaho" exists between the space of your monitor... every post counts for something.. And then there is that awful silence.. you know that what you have just posted has hit a mark.. and you wish, just wish the target had been yourself instead.  Been there..done that.. wish I hadn't!  Time for a deep breath...a lean back in the chair.. a sigh.
What do you do??!! Remember who you are.. who they are.. what you have... and start again tomorrow when the stress you have been feeling, the sweltering heat that surrounds you, and the smell of smoke in the air from nearby forest fires doesn't interrupt your thoughts... in other words.. ROLL WITH IT.. but roll together....

The Junior Mint:

If you have met me in chat then you know that I always have my junior mints on hand.  Usually I will share them with fellow chatters, or greet newcomers with them.  Sometimes I just hoard them for myself.  One night, one of my junior mints took on a life of its own and worked its way into all of our hearts.  It goes like this:
Setting the scene:  Approximately 8 people in chat. All talking about movies.  Best of, worst of, upcoming.  All were participating at the time, when all of a sudden two chatters got into a very heated argument.  Cannot remember what about, but it got ugly.  Eventually the rest of us stopped talking and observed the ensuing argument.. powerless as to how to stop it.  All of a sudden I decided to share my junior mints.. perhaps that would work, right?? So I tossed a couple to the arguing chatters.. the male chatter grabbed one junior mint with one hand and popped it into his mouth.. the female chatter grabbed hers and stomped on it.. *almost always junior mints have a very short life span*.. the male chatter caught the last mint in one of his hands and proceeded to throw it to the female chatter while in the midst of shouting out an angry retort.. all of a sudden the screen went blank.... the next thing we saw was "choke... choke".... the male chatter immediately went to her aid and slapped her on the back... to no avail.. more "choke chokes".. soon we all became involved.. slapping on her back, trying the heimlich(sp?) maneuver.. whatever we could think of... soon it was *choking.. turning blue*... well it was a free for all to save her life... I have to admit, when something like that occurs, it is a thing to be seen... the female chatter and the rest of us were very lucky that night.. a newcomer happened upon the room while we were in the midst of trying all life saving tactics.. he swiftly performed the proper heimlich maneuver and before we knew it.. out popped the junior mint.. it fell on the floor amongst us.. the female chatter was saved, we were exhausted, and the argument had stopped... after a few seconds one of the other chatters casually mentioned that we should give thanks to that junior mint for saving the chatroom that night.. it bonded us together, it stopped the arguement, and the newcomer became a regular in chat with us.. We decided the best thing to do under the circumstances was to split the junior mint 9 ways... so we ended the night with our little bit of chocolate and mint and went to bed content.