Well, weighing in from wild Wyoming: Sometimes I "lurk" in the music threads, and I always learn a great deal -- sometimes just how very much I *don't* know. I don't post to many of them because my knowledge of trad. music isn't as encyclopedic as that of many people here. I'm definitely in a learning curve in that regard, but I do find the knowledge base enriching and available. And when I know something, I'll offer my thoughts or the words to a song or whatever. I've used the forum to get words or to find recordings I've been wanting.

But, as I said elsewhere, I have a very serious, high-pressure job and when I come home, it's nice to just plug into some unbridled silliness sometimes. What I often end up feeling like is that a bunch of these folks are the same ones I hung out with back in college, when we didn't know we were Boomers, we just knew that the music was cool, the pot was $20 a lid, we were going to change the world and life had no limits. We were silly then and we're still silly after all this time. But seriously so.

And, Joe, I tend to agree with you about the postings on sickness and personal tragedies, but then I'm one who generally would like to fall through a trapdoor when sorrow hits me so I don't have to be vulnerable to the good wishes of so many friends. That may sound twisted, but sometimes all the emotion, even if it's well-intended, is just too much.

BUT I know that just has to do with my personality, and that some people are better equipped to take in such information. And I also know that it contributes to other people to allow them to express their sympathy, good wishes and so forth. It's just that some pain is so far beyond words ....

Oh, well -- I'm rambling. But there's my two centavos' worth.

WyoWoman