THE OTHER SIDE OF THE STORY AS TOLD BY STUMBLERS THEMSELVES ::: REPRINTED ::: Pt I ::: Rated Sep 24 - stumblers - stumbleupon.com A great post from Dr Epic Boobs on how SU changed her life. "How SU Changed My Life" From the page: Created Sep 21 I am lying in bed next to dethmonger. We met on here 4 years ago. We own the house I live in. On my nightstand, is a treasured, tattered and dogeared book of Tennyson's Poems and Plays which jajajayu sent me a few months ago for no particular reason at all. It came with a card that said "this is the most valuable thing I own. I got it in China in 1975 and I have carried it since, and I want you to have it." There are fascinating notes - dates, names, little mysteries - along the side columns, which keep me pcking it up and wondering about her every few days. Across the room is a puppet that jiffy-squid made me for StumbleCon, my birthday/cancer victory party in February. Rodney the Rat. He's from Australia. He and about 40 stumblers came to my house to celebrate my life with me. Thanks again for the 100 pint glasses, SU - they made excellent souvenirs and each one has found a home with a stumbler. I personally mailed 20 of them across the globe to my blogging friends, On my ankle is a bracelet that akapearlofagirl made me by hand. Tomorrow, I am babysitting the daughter of Empress112, who is going to see Ray Lamontagne at the Grand Old Opry with ninepoundhammer. They met in person at StumbleCon and now live across town. No matter what happens with SU, they'll remain Real Life friends, because they are here in Nashville to stay for awhile. My end room's bed is still unmade from where SeaGriz slept over Labor Day weekend. He visited from Seattle and we had a great time at a football game and a toga party at my house. We just got the news that his wife's cancer is still in remission despite a big scare... and I am thrilled for him, and grateful for our friendship. Tha-B-Dog also came to the Toga Party, Hell, he's been down from Louisville to see me so many times, I've lost count. Always great to see him. I had a disasterous relationship with another stumbler from Austin prior to meeting deth, but I'll mention it only because I did learn some things about myself and am a better person because of it. Brokenflow was my first SU friend, and he just happened to be from here in Nashville. We met in real life and hit it off as friends, We lost touch a bit after he got married, and he died tragically a few months ago, but his widow is now my good friend, Talk about a "how did you guys meet?" story? There's one for the books. I miss you, Paul. Paul stumbled me "Two Girls One Cup" at work, and I got fired. Remember that, party people?? Yeahhhh, that was him, Antsee787 was my poolboy last summer, during his summer break from Notre Dame. Who'da thunk I would EVER meet my SU teenaged friend from Guam? He's going through a lot right now and I am glad to be there for him, He came down with glacier5. Jennie is not glacier like at all. Well, she's maybe the Global Warming variety of glacier, anyways, Pauline and I went to NYC together in 2007 and had an absolute blast, I'm not sure what I did to piss her off, but I still think of her often and wish her well. I know why 3RiversGuy is mad at me, and I won't get into it but I'll just say that I also wish him well, I'm lucky to have been raised in Rhode Island and get to see xian-o and lebrewski whenever I go home to see the family. They are now my family, too. In my spare room, above Dana's unmade bed, MizRed's paintings of StumbleCon and the Stumbler's Last Supper hang. Along with jej's Tennyson book, they are counted among my most prized possessions. In 2008, SphinxRiddle, coreycow1 and SlimmerS hosted a SU climbing trip in Sedona, Arizona, About 9 stumblers attended and although it didn't turn out as planned, it was still a memorable time. They also came cross country for StumbleCon and their generosity was dumbfounding. Suzannereed lives across town and has bailed me out of more than one difficult situation. She is a real friend through and through. In 2010, setabnevets (That's Steven Bates, backwards) traveled from his home in Brisbane, Australia abound the world, staying with Stumblers almost the entire journey. He was with us for a couple of weeks, and earned his keep by landscaping our herb garden beds. He's moving to Rio this Fall and we hope to see him there next time. A few others I have met in person and loved to pieces: nd5596, Honeytoken, sparklebean, apocowarg, madrosemama, sparlo, margir, shudro, liltinybus, and honkytonkyme. And the list of the other stumblers that I have not met yet, but WANT TO? It's 10 times longer than this. I could go on and on, but I suppose I already have. Have I made my point yet, SU? Should I double-dog dare you to delete this blog, knowing all the good you have caused in my life? Thanks for listening." ::: Some of the wonderful things that happened on SU's great site before it became just a TOOL. :::