Happy birthday, WTF!

[wtg]

Can you believe it? The well-tempered forum turns 20 today!

[ShiroKuro]

Wow!!!!!!!!!! That's crazy!!

Happy Birthday WTF!!!

[Big_Al]

What a long, strange trip it's been.

Big Al

[wtg]

@Big_Al No kidding! I found a back door to the OCR on PW and was reading a few threads this morning. Seems so very long ago and far away....but best left behind, I think.

Onward and upward!

[wtg]

There is one thread in the OCR that's worth posting here, or at least a screen shot of a portion of it. The moment that WTF got its name.

[ShiroKuro]

@wtg What a cool find!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[DougG]

so that means I was 19 years old when this form started?

[wtg]

@DougG - To be precise...you were on the verge of 20.....

[wtg]

From one of the last posts on the OCR. Would be hard to screenshot, so I'm just copying and pasting:

I have so much to say but just can't.

I lived a pathetic little life at home here & b/c of this place I started interacting with others outside of my home. I felt isolated for so long.

When I first came here, I was b/c of Norbert & the PF. I had bought a grand piano. The reason I bought the grand was b/c the piano was what helped me cope with the physical pain and medical symptoms that had that kept me pretty well confined at home. My home life isn't great due to my husband's profession, and the time I spend helping our child who has his own physical/emotional problems. I have few friends in my own city and very few living relatives. I'm not introverted, just caught by circumstance ... few people understand.

I did get worse physically, and with surgery last year got better. Some of you here have been very supportive (and never knew of my life). I've learned how to use the internet. Some of you even said I was smart and I liked this b/c I haven't been able to express my thoughts in any other capacity than as a mother or wife in years. I've even met one of you ... and he's even more brilliant in person. I enjoyed birthday greetings from many of you ... trivial to some, but when a person sees few adults outside of her home, it's important & means a lot. I've learned that it's okay to question issues of faith, and that praying can be helpful. I also very much appreciate the prayers of a certain CR someone who lives 3000 away miles from me ... and we'll likely never meet. Further, in particular, there is one CR person who has helped me rediscover something most personal in my life, something that has been repressed over the past few years ... and truly, I was heading toward depression prior to our meeting here. I've started to cook again d/t the enthusiasm of those who post their recipes and tasty meals. I've even learned a bit about wine and ventured into a liquor store to buy some. And really b/c I haven't been able to travel ... I've learned so much about how beautiful America (and other countries) is (are) from everyone who posts their own hometown experiences, trips and pictures. I'm looking forward to visiting some of these places someday. I am also quite motivated by those who keep active and do physical exercise. I'm now working out myself and am managing to get healthier and stronger. I've learned about war and patriotism too, and better understand how America thinks b/c of this. Moreover, I've learned that I'm not the 'only' person here who has problems, medical, emotional or otherwise. I'm a much better person b/c of the Coffee Room. I'm not simply a pixel here.

I'm sure others have their stories. I'll miss this place. frown

[AdagioM]

Sweet! Happy birthday, WTF!

[wtg]

apple, posting in the OCR:

I don’t know that I should be particularly proud of owning 10,000 posts, a sure indication of my peripheral obsession with any place, thing or person in any way remotedly connected with the piano. I am very much in love with many of the posters here and am extraordinarily grateful for the opportunity to participate in such a marvelous thing as this forum.

Here’s a poem

Piano Addiction

I know what it's like to be powerless
a slave to an instrument of pleasure
bonded by love with servitude
practiced slowly measure by measure
the strictest of rigid parameters
defining my moments of leisure
in a delightfully alluring and difficult
rousing relationship ever to treasure.

[ShiroKuro]