This is my story...
I remember what will be two years ago this December. I was freshly in to Harry Potter I suppose you could say, I'd finally read the books just after the first film came out on DVD. I was looking around specifically for an online Hogwarts school, but the ones I found were, to be honest, not really worth bothering with. Then one day, I followed a link from the Leaky Cauldron, and found myself registering at HOL. I was sorted into Hufflepuff which, to be honest wasn't exactly my first choice, well, any choice I guess, but I knew that I couldn't do anything about it, so I just carried on. I remember meeting Anakin Black and Raven Evenstar and a couple of others and we had a big snowball fight on the forum, which was stamped out for spam (in fairness, it did cover a fair few pages in no time at all *g*) and then I remember wondering why, since there started a thread where the mod who closed the post was splashing in puddles and everyone was joining in.
I remember clicking the link to join HOL on IRC, and finding out that I had mIRC on my computer (a program I'd never heard of) and it connected me, putting me in #hpgalleries with the nice 'poophead.' Matt was there, with his usual greeting: 'Hey poophead, are you in HOL?' I didn't realise at the time that was my nick, and I didn't really know what I was doing, or how to talk or anything, so I quit. When I went in again, the next day, or a few minutes later (I forget how long it took) I was on as 'prodigy' and this time I knew who I was and was able to change my nick and talk.
I remember first playing Quidditch, and really sucking at both knowledge and speed, but getting noticeably better quite quickly. Mercury was one guy who I found I got on pretty well with quite early on, We were both guests at an open Slytherin practice in #toyo one time. He was Keeper on one side, and I was one of his beaters. I remember we both kicked ass, and at the end of hte practice match, he send me a p2p and said "You're on the Huff team." After that I practiced in front of Persis and Emmy and Evy and I was appalling, I couldn't do anything, but I had a bit of a lag problem in #huffquid so I blamed it on that, and in fairness, was a bit better in a private channel and with fewer spectators.
My first Quiddy match was against Ravenclaw and I was nervous, but quite excited of course. Stirry came into the team room half an hour or so before the match and hugged us all - we'd been putting in some great practice time and were really up for it, and I felt really good to be a part of that. We won, and after one miss I got my first goal right at the end too, which rocked.
Heh, I remember I was working a close shift one night, finishing at half 10, then opening at 8 the next morning - it was a Monday so I'd have to do all the weekend's banking and the Monday morning paperwork. I was already at the stage where I was up until the wee hours chatting away - I would previously read for an hour or so before bed, I reread HP 1-3 in a week, got half way through GOF and then it took me six months to finish it, thanks to the addictiveness of HOL and IRC - I decided that I could either not stay on IRC; stay on IRC and have a few hours sleep, or just stay up all night and go in to work in the morning. I decided I'd be fresher on no sleep than I would on a couple of hours, so I stayed up, which was just as well, because I was using the alarm on my phone, which I'd left at work by mistake, so I wouldn't have got up for 8am. I went home with a bottle of wine from Regional Management at 6ish, and drank that while chatting on IRC. I remember after 30something hours and a full bottle of red wine, and talking to Fumbly about my Prefect application *g*
Kels, Taia and Anne became prefects, and in the time after that, I got to know them all quite well, and consider them amongst the great Huffs that were wonderful friends. In the year and more since then, some have gone, some more have come, but I still have many many wonderful friends here, both in and outside of Huff.
What else do I remember, before I start getting complaints from those on my friends list about the lack of a cut....? I remember chatting with Fumbly late one night and throwing ideas around for a secret project that has been a great success (and is still a secret, so she is likely the only one who (might) know what I'm talking about, though others know about the actual thing mwahahaha). I remember the Quidditch League, especially teams like Wigtown Wanderers, who got trounced almost every time and still went out there and had so much fun. I remember their match against the Magpies, where we could only field a small team of Taia and Myself (and I think maybe either Amanda or Belle, but my memory is fading) and no matter what, they were getting the win, because we forfeit under the minimum players rule, but they turned up so we still gave them a match and had fun. I remember setting up a Huff trivia set and having the prefects and professors in the bathroom botting on it before it moved temporarily to #huffquid to confuse people - this was recently found and edited and we had the Kingdom Fruit Bowl challenge. I remember the first HOL Challenge, and how much fun it was, even if my partner took that time to decide she wasn't going to be continuing in HOL. I remember reading through Evy's Beauxbatons exam to check the English in it, and I thought it looked fun, so I asked Chris if I could join the class - he said I would have to do all the previous lessons' work for it, so I did three assignments and the exam before the exam deadline which was about 4 hours after I started it. I remember when Amanda and I were made Prefects, and then how we introduced the Huff tradition of torturing all the new Prefects who earned their badges - starting with Fels and / or Belle, I think.
I remember so many great times here at HOL, and there are more great times being added to my memories each month, each week. I've met a few HOLers in person, I've spoken to a couple on the phone who I haven't met (and I remember I was supposed to talk to Darcey's mum, since she didn't approve us talking for an hour on the phone if she didn't know me *g*). I intend to meet a lot more of the great people on here, or to talk to them online or on the phone. The magic of HOL that brought me here, and brought me so many wonderful friends and wonderful memories is still here. Lately, a lot of people seem to be forgetting that, or saying that it's gone, but for me, HOL is still a fantastic magical place, and I know that after all the recent fuss has died down, and we can get back to enjoying it all, then others will agree. I have drifted away from some people I used to be good friends with at HOL, some have left HOL, or aren't around much even if they've not, there are some who I just don't talk to any more for reasons between us, or maybe for no real reason at all. At the end of the day though, I lov you all, and I know that here at HOL I can find shoulders to cry on, ears to talk to, friends to laugh and joke with. You are what makes HOL special, and it is still very very special.
I remember clicking the link to join HOL on IRC, and finding out that I had mIRC on my computer (a program I'd never heard of) and it connected me, putting me in #hpgalleries with the nice 'poophead.' Matt was there, with his usual greeting: 'Hey poophead, are you in HOL?' I didn't realise at the time that was my nick, and I didn't really know what I was doing, or how to talk or anything, so I quit. When I went in again, the next day, or a few minutes later (I forget how long it took) I was on as 'prodigy' and this time I knew who I was and was able to change my nick and talk.
I remember first playing Quidditch, and really sucking at both knowledge and speed, but getting noticeably better quite quickly. Mercury was one guy who I found I got on pretty well with quite early on, We were both guests at an open Slytherin practice in #toyo one time. He was Keeper on one side, and I was one of his beaters. I remember we both kicked ass, and at the end of hte practice match, he send me a p2p and said "You're on the Huff team." After that I practiced in front of Persis and Emmy and Evy and I was appalling, I couldn't do anything, but I had a bit of a lag problem in #huffquid so I blamed it on that, and in fairness, was a bit better in a private channel and with fewer spectators.
My first Quiddy match was against Ravenclaw and I was nervous, but quite excited of course. Stirry came into the team room half an hour or so before the match and hugged us all - we'd been putting in some great practice time and were really up for it, and I felt really good to be a part of that. We won, and after one miss I got my first goal right at the end too, which rocked.
Heh, I remember I was working a close shift one night, finishing at half 10, then opening at 8 the next morning - it was a Monday so I'd have to do all the weekend's banking and the Monday morning paperwork. I was already at the stage where I was up until the wee hours chatting away - I would previously read for an hour or so before bed, I reread HP 1-3 in a week, got half way through GOF and then it took me six months to finish it, thanks to the addictiveness of HOL and IRC - I decided that I could either not stay on IRC; stay on IRC and have a few hours sleep, or just stay up all night and go in to work in the morning. I decided I'd be fresher on no sleep than I would on a couple of hours, so I stayed up, which was just as well, because I was using the alarm on my phone, which I'd left at work by mistake, so I wouldn't have got up for 8am. I went home with a bottle of wine from Regional Management at 6ish, and drank that while chatting on IRC. I remember after 30something hours and a full bottle of red wine, and talking to Fumbly about my Prefect application *g*
Kels, Taia and Anne became prefects, and in the time after that, I got to know them all quite well, and consider them amongst the great Huffs that were wonderful friends. In the year and more since then, some have gone, some more have come, but I still have many many wonderful friends here, both in and outside of Huff.
What else do I remember, before I start getting complaints from those on my friends list about the lack of a cut....? I remember chatting with Fumbly late one night and throwing ideas around for a secret project that has been a great success (and is still a secret, so she is likely the only one who (might) know what I'm talking about, though others know about the actual thing mwahahaha). I remember the Quidditch League, especially teams like Wigtown Wanderers, who got trounced almost every time and still went out there and had so much fun. I remember their match against the Magpies, where we could only field a small team of Taia and Myself (and I think maybe either Amanda or Belle, but my memory is fading) and no matter what, they were getting the win, because we forfeit under the minimum players rule, but they turned up so we still gave them a match and had fun. I remember setting up a Huff trivia set and having the prefects and professors in the bathroom botting on it before it moved temporarily to #huffquid to confuse people - this was recently found and edited and we had the Kingdom Fruit Bowl challenge. I remember the first HOL Challenge, and how much fun it was, even if my partner took that time to decide she wasn't going to be continuing in HOL. I remember reading through Evy's Beauxbatons exam to check the English in it, and I thought it looked fun, so I asked Chris if I could join the class - he said I would have to do all the previous lessons' work for it, so I did three assignments and the exam before the exam deadline which was about 4 hours after I started it. I remember when Amanda and I were made Prefects, and then how we introduced the Huff tradition of torturing all the new Prefects who earned their badges - starting with Fels and / or Belle, I think.
I remember so many great times here at HOL, and there are more great times being added to my memories each month, each week. I've met a few HOLers in person, I've spoken to a couple on the phone who I haven't met (and I remember I was supposed to talk to Darcey's mum, since she didn't approve us talking for an hour on the phone if she didn't know me *g*). I intend to meet a lot more of the great people on here, or to talk to them online or on the phone. The magic of HOL that brought me here, and brought me so many wonderful friends and wonderful memories is still here. Lately, a lot of people seem to be forgetting that, or saying that it's gone, but for me, HOL is still a fantastic magical place, and I know that after all the recent fuss has died down, and we can get back to enjoying it all, then others will agree. I have drifted away from some people I used to be good friends with at HOL, some have left HOL, or aren't around much even if they've not, there are some who I just don't talk to any more for reasons between us, or maybe for no real reason at all. At the end of the day though, I lov you all, and I know that here at HOL I can find shoulders to cry on, ears to talk to, friends to laugh and joke with. You are what makes HOL special, and it is still very very special.