Post by Akbar Le Grey on Dec 23, 2007 17:52:04 GMT -5
December 23rd – December 30th.
Editor-in-Chief: Akbar Le Grey.
Contributors: PJ, Jemima, Linda, tim, Sixteen, Samreen, Libitina, Shelly.
Published by 667er Publications, ltd.
A subsidiary of the 667er Group.
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Eyebrows were raised, pupils focused and general excitement spread like wildfire on Wednesday, as The 667er reported perhaps its biggest scoop of the year: Tragedy’s plan to appoint a new co-administrator come 2008. Theories now abound, in hushed chatrooms and gossipy PMs – as the members remain intrigued, Tragedy sits pretty, content with his individual knowledge. Until then, it seems, all we can do is guess.
The public reacted excitably, and some members were more vocal with their feelings than others. TE exclaimed, “This is so exciting!”, her exhilaration aptly expressed by the exclamation marks dotting her short post. Meanwhile, Shelly just seemed shocked, just saying “Wow. This is pretty big.” Linda’s enthusiasm was, as always, palpable and utterly, genuinely sweet.
In light of this absorbing news, we interviewed tragedy for a confirmation and to attempt to get something out of him. Below is the transcript of that interview:
The 667er:
Yo yo yo. Yo.
What's this I hear about a co-admin?
Tragedy:
oh
im so angry that it leaked out
what can i say
akbar has ears everywhere
You want a statement? Here. I admit that there is some truth behind Akbar's rumour. It was leaked to him by a very reliable source. I am considering having a co-admin for 2008. But that decision is still in the works. My only advice is that everyone be on their best behavior and make a strong push to be contributive members in these last few weeks of the year. This is a crucial period.
And there is much to be gained on the personal and community level.
The 667er:
Awww. It would have been more fun if you'd been angry or abusive. But that’ll do, in a pinch.
Tragedy:
Not my style.
“There is some truth behind [the] rumour…This is a crucial period”
The 667er:
Oh well.
Tragedy:
Besides I've been in a good mood lately
The 667er:
Thanks anyways.
Tragedy:
And so, in his usual playful way, our leader leaves us in the dark. For now. Guesses about the recipient of this prestigious position abound, ranging from Linda to Robert, but, at the end of the day, it’ll up to him. We await his announcement with bated breath. Life moves on in the forum, but the underlying suspense is on the rise. Following Tragedy’s advice, most hopeful members seem to be on their ‘best behaviour’. Would that they remained in this mode.
- Akbar Le Grey.
[the writer expresses his gratitude to the interviewer, who wishes to remain anonymous]
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Over two years ago, Akbar Le Grey took it upon himself to report the big 667 stories, to gather the weekly news and publish it for his fellow members. He called upon us to pledge ourselves to this new institution: The 667er. The magazine was envisioned to be the compilation of 667's collective thoughts, opinions and gossip. September 15th 2005 saw the first official 667er staff announcement. George Dupin was appointed sub-editor, along with Scotty. James and Sixteen were given the titles of MM Correspondent and ASOUE Correspondent, respectively. Ennui promised to review fanfics and artwork, fulfilling the requirements for Literary Editor, and PJ and Amber were given columnist posts.
Three days later we saw the publication of our very first edition. It was met with four pages of praise, and followed by 24 more issues until members of staff received a PM from their editor.
The message detailed a new plan. Akbar had created a forum for The 667er. Staff were to create an account and archive their articles. It was to be a medium for collecting articles, reading past editions, and for 667ers to give input and feedback. Plans to release these archives to the 667 public were made and all seemed to be taking off but, as you know, this forum was not revealed. Due to a number of reasons on separate occasions, the forum remained a staff secret. It lay idle for almost a year until Sixteen, determined not to let everyone's efforts be wasted, began to search through Chaotic Creativity, compiling that year's worth of 667ers and posting them on the magazine's forum.
However, at that time it was Autumn/Fall of 2007 and both The 667er and its editor were missing in action. Hope seemed lost and Sixteen was on the verge of releasing the archives, for nostalgia if nothing else. Then one night an MSN window opened with the exclamation, "SIXTEEN!". A conversation about 667 and, more importantly, The 667er followed, Akbar promising to return shortly, bringing the magazine with him.
With renewed enthusiasm, Sixteen continued updating the archives with help from Linda and discussed their release with Akbar.
And so, I present to you The 667er Archives.
-Sixteen.
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667'S STORY OF THE YEAR[/u]
An interview with the lovers[/u]
by Jemima
Here I sit at midnight, on December 23rd, 2007 (ZOMG WHICH IS DUPIN'S FIFTEENTH BIRTHDAY! But never mind that, because this article's not about him) typing down this article while my sister's bickering for the computer, after a ten hour drive from upper Michigan to lower Ohio. But, I promised 667 the story of the year, a.k.a. the gossip on Fancy and Tragedy, 667's newest, real, actual, in real-life, not internet, ship/relationship.
Their story of love is like nothing I've ever heard-- it's beautiful, romantic, comedic, dramatic, action-packed, and a fairy tale come true. Two people that'd never ever met meet on the dark, mysterious, falty internet, and end up becoming soul mates of the world. Without the help of eHarmony or MySpace. It all started on some weary day in 2002, in the beginnings of UnfortunateEvents.net....
[Note: some parts of this conversation may be time delayed.]
Jem: So, let's get this started. When did you first make contact with Fancy/Rachael/whatever we'd like to call her?
Fancy: Over 5 years ago.
/\/\ I L A N : I'll take this one. We met in June 2002 on UnfortunateEvents.net. We were part of the founding group.
Jem: Founding group of UnfortunateEvents or of 667?
Fancy: UE.net
/\/\ I L A N : Right.
Fancy: He had a Count Olaf icon which meant he was a jerk.
/\/\ I L A N : I was the Head Moderator of the forum. She was just annoying.
Jem: Heheheheh.
Fancy: I had a Galadriel icon which meant I was awesome.
Jem: How did you first start talking to each other?
/\/\ I L A N : Just general forum stuff. Nothing special in the beginning. Like I said, I was the Head Moderator, and she was just obnoxious. We were part of this tight knit group of posters that built the forum up.
Jem: Fancy, what did you first think about him?
Fancy: Umm. I thought he was fun to insult.
/\/\ I L A N : She had weird obsessions, with things like Canada and hobbits. She used to say weird things like rawr and *scoff*.
Jem: And she doesn't anymore?
/\/\ I L A N : She has just toned it down a bit. She's annoying in new ways.
Fancy: Hey.
/\/\ I L A N : Yes?
Fancy: am not.
/\/\ I L A N : This is an interview. No arguing. Please comply.
Jem: Now now. Alrighty then, how'd you move on to 667?
/\/\ I L A N : I asked Fancy to join a few months after I started 667. But we both remained very active on UE.net until it closed (I don't remember exactly when that was). When that happened I set up SSS, where the original UE.net members could continue to post. That wasn't such a big hit though... It was never the same.
Jem: So did anything devious go on in there?
Fancy: Muahahaha.
/\/\ I L A N : *ahem*
Fancy: Nope. Not at all. Nothing devious. Ever.
/\/\ I L A N : Uhhh... You know. Mostly just remembering the good times.
/\/\ I L A N : Nothing more than that. Ever.
Jem: So how'd you move on to chats outside 667?
/\/\ I L A N : We've always talked on AIM and LiveJournal. That's always been there.
/\/\ I L A N : Our story is so fantastic it should be split into two episodes of interviews.
Jem: Sounds good. What point is a good cliff-hanger?
/\/\ I L A N : It should end with a cliffhanger
Fancy: Yeah, I'll hang you off a cliff.
Jem: Ahahaha
/\/\ I L A N : I'll hang you on my coathanger. ... Umm. I dunno. What's a good point to stop?
Jem: How about where you meet her at the theatre?
/\/\ I L A N : That's excellent.
Jem: So where was I? ...right, you kept talking on AIM and LiveJournal.
/\/\ I L A N : Yeah, we kept up on AIM and LiveJournal even when she wasn't active on 667.
Jem: Now, when do you think you two started falling in love; when you felt the romance spark?
[Even more flirting happens here for the next four minutes, and talk about Fancy's gorgeous cats]
/\/\ I L A N : Okay, I think it's important to note that back in our UE.net days, Fancy e-proposed to me but I turned her down. I kind of liked her but at the same time I wanted to be all professional and Head Moderator-like so I turned her down twice.
Jem: Sooooo honestly, when did you guys start things like the phone and skype chat?
/\/\ I L A N : Okay, well, that basically started this summer. We had been keeping in touch over the years, but it was nothing serious.
Fancy: Yeah. I mean, I used to kind of have a thing for him, I guess. But it would come and go. I didn't talk to him consistently. And then this summer he IMed me for the first time in awhile, and after we had gotten in touch again, we were like "Okay we are NOT allowed to grow apart again."
Jem: Nothing serious, eh? Why the jump all of a sudden?
/\/\ I L A N : I think one reason she came back to 667 was that I wanted her to be here for the anniversary and to read the Daniel Handler interview.
Fancy: It was just the right time. Everything came together this summer and fall.
Jem: That sounds like a really good reason.
/\/\ I L A N : Yeah, we did some serious bonding.
Jem: How on earth did you do it, anyway? Getting Handler for the interview?
/\/\ I L A N : Made a couple of calls. What can I say? I've got the touch.
Jem: You jerk. You know we're all so jealous.
/\/\ I L A N : Of course.
Jem: So serious bonding, like what?
Fancy: We started learning more about each other. And fighting less.
/\/\ I L A N : But let's get back to the story. Fancy and I really hit it off late in the summer. Lots of talking and sharing. Daily contact. That's all it took for me to realize that she's special. Not like a special needs child. Like wow she's awesome.
Fancy: I definitely realized Tragedy was something wonderful.
/\/\ I L A N : And then one day I asked her to get Skype. Because I wanted to step it up a notch.
Jem: And what was your first chat like?
/\/\ I L A N : By this time I was in Cambridge and we were chatting every day without fail. We didn't actually talk until a long time after I first asked her to Skype me, because there was something wrong with my computer. I first heard her voice in a conference with swans and rellim. It wasn't just us. We sort of just listened because swans and rellim are homegirls with a lot of in jokes.
We had voice chatted a few years before actually... During the UE.net years.
Jem: ...right...
Fancy: Yeah, my friend was there, and Tragedy called him a girly-boy. A lot.
/\/\ I L A N : But anyway, after that first time with rellim and swans, we tried it a few days later one on one.
Fancy: Yeah. Lots. But it got better.
/\/\ I L A N : But I wasn't going to give up. I felt like it was driven by destiny, the way things unfolded. We got more and more comfortable. I found myself looking forward to those skype sessions in my daily life in Cambridge.
Jem: Did it help fuel college work?
/\/\ I L A N : It didn't interfere with my college work, if that's what you mean. But I did remove myself from a few social commitments now and then. No big deal. I made time for her.
Jem: I mean, has looking forward to seeing her on skype helped you study harder? What about you, Fancy?
Fancy: The more I talked to Tragedy, the more driven I became at... everything. Because I want to be my best for him.
/\/\ I L A N : I don't want to go over the top, but Fancy inspires me to work harder in general. I improve myself for her. To deserve her.
Jem: That's really great.
/\/\ I L A N : Alright... The next turning point was when we added the webcam to the Skype action. The first time we did that was the evening of the college Christmas dinner. I came back to my room wearing my full suit and gown and she was online. And I asked her if she wanted to try out the webcams. I didn't sleep until 7 AM that night.
Fancy: ...morning.
Jem: ....aw
/\/\ I L A N : Whatever.
Jem: What did you both think when you gazed into each other's eyes for the first time?
Fancy: Haha. And we couldn't get the webcams to work at first. It took forever. But we wouldn't give up.
/\/\ I L A N : This was near the end of the term so I had more free time and we video skyped a lot.
Fancy: Second video skype was when we made it official.
/\/\ I L A N -: Actually we can't gaze into each other's eyes on skype. So that question doesn't work...
Jem: Well, when I asked you the best thing about her, Trag, you said it was the floating feeling you get from looking into her eyes.
Fancy: Yeah. We'll get to the eyes later in the story. Oh god, they're gorgeous.
/\/\ I L A N : Yes, but you see, we can only do it one at a time. If she looks into the camera, I can look into her eyes. But that would mean I'm looking at the screen, and not at the camera, so I am not looking into her eyes. It's a one way street.
Right, so the second skype night was another turning point.
Jem: Well move the webcams in front of the screens, duh
/\/\ I L A N : No. My camera is fixed on top of the laptop. It's a Macbook.
Fancy: Mine's too big.
Jem: Pssh.
/\/\ I L A N : Anyway. Second skype night. Made it official. Facebook official. And I know that's sort of crazy. We hadn't actually met yet. But that didn't matter.
Jem: It shouldn't've mattered.
/\/\ I L A N : Right. We weren't sure how it would work. But we agreed to wait for each other and give it a fair shot.
Jem: And around what time was this?
/\/\ I L A N : November 29.
Fancy: Haha, you remembered. I was about to type that but I was worried you'd make fun of me.
/\/\ I L A N : Come on. I'll never forget that night. The only day better than November 29 in my memory is December 13.
[Here I insult them for making me feel bad about my love life since they're being too mushy mushy around me.]
Jem: December 13 was the night you actually really truly saw her? And it's okay.
/\/\ I L A N : Okay, no more mushy mushy.
Fancy: Hey, we balance it out.
Jem: Trag, when did you decide to make the trip, and why?
How? When did you embark? Fancy, did you even know?
Fancy: No. Idea. Whatsoever.
Jem: Now that's a Christmas present.
/\/\ I L A N: She told me to come any time, whenever possible. And on my side, I felt like it was important to show her that I was serious about her. So there was really only one course of action. When I went back to the U.S. on December 2, I immediately started planning a road trip to Michigan.
Fancy: That soon?
/\/\ I L A N : I went to the bank, set up a fake story with my parents, looked into hotels, etc. And then on December 13, when my parents were on a trip to Argentina, I woke up at 6 A.M. to set out on the most important and risky journey of my life. Yeah, it was risky. I didn't tell anyone were I was going. The weather was terrible. It would take 10 hours of solid driving. There were so many times when I wanted to turn back. I was worried and far away from home.
Jem: What was the fake story? How much money did you pull out? What kind of car was it?
/\/\ I L A N : I told them I was going to Baltimore to visit a friend. I took out 600 dollars from the bank. Toyota Corolla.
Jem: DUDE MY SISTER HAS THAT CAR. NO WAY. [turns out to be dark blue.]
/\/\ I L A N : But I kept going. Because I kept her in mind. It kept me sane and determined. And I listened to Hey Jude over and over again. That helped.
Jem: Now what were you doing around this point, Fancy?
/\/\ I L A N : Okay, I'm going to keep going while she answers that. I made sure not to tell Fancy anything about my plan. Not just because I wanted it to be the surprise of her life, but because I didn't want to let her down if I failed for some reason. But it was incredible. Nothing went wrong. And the longer I drove the more I felt like something great and bigger than myself was on my side.
Jem: Fail like how? Go off the road?
/\/\ I L A N : Fail like get caught, get arrested, crash, fall asleep behind the wheel, get lost. A lot can go wrong over 531 miles. At around 3 PM I got a call from my parents. They realized what I had done and were worried out of their minds.
Jem: Fancy, what was your play?
Fancy: The Best Christmas Pageant Ever.
/\/\ I L A N : They called my friend in Baltimore and found out I wasn't there. So I had to tell them the truth. I pulled into her city at around 5:30 and checked into the Holiday Inn, where they almost didn't let me stay because I wasn't 21. The guy let it slide, though... Maybe he could tell I was a man on a mission.
I took a shower and headed for the theater a bit before 7:00. That's when the adrenaline started pumping again. I was getting so close. I could taste it.
Fancy: Meanwhile I was at the theater, not feeling particularly enthusiastic that show. I had been feeling kinda down that day and I was just looking forward to skyping with Tragedy.
/\/\ I L A N : My GPS directed me to the theater. I talked to the ticket lady but before I bought a ticket I asked her where I could buy some flowers. That was always part of the plan. She told me where to get some, and then she asked me who I was there for. I told her I was there to see Rachael and that my name is Tragedy and she knew who I was! She was like oh, you're the boy that goes to Cambridge! And that felt really good, that someone knew me even though I was three states from home. Apparently she's well connected on facebook because she's the mom of one of Rachael's friends.
Of course, I couldn't find any flowers at 7 in the evening. I drove around a lot. So I headed back to the theater empty handed because I was in danger of missing the play altogether.
Jem: So then you bought the wreath.
/\/\ I L A N : {Yes} On my way in I passed an arts shop. A woman was teaching sculpture to some people with mental handicaps. And there was a beautiful wreath there and I asked if I could buy it. She was happy to sell it and told some long story about the woman who made it but I wasn't really paying attention. I took the wreath and bought my ticket and sat down during intermission. The woman made sure I had a front row seat. During the intermission me and Fancy texted each other. She said she was feeling down and was looking forward to skyping with me that night.
Fancy: And backstage I pulled out the picture he had mailed me that I kept in my wallet. And I looked at it and thought, damnit I wish I could see him for real.
/\/\ I L A N : I wrote back "I will be there for you always, "aod" especially tonight." I don't think she guessed for a second that I meant that literally.
Jem: hahah.
/\/\ I L A N :Then the play started again and there were all kinds of kids running around. I had a short conversation with the girl next to me because I was nervous and needed to talk. Then, at one point, Rachael stepped on stage and my heart started pounding and I knew that I would never in my life regret the effort I made in going to see her.
and HERE is where suspenseful cliffhanger takes place! Wait for next week's edition to finish the story.
So, to wrap it up, Trag and Fancy met on UE.net, chatted on AIM for a while, lost a little contact, and picked it up this summer. On November 29, it was made official. On December 13, Tragedy set out on a trip that would change his life FOREVER. And to think that all of this courtship happened because Tragedy helped press a few computer buttons to create a website. Wow-oh.
STAY TUNED. JEM BRINGS YOU THE SECOND INSTALLMENT OF: 667's Story of the Year! next week.
-Jemima
- Jemima.
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[report continues below]