Random Ramblings
Created | Updated Apr 5, 2007
Now, where to start? Somehow, great things keep happening to me.
It was like this the other week: my Random Ramblings got their own archive in The Post and I got a shiny green badge with that, which means that I'm now an official h2g2 Post Reporter! Who'd have thought that, eh? I guess my dad would be very proud if he knew — he used to write articles and take photographs for a newspaper for many years. But he's nearing his 80s and doesn't grasp the concept of the www, so I never told him about my hootoo activities.
Pity that the rest of my family who know about the www aren't interested in hootoo at all, so there's nobody in RL to share its wonders with. Like the one that happened the other week, only a few days before my feeble attempts at writing h2g2-related things were so generously rewarded: I got a huge and heavy package from the USA. It contained a treasure of instant hot chocolate drinks and a lovely postcard from St Louis.
And here is how it came about: Milos (aka broelan) had an entry in Peer Review about How to Jazz Up Instant Hot Chocolate. (It was on the Front Page the other day). All I knew about this subject was the 'normal' instant chocolate powder which you can buy here (Germany) and mix with milk, so I suggested that the entry was more or less a mere variation of another Edited Guide Entry on a — to me — similar subject. All the other Researchers who knew this sort of instant powder disagreed with me, and I stood corrected. Then broelan offered to send me a few samples of the object in question, to put me out of my misery. I had the idea of her sticking a few samples into an envelope, so I said that I appreciated the offer. What she sent, though, is enough to last me a year. I'm still shocked at the enormous amount of time and money broelan spent and I'm very grateful! When I told a friend, he said:
That's amazing, and very kind of her.
I wonder which entry you should complain about next, to get free samples sent to you?
I think that's a brilliant idea — I've been on the look-out for a suitable entry ever since! Well, not really, and anyway, within the last year or so, I've got so many presents from hootoo friends it would take too long to name them all. And no, I didn't get them all because I complained about something, if you're thinking that you're way off the mark. I got them because — I don't actually know why. That's hootoo for you and me. You make friends, wonderful people who care for you and go out of their way to please you and make you feel special. I'm sure it can't only be me, so why don't you share your experiences with me? Or you could always write them down and submit to The Post.