my last Forumosa HH :-(

I found Forumosa (then Oriented, afterwards Segue) through a link on the infamous Tealit when I was first looking for a place to live in Taipei. I registered on 25 March 2002, and ever since, Forumosa has been a big part of my life.

The nice things about Forumosa are a) that with this big variety of subforums and topics, the posters aren't restricted to the bunch of narrow-minded geeks that make up the posters on more specialized forums. And b) that Forumosa has developped from a somewhat small, secluded and exclusive online community to the organization platform for loads of different offline activities like the weekly Game Club or regular movie outings. I've met about 80% of my friends here (including my friend and successor Michele) through Forumosa, I found most of my favorite bars and pubs through Forumosa, and I had loads of "where can I find..." questions answered on Forumosa.

And I've always enjoyed the Happy Hours. They started off as moderator meetings until the decision was made to set up a monthly meeting in changing venues, open for all Forumosans who want to meet the real posters behind the online names. The first one was at the now turned Chinese restaurant Bien on Jinshan Road, and it was a smashing success, as have been most HHs ever since. Unlike the somewhat stiff Oriented HHs, Forumosa HHs are always much more relaxed, more fun and much less about networking and career-advancing (we had this all business suit, tie and case Oriented guy dropping by at a Forumosa HH when Oriented froze their HHs during SARS. He left after about half an hour).

Last night was my last Forumosa HH. I hadn't been in a while, and it was nice to see familiar faces again, meet a few ones and get an opportunity to say good-bye to people. There were the long-term Game Clubbers and Weekly Movie goers like Tarra and Brian. Michele was there for my occasional German fix. The really nice Sandman brought his beautiful and great wife Jojo. A few people who have heard me talk about "leaving soon" the past two years could hardly believe that I DO have a one-way ticket now. And I saw a few new faces who will hopefully enjoy their stay in Taiwan as much as I did. As always, we had a few beers, talked about lots of things, took loads of pictures and had a great time.

I'll miss the Forumsans :-(