Because I may or may not be able to make it to the PM Chat on Sunday (I’ll know more by next weekend) I would like to draw back the curtain and say “Hello!”.

My Uf name is ItWasntMeISwear, my IRC name is CrustyBottom and I, as you can see from this post, played “Amanda Platt”, did some of the puzzles, advised on some story direction and drew the pictures of the characters that you all saw. I asked DJ not to put my name in the credits because I wanted to sort of remain behind the curtain. But, as I have had a little time to think about this, I realized that it wasn’t right for you to get an incomplete experience by not knowing everyone who was involved.

This was all DJ’s idea and would like to commend DJ on the effort and work that went into making this all possible. As hard as it may seem for some of you out there, I was actually able to keep my mouth shut and watch this whole thing progress. I gave some advice when asked, but other then that I really had no say in where the story went or what it was going to look like. This is why I wanted to take the time, personally, to commend DJ.

I would also like to commend all of you, as well as thank all of you, who stuck with this the whole way through to the end. From the beginning it was explained to me that this was going to be a little “different”. How different and in what way I didn’t, and really still don’t, know. But at the time something that was “different” (aka., give it a shot and see how it goes) was interesting to me. I was even told “if this doesn’t work you can walk away and no one will ever know that you were involved. If it does work you can write your name all over it.” Well, it worked – and it was really because of you, the players, the people who gave a couple of people the opportunity to throw something a little different in your direction in the hopes that you will enjoy it that made it work.

At first I really didn’t know if it was going to work. I heard the story and really didn’t know if the audience for this story was out there. But, as time went on and people started getting more and more involved with it, I settled more into it and decided that I didn’t know who was going to like what any more then the next guy/girl did.

Anywho, that’s that. If you have any questions about “Amanda” (until I know more about if I will be able to make it to the PM chat or not), feel free to PM me at Uf.

I have destroyed my skull… Once I figure out how to get my video camera to work without looking all distorted I will upload it onto the net. If I can’t, then I’ll just send it to Tyi and he will find a way to load it. Either way, expect something really soon.

Hugs and Kisses to all!!!!

Amanda Platt

When one looses a job, one tends to get a tad bit ticked off at the world. Then one changes to confusion about how to proceed. After running through those emotions one tends to try and look ahead to the future, possibly considering brand new and (hopefully) exciting career paths.

This, unfortunately, is something that I have recently come to understand through experience, which is why I have been isolating myself from any human contact these past few days. In fact, you could say that I could have really cared less if someone was to tell me that the world was coming to an end, as an example (*cough*).

I am happy to report that I am over all of that now and that I will be venturing out into the working world with my head held high. I will be applying to different types of jobs in the hopes that I will find one that will hire me, despite my lack of experience (the fact that I have never tried to do something is enough to tell me that I can do it).

Wish me luck!

P.S. If you are reading this and you are one of the very few who have contacted me about “you know what”, just know that I am paying “you know whom” no attention.

I understand that this post may be coming at a time that appears to be “late”. I assure you, however, that its timing is almost perfect.

I usually do not pay any attention to the television and, as such, do not know much about what is popular to watch. One show that I do happen to catch from time to time is “Deal or No Deal” and what occurred on the program Monday night was simply unbelievable and very moving to say the least.

If you are unfamiliar with the program then allow me to explain a bit of it to you here:

A person (the contestant) is chosen and then chooses one of 50 small metal cases, one of which may hold a total of $1 Million. This first case is the contestants to keep, should he or she choose to go through all of the cases until only the case that he or she chose at the beginning of the program is left.

As the contestant chooses one case after another, an offer to buy the case the contestant first chose is made by a “banker” based on the amounts still yet to be discovered by the contestants choosing.

The process of picking a case, getting an offer, excepting/not excepting the offer made by the banker goes on until either the offer from the banker is accepted by the contestant or the first case chosen by the contestant is the only case left to open.

Now back to the events of Monday night.

The contestant this particular night was an Asian man appearing to be in his late-30’s or early-40’s (I’m not very good at guessing ages). During the course of the game it was announced that when the family came over to the United States, they did so with just $750 to their name.

By the time the man accepted the deal made by the banker (over $200,000), the amounts that were left to be discovered were $75, $750 and $750,000. Wait, it gets even stranger.

When asked which case the man was going to choose next the amount revealed was $750,000, leaving $75 and $750 yet to be discovered.

So, what was the amount that was in the case first chosen by the man? The same amount that his family came into the United States with… $750.

I thought that they had gone away forever, I was wrong. This evening they returned to the only place where I am able to hear them and they spoke (no, pleaded? no, insisted). While I have the ability to pay no attention to someone who has decided to try and get my attention, it is very difficult to accomplish such a task when the thing that you are trying to ignore is a part of you.

Why they have chosen to make contact once again I can not say. However, they made it quite clear that their intentions are good, despite what “the greatest minds” may have said (misunderstood?).

I had the opportunity to ask one question that I thought may be important to know the answer to, so I decided to ask about the tales of destruction that is normally associated with the return of the skulls. Their answer was quite simple: “The destruction that you speak of was the result of the failed attempts by others to bring us together in time for us to stop it, not the result of bringing us together.”

Is that why they have contacted me, to stop some kind of destruction from occurring?

I have been trying to figure out how to express my disappointment about the Bears Super**** loss last night to the Colts, but I have come up empty. The defense didn’t play very well, “Gross”man played horribly (as was to be expected) and the Colts did an excellent job of keeping the ball away from Hester after he ran the opening kick-off in for a touchdown. In short, the 3 things that we needed to happen in order to win the game (good defense, special teams getting some results and “Gross”man playing well) didn’t. So, we lost.

I expected more from my team and didn’t get what I was hoping for. Such is life, I suppose.

My main problem is with Lovie Smith, and how he has handled the whole “‘Gross’man in the quarterback position’ situation. When asked awhile back if Lovie was going to keep “Gross”man in as quarterback, Lovie responded that they were winning with him in there, so why take him out? Well, Lovie, as much as I respect you, we were not winning with “Gross”man in as the quarterback. We were winning with our defense, special teams and our running game. We could have had Forest Gump in as quarterback and still done as well (in fact, some would argue that we did have Forest Gump as a quarterback. And I am not one to argue with them).

I understand that Lovie was trying to do the “honorable” thing by sticking with his man. But you are the coach of an NFL team, you don’t get paid to do what is “honorable”, you get paid to make decisions that will help the team win. And sometimes doing what will help the team win may include doing something that is not so “honorable”.

So, as you can probably tell, I am a little ticked right now so I’m going to do what any well-respected woman would do when she is emotional – I’m going shopping.

Sometimes we do things in our lives that we regret from the moment it becomes clear that what we have done something that we probably shouldn’t have. Not that answering the front door when the right light in my house starts flashing is a bad thing on a normal day, it is just that today turned out to be a very abnormal day.

When I opened the door I saw before me a man, as disheveled in appearance as he was threatening in demeanor. Although I had never seen this man in my life, his eyes explained to me that he was a man who has traveled many miles for many years in search of something that he hoped he would never have to find.

Before I had a chance to greet the man he had already taken a hold of my shoulders, one in each hand, and had leaned over in my direction enough where I could feel the warm breath coming from his nose.

I tried desperately to focus on his mouth in order to figure out what he was trying to say to me. But each time I would look away from his eyes, a quick shake of my body brought us back to eye-contact.

Apparently my Daddy had turned the corner behind me within seconds of hearing this mans voice because soon the man quickly released my shoulders, looked up and started gesturing “everything is fine here”. My Daddy, however, wasn’t buying that excuse and started to chase the old man down the street. But before he left, the man took advantage of the one opportunity he had left to get a message to me.

“Stop helping the skulls,” he said.

After 21 looooong years, the Chicago Bears are finally back in the Super**** after walking all over the New Orleans Saints, 39-14. While I am happy that the Bears are going back to the “big game”, as my daddy calls it, I am not so sure that they are going to win. Why? Well, because of “the story”.

According to the “experts”, “the story” is why the New Orleans Saints were supposed to win. “Because of everything that has happened to the Saints and what they went through last year, they are the team of destiny,” some reporters have said. Apparently the Chicago Bears aren’t much for reading, because they ended that story pretty quickly.

However, if this whole “because of the story” thing is true, then lets take a look at the other two “stories” that were out there as of Sunday morning, one of which most people paid absolutely no attention to.

1) “This is Mannings year” – The Colts have won and are going to the Super****, beating the New England Patriots Sunday Night. While some people mentioned that this is Mannings year, they failed to mention that the Colts might win it all in connection to that story. When ever they talked about “Mannings Year”, they also spoke about the Saints and how they were the team of destiny. But, now that the Saints are out of the picture, “Mannings Year” is starting to show a little bit more promise for “story of the year”.

2) “Who Dat Gonna Beat Those Bears?” – When the Chicago Bears last won the Super****, they won it by beating the New England Patriots. If I was a story person I would have looked at yesterdays match-ups and told you that the Chicago Bears and the New England Patriots were going to go to the Super**** and that there would be a whole lot of talk about how the game would be a re-match from 21 years ago and that the Bears were going to win it all.

The Patriots, of course, ruined the above story because they lost to the Colts. So, the only story that we have left, and is the reason why the Colts and going to beat the Bears (as much as I hate to say it), is that “this is Mannings Year.”

I sincerely hope that I am wrong in that prediction, but at least I have my excuse ready for when the story finally comes to an end.

Well, it looks like those freaks of nature (meaning the skulls) are not quite finished using me as a communication tool – emphases on the word “tool”. I wonder what would happen if I chose not to be their delivery girl? Then what? What is the worst that could possibly happen because I, a normally strong willed woman, simply made the decision not to be a tool for what ever it is that these little turds are trying to accomplish?

But, as strange as it may seem, I am quite content with being a “tool” at this stage in my life. As sad as it may seem, it is the only thing that has given my life a purpose and meaning. And, truth be told, it is actually quite exciting.

Right… so the topic at hand… I received this message via e-mail from my dear previously unwanted/intruding cranumian* guest:

aO#hd6W*VaH4EdO$6(DaO98DhIEkcaHTo2vHeiaNGo7w*v@aN59EiL7SEo
aOMD4beUDaMEiH2oWKaP3DM6eIdWa*Vo#4NofaO3FnIEhdanOk57WH%o
aO3Gn%6ismaN$4i#h65dOamHE3oWmRatK25eMFBoaQWok34rHFaOFm2$F(J
a3ORn#*f(ahRid5oks

I can’t make heads or tails of it, myself. I figure that if it has numbers in it, you have to be some sort of “mathemagician” to figure it out.

*cranumian is a word that I just made up and probably (more then likely) doesn’t mean anything in particular. It was simply something that I wrote that made the most sense for me to say at the time. To me it means “made only of skull”. Kinda cool, huh?