Category Archives: people

I used to chat at a website called the Park and this is not the first mention of The Park on my site). This is not news to many (and this is not the first mention of it on my site). Several of my friends on IM or Mypsace/Facebook are from the Park day when I was a wee lass of 13/14. -chuckles- The park was magnificent in its way. It attracted millions of visitors so a site that would be shamed by even the worst sites of the internet today; it was, after all, a completely product of Web 1.0. That would also be its downfall and The Park would succumb (around 2000) to the big dot com bust and not without some well-earned hatred to the Park’s founder, Brent Hunter.

A lot of the chatters who had grown to love The Park and made lifelong friendships and relationships there went on to other similar sites, most notably The Pork, where I still chat but also including Dockwave, Ozpark and Ties That Bind. None of these sites would ever see the sheer numbers of the Park, though.

Fast forward a few years and Brent is back with a new project – The Earth Comm Center – and while I think Mr Hunter had different intentions for it than his earlier project, Park followers flocked to it as a way to relive the golden age and to find or catch up with old friends. In that way, it worked marvelously. For a while, at least, until the same issues happened with Brent and chatters and volunteers became disgruntled and slanders his not-so-good-anyway name and left the site. Some followed. Many didn’t.

But then something else happened: Brent disappeared. Though the site never saw the success of its predecessor, it did bring together some people who had been torn apart by the Park’s unfortunate demise and it was clung to as a last hope for some who wished to someday know other reunions. Brent’s disappearance brought with it a lack of upkeep on the site and, eventually (late 2007), the site ceased functioning correctly; that is, no one could log in anymore. Though the site still stands, show statistics and appears to function in many other ways, no one can actually use it for any purpose.

A lot of people find this amusing, even expected. Brent doesn’t have a good track record or a good way with people, it seems. Still, it is a loss that I, among others, mourn a bit. I had caught up with some friends via ECC, including one who was, at the time, deployed to Iraq. We have since lost contact because the site no longer works. )=

Where are you Brent Hunter?

This is all fresh in my memory because I was talking to an old friend from the Park today and, as always happens with those old friends, the conversation turns to questions like “Do you still talk to anyone?” or “Do you remember this person?” And I always feel a tinge of nostalgia because the people that I talk to and remember are far less in number than I would prefer.

And I don’t know how to find them again. Sites like Myspace or Reunion.com allow you to find people when you do know a lot of information about them but the friends one makes in chat, even if one knows their heart and soul, may never release vital information like birth date, home town or last name.

Even Brent has a few websites up which direct the visitor to chat rooms whose core is made up of ex Park chatters but it’s not the same. I began wondering why there isn’t some type of site that allows people to reunite with others from online, with search criteria different than e-mail, age or location which you might not know. Perhaps just a giant bulletin board located at “Find People From The Park.com”.

Alas, searching for those specific people is all but impossible online and searching for the masses is an insurmountable task. If I had control of The Park domains (still own by Brent) I would redirect people to the Pork (which he refuses to link) or to the Myspace group (created by myself) or the Facebook group (created by Sara) so that we would all reconnect.

As it stands, searching for sites about the Park is limited. Eventually, my Myspace group shows up and there appears to be a single Yahoo!Answers question asking if anyone remembers. Links to Brent’s now defunct websites are what show up immediately. It doesn’t seem like many people have taken the time out to put something online to say “Hey, I was there! I remember! I miss you Bob! Where are you Jane?”

So I guess this is my way of creating something a little more permanent, in case someone else is searching and finds my site, maybe they’ll find a little more direction. And maybe, just maybe, I can find a little more closure.

Do you ever try really hard to like someone, or at least be tolerant of them, and fail miserably? I know I’m much more tolerant than I was. I know, now, that in some situations you simply bite your tongue and shut up in order to get along with someone because you have to, even if that someone is ignorant or foolish or just plain difficult. Of course, since we’re all wired with differently personalities, the people who fit the bit of being ignorant, foolish or difficult to me may not be the same for you; I may even be one of those people to you and that’s fine but because we need to live and work and exist alongside others, we must learn to deal.

I used to write people off because of face value – how they looked or what they said but first impressions can be, and often are, misleading. I was missing out on people because I was quick to label them as boring, too different, unintellectual, sheep, so on and so forth. What was really happening was that these people played the part, often unawares, in certain situations which led me to these incorrect assumptions. After all, in most social situations, we all modify ourselves ever-so-slightly as to fit in and get along?

But take an individual person or two out of these situations and provide the opportunity for me to become better acquainted with them, and my eyes would be opened to just how unique a person he or she was. This then inspired me to be able to see more of this unique person, in a group situation.

A few of these opportunities which I wasn’t so keen on, would make me much more interested in getting to know other people and, eventually, I would become much more tolerant to others and even when I wouldn’t have the chance to make someone’s acquaintance, I was much less likely to write them off or lump them in with another nameless group.

So I recognize the value and necessity of tolerance, today, and look forward to new friendships and relationships that I might otherwise have missed because of my former intolerance. Still, it’s not always easy to tolerate some personalities. In particular, 2 people are currently being very intolerable which leaves me with a rather bitter taste in my mouth and a resentfulness within me.

One of which is someone who has always rubbed me wrong but I thought perhaps I was being too intolerant and that this person needed a second chance. I went out on a limb trying to build a friendship, which never went anywhere because of their response – which is fine. I still tried to be tolerant but I noticed the things this person said and done were extremely hypocritical, rude and often condescending. While some people loved this person’s “confidence” and free spirit and others even thought of this person as fair and objective, this person only came off and arrogant, bitchy, stubborn and pretentious to me. And you know what, I don’t like that. I don’t like this person and I think that I don’t have to tolerate that sort of bullshit. M I Rite?

The other situation which comes to my mind easily is one with a coworker. Generally, I didn’t like her at first impression: clothes, make up, voice, laughter so on and so forth. Though, all of that can generally be ignored, I found I didn’t really like her any more the deeper I would delve. But, while I disliked this person overall, it was difficult to pinpoint a specific reason. We would greet eachother in the morning, bid adeu in the evening, chit chat during the day and be generally courteous but we weren’t making any effort to become fast friends. I figured that acting friendly might translate in actual feelings of amicability and truly being friendly but such just isn’t the case so I go on faking. Of course, the side of me which isn’t the better person sort of likes ‘holding’ that over someone – the not liking them but pretending nothing’s wrong thing. -eg-