Right now, I'm up too late, having a drink, listening to Tangerine Dream, and diving fairly deep into some internet forums I like to frequent. It's nice, and it's a very specific vibe I have been cultivating for decades.
You see, I grew up in the middle of nowhere and sort of desperately pined for connection. For some reason I got the impression that things like radio, TV and the internet, especially after midnight, were windows into deep unknown and unknowable worlds which fascinated me.
In the mid 2000s I discovered a local public access show which many locals of nerdier proclivities remember fondly which aired long after midnight and consisted of music videos and other sundry things I really enjoyed. I was introduced to some of my favorite music through this.
This is indeed how I discovered the Pub in particular and Gemini in general. The Great Pause of 2020 afforded me many opportunities to spend many nights exploring the Internet. I found many interesting places (including the Internet's best-kept secret... if you know, you know) and met many interesting people during this time.
In ways it makes me envy the explorers of old, war-dialing to find new and interesting BBSes to connect to, in this unexplored frontier that was.... well, not quite the Internet yet, but something sort of like it.
It seems I and many others are inclined to leave these ephemeral, quickly-forgotten messages in bottles for whomever finds them.
The Pub could disappear at any moment, especially since m15o, the founder and owner, hasn't been seen for a very long time.
These are messages in a bottle, cast adrift on a vast and unknowable sea.
I really like the comparison to messages in a bottle!
I find it both melancholic and full of hope.
It is true that ~m15o seems to be gone lately, hope for better reasons like love life, although I don't want to pry on him/her/whatever.
Would the pub someday be closed, I'd be sad but grateful it once thrived in this dusty corner of the web.
~bartender, should you come across ~m15o, would you do your magic? Thanks!
Part of me thinks m15o is just being mysterious and hands-off.
And yes, even if the Pub somehow dies someday, we will always have been part of it.
The infrastructure seems in tact. All is automated. This looks like it's gonna last as long we keep posting.
~bartender a beer for me... Dark, the one that looks just like coffee. Have a drink on me ~softwarepagan.
I got some NFD from a poor bastard that is watering the plants on the shore/garden in midnight...