While I'm not one to doggedly hang onto a TEOTWAWKI, Mad Max future, in these wee hours before dawn I've had several flashes of odd, maybe stupid things I will miss if such a thing happens...reading threads here,...funny how things blind-side you, all the little things taken for granted in our complicated system.

What things will you miss if TSHTF?

I was just thinking about the Tournament of Roses Parade...funny what the mind does in the hours before dawn.

-- Donna Barthuley (moment@pacbell.net), November 22, 1998

Answers

Going to the movies. That will be missed, right along with Blockbusters. I guess this means we might never get to see all three of the first Star Wars trilogy, huh?

The Sunday paper with bagels, cream cheese & fresh coffee.

Confidence in a bright future for our daughter...

-- Arewyn (nordic@northnet.net), November 22, 1998.

A daily hot shower and my hair dryer...oh please oh please let there be electricity!

-- chris (catsy@pond.com), November 22, 1998.

Vacations, eating out.

-- Gayla Dunbar (privacy@please.com), November 22, 1998.

Well, I'll miss the things that made life fun. Playing bingo. Driving my sports car with the top out. Going to the dinner theater. Listening to music on the radio. Shopping with my granddaughter. (This is all very sad) (:-

-- Alive in 2001 (sarmstro@seidata.com), November 22, 1998.

What is wrong with you people. You sit around whining and lamenting the things you will miss. This is sillyness. How about trying to look forward to the future. How about trying to make it a better place for you and your families.

How about making substantial preparaions? You will be so busy that you won't have time to mope and moan.

Just because there is no stinking dinner theater will not ruin things. Did Daniel Boone or Thomas Jefferson have a rotten life just because he did not have an AM/FM? No. Look at the things that you say that you will miss. Purely non-essential frivolities. That is the sum of your lives. So wrapped up in frivolities that you have no idea what life really is in the first place.

I did not hear ONE person say that they will miss seeing a far off relative. I did not hear one 'constructive' thing that would be missed. Only trivialities.

And you want to know why Y2K will affect our society so badly....

-- Paul Milne (fedinfo@halifax.com), November 22, 1998.

Cheese.

-- margie mason (mar3mike@aol.com), November 22, 1998.

Thank you for passing judgement on us all Paul from a few simple posts.

"How about making substantial preparaions?"

This is a thread about what will be missed, not about how we are preparing. Some of us do still like to discuss things other than TEOTWAWKI

"Did Daniel Boone or Thomas Jefferson have a rotten life just because he did not have an AM/FM?"

Well one doesn't know a thing exists, it is a little hard to miss. For instance, the abscence of flying cars will not bother me in the least come the day.

"Look at the things that you say that you will miss. Purely non-essential frivolities. That is the sum of your lives. So wrapped up in frivolities that you have no idea what life really is in the first place. "

And you do? Life is giving up our career on speculation of a stock market crash? Life is spending what seems to be every waking moment on the usenet calling people "butthead"? Life is sitting around mocking people who did not figure this out as soon as you did? Tell me Paul, when was the last time you went out and just lived life? I am in full preperation mode and have a heck of a lot done. Course though, quite a bit of the stuff that people are preparing for has been my life since 1979 when I moved to a rural area, so I did not have nearly as much to buy as other people. Now as my preparing gets closer and closer to being done, or the most that I can do, I want to enjoy as much as life as I can before the day. I refuse to become a slave to this fear now. I know darn well that come the day that I will be busy, but I am not going to let this monster defeat me now or then. I am not going to give into the fear, the paranoia and the loss of my life. If you don't go out and enjoy life, then you have already lost the battle.

"I did not hear ONE person say that they will miss seeing a far off relative."

Maybe because we have already gathered together everyone one we care about.

"I did not hear one 'constructive' thing that would be missed. Only trivialities. "

So what are you going to miss Paul? Your ability to abuse people and show your "superior" intelliagence off everyday by calling people "butthead"?

"And you want to know why Y2K will affect our society so badly.... "

And you want to know why I won't miss you even one iota come the day.....

Rick

-- Rick Tansun (ricktansun@hotmail.com), November 22, 1998.

Paul:

I think most people on this forum are making substantial preparations, and contemplating the loss of "life as we know it" quite naturally produces a profound sadness for most of us. BTW, I don't consider Nordic's concern for the future of his daughter as "trivial".

Donna, I'll miss watching professional football with my son.

-- Dave (dwood@southwind.net), November 22, 1998.

I will miss my twin brother on the East Coast. Currently he is living in Washington D.C. although he does have a bug out plan before TSHTF. We've been talking about alternate lines of communication.

One of the good points I found in reading "Tom's Take" is his assertion that viable local economies can exist after the fall. I think this is absolutely true. While certain luxuries we take for granted may become more expensive and less available I think that many will still be around. Cheese is certainly one good example of this. It isn't too tough to make cheese.

I've been considering what type of post y2k business I might begin after my graphics business becomes difficult (What kind of advertising do you think people will want to do?). I have considered using a generator and my large screen t.v. to play videos for my neighbors. I could do business in barter.

Use your imagination and your resources and there is simply nothing we can't get through. It may be tougher but it isn't impossible!

Oh, and Mr. Milne may come off as slightly abrasive at times but his message is always productive. Take care of your family and your preparations and you will survive. The only thing between you and your own survival is your personal desire to do so.

Mike ======================================================

-- Michael Taylor (mtdesign3@aol.com), November 22, 1998.

A decent pint of Guinness.

-- Andy (andy_rowland@msn.com), November 22, 1998.

You people.

(most of you, anyway.......I won't miss Paul's abrasive and uncalled for inserts into reveries.)

-- rocky (rknolls@hotmail.com), November 22, 1998.

Paul, I would suggest that you may not have spent enough time contemplating things you might miss. Mourning loss is a function of human psychological well-being. Sorry I struck a nerve with my question....Better to look at yourself than to criticize those of us who are thinking about such things....Would you tell a mother grieving over the loss of her child to "get over it?" This question had no requirement attached to it for Paul Milne to reply if it was not his cup of tea to contemplate such things.

-- Donna Barthuley (moment@pacbell.net), November 22, 1998.

College, I guess. I'd never get the chance to go (in Sept, there would be 4 months left until 2000 and I would probably be busy as all hell). Also the future; I don't think there'll be many dollars (or seven-figure salaries) for a while, and not much luxury to spend them on. (Yes, I know this is really selfish.)

I'd also miss the fact that -right now- I can get up, walk to the shops, and buy just about any form of food I want; within 10 minutes I could be back home eating it, without having been shot at or threatened or run any possible risk of either.

--Leo

-- Leo (leo_champion@hotmail.com), November 22, 1998.

The ability to travel throughout the world and meet people who have been (or will be) very kind and hospitable. Dark chocolate. Long, hot showers. Watching sports or movies with my family. The Internet. The Simpsons. South Park. The Star Wars prequel, parts II and III. Eating out. The Sydney Olympics. The list is rather lengthy; every day, I can't help but think of things that I take for granted being taken away. It is truly depressing to contemplate...

Lots of trivial stuff, to be sure. So what. They provide small pleasures that will be missed. Here's hoping GartnerGroup is right. I fear they are not. The list of things I wouldn't miss would be rather lengthy as well. But that's another thread...

-- Steve Hartsman (hartsman@ticon.net), November 22, 1998.

My mom, my sisters and my nieces and nephew. Sad to say, I don't think they will make it if TSreallyDHTF. I have talked until I am blue, but they won't do *anything*. "We don't have the money to do anything" they say. Well, I am 3,000 miles away from them so cannot help them much other than sending the occasional money which I do. Being on a fixed income all of them say they cannot afford to prepare. I told my sis ideas of how to stash a little bit away now and then on very little money, and about storing water or finding a supply. My suggestions fall upon deaf ears. :-(

I get sad when thinking of this because I will really miss them. Really. I had to finally stop and not think about it because I have done what I can to convince them. So....if it's really bad come 1/1/2000, I will miss them the most.

What else I will miss: my computer and the internet and NPR.

My husband says he will miss: hot running water, easily obtained warmth, and NPR.

Paul: I took this thread as a question of sort of light-heartedness in the midst of all the preparation frenzy and gloom and doom. It sometimes helps to take a breather and talk about a different topic now and then to relieve the pressure so-to-speak. :-)

-- Bobbi (volfnat@northweb.com), November 22, 1998.

Hot showers. The easy conveniences. The quick availability of nursing supplies to ease our hospice pts' deaths. Hot water to properly care for our patients. Already-prepared delicious nutritious comfort foods waiting for a quick grab 'n buy at the superb health-food store just a couple miles away. Always playing our collection of music therapy Holy Ghost-imbued heart-soothing CDs.

The biggest shock to contemplate, being a 3-month Internet & eMail newbie, is the possible loss of the Internet and all the amazing ListServs & forums etc. that have so quickly and addictively enriched our life. That such an entertaining, informative, possibly life-saving neuron candy toy could be yanked away is incomprehensible.

Actually, there is a great deal to regret, even while slowly getting excited about new horizons. When we were young we were more prone to cheer the unravelling of this corrupt society. However, now that we've made it work for us, while helping others, we're rather exhausted contemplating starting all over (again). It's called pausing to count our blessings ....
Ashton & Leska in Cascadia
x

-- Leska (allaha@earthlink.net), November 22, 1998.

Id miss the internet and the ability to find things out relatively easily. My Mac. And Id actually miss this forum!

Im miss my Starbucks coffee, and cafe lattes, but one weeks worth of caffeine withdrawal headaches would fix that one. Id miss chatting with remote friends and family on the phone. Id miss travel and far-flung adventures. Movies. C.D.s and watching PBS specials. Hot showers. San Francisco Sourdough French Bread. Steaming whole milk hot cocoa on a rainy night. The freedom of unrestricted mobility.

Do I think we will miss all this? No, not all. Possibly just some.

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), November 22, 1998.

I think that what I will most miss is the intact fabric of our society, such as it is. Without this all else is nothing short of vanity.

However, If TEOTWOWKI is in our destiny, I will enjoy spending time with my family and friends. Time is a commodity I dont have in this crazy rat race we now live in.

So mayby some good will come out of the bad.

ww

-- WAYNE WITCHER (WWITCHER@MVTEL.NET), November 22, 1998.

As I daily make my preparations I cannot help but slip into a contemplative mood from time to time. Just the other day I was listening to Bethoven's Ninth Symphony and found myself wondering if there will be musicians in or near the community I hope to be part of AD00. I do like country, blue grass, folk, but I also love the "heavy" classic.

I really worry about family, whether I will see them again. But I have moved so many times in my life, I have learned how to say my goodbyes. The question posed in this thread seems to me to be a way of realizing we all must say our goodbyes in one way or another to a variety of things. If you have never experienced the death of a loved one you may not appreciate what I am saying. When I lost a wife through death, though I cleaned house figuratively and literally, and began anew, there were "things" I forgot to put away or give away or throw away, and even years later I would find some "thing" and find that I needed to say goodbye once again.

I think in some measure or fashion we will be doing this sort of thing the rest of our life. And in Post Y2k we will be "letting go" of many things, some trivial, some not so trivial. But we also will be experiencing new aspects and dimensions of life. We will carry "baggage" that we will need to discard. But we will find new friends, new family, new music, new art. Life in Post Y2k will bring pain, but also blessing and grace.

Right now I am thinking I will miss the music I love.

-- Joe (jbabin@theriv.com), November 22, 1998.

Joe,

Music is one thing I will dearly miss. If I do not get my weekly fix of Copeland's "Fanfare For The Common Man" I tend to get bogged down in what I do. I listen to so many different forms of music, it will be hard for me. I listen to everything from Kodo (Japanese drumming group), classical, swing, ska, classic rock, broadway show tunes (Rent and Damn Yankees are mainstays of life for me), Japanese Pop, Celtic and so very much more. It is going to leave a very large gap in my life.

Rick

-- Rick Tansun (ricktansun@hotmail.com), November 22, 1998.

You all talk like your life is going to end very shortly. Been there done that. I don't look at what I will miss, I look at what I can enjoy today. If you have your life and health, you don't need anything else but the basics. Y2K will be bad IMHO, it's how you choose to deal with is what will matter.

-- bardou (bardou@baloney.com), November 22, 1998.

Such a thoughtful post Joe. I enjoyed it.

-- Chris (Catsy@pond.com), November 22, 1998.

Styling gel,silk underwear

-- Slicks Intown (Hidethewomen@yerbunker.com), November 22, 1998.

Definately thoughtful Joe.

One of my important "keeper" items is a guitar and other musical instruments. I can't play it, but I can learn. Quite likely others will know how to play. I have a great group of friends in the town I just moved from, many musicians, and I even now, sorely miss our monthly jam sessions. Fortunately, the musicians and artists around us are everywhere.

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), November 22, 1998.

being able to pick up the phone whenever I want to and check on my mom, who is elderly and lives in another part of the country; friends I've met on the net whose judgement I trust, and whom I will most likely never see this side of heaven; hearing the new (for us) pipe organ they're getting ready to install at church - all electronic linkages in the console, you know... ah well, I am reminded that one of the most famous Christmas Carols ever written - SILENT NIGHT - was produced by a young priest with a guitar when he realized that the pipe organ wasn't going to be fixed by Christmas eve in our need, God provides...perhaps one of the best side effects of all of this will be to once again make the liturgy truly 'the work of the people' as it's name implies.

Arlin Adams

-- Arlin H. Adams (ahadams@ix.netcom.com), November 22, 1998.

I will miss sewing on the machine that my father bought me 31 years ago when I was just 14. Instant hot baths, the quickness of the microwave, my computer and most all of you, my electric blanket, turning the heat up, a freezer full of chicken (love to cook with chicken!), shopping for bargains in the bigger cities, etc. are some things that come to mind. Not being with my out-of-state family and keeping in touch with them will be VERY HARD. I hope to gather together with wonderful neighbors and lean on my faith to help me through whatever is to come. The poster who got so angry with us has no right to judge us. There is nothing wrong with temporarily focusing on the things that we will miss! In time we will adjust to whatever we do have. This is a good thread... if this poster doesn't think so, he can move on to another. The rest of us are enjoying one another's honesty and openness. Blondie

-- Blondie Marie (Blondie@future.net), November 22, 1998.

You go, Blondie! What's the matter Paul? Things boring on the other forum so you thought you'd come over here and see if you could stir something up? I like you, Paul, not sure exactly why. Maybe because I find you entertaining. But this time you are wrong. If you had spent much time reading this forum you would have discovered most of us are preparing extensively. I think this thread is important. Leska said, "It's called pausing to count our blessings..." and she is exactly right. Before you found out about Y2K, Paul, did you really stop to think about how thankful you were to have electricity? How about running water, grocery stores full of food, I could go on and on. The point is, most of us are truly realizing just how much we have taken for granted. And that is GOOD, Paul. Know why? Because in this next 13 months we will REALLY enjoy things that we haven't even paid much attention to before. We're busy preparing all right, but we are seeing things through different eyes.

-- Gayla Dunbar (privacy@please.com), November 22, 1998.

Indoor plumbing (all of it), Safeway, cold anything in the summer, distant family members (although a year off from the drama won't be too bad).

I will enjoy: no voice mail, no telemarketers, no TV, no office politics, no fax/copier machine problems, no traffic problems, spending more time with my family, working in the garden, hunting and fishing anytime I want to, time to read, etc...

-- Bill (bill@microsoft.com), November 23, 1998.

Friends and relatives who don't live close or who don't survive. Libraries. Music. Creature comforts; easy warmth, fresh food year round, dishwasher and waterbed 8-( OTOH, I'm more conciously grateful for all these things now than ever before.

-- Tricia the Canuck (jayles@telusplanet.net), November 23, 1998.

Gee whiz, Mr. Milne, I didn't think that my daughter's future was trivial or a frivolty.

Less than a year ago, my greatest worries for her were wondering if that new best friend of hers is a good influence, which university we'd like her to go to, or how old is old enough to be dropped off at the mall with friends (16?), how can I best explain sex (should I tell her about protection or just tell her she'd better not try it!)

Now I lay awake at night wondering how to be prepared for her frequent sinus infections when antibiotics may not be available, and is there enough time to teach her how to really defend herself if we can't. Protection has taken on a whole new meaning, if you know what I mean.

Don't you think that we KNOW how bad this will be? Don't you think we are all carrying broken hearts in our breasts for all the people we may never see again, and can't save? Sometimes, it's good to suspend the weight of this burden of knowledge, even briefly, to think about the little blessings we've had in our lives.

Back off, a bit, please. Our throats are already hoarse from trying to sound the alarm among our communities, and from keening for our losses. We definitely don't need anyone jumping down them, even you who has been one of the brightest torches of Y2K enlightenment.

-- Arewyn (nordic@northnet.net), November 23, 1998.

Donna, I will miss many of the things people have already mentioned. But I think I will especially miss all the sights, sounds and smells that come with the holiday season. Of course this is prevelent in my mind right now, because of Thanksgiving having been here, and Christmas just around the courner. We have a tradition in our family of piling in the mini-van on Thanksgiving night and driving endlessly in search of houses all decked out in lights. Also our local Chamber of Commerce puts on a drive thru display of lights at the local park. It's wonderful. Of course, we will find alternative traditions if necessary, but I will miss it. It's a great time for our family and always adds great memories.

-- Gina (gngdecker@ckt.net), November 28, 1998.