Fifteen years ago, as I moved on with life and lost touch with friends from different places, I never imagined being able to find them again and reconnect!  Facebook, Twitter, Google, and the internet are amazing, useful tools that allow people to locate long lost friends.  I just love having my virtual arms around everyone I’ve ever known or cared about… but I am still out of touch with a lot of former friends.

Last night I received a message on Facebook from someone who knew me 18 years ago when I used to be on computer bulletin boards (BBS).  This was before the internet and it required a modem (they were external back then - separate hardware from your computer) and someone else had to have their modem turned on so you could log on to their computer and chat or post messages and emails on their ‘board.  Anyway, this former acquaintance and I are now friends on Facebook because he found me, and I started thinking about the lost friends I had as a teen.  I had so many friends from other schools, thanks to the BBS, and lost touch with them.  I would organize get-togethers (we shortened that to GT’s) at South Center Mall or I’d throw parties or we’d go to a bulletin board meeting.

I frequented several BBS’s in the 1980s as a kid and the early 1990s.  I remember buying credits on ProStar and Black Mariah, and hanging out on Gyroscope BBS.  If you were on one of those boards, I was known as Gizzzy or Gizz - just words I came up with.  The “G” is not a J - it’s like the “G” in girl. 

Here are the long lost friends I can remember (in random order) and would like to hear from.  The best way to reach me is on Twitter: @depmodechick or you can look me up on Facebook - my maiden name was Stephanie Baldwin.

Puppychow - Mike Wallendahl

SysOp- Ed Cattey (graduated from Kentridge HS in Kent, WA in 1991 or 1992)

Ace - Mike Austin (graduated from O’Dea HS in 1993 & lived on Capitol Hill in Seattle)

Abaddon

Captain Natas

Stark N. - Ned Kelleher / Ed Kelleher (lived on First Hill in Seattle)

Chad Fondren (graduated from Kentridge HS in Kent, WA in 1993)

Lord Prometheus - Chad McCutcheon (graduated from O’Dea High School in 1993?)

Rempke - Mike Phillips (graduated from Auburn HS in Auburn, WA in 1992 - last I heard, he was a police officer in Arlington, WA)

Tasselhoff - Lynn Phillips (Mike’s older brother)

Sean Cottrille - not sure I spelled that correctly. Graduate of Auburn HS 1994 - very tall, blonde hair, was a swimmer I think.

Drew - he lived in Mercer Island

Matt Buckmaster - he made me several mix tapes on Pink Floyd, Syd Barrett, etc.

Summer - she had blonde curly hair and her dad looked exactly like the lead guy in the SNL band in the 1990s.

Jessica - I think she married Mike Austin!

Shasta - Shasta Lubin

Mikey - Mike Buckley (graduated of Kentridge HS 1993, I think)

I went to see The Cure on July 1st, 1992 in Seattle with a BBS friend but I can’t remember his name.  He made recordings of himself singing “Just Like Heaven” and he had huge speakers and sub-woofers in the back seat of his car, making it a 2 person car.

Temeka Sankey - I think she graduated from Rogers HS in Puyallup in 1994.

Jimmy Fursman - graduate of Tahoma HS 1995 and we went to the Paula Abdul/Color Me Badd concert on May 1, 1992, haha! :)

Well, there seemed to be a lot more past friends in my head when I started this post.  :)  So, if you knew me in my “past life” and I knew you, please contact me!

Update: I have created a Facebook group page for Prostar Plus BBS.  Please join!