Griff, I'm sad to hear that, but I hope life goes well.

To me this forum is a refuge from life. A place where Pandora seems more real. A place where there are other people of who share their love for Pandora.

At times I feel like I should let go of Pandora, and focus on life. But I just can't. Sorry for the cheesy quote, but it honestly feels like Pandora in my mind is more real than the reality outside my mind. There's those awkward moments in life now, where I'll be with friends, and they'll talking about who's succesful, who's doing what, what job they want, and they'll ask me, and I'll so "Oh what? Hey, yeah that's cool." Because I forget sometimes that most people have goals and plans in life that aren't Pandora. To me, life almost seems silly anymore I've been thinking about Pandora so much. Sometimes I feel like I need to stop that, but most of the times I say "Why should I move on?"

And this place has really changed my life. I suppose it was more AF, but I kinda see ToS and AF as the same, since I wasn't there during the split. But this forum did something great for me. It made me realize that people do things in life for reasons other than money or personal gain. I used to think that was the only reason people did anything. Then I met lalorz/profoundheart. Idk if you guys remember him from early AF days, but boy did he change my life. I never talked to him personally, I was too shy, but I read his posts. His posts about love changed me. I realized love is real, and people really do care, and not everyone is motivated by personal gain. And that, that I will remember for the rest of my life.

But, one of the saddest things about these forums is seeing people who aren't active anymore. Looking through the lists of members who used to post here and on AF, but don't anymore is one the of saddest things I can do. :(

Yeah, sometimes when it's very quiet in here, I go through the very old threads, and I see almost no one familiar to me, all people who I guess don't visit anymore.

Brings a tear to ma eye

There's nothing preventing people from being more active other than barriers they've created for themselves.

I still like to think that many of the people who don't post so much still think of Avatar... that they'll be back, perhaps for Avatar 2 - it's not something you can forget, and people will want to come home sooner or later. It's in the nature of any forum though that people join and disappear, perhaps return for a while, then again.

I don't think the forum is less close - indeed, it's got through a LOT of problems very well, despite some sections that do encourage argument. Even if there's less that is new to discuss about Avatar, people still come here, while there are lots of forums based around a work that fail in the dead periods inbetween releases.

Then why are you talking about how cheesy it is if it's my average behavior throughout the forums? :P

I won't go any more off topic then that though.

Yep, you said pretty much everything I feel about ToS. :)

I think the word refuge fits very well

;) It's really true for a lot of people here. At least here we can discuss Avatar and our love for Pandora and not feel shunned or misunderstood. The general public seemed to have forgotten Avatar a few months after it left the cinemas..

Haha thanks Aketuan! Long time no see, it's been awhile. After re-watching Avatar for the fifth time, I just can't help but come back to ToS.

Haha yeah, it WAS way back. Thank goodness I actually saved the image it to my external hard-drive, because recently my computer got a virus which meant I had to restart it from scratch. :shock:

I am one of those people... Lurks often, posts seldom. More than anything I really enjoy reading the posts that others have made here. I spent considerable time learning Na'vi... so at times I seemed to have disappeared, but I have been here all along, mostly on the outside... looking in. (My forums avatar is an excellent depiction of this)

The fact that ToS has endured to the degree that it has, keeps me comming back for the occasional visit now and then. There are lots of good folks here, for whom Avatar has changed their lives... It's nice to see that the spirit of the movie is kept alive by you all. To me, it is admirable. Alot of people would think it silly to carry on about a "movie" this long... I reckon that they just don't "see", nor will they ever.

If there is a thread that catches my interest here, I will usually post in response. If I see something out there in the real world, that I think pertains to Avatar, I will usually start a new thread. (Hope you all enjoy these things).
If someone needs an ear to bend, I am a good listener. I may not have a solution, but I will never turn any of you away. (Eywa forbid someone would come to a bloke like me for advise... I'm usually at a loss for words in that department).

That's my bit... When I'm not here, I'm flying an airplane somewhere... either in the real world, or in virtual reality.

Cheers -- Tey'Kan ;)