Where were you 16 years ago?

[Ted]

I know I was working on programming, designing, and launching website dedicated to works of J.R.R. Tolkien.

By the month of May I would be unemployed and make the website my full time job as I looked for another job. By September I was employed again at the local power company building websites. I have been working there for the last 16 years and I am now responsible for all their web and mobile activities. All of this was possible because of this website and the wonderful community that developed.

Thanks to everyone for their part in making it these 16 years memorable and special. This has been a wonderful journey. I wish to send a cheerful embrace to those I have shared the road with. Again Thanks!

[Calma]

All I can say is:


THANK YOU!

[Old_Begonia]

Where was I 16 years ago?

Still recovering from the cult I'd spent half my life in. I did not discover TORC until later, but the books, LOTR, helped me tremendously, though at the time I did not understand why. I had not, at that time understood the connection to Christianity that I would later come to see within its pages.
Then I heard rumors of a movie being made. I searched online (remember what the Internet was back then?) All I could consistently find was a German site, whose name escapes me now. Straining my high school foreign language skills to the max I managed to at least find pix of the upcoming movie.

Then I discovered TORC.

It is no exaggeration to say that, between the movies themselves and this community (made possible by YOU, dear Ted, and by Jonathan), I found my way back from a devasting trauma to spiritual and emotional health and balance.

So I thank you very much for all you have done with and for this message board!

[FrodoTook]

16 years ago I was living near Winston-Salem, NC and was working in the grocery store business. The grocery chain I was working with sold out to another grocery chain and I took a break from work for a while. It was during this time that I bought my very first computer and searched the internet for Tolkien related information. The first web site I visited was TORC and I enjoyed browsing the Art Gallery for quite a few weeks before I ever got around to joining the message board in July of 2001. I fell in love with TORC because of all of the wonderful people I met and because of how it was run. I felt "at home" here. I still do.

I thank you Ted, for launching this website dedicated to works of J.R.R. Tolkien.

That you did brought much joy to me and many wonderful people into my life, many who I continue to be friends with.

I am happy to have shared part of the road with you.

ps: Glad to have met you in Toronto. Take care mate.

[IrisBrandybuck]

Wow...I think I was in the midst of grad school. How much the world has changed since then!

Thank you, Ted! This site has become another home to me.

[Elmtree]

It's over 17 years now. I was a primarily stay at home homeschooling mom of five, ages from early teens to two year old. I ran across a link to something here from the tolkien-movies site, which was the only site I knew of at the time with movie information. I'd first read LOTR when I was nine years old back in 1969, and reread it many times, so I was eager to find out about the movies. I found this place, which was fairly small back then (but within a month it began growing rapidly). There were people here who knew far more about LOTR than I did-- and that's saying a lot! Heck, I gave my eldest daughter the middle name of Elanor-- for the flower. VERY FEW people "got" that. In fact, the only people I knew who "got" that were members of my family who also read the books in '69. But here... wow! I learned so much more about Middle Earth from y'all (all of whom understood where I got my daughter's name). I loved the community, even the purist/revisionist wars. Loved the humor I found here, too. My kids are all grown now-- my "baby" just turned 19. And my "Elanor" now 29 years old, lives in New Zealand (south island-- she wrote me when she got there: "Mom, I'm in Rohan" ). But my youngest two, ages 22 and 19, are major Silm fans. Things i never expected to come from my kids' mouth: "Mom, Feanor was a Butthead." They remember from their earliest years my talking about what I read on this site, and I think that contributed to their own curiosity about Middle Earth.

Thanks Ted (and Jon!)