I was pondering the other day on my relationship with Sinister. I remember when I first discovered it, in a cold basement flat in Ipswich, with my then-boyfriend, Mark. His flat was always cold, and strange slug trails would appear on the carpet in the middle of the night, like someone had taken a slimy glitter pen and drawn a random squiggle on the floor. So I think I was freezing cold, and his TV was on silent, and we had a few table lamps on. His computer sat on a table with a folding leaf, and I sat peering over his shoulder, while he gave me a sharp look because he didn't like me reading over his shoulder. I think I was feeling restless, and bored, and wanted his attention. I guess Sinister seemed strange and mysterious. All that pink, all those names I never knew, and how they all had this mysterious interaction that I wasn't part of, with my boyfriend. Random girls and boys emailing my boyfriend out of the blue, with no agenda, except to share something. And as the saying goes, if you can't beat it (technically, that could be classified as GBH) then join it. So I did. I never quite got the hold of the sinister mystique. I never discovered what it was. It just remained, something a little bit special, and like a good Christmas present, it never really aged. It never lost its sparkle, or that "smell" of newness. It aged a bit, it faded in places, some bits are starting to look doggeared and worn, but it remained the same thing. And I guess I still look at it in the same way I did one night, in that basement flat in Ipswich. Only, without the shoulder in the way. I think what I remember most about that period of time, was wandering round shops in Norwich in the winter, just as it got dusky at 4pm, and the streets were heaving with people. I liked this one shop, which sold things like throws for sofas, and cushions, and candle holders, and incense sticks. I wanted to buy so much from there, but equally, I didn't want the clutter and I couldn't afford it. Now its around the same time of year as when I first discovered Sinister. I think I made a post around Christmas time, after sitting in the nursery for a fortnight. That was around 2000. Four years on, and I'm still here. Some names look familiar, some names even have faces now. I was always intregued by Sinister posts. By the level of intelligence displayed in most of them. By the knowledge that was given, by the words of wisdom. By Ken Chu's ability to always make me laugh or smile, because he used his humour with such intelligence, it made me think "I wish I'd thought of that". I don't know why I decided to share this. I just did. idles xxx +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list mail sinister@missprint.org. To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to majordomo@missprint.org. WWW: http://www.missprint.org/sinister +-+ "sinsietr is a bit freaky" - stuart david, looper +-+ +-+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "peculiarly deranged fanbase" +-+ +-+ "pasty-faced vegan geeks... and we LOST!" - NME April 2000 +-+ +-+ "frighteningly named Sinister List organisation" - NME May 2000 +-+ +-+ "sick posse of f**ked in the head psycho-fans" - NME June 2001 +-+ +-+ Nee, nee mun pish, chan pai dee kwa +-+ +-+ Snipp snapp snut, sa var sagan slut! +-+ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+