A secret gift for Navimie from her blog friends

For once, the surprise was on me!

Zwingli and I were chatting, and I was spouting Mataoka's many wonderful qualities and he said he wanted to do something special for her. I thought that was a wonderful idea! (They had done a pet exchange) So he said, he was going to go through her blogroll and ask all the people there if they could contribute - his idea was to have them all handwrite something and he'd make a collage!  I thought that sounded so cool!  Except.. have you seen her blogroll?  It's HUGE!!

He wanted me to write something, so I was thinking about what I wanted to write.  I had decided on a creative poem written in the shape of a flower.  Now, if I'd been a lot more inquisitive and paid more attention, I would have noticed these things:

1. When Cymre met up with Zwingli, she wrote
   

   Zwingli had written a post about our encounter :P I couldn’t help but whisper him “LOL, I just saw your homepage :)” There was a slight pause but I guess he was surprised that I saw his post. I was also asked not to reveal his secret mission to Matty which I did not.

   At the time I thought "Oh, good, Cym has agreed to the idea!" that when I think back NOW, Matty would have seen that and it wouldn't be a secret anymore. /smacks head
   
   
2. Zwingli wrote about their encounter too, and he wrote
   

   Ok, I’m /fanboing all over the place.

   Now, back to my secret mission!

   I thought it was about Matty's thing.  When I think of it NOW, I should have been wondering, why hasn't he asked me for my contribution?
   
   
3. Then in Zwingli's post a few days ago
   

   Phase one of “Current Project” is almost complete.  I’m giving one more day of extended time for the “Stuff” that needs to happen, to happen.  Then, I’m taking care of my part of the “Stuff” that needs to happen for the final /SQUEEEEEEE to commence.

   For those that have ears, let them hear.
   

   I had forgotten about the secret project.  If I'd thought about the secret Matty project, I would have realised, that I hadn't put my submission in, and that he hadn't asked me!  And of course, the SQUEEEEE should have given it away

Last night I was online, and then Zwingli logged on and wanted to talk to me.  He told me to go to his homepage and click the secret link and enter a password.  Oooh, I thought, he had done Matty's thing already, and he wanted to ask me if I thought it looked ok!

And I should have been thinking, "Hey, he hasn't got me to write mine yet!"

And this is what I saw.

The secret project wasn't for Matty.  The secret project was for ME.  I was stunned.  I was overwhelmed with emotion.  I was incredulous.  Look at all these beautiful notes my friends wrote!  My eyes stung - hey, my excuse was, it was late at night, and I should have been sleeping, so maybe being sleepy makes you emotional - as I read through them.... Zwingli told me that one of the contributers had said that I would figure out the gift, so the best way was to throw me off the scent by saying we were doing it for someone else.  And they were right!  Totally blindsided!

Here are all the people who contributed to this awesome project (in no particular order) - OMG thanks guys I really really LOVE it!  And it's got a fabulous personal touch with the handwritten messages.

• Arvash of The Crimson Hammer
• Cymre of Bubbles of Mischief
• Stubborn of Sheep the Diamond
• Elfindale of World of Elfi
• Windsoar of Jaded Alt
• Euphyley of WoW Rare Spawns
• Kamalia of Kamalia et alia
• Mataoka of Sugar and Blood
• Neri of Neri Approves
• Akabeko of Red Cow Rise
• Godmother of ALT:ernative
• Shoryl of Tiny WoW Guild
• Sal of They Call me Sal
• Saunder of Non-Squishy Heals
• Tome of the Ancient of... well, Tome of the Ancient
• Tyledres of Frost and Claws
• Erinys of Harpy's Nest
• Zwingli of Zwingli's Weblog O'WoW
• Edit (Zwing sends his apologies!): Jasyla of Cannot be Tamed

JD of Amateur Azerothian also had a message but it didn't scan well, so when I went to thank him, he wrote it out online for me.

I don't know what I did to deserve such fabulous friends.  But I want you all to know that I feel exactly the same way about you all!  And to think - I met all these people, online (except Cymre, we've known each other for... OMG almost half my life now), from reading blogs about World of Warcraft.  The friendships you make and the people you touch, are beyond what I thought possible.  I get thrills and joys from people coming to visit my blog and commenting - I chat back to them like we're having a conversation.  And from conversations, start friendships.  And look what that has led to today.

If there was something I could do for you all I would, but I know what they all would say.  That us being friends is enough, and you know what?  I know that if the situations were reversed, that is exactly what I would say too.

And, though it technically wasn't, I'm claiming this wonderful thing as a blogiversary gift!

Love you guys.  SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE