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My Other Club By Rod Lawton Your probably looking at that title and wondering, What is he talking about? Is he bragging because he joined MAKC or that other club ZNA? Oh, I know, he went and joined the Atlanta Koi Club while he was at the show.@ The answer to all this is no, well, no to joining the Atlanta Koi Club, I did join the MAKC and ZNA, but you already knew that. No, the club I'm talking about has no dues and knows no boundaries. It has no screening process for prospective members and is subject to holding a meeting at anytime and any place. Figured it out yet? O.k., here is the scoop on the biggest Koi Club in the world. It's (for lack of a better name) the Internet Koi Club. IF you have a computer, there is a whole world of information, friendship, camaraderie and most important to a Koi keeper, help at the touch of a few keystrokes. This is my latest new club, but let me emphasis that it is not my main club. Each type of club has its purpose and NFKC still remains my true club. And on that note let me add that there is nothing wrong with being a member of several clubs (yes I'll use the phrase, I'm Koi Kichi and just can't get enough). This new club has members from the same walks of life as our club with doctors, lawyers, retirees, rich members and not so rich members, members with Koi costing thousands of dollars and some costing under five dollars. The only difference in the internet club and NFKC is location of its members and usually not being able to see them or hear their voices, but that is rapidly changing also. Ever hear of Voice Chat or Web Cam? It just keeps getting better for us Koi keepers Such was the case for me when the Atlanta Koi Show became the Internet Koi Club meeting for 99. When I first made plans for the Atlanta show, I was only remotely aware of most of the people I eventually spent the weekend with. The exception being my friends Mike and Nanette Singleton with whom my wife and I had made plans last year to go to Atlanta with. Some who know me well might portray me as a Doc Johnson fan club president and they wouldn't be far from wrong and this is really where the story begins. I have read and stayed in the shadows of the Koivet.com message board since I bought Doc Johnson's (book the same year I joined NFKC). This board was established to help those in need of help for sick koi. It is also a place to ask and receive and just discuss koi and pond keeping questions in general. As time passed I got a little more brave and started posting questionings and then answering some. The result of all this was e-mails with faceless names and soon to friends, chats on Koi Vet=s Sunday night chat board, some actual voice contact thanks to Yahoo Voice Chat and then the frosting on the cake. Someone said who all is going to Atlanta for the show? Some of those same names I had been interneting it with, started replying that they were going and by the time we hyped ourselves up about the possibilities, we had several others jumping on the band wagon. As agreed, we all met at the show. It seemed like everyone had a little surprise for each other. If I told you details about one my internet friends, you would think I was describing my wife Bonnie. I think these two women were made from the same mold. Here's where it really gets spooky, they have the same first name, middle initials and names in part, had the same last maiden name initials, and the list just goes on. We had so much in common and had such a good time together that I'm sure a long lasting , close friendship has been established. My and Mike's surprise was being able to go to dinner, not once but two nights, with Dr. Eric Johnson and as if that wasn't enough all my internet friends were there too! These friends were from Florida, Michigan, California, Texas, Pennsylvania, New York, and then I made some more friends form North Carolina, Florida, Oklahoma and so on.. We were finally able to put some faces to those internet handles and E-mail addresses. I don't think a person in that internet group went away disappointed with the faces and true personalities that came with the faces they now associate with a name or handle. Yes the internet can be very deceiving and what you read in print may be totally opposite from reality, but not this time. I am proud to call all of these people my friends and as a result I am sure we will be meeting at many more shows and enjoying each others company for many years to come. I saw some friends from a little closer to home also, our own club members, Tina and Gene Stogsdill (who I saw carrying out 3 very pretty fish to add to their pond) and I spoke to Jim Schultz a couple of times in the main tent. If you think I was overwhelmed by all this you are correct and I would like apologize to Gene, Tina and Jim for not having spent more time with them and some of my friends in the Atlanta Club also. Heck, I even bought 2 tickets to the banquet and never went, opting instead to dine with Doc and several of the vendors and seminar speakers. Could I have had more fun? Yes, I could have, but because of an illness in the family I didn't show any fish as planned, lived with a cell phone in my hand for two days and cut the trip short by one day. I was very thankful to even be able to come to the show. In the end all has worked out well for me and the wonderful heart surgeons at Munroe Regional Medical Center in Ocala have made it possible for me to enjoy the life of my step father for what I hope will be many more years. I know you were all expecting a report on the show itself, but when I tell you that between my two cameras I only took about 20 pictures, I think you can see where my mind was. I will say that as usual Atlanta put on a great show and what I saw of the Japan Fest was exciting. Frank and Gaye Comtois can be proud of a job well done. I know your looking for some humor, so I'll part with this, I left Atlanta feeling a little like a mountain goat and at times wish I had one leg shorter than the other or at least still had my sea legs. Looking at fish with a one foot water drop from one side of the tank to the other was a real challenge. I almost became a the sole entrant in the whale category for tank #12. What's next? The NFKC show of course and then it's on to AFKAPS. Are you ready? Got a friend you can bring? I know some I'm going to ask to come. |
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