JIM, I WORE A TIE TODAY
Jim, Jim, I wore a tie today
The first one that I ever wore
You'd have said that I looked like a dummy
Out of some dry goods store
Jim I did everything I could do but your fever just wouldn't die down
So I tied your horse to the wagon and last night I brought you to town
When I got you there Jim you's gone and there was nothin' nobody could do
So I bought you a suit and a tie Jim and today I wore one too
Jim I wore a tie today the first one that I ever wore
You'd have said that I looked like a dummy out of some dry goods store
Jim they said a lot of things I couldn't tell you one thing they said
Somehow my mind kept wanderin'
Wanderin' down back that trail back to the times that we've had
One thing bout you old friend is side by side sun or rain
How many times pannin' gold on the cuff
We did about everything in the book I guess
And prob'ly some things that they never read or thought up
Jim, Jim, so you're ridin' on ahead
Well, if that's how it's got to be
When you reach them streets paved with gold
Jim, stake a claim out for me
Cindy Walker
(c) 1962 Four Star Music
As others have aptly pointed out, one sometimes tends to think of people one meets online as immortal, and so it's a shock when one learns that one of them has passed away, especially as I last said hello to him in chat not four days ago. Here's to the first TEUNC to taste the eternal CHOKLIT.
R.I.P. George Doane Freeman IV, The Softrat, who passed away earlier today, according to a note from his family.
"A man of immense learning and no culture" in his own words, George embodied sharp wit. Armed with a lifelong love of learning and his famously acerbic tongue, he was known and respected by many on the net. Through his long association the USENET Tolkien newsgroups and with TEUNC since its inception in 1998, he made many friends and acquaintances.
I came to know George during the last six years of his life, when he was too ill to travel far abroad, and so I never got to meet him in person. I found many of his posts in
rec.arts.books.tolkien and alt.fan.tolkien to be insightful, and was always impressed by his keeping up with advances in computing and science until quite recently.zai4jian4, ruan3shu3. I shall miss you.
Feel free to take these; here are credits for the first (by
rmjwell in 
ff_icons), second (by kiwi28 in goodhplotricons), and third (by irda in goodhplotricons).--
Banazir
