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(_|_) Introduction From Our Founder

A few years ago I was checking out all the boards on AOL and found the Highlander boards. Much to my delight I ordered the newbie file from Ginny (Red57); much to my dismay, all the chats were at times I couldn’t go to. And there were none on just Adrian Paul. So...I figured, why not create one?

I opened an Adrian Paul board and announced the chat on it and all other related boards. I was scheduled for noon Eastern the last Sunday of November. I had dire visions of sitting in a room all alone with no one bothering to appear!

Little did I know it would grow to the extent it has in three years! We currently have a mailing list of around 500. Over time we’ve developed our web page, mailed out two wav packs of Highlander wavs, created buttons and T-shirt transfers. We have an official Logger (YEA MONICA) and an official Page Mage (YEA COOKI). We also have an official Lotto Keeper (YEA LIISA)! Not only that, we’ve got our own mascot, Puppy MacLeod. (Well, he’s not really a puppy any more; he’s a proud daddy several times over!) We have only two rules: 1) The chat is Holy Ground; if you want to have other than short friendly fights, take it outside; and 2) No disruptive behavior - and have loads of uncensored fun!

So that is how it all started. I must say, however, it is thanks to Monica and Cooki that it has been going so well and smoothly. They are the greatest help a person could want and a lot better with ideas than me. Kudos to them! And Melissa too! Without them there would be no web page and no FAQ and no wav pack! Thanks guys, without you we would be a boring ol’ chat!!

Jo
MtNittany1@aol.com

(_|_) Who are the Immortal Ladies and what does that (_|_) mean?

Well, you see, it started like this...No, it was innocent enough, it was just before...There we all were, talking about the upcoming...

The truth? It was all the fault of Chivalry and the butt shot. And Jo; she gave birth to this Clan of crazies. At the November ‘95 chat, the first one, we had either just seen Chivalry or were eagerly waiting to see it. Most of us attending the AP chat are women of all ages (currently, anyway), uninhibited and there to have fun. We talk about anything, but mostly Adrian Paul - occasionally Highlander <g>; - and freely pass around the Glenmorangie and drool buckets. Someone in the chat used the (_|_) sign instead of typing “butt shot”, and our official logo was born. We just hadn’t realized it yet. In the next chat, people started using it more often. It seemed to fit our rowdy (yet ladylike - sort of) style; at least for those of us in the core group who had been to most of the chats. All two of them. Our main trait was already set - irreverence.

During the January chat, the Immortal Ladies were named and officially christened by one of our “parfit gentil knights,” RamirezAA. (All Hail Ramirez!) Also known as our very own Juan Sanchez Villa-Lobos Ramirez, Immortal and gentleman adventurer. He and his friend Reo fit right in. Both obviously knights of distinction - they didn’t run in terror as most other males had done. (With the notable exception of Chris00011, another honorable knight and dear friend who wandered in out of the cold during the December chat and stayed.) RamirezAA gave us our name and performed a christening ceremony, complete with a display of Quickening energy from his sword and everyone shattering their glasses after the toasts. Reo handed out roses and speech worthy of a troubadour to all. They both flirted outrageously.

The Immortal Ladies fell in love with these rogues and adopted them then and there. They joined Chris00011, our token Amanda drooler, as the first three of the bravest men we’ve met so far; the rest being the other guys who’ve joined our chat since the early times. We know how to appreciate men who aren’t threatened in a room full of women carrying on an in-depth discussion about another man. They give an added grace note to the Clan, which keeps growing; people have fun here! How do you not have fun in a chat with topics like ridding the world of Kenny, the stunt sock, “character” development, why we would like the Evil Duncan for just one night, how fast you could get rid of your husband if you did get Duncan/Adrian, and kidnapping plots? Not to mention the plan to win the Lotto and buy a Learjet to fly us all to Vancouver BC, descending en masse on our Official Lotto Keeper...and the main topic, Adrian Paul. (We planned to fall at his feet; we wouldn’t want to crush him.)

By February, the (_|_) sign obviously fit perfectly as the sign of our chat and the Ladies - which should have warned us somehow. Or maybe there should have been some lowering clouds and an ominous flicker of lightning creeping up over the horizon. The room was full within 15 minutes of starting the chat, and stayed that way for the first couple of hours. People had to have friends inside the room send IM’s to let them know when someone left, so the people waiting could get in. Ramirez had to perform two more christening ceremonies, and more people kept stopping by...much to our delight. It’s a great bunch of people, and we’re friendly. Thus Immortal Ladies and Friends. Well, actually the Friends are our brave gentlemen members - our Knights. But we look forward to greeting more of the regular kind of friends, and welcoming back the old ones. Always glad to have new members join the Clan. So if you’re on AOL, please come by, raise a glass of Glenmorangie and join the Immortal Ladies and Friends for some outrageous, rowdy, outspoken - but polite - and always fun talk about Adrian Paul. (And Highlander - but mostly AP!) And whenever you think of it, drink a toast to Jo. Without her we wouldn’t be here. Thanks, Jo. (_|_) forever.

(_|_) Immortal Ladies Adrian Paul Chat Times and Location on AOL

The Immortal (_|_) Ladies & Friends Adrian Paul chats are now held every Sunday in the Digital Worlds Online Conference Center on AOL. The chats run from Noon to 4 pm Eastern. MonicaPDX2 is the host and chat logger.

There are two ways to get there; You can use the following link to get directly to the DWO Conference Rooms:

Use Keyword Highlander to get to the Highlander Forum screen.

Look for the "Chats" button on the right-hand side of the screen and click it. You will go to the Conference Center. (Once you reach the Conference Center, you may want to click the heart in the upper right-hand corner of the screen to add the window to your Favorite Places; you can't add the individual conference rooms.) Other Highlander Chat Schedules can be found here too.

Click the "Highlander Chat" button in the lower right-hand side of the screen, and you will be in the Gathering conference room with the Immortal (_|_) Ladies & Friends. Grab a Glenmorangie, a chair, and relax!

Please note the improvements we've made, too. Enjoy the curved mahogany bar, where you can get Glenmorangie and Hot FudgeLanders. (Watch out for spin-outs on the bar corner...) Relish the 6" of rubber padding under the MacLeod tartan carpet, to break inadvertent 'thuds' when you look too closely at the Duncan MacLeod poster. Have a splashing good time in the hot tubs or the Magic Spring (now with three water slides). Relax - or not - in the Squeaky Brass Bed, especially made for headboard-rattling.

And who could forget the staff? The Doorman looks suspiciously familiar, especially with that kilt; unfortunately, Peg is usually wrapped around him...But there are always the Delivery Guys: Ponytail (aka Sugar Britches); *L*, the rather lanky one who gives marvelous massages, while regaling you with historical tidbits; and Red, the young one who blushes. Oh, and they also deliver supplies for the bar. Last but not least, there's Carpenter DM - who can build anything. Although why he refuses to wear more than that carpenter's apron...well, maybe he'll tell you!

(_|_) The Rules Explained

As we said. there are only two rules. We don’t want to curb the high spirits of the Clan too much. Celts will be Celts. However, the chat is Holy Ground - the rules we do have we take seriously. We want people to have fun, not be driven mad by petty annoyances. Justice, if necessary, will be swift, although we’ll regret the necessity of getting serious for even a short time. And remember, we’ve been taking lessons from Duncan...

Rule the First:
Friendly fights only - and keep them short. Personal fights and constant sniping make it hard for others to carry on their interesting, witty conversations, all of which are much more fascinating than watching other Immortals duel. Take your Quickenings outside in the Lobby if you must. Or simply shut up.

Rule the Second:
Keep to the chat standard on AOL, which is what comes up in all those Terms of Service pages that you’ve never read. <g>; Such as, don’t swear, don’t make racist remarks, don’t play stupid macros that scroll out 20 lines of nonsense, etc., etc., and especially etc.!

In other words, don’t disrupt the chat by being obnoxious. Reasonably adult behavior is preferred, no matter what your age. Let me insert at this point - we do have members in their teens, and they’re a pleasure to talk to. We don’t discourage anyone ‘cause of their age. Only if they act like a two-year-old. Even if they’re 50. ;))

If you don’t know how to behave, you will be warned by the chat host. (That’s me, MonicaPDX2, who’s writing this. <veg>;) The chat is logged, and will show how you’ve misbehaved, in lovely, clear, black and white print. You have up to three warnings; if you don’t mend your behavior after the third warning, your friendly chat host will gleefully cut and paste the disruptive remarks you’ve been making and send a report to The Powers That Be on AOL, instanter. This can result in you being summarily TOSsed off the service. And, just to make things clear, a lot of fellow chatters can and will report you, too - so you’ll have more than one TOS violation report on file. (Try explaining that to your daddy who got the account for use at his business...) After reporting you, I’ll happily click on the IGNORE button for your name; so will everyone else; then you can stew in your own malicious juice while everyone else won’t even see your comments.

Some may think this sounds unnecessarily harsh. (Then you haven’t seen some of the twits who’ve come into other chats. We have, and we don’t plan to put up with ‘em.) Some may think, “Who are you to be telling me what to do?” Well...for one, we’re following the rules of the service. For another, we’re a majority, that’s what. And it’s our chat. <g>; We’re there to have fun.

If you err in ignorance, we’ll politely let you know. If you don’t repeat it, no problem. If you do...let’s just say we all have swords sharpened. Idiots won’t find just one irate person hounding them, but the entire room might descend upon them en masse. Especially those we call bunnies - or runnybabbits. These being juveniles - again, of whatever age - who like to come into a Highlander chat and yell, “CONNOR ROOOLZ!!”, or similar edifying remarks. All of which bring on a state of utter boredom, we’ve heard them so often. (One would think there would be the occasional original comment, but no. Alas.) On the other hand...well, we do like a little bit of meat in our diet. If you really want to act like a bunny, we’ll have a nice snack. Featuring you as the main course. ::Monica yawns, exposing 4” fangs, and rips deep grooves in the floor while flexing claws. Says rather wistfully, “Food?”::

If you don’t like these rules, don’t come to the chat.

The Unrules
We’re unruly, all right. We meant it when we said we had no other rules (except reasonably common politeness).

For the rest of it, we get rowdy. We speculate. We giggle. We make suggestive remarks. We plan kidnappings. We talk about what we all liked about the Evil Duncan, and what the sexiest scene was in Something Wicked and Deliverance. Then we do the same for Duncan, period. We wonder how successful Methos gets at “doing cute.” We argue over who gets to do the kidnapping. We flirt with our knights. We chorus wild greetings to everyone who comes in the door. We entice Ramirez to perform a close haircut on Kenny, with promises of an introduction to Amanda as well as the 800-year-old Quickening. We hope people who’ve been sick or have to work during the chat time will be back soon. We tease Reo and he teases back (he’s a world-class teaser). We pass around the Glenmorangie and get virtually tipsy. We chant LOTTO LOTTO LOTTO for luck. We ask why so-and-so isn’t here today, and worry until someone has an answer. We linger lovingly over certain scenes. We describe favorite lines from the bloopers and bits of Eurominutes for those who haven’t seen those. We speculate some more. We ask people how they’re coming along with their martial arts or swordsmanship or whatever. Half of us wonder what it was that Duncan saw in Anne, and the rest defend her. We mourn Tessa. We discuss AP’s other roles. We occasionally drift to talking about Richie and Joe and Methos. We pass around information about what’s happening on the set. We exchange secrets. We describe fanfic we’re writing, and fanfic we’ve read, and why we liked it. We wonder how AP liked playing thus-and-so a scene. We answer each other’s questions, catch people up on episodes they’ve missed, and explain things to newbies to the series, and/or AOL. We comfort those who come to be cheered up, and laugh with those who are on a roll. And when we have enough new people, we hush everyone up, fill glasses all ‘round, and wait solemnly while Ramirez christens the new kin of the Clan, then drink a toast and smash the glasses while sniffling happily. We sadly bid farewell to those who must leave, and beg them to come back next time.

We’re family; we’re a Clan. And we all love Adrian Paul and Highlander. Long may we all live.

How to Report to TOS
Click the “Report” button down in the lower right hand corner of the chat window and follow the instructions given there. Be sure to cut and paste the offensive remarks, and get the person’s screen name right! Send the report and return to the chat, knowing you’ve struck another blow for Truth, Justice, and peace of mind.

Personal Options
If you want to ignore someone’s comments in the chat:
Double-click on their name in the Members In Room box in the upper right-hand corner of the chat window.
Click the Ignore option and exit back to the chat.
You will no longer be able to see that person’s comments for the rest of the chat, unless you turn Ignore off.

If you want to shut off Instant Messages to concentrate on the chat:
Use Ctrl+I to open an Instant Message window.
In the Member field type in the following:
$im_off
In the message field, type in one character.
Click Send
Instant Messages will be turned off until you sign off AOL or turn them back on.

To turn Instant Messages back on:
Use Ctrl+I to open an Instant Message window.
In the Member field type in the following:
$im_on
In the message field, type in one character.
Click Send
Instant Messages will be turned back on.

(_|_) How the heck do I get the AP Chat logs?

Currently in a state of hiatus. We’ve changed methods several times, with the result that logs only got distributed the first year. However, we’ll probably end up zipping them and putting them on the webpage for download. When we do figure it out, be warned: these chat logs are long. Funny, but long. The early ones tend to be around 100+ pages, since we were running for 5 to 6 hours.

Once we get settled (i.e., Monica stops going nuts with all the other stuff she’s doing all the time), all logs from the very beginning will be available. This means from November, 1995, the date of our first chat.

(_|_) Immortal Ladies’ Projects
The Immortal Ladies Highlander Home Page

What you’re accessing right now, of course. <g>; If you got here directly to the FAQ without seeing any of the rest of it, go, wander around! We do our best to focus on Duncan/Adrian Paul, but we haven’t left out anyone else, by any means. Lots of goodies all over the place: wavs, pix, the newsletter, and an enormous amount of info about the show. Such as character bios, episode summaries, a timeline, filmographies of the stars, and anything else we’ve been able to dig up. Plus how to find more Highlander stuff out there on the web, fanclubs, and chats on other services. In other words, it’s a huge site - our wavs alone are taking up mass megabytes - and it should keep you occupied for quite a while. Enjoy!

Flaunt your outrageousness with the Immortal Ladies Official T-shirt! Make your friends envious, embarrass your family/Significant Other, mystify everyone else! Handy for instantly identifying Immortal Ladies you’ve never met in person at conventions - get together and terrify the other conventioneers! Features our logo, the (_|_) sign, and our motto: "There can be only buns..."

Currently, we have a small amount of iron-on transfers left over from the Anaheim convention. (I repeat - small.) At any rate, these, plus instructions for ironing them on, are available for $7.00 each (includes postage, packaging and personal schlepping via the wonderful Portland mass transit system to the PO by this writer). Please send a personal check or MO, a note specifying how many transfers you want, and the address to ship to, to the following address:

M. A. Schafer
10610 NE Wygant #G
Portland OR 97220-2518

Allow 6-8 weeks for delivery, just in case. (I’ve always wanted to use that phrase!) And no credit cards, please; we’re not a business and aren’t set up for it. Also, please - NO EMAIL ORDERS!

After having the transfers for the Anaheim con done by a wonderful Lady who volunteered, we haven’t done another run; it costs $$$ we haven’t got! However, fear not - we have a new scheme for future. Your scribe (me, that is), has been web-hunting for sources for blank T-shirts, and has found several that sell them at lovely low prices. Maybe not in our preferred color, purple, but in all sorts of sizes, which is more important. Not only that, on a trip to Seacouver this summer, she purchased an airbrush. <eg>;

This means that in future we’ll provide Immortal Ladies T’s made to order, with airbrushed art. We’re planning on several more designs; especially as the guys may not want to walk around in a T-shirt with a large (_|_) on it. ;))) Aside from art of our logo and motto, as shown at the beginning of this blurb, other designs will be Celtic knotwork and interlace. As we develop them and get ready to go into production, we’ll put up the info in this FAQ and in the webpage newsletter. Also, a mailing will go out to the IL&F mailing list. Until then, please don’t order any - I’m not set up yet! Just keep checking back on the page to see how we’re progressing; we’ll send up fireworks or something to let you know, okay? Thanks!

Please note: As these airbrushed T’s will involve buying the T’s, pre-washing, then hand airbrushing the art, they’ll obviously cost more than the iron-on transfers. And no, we’re not sure of the price yet. We aren’t planning to make a profit, though; just enough to plow back into buying more supplies to make more shirts. <g> If there is any overage from the sales, it will go to charity. We hope to not only offer the airbrushed T’s, but to maintain a supply of the iron-on transfers, too, for those of us on tight budgets.

The Immortal Ladies’ Buttons
(Design copyright Immortal Ladies 1996)

Black print on purple background, as above. Current supply is the same as the transfers - we have a small amount of buttons available. We will keep a supply of these on hand in future, when Real Life has settled down a bit. (It’s been awfully hectic the last couple years.) But right now there are about 15-20 or so.

Price for the buttons is $3.00. Order same as the T-shirt transfers. And yes, you can combine orders for transfers and buttons at the same time.

When we get set up to supply buttons on a continuing basis, we’ll notify as described above in the T-shirt section.

To be added to the Immortal Ladies and Friends mailing list, email MonicaPDX2 and make the request. (Address is MonicaPDX2@aol.com if you’re mailing from the internet instead of AOL.) If you attend a chat, you will be automatically added to the mailing list if you speak up a couple of times. Conversely, if you wish your name removed, email and request to be taken off; you’ll be removed as soon as possible, and a confirmation will be sent to let you know that your name is off the list. Also, please send an email if your screen name or internet address changes.

Other than that, once you get on the list, you don’t have to do anything. You will stay on the list unless you actually request to be removed. You don’t even have to attend chats to stay on the list. You will continue to receive any update mailings as long as your name is on the mailing list.

The mailing list is used to keep the group updated on what’s going on with us. Such as when we’ll be ready to start producing the dratted T-shirts. <g>; Also when we hold special chats, such as Adrian’s Birthday Bash, and our annual celebration of our chat anniversary, November 24. This list is only used for Immortal Ladies and Friends business, and is not sold, distributed, given out, or otherwise revealed to any but the bunch of us riding herd on this riot. Please note - if you are on the list and somehow manage to get a bunch of names from a mailing (you shouldn’t; they go out as blind carbon copies, but things do screw up on occasion) - you DO NOT HAVE PERMISSION TO USE THOSE NAMES FOR ANY MAILINGS. This is contrary to the Terms of Service of AOL, and common decency. If an accident does happen and you see a whooole bunch of other names cc’d in any copy you get, please do not use them for trying to sell something, or anything similar. Not only will our members be unhappy, so will AOL. Thank you!

For general questions about the Immortal Ladies AP Chat on AOL not answered in this FAQ, you can email the following Ladies:

MtNittany1 - AOL
MtNittany1@aol.com - Internet
Creator of the Immortal Ladies AP Chat on AOL

MonicaPDX2 - AOL
MonicaPDX2@aol.com - Internet
Official Chat Host, Logger and FAQ Keeper for the Immortal Ladies

Cooki15000 - AOL
Cooki15000@aol.com - Internet
Page Mage for the Immortal Ladies Web Page

If you have questions about operations on AOL, please check in the Members Services area first, especially in the Members to Members Message Boards. An excellent thing to get is the newbie file discussed in the next section; it explains how to get to other Highlander chats and something of how chats operate.

(_|_) How do I get the newbie file, and why would I want it?

The newbie file is chock full of information about all things Highlander on AOL, plus: information on all the Highlander chats on AOL (there are several others); how to navigate chat rooms; where the message boards are; internet sites; the newsgroup, etc. It’s available in the Highlander Forum on AOL - Keyword Highlander. Once you’re at the main forum screen, look in the scrollboxes for the listing of the newbie file. And send Red57, the creator of the newbie file, a virtual blessing - without her many of us would still be wandering beyond the Pale, unaware of the other Immortal companionship available online.