I am a straight man!

[The Dark Celinian]

Hi. I hope this is the appropriate place to introduce myself...

 

Do you get many of us around here? I would think that men are scarce in a place like this but I care not... I love Celine and am not in the least bit ashamed to admit it.

 

My name is Nathan, and I am married with two kids aged 14 and 18. I enjoy reading and writing both horror-fiction and philosophy. I watch a lot of sports and work too many hours as a restaurant manager in Oklahoma City where I have always lived. As well as reading and writing, I also collect hardcover books by King, Koontz, Lumley, Barker, McCammon, and several others.

 

I was a long time member of Stephen King's "Green Mile" messageboard family until it got too crazy with trolls, idiots, and political bickering... it only took eight years of that before they decided to start monitoring and moderating it... a little more than most of us liked! As bad as it sometimes got we were a pretty tight (and territorial) bunch and loved The Mile the way it had been. It changed and most moved on. Sad.

 

I was also a moderator and contributing columnist for several years at BrianLumley.com (known simply as Nathan over there). But Brian retired and the newsletter came to an end with that. Soon after, due to time constraints of my own, I also gave up my moderating responsibilities, but continue to pop in every now and again to say hi. Next time you're at the book store check out the "Brian Lumley Companion." I contributed to that project as well.

 

I was raised a preacher's kid and the stories you may have heard about our kind are true, at least in my case... I rebelled early and often in my younger years.

 

The force-feeding I received as a kid - the countless hours of religious and philosophical study I endured - was both a blessing and a curse. I am now one of the more morally sound atheists you are likely to find.

 

Some of you may find my taste in music a bit odd... and I guess it is a bit strange, but I prefer to call it well-rounded diversity.

 

Once I discovered rock & roll in the early eighties I was hooked. And just in time for the heavy, heart-pounding thrash-metal craze... Metallica, Anthrax, Slayer, Pantera, etc. To this day there is not much that gets my blood going like a good healthy dose of death/speed metal.

 

At the same time I am able to offset the angst of that genre with the wonderful sensitivity of Celine Dion and her entire collection. I've been a huge fan since the early nineties and cannot really imagine my life without her voice. My friends (even my wife and kids) constantly poke fun at me about it... but, as I said before, I care not!

 

I love her!

 

I think it may have some weird Freudian connection to the gospel music my parents exposed me to every single day of my first twelve years on the planet. Or maybe I am simply genetically predisposed to massive amounts of womanly sensitivity and tenderness, I don't really know...

 

Whatever the case may be, Celine's songs, each and every one of them, hold very special meaning to me in one way or another. Whether it's the profound love I feel for my wife and children, the thoughtful reflection of past obstacles we've overcome in our lives, or any number of other situations and emotions that come our way, Celine has a song for them all.

 

But the songs on their own would mean nothing - as I am quite sure you are all aware - without the power and feeling with which they are sung. There is no sweeter voice in the world than Celine's voice. Her inflection, her feeling, her down-to-earth nature, her grace... it goes on and on. Call me corny, but there isn't a day that goes by that I do not feel her presence in my life.

 

My life has become a bit more hectic in the last five years with the kids getting older so I'm not the avid poster I once was. But I'll definately be popping in here as frequently as possible.

 

So there is a bit about myself. I don't want to ramble on too very much, but before I sign off I would like to share what I think is a fairly hilarious note about an experience I had involving Celine this past year...

 

I finally had the opportunity to go see her in Dallas earlier this year (it was awesome! I cried...). I wore my favorite old-school Slayer concert tee to the show and, as you might imagine, got a lot of strange glances. But that's not the funny part... those looks were nothing compared to what was to come...

 

Two months later I went to see Slayer on their Unholy Alliance Tour... to which I wore my new favorite Celine Dion concert tee! I wore it proudly, without fear or embarrassment. It was awesome...

 

 

So that's me. If you're not too awfully freaked out I would enjoy a greeting or two...

[Nmj]

Welcome to the forum... I'm also a straight male HUGE celine fan!!!

-Nmj

[Shamrock_1982]

And me

Welcome to forum and to the family ( we have even more brothers and sisters than Celine on here, and she alot! lol )

 

Darren.

[Terre]

to the forum, Nathan!

[D-Lo]

Welcome!

[dj4celine]

to the largest Celine forum in the world, Nathan!

 

Hope you'd enjoy the forum a lot!

 

See you around

[Koolan]

Welcome aboard Nathan! That was the longest intro I could remember. I enjoyed reading every bit of it! Great to have a member like you here.

 

You'll be surprised at the statistics here: Out of 23,210 members, it's nearly a 50/50 ratio of male to female members and ~90% are under 30. I guess the older fans are less tech savvy and not so much into message boards. Oh and there are thousands of straight people here, including myself and the other admin.

 

PS how did you find this forum?

[I Love You]

Nathan to the Largest Celine Dion Forum ever.

[The Dark Celinian]

Thank you all for the welcome.

 

I am somewhat surprised to hear that it is a 50/50 ratio around here... and that several of the men are straight! I hate stereotyping as much as the next guy, but even my gay brother jokingly accuses me of being gay for my love of Celine!

 

Anyway... to answer someone's question as to how I found this site...

 

I joined "Team Celine" and was linked to this place from a thread over there... that simple.

 

Thanks again for the welcomes...

[BLM]

Welcome aboard Nathan! That was the longest intro I could remember. I enjoyed reading every bit of it! Great to have a member like you here.

 

You'll be surprised at the statistics here: Out of 23,210 members, it's nearly a 50/50 ratio of male to female members and ~90% are under 30. I guess the older fans are less tech savvy and not so much into message boards. Oh and there are thousands of straight people here, including myself and the other admin.

 

PS how did you find this forum?

 

 

Oh my, older fans less tech savvy.... wonder if that's me?

[dandoodles]

welcome! I also went to the show in dallas and it was awesome! you will love the forum, it has so many things to read/look at...before you know it you will have spent hours online. enjoy!

[celinedream]

Bienvenido Nathan you've definitely come to the right place. If you ever want to practice your Spanish come over to the Spanish Section

 

Vic, those were some interesting facts about the forum...only 3 more years for me until I join the 10% hehehe

[samart]

Thank you all for the welcome.

 

I am somewhat surprised to hear that it is a 50/50 ratio around here... and that several of the men are straight! I hate stereotyping as much as the next guy, but even my gay brother jokingly accuses me of being gay for my love of Celine!

 

Sometimes it seems to me that there's a whole other closet called "Celine's fan", that some people have a trouble coming out from. I wonder why...

Edited February 25, 2010 at 01:09 PM by samart

[Guybrush Threepwood]

Hi

 

Welcome to the forum.

 

Hope you enjoy it.