Introductions

I quit Facebook (different reason), so I can't post this there. But rumors have made it back to me that I am trying to "take over the swap meets" held by the AAAA. That's not true. First, some history. The "swap meets" go back to November 2015 and a Facebook group. Some of us were coming together at the same time at the same store to exchange some things. I seemed to be the "center" of it all, trying to arrange others to meet me there at the same time for my trade with each of them. After a few suggested showing up just because several would be in the same place at the same time, a lot more jumped on board to show up for the same thing. It became an in-person meet-up for everyone that already knew each other online - a chance to see the face behind the posts. But the store we were going to also made some good sales and good contacts. Everyone had a fairly good time and kept asking when it would happen again. So two months later, we did it again. After that, I began advertising heavily for the FB group on Craigslist - which was still very popular in comparison to FB groups, but provided *too much* anonymity for those looking to do harm. People flocked to the FB group and yet another meet-up was scheduled in March 2016. It was the biggest one ever and easily had over 100 people through out the day. Other stores wanted to get in on it, and later in 2016 Aqua Pets and Fin Alley both offered their store for a meet-up. People were allowed to bring things FROM HOME to sell, but not actually buy-and-resell like a store could. The idea was to help hobbyists trade their stuff while giving the store some new visitors at the same time. Unfortunately, even though they were months apart, they were still so close together that Fin Alley got almost no one to show up (even though they were the best of the stores we went to). So in 2017, I delayed for a bit, waiting to pick up a lot interest for another one before moving forward with it. But the original store moved and wasn't on board to host the meet-ups anymore. Southern Aquatics also held one, but so many limitations were placed on it that it wasn't even a fun idea by the time it happened. And soon after that my life went crazy and some big changes came around in 2018 and 2019. I had been the main one planning and organizing, but I couldn't do it for a while. We all know what happened in 2020. But during that time, Paul VanBrug was itching for another one. The moment the restrictions and quarantine rules were FIRST lifted, he held on. He had it hosted at a local church instead of a local fish store. When he began to work with the AAAA, he apparently made it an AAAA-sanctioned event. *YES* I thought about hosting another one. *YES* I have talked about it. Clearly, I wouldn't be "taking it over" or taking it away from *ANYONE* as I was the one who originally created, organized, and hosted the events. But I also probably won't be holding another one. I'd be doing really damn good to even attend one. My disabilities have become pretty bad lately and I can't even lift an empty 20G tank very well. I'm still breeding and selling fish - and here at home I have all kinds of tools, plus a husband, to help me manage it all. But unless we did one here at my house, then I'm really not able to do these anymore. So while I have talked about doing another one, it's not going to happen and it would definitely NOT have been a hostile takeover. I'm pretty sure I know (a few) people that could have started this rumor, but clearly it has reached me more than once now. And before it goes any further, I hope this clears the air. (If you hadn't heard about this yet, just consider yourself lucky.)