I have had E2 Experiences of the Third Kind.
Like taking for granted, on one of my first days on the site, that I could ask anything I like of my peers on my message in-box, like I was on some crappy blog chat site. Finding out very quickly how very wrong I was, and going back to read the E2 FAQ.
Like making assumptions based on no facts whatsoever. Making comments about a peer claiming to have read all his writeups, (what a lie I was telling,) and coming up with probably the most opposite assumption you could ever come up with. And, completely pissing my peer, off, to the point that I feared he would never ever talk to me again, and Oh! How I would have missed his advice! He has (I assume), forgiven me.
Like doing my very first writeup thinking to myself "This is a good story," only to have it end up in the trash bin, making me want to scream. Making me want to send nasty text messages, but not doing it, having finally read the E2 FAQ a number of times. Finally, I sat down at my keyboard, and got down the HTML tags, the notion of what was expected in a writeup on E2, etc, and then began to appreciate what this site was all about. I began to learn how to spell, use proper punctuation, and how to use the HTML tags, even. Then came the links. A fantastic learning experience. I had lots of help from very kind and understanding editors; it's a real pleasure working with such people. My second writeup got a "C!" I was, by then, hooked...hook, line, and sinker, to E2. Writing has been in my blood, for a long time, but now I was getting somewhere.
Like waking up at all hours of the morning, hours I would normally sleep through. Just to check and see how my writeup was doing, did I get the big "C." To read what my peers were writing, to have a good laugh, or a good cry, and all feelings in between. It's sometimes heartwrenching. it's sometimes hilarious. Or, like waking from a dream and running straight to my scratch pad to insert an item in my planned writeup because something in the dream made me remember something which ought to have be included.
These are what I have coined E2 Experiences of the Third Kind. Experiences you will never forget, experiences that will aid you all through your writing career. This is a small part ot the unforgetable E2 Experience.