We've been a loud bunch in TGIF and Metromix under my tenure.

For the past 18 months, our little corner of the newsroom has debated — sometimes too loudly — everything from Adam Lambert's sexual preference (gay, not gay?) to Tiger Woods' fidelity (Love him? Hate him?) to which movie will reign at the box office and which joint has the best burgers or pizzas.

Everyone has chimed in, even from other departments, and nearly every day, there's been something to laugh about.

We felt lucky. While other reporters and editors in the newsroom have dealt with furlough Fridays, politics and military issues, we've been able to take the Monty Python approach to our jobs and "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life."

So, it's been a weird week, a weird few months, for all six of us who have put together TGIF and Metromix over the past year and a half.

Today marks the last TGIF/Metromix issue for myself, Metromix editor Diane Seo, entertainment/food writer Kawehi Haug, Metromix night owl/photog Tracy Chan, design editor Nick Gervais and clerk Sonnie Rodrigues.

Come Monday, the TGIF office will be moved to the Star-Advertiser space at Restaurant Row, and a completely new staff will take over. The Metromix insert that's been a mainstay of TGIF the past year and a half will also be gone.

Days like today, writing this column, it's not easy to look at the bright side of life, but it's there.

For starters, I couldn't have asked for a better crew to work with, and one person who probably hasn't gotten enough credit has been Diane. She's been an amazing editor to work with, and she did a phenomenal job in building Metromix into an online phenom. I'm sad to see it go.

Another bright spot is that this little Page 2 Etc. space gives us a chance to thank all of you readers who made TGIF an absurdly popular section. This is also a good spot to pay tribute to former TGIF staff such as Deb Yuen, Derek Paiva, Lynn Chang and Wayne Harada for setting a high standard for us to follow.

We also say thank you to the promoters, entertainers and everyone in between who helped us put together the stories for these pages, and to those same people who have called us the past few months with concerns for us over the impending merger of the two newspapers and our future.

We'll be fine, thanks for asking.

From our first staff meeting at J.J. Dolan's, we've felt we've had the best jobs in the newsroom. As a finale, we're sharing our favorite memories on pages 4-6. Mahalo.