I waited to post here until I had a bit of time free as I knew I'd make an essay out of it so here goes my attempt to not do that. I'll just quote myself from Org Chat first:
When I joined I was in a bit of a weird place in school, arguably the same place I'm still in socially. I befriended a lot of the more "popular" people despite never fitting in with them or being like them but me being closer to the more nerdy group. But I also didn't really feel like I fit in there so I often ended up hanging around some of the smokers, who I also didn't fit in with because I didn't smoke.
I've kind of always been flitting between groups while being a loner at heart and I guess that's how I was at MGSF too. I joined a lot of orgs at different points and I left every one of them at one point in melodramatic fashion because I felt I brought the mood of the place down with my occasional rants or moanings. I cringed looking back on old threads and seeing some of my posts in them (although I've seen some that I'm just flat out embarrassed or disgusted by) but it was a key learning period of my life and I'll always have MGSF and the community to thank for getting me through that.
I felt most at home in DC and looking back on old threads in recent weeks I still feel like that was my true home. But I made a lot of good connections in FH and probably enjoyed being within that group and PF the most given how well I got on with everyone, and it was the point in which I felt I contributed most to the forum in trying to help Gene get the org active again and trying to start up some new things like the org awards and the podcast, as well as our own gaming sessions. (For some reason I didn't remember how much the forum seemed to not only enjoy but ended up expecting and even badgering Foxhound about the awards when they took longer than expected.)
I haven't even gone through them all but started looking at my PMs over there and really forgot how many people I spoke to regularly. It was a unique place with a unique community. If you had to ask me for a favourite moment, I have to say it was something I had forgotten until recently. I logged in one day during one of my periods of being orgless to find I had a Foxhound button beneath my name. Rooster (where is that little shit) kidnapped me after telling an admin I was rejoining FH. I laughed at him coming up with that and doing it then and I still find it hilarious.
As for life, everything has changed really. I met someone 11 years ago that made me feel like I finally understood what it meant to be happy, and I have a now 5 year old son with her. We've been through a lot, some things that nobody should ever have to deal with and some things that we're very lucky to have experienced together and have each other for. Things have been difficult a lot given her health issues and us living on one person's wage while trying to move forward in life and getting a house (and ending up needing to live with her family), but we're getting by, for now at least. I often work long shifts (anywhere around 10-14 hours) but also get periods of downtime, although spending 2-4hrs commuting as well sometimes makes it tougher but I won't complain about having a decent and safe job. I cut out my own entire family a number of years ago over a number of things, but I've never been happier to be away from the toxicity and lies. I do miss my nieces terribly and seeing them grow up, but it was a sacrifice I unfortunately had to make for my own sanity and all of our safety.
Guess that wasn't too bad of an essay, for me at least.
Quote:I think I joined in 2008 so I was 17 16, not long before MGS4's release. Spent far too long on that forum and made just over 20K posts, but I'd never take any of it back. I was very juvenile and ignorant when I joined and for a long period after that, but I genuinely credit all of you and everyone else I interacted with the most there for helping me to mature as a person. Sounds like a funny thing to say really, but I've felt that way shortly after I joined DC back then and realised the growing I had to do. Even now just looking back on org threads over there gives me the feels. I could spend so many nights just chilling on the forum.
When I joined I was in a bit of a weird place in school, arguably the same place I'm still in socially. I befriended a lot of the more "popular" people despite never fitting in with them or being like them but me being closer to the more nerdy group. But I also didn't really feel like I fit in there so I often ended up hanging around some of the smokers, who I also didn't fit in with because I didn't smoke.
I've kind of always been flitting between groups while being a loner at heart and I guess that's how I was at MGSF too. I joined a lot of orgs at different points and I left every one of them at one point in melodramatic fashion because I felt I brought the mood of the place down with my occasional rants or moanings. I cringed looking back on old threads and seeing some of my posts in them (although I've seen some that I'm just flat out embarrassed or disgusted by) but it was a key learning period of my life and I'll always have MGSF and the community to thank for getting me through that.
I felt most at home in DC and looking back on old threads in recent weeks I still feel like that was my true home. But I made a lot of good connections in FH and probably enjoyed being within that group and PF the most given how well I got on with everyone, and it was the point in which I felt I contributed most to the forum in trying to help Gene get the org active again and trying to start up some new things like the org awards and the podcast, as well as our own gaming sessions. (For some reason I didn't remember how much the forum seemed to not only enjoy but ended up expecting and even badgering Foxhound about the awards when they took longer than expected.)
I haven't even gone through them all but started looking at my PMs over there and really forgot how many people I spoke to regularly. It was a unique place with a unique community. If you had to ask me for a favourite moment, I have to say it was something I had forgotten until recently. I logged in one day during one of my periods of being orgless to find I had a Foxhound button beneath my name. Rooster (where is that little shit) kidnapped me after telling an admin I was rejoining FH. I laughed at him coming up with that and doing it then and I still find it hilarious.
As for life, everything has changed really. I met someone 11 years ago that made me feel like I finally understood what it meant to be happy, and I have a now 5 year old son with her. We've been through a lot, some things that nobody should ever have to deal with and some things that we're very lucky to have experienced together and have each other for. Things have been difficult a lot given her health issues and us living on one person's wage while trying to move forward in life and getting a house (and ending up needing to live with her family), but we're getting by, for now at least. I often work long shifts (anywhere around 10-14 hours) but also get periods of downtime, although spending 2-4hrs commuting as well sometimes makes it tougher but I won't complain about having a decent and safe job. I cut out my own entire family a number of years ago over a number of things, but I've never been happier to be away from the toxicity and lies. I do miss my nieces terribly and seeing them grow up, but it was a sacrifice I unfortunately had to make for my own sanity and all of our safety.
Guess that wasn't too bad of an essay, for me at least.
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