Hey folks! WASSUP???
I guess you could call me a geezer. But not really. Sorry if none of this is making any sense, but where do I even start?
Okay, let's try this. I joined almost 6 years ago in March 2007 (does it still say when users joined on posts?). I was 12 then. I'm 18 now. I was bored and feeling particularly nostalgic today, so I decided to go back to my internet roots and search up this username. And son of a gun, I could still log on! And wow, I've changed so much... obviously, but I mean just looking at my profile I could tell. For one thing, my favourite Pokemon isn't "all of them," 12 year old me. It's AMPHAROS, all day err'day! I just knew I had to switch up my profile... I almost felt obligated.
Now, on the top right of the page, it says "Last Visit: October 8th, 2007 at 07:20 PM." In fact, allow me to link to my last post:
http://www.pokecommunity.com/showpost.php?p=2975905&postcount=348
It was painful for me to read that. No, not in the regretful way, not in the way that brings back bad feelings. But it's painful kind of like how when you watch a person mess up on stage! Like... a pity pain, but not really. "Ouch!" Did that kid really think he would impact the community in some way with some petty feelings and opinions? No type of constructiveness there, boy.
I think as a 12 year old kid new to the internet, I was kind of looking for an identity. I tried to conform to a particular type of forum identity that evidently didn't really work out. But that's okay, boy, that's essentially what we do all the time, in every aspect of life.
I just know that somewhere down the road, when I read this post, I'm gonna think the same thing I'm thinking now. "Geez, kid, you sound like a loser!" While I was totally embarrassed reading my posts from the past, between the whiny posts and the posts where I sound like I know what I'm talking about, I don't regret one bit of it. This is sappy, but I love everything about my childhood, and how it made me the awesome kid I am today. It's a truism that basically sums up how I feel right now. The PokeCommunity is a wonderful community to my memory, and it represented an awesome part of my life. This is a lesson, mostly one that I'm trying to teach to myself, about growing up.
And I just want to applaud the life of the community now. I mean, I'm just looking at the active people on the bottom of the screen, and it just really tells me about the energy of the site and the immortality of Pokemon itself!
I don't know if I'll be an active member or not. That, like pretty much everything else, depends on my mood and on how busy I am!
I know I didn't say everything I wanted to in the right way, so I'll just leave it there. See you around!
(oh, and I wouldn't be surprised at all if there was a thread of this nature, haha!)