I joined at the beginning of 2006, a lifetime ago. Back then I only wanted to see more pictures of Anna Popplewell, and so I lurked without joining for roughly a month before I figured out how to make an actual account.
Since then... it's hard to remember exactly all that has happened. I quit being homeschooled and went to highschool, lived in an rv whilst my mother went through cancer treatments, went through the brunt of my younger brother's intense mental issues, lived in 5 different cities and 3 different highschools. I graduated highschool barely passing my last required class 3 hours before I would never walk inside that school ever again. I went to China, got a job, a girlfriend, moved out, went to Mexico. I started realizing what kind of person I wanted to be, and started painting, and I'm about to start writing. I went through a phase where I drank too often, found out I hate drinking, but I don't mind a much more mild green substance, and I'll get to tell my kids about how I lived through a hundred year prohibition, but that's all I'll say about that on a family website. Now I'm getting out of a three year relationship, and all my decisions will be my own again. I'm not sure what to think about the relationship with my ex girlfriend... but the end was slow and painful, and I'm ready to be free, and I am staying 10 feet away from girls for quite some time (a challenge for me, I'm quite handsome
).
That's an incredibly shortened version of what's happened to me since I joined this website, and as much as I'd like to share my life some things that have happened to me are much too dark to say on a website like this, even though I see that most of the active member are the same members from so long ago, we're a group of people all with different paths and back stories, and every so often I think back to my time on this website and how it's gotten me through tough times of isolation, and how the people here have put up with me when I've often gone against the grain, but I still remember it fondly, and my time here still echoes on into my real life every so often. I've watched several members here grow up, many of them are married, turning the pages of their lives into exciting new chapters, and here I sit, quill in hand about to start a new one myself.
What's gonna happen in the future, well all I know for certain is that I'm moving back home where I'm just going to paint in my studio my parents have prepared for me, get rid of all the debt I've acquired, and save up my money. A friend of mine wants me to hike with him to the Grand Canyon, another wants me to move to New York with him in a year, or maybe I'll take my own hiking trip through Europe. My parents are foreclosing on our home here in Texas, and after that I'll be on my own again, this time with no plan B. I'm excited, terrified, and relieved all at the same time. Growing up is scary, and sometimes I wish I could just go back to being a child, or die so I don't have to worry about things anymore; but no matter how much I wish I could freeze time to catch my breath, the world just keeps spinning, the day goes on, and the tax collectors don't go away.