Changing Points

Inspired by the "What If" thread currently going around this forum, what are the main points of your life where things have taken a turn, be it your lifestyle or your personality, or possibly something else? You can skip birth, that's too obvious. Maybe this will be a good way to get to know everyone here. It's like a miniautobiography.

Here's me.

1. Parents Divorce. (11-13 years old) This is the first time my life had a dramatic change of circumstances. I suddenly had my family completely changed. It used to be Dad, Mum, Nikki (sister) and I. Now it was Mum in a different location, while Dad, Nikki and I were in our house but were planning a move into a new house, at which point Dad would marry Anneke who would move in with my new stepbrother, stepsister and half-sister. Extremely emotional and painful time. This is the time that I felt I was born into the darker sides of life. Thrust into reality, out from my fantasy world. It's strange how naiive I was when Mum moved out. I just didn't really pay too much attention. I didn't understand things very much, I just assumed it'd all be normal anyway. This episode lasted about two years altogether.
2. Starting High School. (13 years old) All the friends I had picked up on over the past years were gone, all off to new schools. I, on the other hand, had moved to a different part of Auckland and didn't have any friends in my school for about a month. I was insanely shy and would pretend to be doing homework at lunchtime. It was embarrassing when Nikki would come over with her friends to say hi. She probably did it just to show off her little brother, or possibly she was trying to make me feel a bit of companionship on some kind of level, but it just highlighted to me how crap my life was at that moment in time. I ended up getting the best friends about a month later that would remain my friends all the way through high school. I loved that place. But it was certainly a big change.
3. Getting Run Over. (15 years old) I was always a relatively quiet guy even after I got my friends at high school, but once I got my leg run over, everyone wanted to talk to me. I got cards from loads of classes and, more importantly, I was thrust into the adult's ward despite being one year too young because the kid's ward was too full in comparison to the adult's ward. This meant that I spent a lot of time talking with adults rather than kids, and that's something I prefer personally. As I was saying, though, I used to be relatively quiet. When you're in hospital, you have to talk during the day. You're stuck in bed all day and there's not too much to keep you entertained, so you talk with the other guys in the ward. Not just for the sake of conversation - if you sleep during the day, you wake up at night because you need hourly checkups. If you talk a lot during the day, you avoid sleeping, and then you sleep so well at night that they can do their checkups on you without even waking you. Hooyay. On a sidenote, I didn't cry at any point from my injury and I haven't since out of physical pain. The only times I've cried since are due to missing people/pets, and even then, it's insanely rare.
4. Joining Eyes on Final Fantasy. (16 years old) Because I joined this forum, I have become an internet addict on some kind of level. Not that I crave it when it's gone, but I just use it all the time when I'm bored. Because of EoFF, I have had numerous girlfriends, numerous best friends, met people, travelled, lost my virginity, gained flatmates and more. I can't express just how much this place has impacted my life, either directly or indirectly. The only way to really express such things is to say that without EoFF, I would more than likely be in a different country living with different people and working in a different job, if not at university.
5. Breaking up with Emma, Mandy and Sarah. (17, 19 and 21 years old) I used to be an emotional guy. I was messed up when Emma dumped me and she ended up playing with my emotions afterwards for some time, with her friends helping her out. Eventually there was a point that I thought, you know what? No. No more. She tried to play with me and I just dismissed her. I learned from that first breakup (well, first of these three) how to switch off my emotions. That's a massive learning lesson for any guy. With Mandy, I had a breakup I couldn't handle, and I was a mess, and it lasted for some time. In the end, I learned from the breakup that I was too clingy with my girlfriends. With Sarah, I wasn't so much. I also learned not to be a pushover and to stand up, even to my girlfriends. When Sarah broke up with me, for the first time I was angry rather than sad. This is possibly down to the circumstances in which it happened but, finally, I wasn't spending all my days miserable. I moved on. So, in order, Emma taught me to be able to switch off emotion, Mandy taught me how to better myself in a relationship and Sarah taught me that I am now strong enough to handle a breakup. From now on, I don't go on about how I'll be with a girl forever. I'll just say "I hope so, but if we break up, so be it." It's a good way to be, I've found. I'm happier than ever and in my longest relationship to date with no sign of an end.
6. Moving to Scotland instead of going to university. (18 years old) Arguably the biggest decision I've ever made in my life. I think it's very straight forward, though, and needs little explanation.
7. Meeting Danielle without Shauna (22 years old) One day I was thinking about how, now that I'm over Sarah and don't have too many people that I talk to on the phone regularly, I should probably meet some of those people in Scotland who always go on about meeting up. So I did - Shauna, Danielle and I arranged to meet up in Glasgow. However, Shauna ended up needing to do something. Danielle and I decided to meet up anyway and had a great time - we just clicked, talked about anything and everything. She was hot (still is 8-)), too. xD But seriously, had Shauna been there, things may have turned out differently as we might not have talked so personally as people tend to do when one-on-one. So thanks Shauna for not being there. xD For those who don't know, I met Shauna later anyway so it's all good. Danielle and I met again a week or two later and, in the end, hooked up. She now lives with me and has done for some time, we're moving along nicely. Oh, and Danielle = smittenkitten for those not in the know.

And that's the changing points in my life. Hope someone enjoys the read, anyway, and if anyone else feels like doing something similar, go for it.

You're welcome! :p

Dan and Danielle? LOL. I'll do this BoB style:

The Animals - Nottingham kids lived near me. Taught me not to take :skull::skull::skull::skull: from people, and to stand up for myself and my friends even if I do end up getting beaten up by a group of people. Also made me a very angry, hateful person. So, ups and downs really.

Primary School - Taught me several things. How to get on well with different people for one. How to smooth talk teachers and end up getting out of trouble. Taught me the usual school stuff ;). Also taught me not to get too attached to people. Ups and downs again.

Secondary School - Taught me to stop whoring around friends. Just get some gooduns and be happy. Taught me not to fake just to be with the cool kids. And I learned how to piss off the "cool" kids without having to beat them up. :D But secondary school also made me a lot more of an introvert. Added some more juice to my Anger Bank.

College - So far, it's made me more organised. But on the social side it's not too happy. I'm one of 6 from my school, and the other 5 are all girls so....bummer. Ish. Plus that really annoying guy. I'm worried I'm gonna end up breaking his stuff.

So yeah, basically my whole life has been a lesson in bottling up emotions. Thanks a bunch. ;)

Umm xD I dunno, my life is kinda a blur.

Moving to PA from China (4 years old) - Yeah, I left China. If I stayed there my life would be way different. :p

Moving to New Mexico (7) - lalala, switched some schools during that period.

Moving to Seattle (11) - switched schools like 3 times in there too. Middle school sucked. D:!

Discovering Internets and FFWA (12) - which led to a bunch more internet stuffs and peoples including EoFF. <3 Met some of the bestest people on the internets.

Moving to Wisconsin (13) - yay, maybe. XD I actually stayed this time, I never had long time friends before that except on the internet. :[ Also started high school during this time and joined the debate team which like, was 60% of my life for the first 3 years of HS. XD a bunch of other stuff, too. My lifestyle/ambitions and whatever changed a lot too when I started dating my ex my senior year, at 16. :P

College (17) - blah blah, a lot of finding myself and trying to figure out what I want x] I changed a lot physically during this time but I don't think I grew so much mentally for most of it.

Breaking up with Alex (20) - I learned so much from this relationship and maybe even more from breaking up, too. A lot of changes afterwards. I don't think I realized how much I learned until after the relationship was over. ^_^

More stuff - too recent to tell if anything will be life altering :D!

Oh, this is a nice idea. :jess:

1. Moving from Newcastle to Brighton (6 years old) This was the first major change in my life. Most of my family live up in the Newcastle area and we are a big family. We are also a very close family, so as you can imagine, I was devastated. I'd just started making friends at reception, too. However, my Dad had been offered a better job so off we went.

2. Moving from Brighton to Essex (7 years old) I'd just began to settle down and make friends and accept Brighton as my new home when my Dad was offered a better job in Essex.

3. Starting Secondary School (12 years old) I went to your average secondary school. It wasn't exactly a good school but I chose not to do my 11+ because I wanted to go to the same school as the rest of my friends. I didn't even keep to the same group of friends, mostly. I was shy to begin with but as the years passed I became more and more of a social butterfly. I made a lot of friends in lots of different groups. I came out with some decent GCSE grades considering how crap the education was, though.

4. The destruction of my confidence (14 years old) I found out my teeth were really smurfed up. I had two teeth stuck in the roof of my mouth, meaning I would have to have both teeth either side of my two big teeth removed, so I'd be left with gaps whilst there were holes cut into the roof of my mouth so that the new teeth could grow down. Being a teenage girl this made me extremely uncomfortable with my looks and I rarely smiled, so people couldn't see my teeth. I never smiled in pictures. I even avoided some school trips abroad incase my brace broke and my gaps were more visible. I became shy around new people again. After my braces were removed (after three long years - 17 years old!) and my teeth were pretty =D I started to regain my confidence and smiling in photos, again. :jess:

5. The three ex-boyfriends (14-16 years old) In a way they all helped me decide what I really wanted.

6. The death of Taz (16 years old) Having never lost anybody close to me before in my life I struggled to deal with it begin with. He was the dog I'd had since I moved to Essex, and was part of the family. It broke my heart when he got cancer but it in the long run it made me stronger.

7. Loz (16 years old, 2006) The brother of one of my best friends from school. We grew close quickly, and began spending a lot of time together. We ended up being best friends and became a couple. <3

8. Quitting Sixth Form (17 years old, 2006) I hated it. It was the sixth form of my school, and the only reason I stayed there was because the other sixth form college I'd applied for told me I'd have to change my choice of subjects to go there because all of the ones I'd chosen were full. It resulted in me getting a job for the year but I ended up making a few friends from it and enough money to keep me going at the time so I'm not complaining~

9. Loz going to University & his car crash (17 years old) It was very hard to deal with at first. The trust issues, and it caused a lot of arguments and even a short break-up. However, we made it through. It made me realise that relationships aren't always going to be an easy ride. He crashed his car one evening after losing control because of some ice, the car flipped twice but amazingly Loz didn't have a scratch on him. The car was destroyed! It made me appreciate the fact that anybody important to me could be taken from me at any time so we all need to make the most of whatever time we have with our family & friends.

10. Starting College (17 years old) I started a new Health and Social Care Course. :jess:

Being born - Yeah, pretty major changing point!

1. Moving to Wales (7 years old) - I've certainly changed in such a way that I couldn't see myself doing had I continued to live in St. Helens. As a result of this move and my parent's lack of employment, I've learnt a lot more things about how the world works, about the differences between living in the city and living in a more rural area and basically everything. All my growing up has happened in Wales, really.

2. Starting high school (11 years old)

Fairly obvious, I should think.

3. Ex-girlfriends (15, 15-17, 17 years old)

All three have changed and matured me in quite different ways. In one I've found and continued what was a great friendship anyway, in one I've dealt with rejection and built a decent friendship afterwards and in the last after suffering a ridiculous amount of stress, idiocy, immaturity and hurt I got myself out of there and am no longer as much of a pushover as I used to be. Also learnt that Scotland is full of very odd people.

4. Going to college

Instead of continuing at sixth form in my school, I decided to study the International Baccalaureate at a local college that got me involved with new people, new academic subjects, had to deal with moving out of my social comfort zone, improved my social skills and developed into a more thoughtful person overall. I also struck up what is now a fairly decent friendship with one of my teachers who is one of the people I have the most respect for.

5. Parents splitting up (17 years old)

Really shook me up and changed my entire life circumstances. Never expected anything like this to happen. Never saw myself comforting my mother about how dad might not be having an affair, only seeing dad once a week or so or even just not being told anything. I've really had to adapt to this fairly quickly by myself. I had to depend on my friend's a lot but really mature and learn to deal with things myself and just generally 'grow up' a lot.

6. Deaths of Ian & Cai (18 years old)

Ian: My seriously disabled cousin died back in March. This left his full time carer of a mother with entirely empty days and the loss of her son. The fact that someone who couldn't do anything wrong and wouldn't have even if he were able to could be treated so poorly by life really opened my eyes to the fact that life isn't fair.

Cai: The death of my friend in July, mere days before he was due to collect his exam results shook me up a fair bit. It seemed impossibly cruel for the person who had achieved the best results of the year didn't get to see them, someone with so much potential ahead of them and who was in the process of acting out a dream of motorbiking across the Americas suffered such a fate mere three days in. Really shook things up with me and my friends.

6. Internets

General meeting people, wouldn't be posting here now, etc. Too much to go into in much detail, I think.

8. Not going to University this year (18 years old)

Right now I could be studying for a BA in English Literature and Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia. Feeling that the course wasn't the best idea for me (my writing isn't fantastic, I didn't want to give up studying History, etc), that I wasn't mature enough and assorted other reasons, I now sit here on Jobseeker's Allowance, unemployed despite 4 months of trying for a job, applying through UCAS again instead of drinking in Norwich. Unbelievably major change that I didn't make!

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I mean, that's only really touching the surface. There's so many moments in a person's life when everything could changed based on an event that lasts a short time but has effects that resonate for years later. I really don't feel I've done things justice here, but I think if I were to go into proper detail that firstly I'd have to write an autobiography, I'd have to really outline every possible moment when something could have seriously changed and also my life now is such a complete combination of utter coincidences at times, there are millions of different lives I could be living if not for such moments.

Ok this could be fun or not :P

Dad Dying (3 years old) When dad died of heart disease I was too young to understand but in my life this was a huge changing point for me, I'd probably have been a completely different person with an entirely different life if he'd not died. I have always been undecided if it was a good or bad thing but I know I will never know so have decided to learn to cope with my life the best I can. This did however teach me that everyone dies and that the only thing you can hope to do is to achieve something lasting a legacy if you will in your lifetime. I'm my dad's legacy and I hope to do him proud.

Being Bullied in Junior School No age here because it was a slow progressive problem that shaped me, it made me different because no matter how much people tried to break me down I was too strong to give up and just leave the school (though in my mom's eyes that was never an option) This eventually came to a head in year 6 when I had confronted the main bully in my year when he no longer had his older brother there to back him up. I won that fight and learnt that no matter what happened you could survive anything so long as you wanted to.

Highschool (11 - 16 years old) Well what can I say, bullying was rife here and I know I was no stranger to being accused of being one of them either though the irony was I was accused of being the bully of the guy responsible for me being bullied because he was smaller than me. I learnt a lot about how to fight and how to survive fights, when to run and when to stand firm. I regret growing to hate some subjects because of certain teachers as it made it so that I did not perform my greatest in high school and that reflected in my GCSE exam grades.

Going to College (16 years old) I decided to go to a proper college over sixth form at my school (which was a local college) This was perhaps the single most important decision I had made in my adult life, I went here and free from 90% of the people in my highschool I learnt to be less shy/quiet around people when I met them, this was helped along by a girl I met early on in college called Hana. Hana helped me learn I was just as cool and happy as any other person and through her bringing out what many people have said was/is the best in me I became a popular guy amongst both my classmates and the other students of the college. I learnt to accept myself for who and what I was and not to put too much demand on myself and found a "home" amongst the punks, skaters, goths of the college. Many remember the old days of 2001 - 2002 at barnet college with fondness as a huge group of the "alternatives" were all good friends. Unfortunately eventually everything had to end and the group which I had helped form pulled itself apart and we each went our own ways, mine would lead to my disrupting my college education with absence and the eventual quitting of the courses I had taken after my ICT course so as to preserve my CV from saying I was kicked out of college for having a measly 9% attendance. A rollercoaster ride of sex (there was many girls who I met and bedded in the college years, many more than any one man had a right to bed. I was always lucky in my own opinion not to get any STDs), drugs (yes I used many drugs in college though only my use of cannabis and the occasional "toke" on a crack joint was by choice) and rock 'n' roll.

Not moving in with my older brother (17 years old) My older brother asked me to move in with him when my sister was pregnant and about to give birth to her eldest child. I decided not to move in due to the fact that I had been studying at college for a year now. If I left to go to the local college I'd have had to start all over again. This decision was a major life changing motion if I had moved in with him I would have been in a much better position now, I'm damn sure I would have qualified from college with better grades. I'm also damn sure I would have my drivers liscence and a car by now along with a decent job or be a uni student somewhere. I consider this THE worst mistake ever in my life. I have made many screw ups but the decision not to move in with my older brother was by far the biggest.

Cardiac and Respiratory arrest due to spiking (17 years old) I was clubbing with the people from college from the age of 17, I know it was illegal and it was probably stupid but I was drinking like a damn fish most of the damn time in pubs anyway so this was the next logical step. I remember the first time I went clubbing with people from college however it did not go well. The girl I went with and me drank a lot, I remember having 4 cans (500ml) of Fosters beer and around 1/2 a litre of vodka (neat) I was trashed as it was but knew I was so was drinking water if anything except for when I met a girl inside the club. My friend had gone somewhere and being drunk I couldn't find her so I'm talking to this girl, she was attractive from what I remember otherwise I wouldn't have been bothered by her. Her mate had gone got her a drink but she didn't feel well so she gave me what would be my first Jack and Coke ever. Unfortunately she didn't feel well because her mate had decided to spike her with Ketamin. This was in an effort to either make her lighten up or to knock her for six so he could stand a better chance of getting with her (date rape) I drank her drink and sometime later was discovered by my friend and a bouncer passed out when they got me in to the street to try and help me they found out I was in fact not passed out but not breathing and with no pulse. I was essentially dead. Thankfully I was brought back by cpr and mouth to mouth performed by my friend and the bouncer under the supervision of a trainee paramedic who had been kicked out for pushing a girl over (she'd bitten him it turned out thus he pushed her away and she fell over) Eventually an ambulance arrived for me but my mate at the advice of the guy who'd helped them get me back had brought (and sat there and fed me) Chips and milk to make my stomach curdle and cause me to be sick. I was concious and able to stand without help so when asked if I wanted to go hospital by the paramedic I answered "No, I'm standing, I'm concious...I'll live. Smurf off and save someone who needs saving!" legendary words from my mouth everyone knew them the next time I went to the same club and even though I hadn't gone for a month I was remembered by the staff, the trainee paramedic and many others who had either seen me or heard about my incident. This gave me more friends and it did give me a cavalier attitude towards life. I'll die when I die nothing I can do to prevent that but hell I'm going to live before I die!

Standing up for my sister and the ensuring shattered jaw (17 years old) My sister was dating a guy named Victor, he was an absoloute asshole of that there was no doubt, what on earth made her believe having a child with him would sort out their relationship problems or stop him beating her up I don't know. However she'd made sure she'd welcomed him to move in to our home already so he was there. I generally stayed out of the arguments until one day waking up as usual to the sounds of arguing I went to the top of the stairs and saw him go to punch my sister when she was holding his 3 month if that old son. I normally kept my cellphone on me 24/7 yet this day I was charging it and I hadn't grabbed it on my way to the stairs. I should have kept my mouth shut but when my mom tried to call the police he grabbed the phone and smashed it, he also punched my mom...seeing this made me do something even I didn't expect I threatened him I told him straight there was more than one phone in the house and more than one person in the street willing to call the cops on him. His reply was "I dare you" I never heard the end of the sentence I had already gone upstairs and grabbed my cellphone and dialled 999. He burst in to my room as I'm on the phone to the police threatening me and screaming about how he fights men not boys (he was 23 and from a violently aggressive irish family who were known for getting in to pub brawls) as he's got in to the room he punched me in the face 4 times, each punch sent my head ricocheting off the wall but sheer determination kept me standing and concious, little did I know that each punch broke my upper jaw in several places between the two canine teeth and knocked out my two upper incisor teeth. When he had finished beating me up he fled the house realizing that this time he had overstepped the mark. I calmly picked my cellphone up and asked for police and an ambulance and gave the address. When the police officers arrived they were surprised I was concious and said even grown men had no shame crying in pain if my injury hurt my reply was "I'm fine! Just get me to the hospital!" I went to hospital, my two incisors unfortunately were not able to be fitted in to the jaw again due to the fact that the bone was too badly shattered for any reconstructive work to begin. I never cried over the injury and have never cried in pain since. I've spent a great deal of time in the dentists chair to have this rectified as best as possible and hopefully I will be able to get another bout of work in the dentists chair soon to provide me with a better designed permanent fixture to the jaw. (yes my front two upper teeth are prosthetics)

Proposing to Julie/Jess/Twisted Tinkerbell/Kitten (20 years old) This was perhaps one of my more foolish ideas. I'd met Julie about a year prior when I was 19, she'd been 17 at the time and the only thing that made me even consider dating her was the fact that her 18th was in about 6 weeks from the date we met. We'd been together around a year and on my 20th birthday I proposed to her I was young, foolish and in love (I use young as in the term naive/immature not physical age since I'm only 22 now) I'll forever hold the memories of my 20th as bittersweet.

The EOFF UK 3rd meetup (20 years old) I was still technically 20 when this went down and it introduced me to Jack, Psy, Baloki, Amratis (who later would be instrumental in helping me cope with problems) These guys I had only spoken to on EOFF suddenly became real 3d people and whats more I loved them they were totally awesome and exactly how I expected them to be, it was perhaps one of the last times myself and Julie were truly happy together. I owe to this event some of my best friends, some great times and probably a whole lot more I'm unwilling/unable to say on this forum.

Splitting up with Julie (21 years old This was a definining moment until this point I had considered myself able to cope with anything, in 2002 I'd split up with a girl whom I had loved and her leaving me had been pretty damn hard especially since it was a very protracted experience and countless other relationships in college and the intervening years had left me jaded and dis-enchanted about relationships. The whole shutting off your emotions experience was nothing new to me but this was a lesson that no matter how much you learnt you can be brought low. I was in a real bad way, the girl had been troubled and I'd spent the last few years since meeting her sorting her life out. I'd forgotten to deal with my own demons and in my lowest point I did several things that are not me normally. I eventually pulled through due to help from my friends who I'd met at the meetup and a few of the people I knew in London.

Meeting Agrias on EOFF (21 years old) Agrias and me met because of random stuff to do with the meetups for canada and england I was organising the english one she was organising the canadian one we got talking on msn and well she made me feel like few others had for a while she made the flirt who had been around prior to Julie come back to the surface and I revelled in it. She also noticed a few things my friends and I had missed in my recovery over the 5 months or so between the break up with Julie and meeting Agrias, she in typical style demanded I simply stop being like that and that I be more me. I listened to her simple soloution and liked it and heeded it for the first time since I had quit college I was ME again. I felt like I could take on the world and without Agrias' help I doubt I would have been able to feel this way again for quite a long time, she probably singlehandedly helped me recover fully 6 months ahead of what I would have done if I hadn't got talking to her. I know it sounds like I'm full of :skull::skull::skull::skull: about this but it's the truth she helped and thanks Aggy, I could never repay that.

The Emo UK EOFF Meetup (21 years old) I think I was one of the only people not being emo at this meetup. Met The Undead Hero and made another firm friend he's awesome and great Psy showed his face for a few hours even though he was ill and we all met the elusive Miles. The Reason we called it the Emo EOFF meetup was because Miles and Loki were quite down or withdrawn, Jack was complaining at times because he was "lonely" (but that didn't stop him having sex in one of the hotel rooms with a girl he knew that lived in Birmingham and keeping me, Amratis and Hero from getting sleep as Pie and Zorander were in our room talking to us) I was confused about a few things in my life at that time. Amratis however was just being emo because this guy she liked was being difficult.(you'll notice I spent a lot of time talking to Amy to cheer her up that weekend, a lot of pictures show me and her acting like kids together) We phoned Agrias that weekend on my cellphone from Birmingham quite a bit (that cost me around £60 on credit btw along with calling other EOFF members such as Shauna and BoB and so on) Still I had a good time with the guys and girls of EOFF again and this made me slightly more determined to work on another meetup for next year even though a lack of interest and once being implied we were a group of pedos in the thread ect.

Turning 22 This made me pay attention fast, Jack and Psy came to my birthday and unfortunately all my other friends who had said they would cancelled on me last minute. I had a great time however, thanks to Jack being in town with nothing to do when I'd been up 4 days straight I went out on the town looking shattered but in a hyper active mood where I was up for anything and thanks to that mood and a gentle kicking up the backside from Jack I met the girl I am now in a relationship with. Psy again ill showed up on the day and whilst he didn't drink he did help make my birthday a blast with our great Jackassing Jack event (for details you'll have to get me and Psy on msn :P) It also made me realize I wasn't a kid anymore and has kicked me in to gear trying to get a decent job or atleast one that pays more than my current one.

Can't really say much, since I'm just 14. (Turning 15 on Tuesday.) But, hey, I'll try it out. Almost seems like this should go in EyesonEachother, though. And sadly, I completely forget what ages these take place at. I can only discern these by the house I lived in at the time.

House 1, the Farm House owned by Steve Rouche (Mr. Cockroach): Got a Dreamcast

Once my brother Nano (Naw-Noh) and I got a Dreamcast, I really got current into gaming, and it has so far been one of my main hobbies. It came with Soul Calibur, Sonic Adventure, and some other games that I forget. I'm supposedly one of the better players of Soul Calibur in my state at the current time, but I've no idea, really. What matters is that since then, I've become a sage when it comes to Video Games.

House 1: Got PSO

Getting PSO lead me into what we currently call the Intarwebz. I was never at all social, as I was home-schooled. The house we lived in at the time was half a mile from our neighbors, and our drive-way was of the same distance. We had internet enabled computers in the past, but never had we used them for communicational purposes, sans my Sister, who very commonly used E-Mail functions. PSO lead me into an addicting and very social world, where I met new people, expressed my own opinions, and was essentially my own link to the world besides my Mom telling me child abduction stories on the news. It was quite grand.

House 1: Mom runs over (my) dog.

I think my Mom suffered from it much more than I did, because I honestly got over it less than a week later. But it was still a very obvious difference in the house without this dog. We found him in the corn field, supposedly left by the previous owners of our eerie house. He knew the house well, and could even open its doors, somehow. It wasn't too great of a feat, considering any door-knobs in our house weren't actually door-knobs. He was a good dog, and I really feel sorry for him considering he was running happily across our half a mile long driveway, and I saw him, and looked him right in the eye as he got closer, and closer, and eventually right under the tire below me, in our car double my height. My Mom tried to get him to some kind of care as quick as she could, but he didn't make it 30 seconds afterwards. Since then, she's been paranoid of animals getting close to the car. She'll slam on the breaks if any animal gets near. I generally agree with her caution.

House 2: Grandmother dies, and we inherit the house.

My Grandmother supposedly died from eating chocolate, but I don't know the details. We inherited her house and everything in it, and as stated in her will, we were to try to ensure its being sold, and split the money with us, and our uncle, whom no doubt spent the entire 10 thousand of it on beer, like the idiot drunkard he is. We moved from our isolated, peaceful, and nature rich house, and into a gang-filled, polluted, and overall scummy society. I couldn't help but appreciate the structure of the house, however. It really stood out from the rest of the crumbling town. During this time, I was home-schooled through a computer system. I technically should have been held from 7th grade, but my teacher allowed me to pass because of my immense writing skills of which I gained from the lovely, lovely intarwebzorz.

House 3: Out of the slums, and into a non-:skull::skull::skull::skull:ty society.

So, now here we are, House 3. It's actually house 4 out of houses in Ohio, but I truly don't remember a bit of Huber Heights, sans our house sucking and our neighbors being assholes. But anyway, this house is grand, in every sense. It's large, affordable, my room is HUGE, I've made some friends, etc. This house is great. It has a walking path connecting much of the town that I like to walk on, just to see which paths I haven't gone across, making a gigantic tree graph in my mind. At this time, I'm 13, and loving every bit of it.

House 3: O RLY? Public School?

My Mom and I figured that since my grades slipped and fell down a cliff (or under a car), being in a forced society for my school work may make me feel more obligated to do school work. Since then, it's been pretty basic. I had some time adjusting, but overall, it was very simple. No need to really explain the 8th grade to you. However, one of my teachers figured I was to be treated as a mental retard due to my being home-schooled, and I still very much dislike her for that. As for how I am doing right now, more of the same of school. Go to school, do school, go home, do home-work, utilize free time. Sometimes I go to my friend Caleb's house to play the Wii a bit. Currently I'm a Freshman in High School, 9th grade. A's in both Science and Math, sometimes considered weird due to having bigger hair than any other Freshman. I've got friends, I've got good grades, everything is going great. Life can be boring, sure, but I still feel absolutely good inside.

So there you go.

All of your stories have ended so nicely. I'm glad for all of you who have become better people for the things you've endured.

1. Meeting Drew (6 years old) My sister had come down from Toronto and brought her boyfriend with her. He owned a manga shop back in TO and was a Final Fantasy fan. He introduced me to manga and Final Fantasy 6, which got me into gaming and introduced me to the wonderful world of FF.

2. Coming out of my shell (12 years old) I had been teased quite a bit leading up to this point due to my size and the fact that I was a pretty quiet kid. I figured "Hey, if I lose the weight and start talking more, maybe they'll like me." Thus, I exercised, and started using my wits to make people laugh. It's nice to know that I at least gained something out of the tormenting.

3. Relationship from hell (13-14 years old) I was too young, it was a horrible relationship, but I was head over heels. It made me smarter in the end.

4. EoFF! (14 years old) I believe I was browsing for FFIX videos when I came across this place. I decided to check out the forum and saw something about Squall being his own father, and Christmas telling them they were crazy. I joined, and this place has really made me smarter. My grammar is a lot better, my social skills have improved, and I've met (not offline, yet!) many great people.

5. High School (14 years old - present) Changed me quite a bit so far. I've actually found friends who have the same interests as I do, and also met a certain someone. Which leads me too...

6. Breean (14/15 years old - present) I love her to death. She's made me a lot less shy and is the first successful relationship I've had. We have countless memories, both happy and sad. Lead to me losing my virginity (her's as well). We will be celebrating our one year anniversary on the 14th of October. :love:

It's kinda silly, but I think I change everyday. Definitely this past year (or maybe past two?) years have brought the most radical changes I've ever experienced as a person. :p Doing things I never ever thought I'd do etc. Falling in and out of love and blegh. School. Deciding on what I wanna after school and being all adultish (how horrible!). Friends and etc etc etc

Usually when I get home from work.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Resha

It's kinda silly, but I think I change everyday. Definitely this past year (or maybe past two?) years have brought the most radical changes I've ever experienced as a person. :p Doing things I never ever thought I'd do etc. Falling in and out of love and blegh. School. Deciding on what I wanna after school and being all adultish (how horrible!). Friends and etc etc etc

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I know how you feel. I mean really, you can trace back changes in your life to every single minute of every single day, couldn't you? I mean sometimes you can read something out of nothing, but I think it's really fascinating to think about.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Heath

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Resha

It's kinda silly, but I think I change everyday. Definitely this past year (or maybe past two?) years have brought the most radical changes I've ever experienced as a person. :p Doing things I never ever thought I'd do etc. Falling in and out of love and blegh. School. Deciding on what I wanna after school and being all adultish (how horrible!). Friends and etc etc etc

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I know how you feel. I mean really, you can trace back changes in your life to every single minute of every single day, couldn't you? I mean sometimes you can read something out of nothing, but I think it's really fascinating to think about.

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Yeah, absolutely. Like little things have made a huge impact on me. Getting into my friend's car to do crazy stuff the other day. Going out to the movies with someone and you have a certain conversation and you come away with this resolution etc. So I could never hope to pin-point the changing points of my life xD the major events/aspects, maybe, but even those change everyday, so now I'm -- not sure. Of much!

Good thread...

What if I stayed at Durrington High? In year 8 I went to this school but I changed to Worthing High, the schools were both entirely different and I often wonder if I'd be different had I gone to that school. Different taste? Different appearance? Different aspirations in life? Who knows...

What if we moved to Australia? We were going to move to Australia a few years ago because Dad got a job there, we couldn't however because my Dad lied on his CV and we couldn't get a Visa (lol), so we stayed here. How would my life be there? Who would I know? Would I be happier? I miss the times when I would imagine my new life...

What if my mums parents were still alive? They died when I was young so I've only ever gotten to know my dads parents, I wonder what life would be like if they were still around ^^