Ten long years y'all

So, one decade ago today I joined this wee forum, my very first foray into online communications. Pretty awesome that it's still here and still going strong.

I guess a thread better have an actual topic, though, so here goes...

What's been up in your life in the last ten years? Highlights, lowlights, notable events and all that.

For me, life's included (in no particular order):

• Getting a pair of bachelor degrees
• Hair starting to recede and turn grey
• Becoming an uncle
• Getting engaged
• Surviving a deadly earthquake and a couple of years of aftershocks
• Landing my first long-term employment

hmm, the last 10 years? 10 years ago I was 15, so major major life events since then include:

- graduating high school
- graduating college
- graduating grad school

everything else is kinda minor in terms of actual importance

and ugh i'm coming up on 12 years of membership

• Graduated college
• Wrote a bunch of books
• Got one of them published
• Played a whole bunch of quality video games

OMG, hai, Big D. :D

Well, let's see:

- Overcame an eating disorder
- Overcame my heterosexuality
- Found a great job, which I've had for six years now
- Met a lot of great people

- Graduated middle school
- Graduated high school
- Graduated college
- Moved to New York
- Started a career in publishing

Thanks for making me realize I've spent almost half my life being a member of this website.

Well let's see that's 2003 - 2013? Well then, considering I was 13 years old 10 years ago there is quite a bit that happened.

-2003 was my last year in middle school, thank god because it blowed
-Started working in media field during high school and taking classes for it
-Started high school and survived
-Became an aunt and a sister-in-law
-Got in to uni and graduated
-Did several life changing internships and freelance work which involved me working on my first feature film that was actually in theaters :o
-Got a job in media after uni in the same year
-Got a different job in media
-Still working freelance
-Working on another feature film which depending on how things go this year and next could be a huge life changing experience that would involve me completely altering my career path, but for better or worse would be a learning experience
-Met a lot of people in between those years that have taught me so many things about life, myself, technology, and the entertainment industry

Yay, Big D! Good to have you back!

In the last ten years I have...

-dealt with my parents divorce which, as a consequence, brought my sisters and I closer together
-had a series of delinquent adventures as a teenager
-dropped out of high school
-got dragged kicking and screaming moved to Idaho
-moved to arizona
-finally figured out what I wanted to do with my life at age 23
-moved to california
-had countless incredible experiences and met some of the most amazing people in all of these places, many who have changed my life in one way or the other
-left the country for the first but not last of an amazing expedition to Sweden on my first real vacation ever(and stopped in London, which was fantastic in the 15 or so hours I spent there)

Looking at significant things that have happened in my life makes me :stare: I don't have many accomplishments or noteworthy events to mention, but I have a lot of small experiences, memories and interactions that have changed my life in many ways.

Hey, me and Big D joined in the same month and year! Awesome!

Oh my, that means I've been on this site for ten years too. Ten years. Good Lord time flies.

Hey D. Good to see you stop by and glad things are going well.

Let's see, ten years...
- In 2003 I began high school and started self-teaching a lot of things that seemed way nerdy at the time but have been damn useful since.
- Made very close friends in HS that I've since grown apart from aside from a small few.
- Got my first girlfriend online, and visited each other cross country.
- Went to university with the first girlfriend and learned an awful lot about myself and overall had a very positive experience.
- First internship.
- Relationship ended and I moved back closer to home for my senior year, started my second internship which became part-time once my new university term started.
- Had two failed relationships that taught me a lot about myself. Didn't date for over a full year, made some dumb decisions, but grew a lot.
- Worked part time through graduating then started full time at the same place.
- Took a lead role on a really big scary project at said job.
- Tried dating again after a year, hoping to play the field and look for casual encounters. Ended up meeting the person I want to spend the rest of my life with on my first attempt. Been together for a year, lived together for the past 6 months, and are going to be moving soon to a new state.
- Became seriously ill.

And that basically sums is up.

10 years... Man, I don't even know.

- High school and its various crappiness
- Parents separated
- First relationship
- University and its various awesomeness
- Ended that first relationship
- Met a whole bunch of amazing people
- Second relationship, ended within a few months
- Third relationship - still with him now after three years. Don't want him to go anywhere quite yet. xD
- First holiday abroad with Mr Shauna (some of my family were there, I will admit, but it was still a new great experience)
- Moved away from home and closer to uni with Mr Shauna and a friend for two years, which was decidedly the best decision I could have made (albeit not great for my finances xD). Deepened my friendship with the girl, and she's turned out to be one of my best friends (despite having lived together for 2 years, which seemingly only drives people apart xD) and definitely helped to further Mr Shauna and I's relationship, it's a big thing moving in with someone.
- Graduated with a BSc with Honours
- Moved back home, dealing with unemployment

The last 10 years. I think. Not including finding this ol' website. ;)

• Finished elementary school
• Went through puberty
• Finished middle school
• Became an adult
• Graduated high school
• Got accepted into college
• House burned down
• Entered college
• Finished first semester

I'm so young. xD

• Got a degree
• Earned money
• Built a credit rating in the hope I'll get a mortgage before I'm 50
• Played cricket to a reasonably high level
• Hairline receded
• Lost faith in democracy after the AV referendum
• Got over 10000 views on a youtube video
• Overcame my homosexuality
• Met Lee Trundle
• Followed SCFC from the bottom of Division 3 to the top of the Premier League
• Got trolled by The Fonz

When I reach 10 years on EoFF it will probably be the lowest point of my life.

Hey it's Big D!

I've been up to the same old stuff, saving the world one bong hit at a time.

Geez.

Graduated middle school
Graduated high school
Moved 300 km away from home
Graduated university with an economics degree
Moved back home again
Had 7 jobs, two real ones.
increased my friend base by 100000% (Quite easy when I only had two friends)
Repressed some same-sex thoughts I'd been having for a while
Convinced myself I could be happy with a girl
Realized I was gay
Entered a few relationships
Ended a few relationships
Realized that I am capable of feeling sadness and anger, and having feelings in general.
Endured a 420 kilometer bike ride.

and most of this happened in the last two years

I'll be ten years here next year. A few months after Old Manus! Let's see what has happened to me

• Graduated middle school
• Highschool
• Went to Europe (Germany, Italy, Austria, Switzerland, and France)
• Graduated Highschool
• Got my first job
• College
• Sick in college had to drop out cause no insurance
• Found a Tumor in my chest
• First surgery
• Couple more jobs
• Bought my first car
• Second Surgery
• Third Surgery
• First serious boyfriend
• Met Justy
• Dumped/cheated on
• Second serious Boyfriend
• Florida!
• Moved out
• Ending Second one
• Promotion!
• Third Serious Boyfriend
• Bought a NEW car (Good enough credit to get a mortgage on a house at 22 :smug:)

I feel like I have been there for more than 10 years... Let's see, haven't I joined back in 2001?

What happened since then...
-Joined back when I was in HS.
-Got another half! <3
-Went for post secondary education which cost me an arm and a leg.
-Graduated with a certificate, continued study.
-Graduated with a bachelor, continued study.
-Graduated with a second bachelor, told myself it was enough, stopped studying.
-Got married with the other half from HS.
-Got a silly job, then was called to start career.
-Been working since then, wants to repay what I owe for studying.
-No babies in sight.
:tongue:

Hmm...

• Got in a very serious relationship;
• Graduated high school;
• Got a diploma;
• Nan died... :(
• Moved to Brisbane, then back to Melbourne;
• Got a bachelors degree;
• Worked as a freelance artist;
• Move out of home;
• Lost a very close friend;
• Ended an almost 10-year-long relationship;
• Pop died... :(
• Work client/friend died... :(
• Career change - two masters degrees by the end of this year;
• Found another amazing partner; and
• Two family friends died... :(

So basically, haven't really accomplished much and just lost a bunch of people I love. ><; But the future is looking good!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Shorty

-finally figured out what I wanted to do with my life at age 23

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You're doing awesomely well then - I turn 30 later this year and I'm still working on that one.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Big D

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Shorty

-finally figured out what I wanted to do with my life at age 23

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You're doing awesomely well then - I turn 30 later this year and I'm still working on that one.

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You too huh?

Looks like you both need to go on a personal journey to find yourselves. Like The Man With No Name, except gender neutral and without the murdering Mexicans.

Ten years is a long time, D. I barely remember what I did yesterday.

-Got a couple of bachelor's degrees
-Got married
-Taught middle school for a couple of years; got laid off
-Started an Etsy store; currently my primary source of income
-Went back to my high school job: Disneyland
-Promoted to assistant manager in my area
-Baby due in July

I think that's all the important stuff. I turn 30 later this month and finally figured out what I want to do with my life: whatever I feel like at the time because careers just distract you from living.

Graduated High School
Went to University
Started dating Del Murder
Adopted two dogs who changed my life
Graduated from University with a BA in Sociology
Started by own business
Moved to San Francisco
Restarted my business
Moved in with Del Murder
Traveled to: Mexico, South Korea, Spain, Paris, Italy, Hawaii, Louisiana, Washington, various other states.
Married Del Murder

Those are the highlights. I'm trying to think of the lowlights but aside from having a few friends leave my life, a few older relatives dying, and the occasional moments of frustration and envy and self-doubt that occur in everyday living, life has treated me remarkably well.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Shlup

I turn 30 later this month and finally figured out what I want to do with my life: whatever I feel like at the time because careers just distract you from living.

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It's kinda the opposite for me.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Miriel

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Shlup

I turn 30 later this month and finally figured out what I want to do with my life: whatever I feel like at the time because careers just distract you from living.

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It's kinda the opposite for me.

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Yeah but you're an artist; that's different.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Shlup

I turn 30 later this month and finally figured out what I want to do with my life: whatever I feel like at the time because careers just distract you from living.

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that's actually pretty much where I'm at too.

I don't want a "real job" because then I won't have time for anything good anymore

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Pike

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Shlup

I turn 30 later this month and finally figured out what I want to do with my life: whatever I feel like at the time because careers just distract you from living.

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that's actually pretty much where I'm at too.

I don't want a "real job" because then I won't have time for anything good anymore

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I think it's a delicate balance that you have to strike between a career and a life. Where I work it's pretty obvious that a lot of people don't get that. I know a lot of people who work 12 hour days average, often coming in on the weekends. These are people who are married with kids. It kinda makes me sad.

I think you just have to find a place that fits though. If that's not a career-oriented job then that's great. But it's also nice to have some stability too. With how things have been, it's good to even start thinking about retirement in your 20s - how much to save, what kind of retirement fund, all that. With pensions pretty much being killed by the 401k and social security being a total wreck retirement funding isn't guaranteed by anything but your bootstraps (thanks, republicans). Plus there's the cost of healthcare, which is absolutely absurd, and hospitals/insurers are justifying inflating their costs because of Obamacare even though really they could just cut their billion-dollar profit margins by a small percent to offset it. (If you want to be seriously depressed, read this. It was just poor timing that I read that after having $3000 in testing done with none of the cost being discussed with me prior).

I don't know why I'm rambling about this so much, I think it's just because it's a lot of stuff I'm actively thinking about. It's a pretty hard balance to strike overall, between having fun and playing the long game; it's really unwise to be consumed too much by either. Okay I'm done brain dumping.

I've already come to accept that I'm not going to be able to afford retirement. Just like my parents, and their parents. We are a family of poors.

Oh well.

- Finished High School
- Got a Bachelor's
- Got a Master's
- Was subjected to Rye's depraved fantasies
- Went insane
- Am still insane
- Wrote some books
- Got together with Pike

This thread makes me incredibly jealous and depressed because I realize what an utter failure I am. :monster:

Uhh... I'm still pretty young so my list is kinda lame.

I started and graduated high school, decided against going to uni straight away, started working and slowly realised there was nothing I wanted to study at university after all. Last year was the biggest one for me, figured out a couple of options for what I'd like to do career wise, traveled overseas to 'Murica and started my first relationship in a long time.

For me, the most important things have been...
Leaving secondary school
Doing my A-Levels and passing!
Going to Mexico with my friend and trekking through jungles and living with tribes :jess:
Starting University
Moving out of my parents
Planning a move to Australia ^_^

- Moved to Sunnydale after an 'incident' at my old school.
- Died
- Resurrected
- Met a cute guy who turns out to be a werewolf, but you can't have everything right?
- Meet another guy, this time turns out to be a vampire. Decided to go for him instead of the werewolf guy.
- Find out vampire guy isn't really a guy, banish him to a demon dimension (Los Angeles)
- Quit - Mother dies of brain aneurysm
- Sacrifice my life to save fake sister
- Resurrected my night job
- Blew up my high school
- Go to my local university
- Start dating a guy in uniform
- Invent a sister who doesn't exist but does really but doesn't...
- Take up a job flipping burgers
- Start dating again, another vampire guy, when will I learn right?
- A group of nerds try to kill me
- Best friend gets addicted to magic and her girlfriend leaves her
- Collapse hometown into a crater and escape in a school bus.

. . . . .

-Moved x7 or something
-Started high school
-Dated first boyfriend
-Dated second boyfriend
-Dated third boyfriend
-Dropped out of High School
-Became a surrogate and gave birth to twins
-My mom moved to Boston
-Was hospitalized for blood clots
-Went back to High School
-Dropped out of High School
-Was hospitalized for blood clots
-Went back to High School
-Dropped out of High School
-Went back to High School
-Got pregnant with my son
-Dropped out of High School
-Moved to Boston for a year
-Tried to work on crappy relationship
-Got my G.E.D
-Went to college for Sales and Representation
-Got my drivers license
-Ended crappy relationship
-Started current relationship, long distance
-Moved to Boston to get green card
-Moved to South Carolina

• Moved to America
• Got the sugar
• Got the power
• Got the women

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Shoeberto

I think it's a delicate balance that you have to strike between a career and a life. Where I work it's pretty obvious that a lot of people don't get that. I know a lot of people who work 12 hour days average, often coming in on the weekends. These are people who are married with kids. It kinda makes me sad.

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Have you heard the "Four Burners" theory that's in this David Sedaris story? I heard it referenced in an awesome radio podcast called 99% Invisible a few weeks back and it's kinda stuck with me. Not sure I necessarily believe it, but it speaks to the difficulty of finding that balance in your life.

"One burner represents your family, one is your friends, the third is your health, and the fourth is your work.” The gist, she said, was that in order to be successful you have to cut off one of your burners. And in order to be really successful you have to cut off two."

Honestly don't know which burner I'll turn off over the next decade. The alternative, of course, is to have a couple of 'em on low and find a way to be content with that.

Anyway! Ten years ago I was 15, so...

• I joined EoFF halfway through high school, partially to promote my own website and forum that my friends and I created. RIP Spare Limited.
• Made a lot of friends here, transitioning from someone who rarely used the Internet to that kid who hogged the computer all night to hang out on instant messaging and IRC.
• Finished high school, moved out of my crappy home town, and went to the University of Georgia.
• Stuck with EoFF for another couple years, but mostly kept in touch with friends here through other means after around 2008.
• Realized, in hindsight, that I took this place way too seriously, even when I wasn't very interested in posting on the forums. Growin' up.
• Got my heart battered once or twice along the way.
• Graduated with a bachelor's degree in magazine journalism from UGA in 2010.
• Skipped college graduation to vacation in California for three weeks. Spent two weeks on a friend's couch in San Francisco and confirmed that I'd like to live there. Met Neel an hour before going to the airport.
• Flew to LA, spent a couple days with a lifelong friend who was at school at USC. Realized I would never, ever want to live in LA.
• Spent a week hanging out with kikimm in SoCal
• Had no solid job leads after college. Moved with a friend into my grandparents old house in Atlanta, which was a surreal living experience. My family let us pay cheap rent.
• Started writing and blogging about technology for How Stuff Works and a site called Tested, making money as a freelance writer.
• Met rubah in Atlanta!
• Kinda-sorta fulfilled my dream of writin' about videogames for Electronic Gaming Monthly by getting a story about Squaresoft published on 1UP.com in 2011. The site was a shell of its former self, with most of the staff laid off at that point, but it was still a career landmark.
• Met a really great group of friends in Atlanta via another video game forum. Played trivia with them almost every week. Won trivia a lot, even though I'm terrible at it.
• God a job offer at 1UP right when they were bought out by IGN. Had a crisis of self-confidence and wasn't sure I could do the job, and was unsure I wanted to work for IGN.
• Got a raise from Tested and an offer to rent a room in San Francisco at a great price.
• Threw a weekend-long going away party with most of my friends in Georgia.
• The day before I flew out to San Francisco, attended my grandmother's 90th birthday party, at which my entire dad's side of the family was in attendance, as well as most of the family friends I had grown up around. Some of them are musicians, and they sang a couple songs, like Bye Bye Love, which was totally overwhelming and one of the most surreal experiences of my life.
• Moved to San Francisco in September 2011. I've been here writing as a freelancer since then, have made some new friends, and hope to have a salaried job in the next year or two.

That's...a lot! But those are the events that stand out in my mind. That doesn't cover some of my best memories, like staying up till dawn in my troutty college apartment talking with friends, but, you know, enough words.

Hmmm, I was 17 a decade ago and had just graduated high school and started university. So in the past decade I:

- Overcame shyness
- Became burnt out of MMORPG (I play WoW maybe a couple of times a week for an hour each go)
- Found out I was athletic so got into a lot of sports including figure skating, martial arts, horse riding, etc.
- Found out I enjoyed giving presentations and was able to MC an event at my uni
- Traveled to a few places: England, France, Italy and Germany
- Graduated from Uni
- Worked in a bank for 2 years
- Got my own horse since horse riding is the only sport I stuck out with for 6+ years
- Got into Grad school (and quit my job soon after, it got too stressful to commute to both)
- Got married

Still in Grad school for the moment and enjoying myself lots, even the difficult parts :P

One of my biggest regrets that in those past 10 years I really stopped writing completely when it was a passion of mine when I was younger. But I can't really say it's a regret if I stopped doing it because I didn't feel like writing anymore.

I guess the first half of last 10 years was mostly just failures to me, but then I started to show no leniency towards life.

Not obviously gonna list everything, there's it's almost 1/3 of my life! But highlights, not sure what kind of order I go for:

- I think what originally took me from Eyeson, was the release of FFXI. Too much to do, too little time etc. I played it a lot. No regrets tho, it was fun and have same nostalgic effect to me as this forum when I think about it.
- I tried many jobs, studied some different crap. For me, it was never really easy to find out what to do. Just had to keep busy.
- Dad died to a stroke. This is the absolutely the most awful thing I have ever experienced. Had never before lost anyone so close. Some smurfed up inevitable trout we must endure, but that's life. :)
- Finally found out what I want to do, became a nurse. First plan was the ambulance, changed my mind. I ended up to neurological ward in city hospital. It was interesting.
- bought my own house I'm very happy with. Could fullfill my inner gamer's wetdream by home theater, where I spend too much time at.
- Not long after that I became a nursing supervisor in a private (3rd) health sector.
- hobbies are still pretty much the same. Only one of them I do regularly is swimming and gaming.
Life is easier now in many different ways, but still weight of responsibility evens it up. There's probably a reason I'm not planning to make babies yet. Cats are just fine for now.

No regrets about anything really, no, although I'm glad I've matured some ( but not too much). Everything has played a delicate part in self-processing for 10 years.

Quote:

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Have you heard the "Four Burners" theory that's in this David Sedaris story? I heard it referenced in an awesome radio podcast called 99% Invisible a few weeks back and it's kinda stuck with me. Not sure I necessarily believe it, but it speaks to the difficulty of finding that balance in your life.

"One burner represents your family, one is your friends, the third is your health, and the fourth is your work.” The gist, she said, was that in order to be successful you have to cut off one of your burners. And in order to be really successful you have to cut off two."

Honestly don't know which burner I'll turn off over the next decade. The alternative, of course, is to have a couple of 'em on low and find a way to be content with that.

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That's the first I'd heard of that, but it's a very interesting way to look at things. It seems like there's a lot of truth in that based on my experiences in the past few years.

Quote:

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Flew to LA, spent a couple days with a lifelong friend who was at school at USC. Realized I would never, ever want to live in LA.

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lol, I spent a week in LA last year, just wanting to be adventurous. I'm really glad I went and it was a great experience but I would never go back unless I had a damn good reason.

Congrats on all the accomplishments!

Ten years ago.... 2003. A few ups and downs.

My father died.
Went back to school to help me with my job.
Finished school.
Got divorced.
Bought a new house.
Bought a new car.
I found Sammycat and then Othercat died.
Daughter moved out to Uni and then got married. I was happy for her and sad for me that she was not longer there every day.
Met a new guy.
Still with the new guy after almost 4 years.
Still at the same job that I've had since 2000.

I was 21 back then.

Since then I...

• Graduated from university
• Discovered that a degree in Marine Biology didn't guarantee a job in the Maldives.
• Moved to Leeds to work with fish.
• Bought my first car. 0-60 in just 16 seconds!
• Stopped working with fish so that I could teach kids Science.
• Had my first proper relationship.
• Ended my first proper relationship.
• Got back into football after a long break.
• Lost my cat of 18 years.

Shoeberto and Azar bring up really good points.

I find that that the burner thing is true for me and I feel bad because lately I've been turning in to someone I dislike. Working 12 hour days and on the weekends. My health is starting to get worse. That's why come April, I'm going on vacation to some where, anywhere. My health is more important than any job ever will be. I just have to keep telling myself that so I won't burn out. Luckily my friends and family burners are still there though only this past week I haven't really been able to hang with friends.

Christ alive, how have I been a member of this forum for almost half my life?

Let's see... In the past decade:

* Completed my SATS (remember those?)
* Finished high school (to GCSE)
* Finished college and completed the International Baccalaureate (I = snob)
* Went to the University of York via an Oxford rejection - which encapsulates both the best decision I ever made, and also the one thing I'd like another shot at. Go figure.
* Met some people not as famous as Lee Trundle (the Queen, David Cameron, Ed Miliband)
* Doubled the countries I'd visited when I went inter railing for a fortnight (Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Czech Republic)
* Stood in local elections twice (as a paper candidate, but still racked up over 200 votes each time).
* Embarked on my longest relationship yet (3 years in June) with a girl I had eyes for from the first time we met (still took 9 months for us to get together!)
* Graduated with a 2:I (gutted. Worked like a trojan in 3rd year wanting a First)
* Lost a close friend and housemate to cancer. Speaking at his memorial service was tough.
* Got a place on a ridiculously competitive graduate scheme in a job I enjoy, and where I work now.

10 years ago I was 8, so...
-Grandma passed away
-Best friend moved, we still stay in touch
-Started playing Final Fantasy
-Achieved black belt in taekwondo
-Went to my first concert
-Graduated Catholic school
-Started high school
-Joined EoFF
-Started first relationship, which ended quickly lol
-Struggled with depression, anorexia, anxiety
-Became state champ in the American Taekwondo Association
-Lost cats and got new cats
-Joined winter color guard team
-Went to Germany, Texas, California, Hawaii, and a few other states I'd never been to before
-Got engaged young, still together
-Dyed my hair for the first time (red), now it's blonde
-Got accepted to colleges
-Got my drivers license

and lots of other things I'm sure I'm forgetting!