So how is everyone doing?

[Agrias]

I just went looking for Misfit and I hope she posts here because I miss her and also cause god damn, she's had some major life events!

Oh, hi!

Okay, bye!

What was that ridiculous bird smiley, you remember Misfit? And so good to hear from you Danni.

Holy trout, the smiling bird. :>) And damn you Shalyn tell me about your important life events now!

And as for you, Alive-Man...

Oh ho ho the smiling bird, yes! :>) I'm so glad dammy and you remembered it! I'm so happy now... :')

I got married 2 1/2 years ago, I met Alice (agrias) and she gave me her seed, I bore her daughter Alice JR February 9th of this year...

Alice doesn't call me anymore...

Um, i email you hundreds of times AT WORK, and i whatsapp you when i'm not at work which is never.
I STILL LOVE YOU WHY WONT YOU MARRY ME!?

[Rirse]

For some of the older members in this thread who never really left and changed their names, can you post what you used to go by? I'm already confused by Big Umaro on Steam to the point I can't remember what he going by , and it even tougher to determine whom some of the old members are.

[Shorty]

I just went looking for Misfit and I hope she posts here because I miss her and also cause god damn, she's had some major life events!

Oh, hi!

Okay, bye!

What was that ridiculous bird smiley, you remember Misfit? And so good to hear from you Danni.

Holy trout, the smiling bird. :>) And damn you Shalyn tell me about your important life events now!

And as for you, Alive-Man...

Oh ho ho the smiling bird, yes! :>) I'm so glad dammy and you remembered it! I'm so happy now... :')

I got married 2 1/2 years ago, I met Alice (agrias) and she gave me her seed, I bore her daughter Alice JR February 9th of this year...

Alice doesn't call me anymore...

It was Shorty who reminded me of some sort of weird bird smiley yesterday. Still couldn't remember what the smurf it was. Not untill Psycho reminded me of it. Hahah really lolled here. How the trout I could forget the smurfing smiling bird. :>)

the smiling bird, I hate him so much xD

[Agent Proto]

For some of the older members in this thread who never really left and changed their names, can you post what you used to go by? I'm already confused by Big Umaro on Steam to the point I can't remember what he going by , and it even tougher to determine whom some of the old members are.

It's Rirse! Hey there!

[Leeza]

I have to say that I am very proud of everyone here. EoFF is made up of some of the best human beings in the world. Over the years, and especially after being made a CK and then later an Admin, I got to think of all of you as my 'EoFF internet kids'. Of course some of you are before even my time here and don't know who I am. However, it is now awesome to see how you've all ended up 12 years later. Still some of the best human beings in the world with kids of your own, contributing to society, etc., etc. Love you all. I had a great time here. You're all good people.

[XxSephirothxX]

EoFF has created too many lawyers.

Judging by how many lawyers and nurses and other professionals we have here now, it seems like the members of EoFF are in a better position than ever before to ruin lives. I like it.

For some of the older members in this thread who never really left and changed their names, can you post what you used to go by? I'm already confused by Big Umaro on Steam to the point I can't remember what he going by , and it even tougher to determine whom some of the old members are.

If you look at someone's profile, the "about me" tab shows former usernames. I'm not sure they're there for everyone.

I'd kind of like a forum skin to include that information under the avatar, just so I could keep track of it, myself. Half the posts I look at I wonder "do I know this person?"

I too have a serious case of "Look at all the names here that I recognize, yet I have no idea who these people are". Maybe partly due to my failing memory in my old age, partly due to not having been that close to begin with. That's OK. Think of all the people you grew up with, perhaps spent 5 days a week with in school from the age of 6 to 18. Then you lose touch with them for a few years and meet up again and they're strangers to you. It's no surprise that it happens so easily with people on a message board. People change fast.

But we all have a shared history of being EoFFers. That's one more thing than we all have in common with all of the other strangers in the world. It can be a springboard to form new relationships now, for anyone who wants one. Those new relationships might last, or not, but that's OK too.

Enjoy the brief time you have with people while you have it. Move on if it's time to move on. What else is there? It can still be meaningful even if it's only temporary.

(The fact that everyone seems to have turned out so well after all this time is probably because of selection bias. The people who didn't turn out well aren't going to post here, because they don't have internet, or they're passed out in a ditch somewhere or in prison or dead.)

Best summary of an Internet social life I've ever seen, I think. It is a wonderful common ground to have, I think, and one that works much like having come from the same town as someone else or whatever it is we use to form bonds.

The flip side of your first example, though, is when you have intense, close relationships with people--in person or online--and let them fade for one reason or another. But then you see them again and it's just like old times, like that time didn't pass and you're still good friends and relate to each other the way you did when you were kids. That doesn't always happen, obviously, and no one's going to relate to this place exactly the same way they did when they were 16.

But some of those bonds are for life.

[Loony BoB]

Rirse, let me know of some names from the old times that you can remember, and I'll do what I can to let you know if they are still posting and under what name.

[Rirse]

Rirse, let me know of some names from the old times that you can remember, and I'll do what I can to let you know if they are still posting and under what name.

Cool. And also hey there Loony Bob and Agent Proto. Also wow my signature until a few minutes ago was OLD since all the images and the site it linked to are long dead.

[Mikztsu]

Rirse, let me know of some names from the old times that you can remember, and I'll do what I can to let you know if they are still posting and under what name.

Cool. And also hey there Loony Bob and Agent Proto. Also wow my signature until a few minutes ago was OLD since all the images and the site it linked to are long dead.

Rirse, you are needed in this topic. http://home.eyesonff.com/general-gam...ml#post3227981


I just remembered...Atrast! Everyone hide!

[Del Murder]

How's the digging going? Sometimes I wonder what Greg is up to.

I may need a bigger shovel to find that guy.

[Knox]

Chillax, you talk like you went around mutilating people's dogs or something.

Nothing that severe, and I know it reads melodramatic. But I did hurt a lot of people due to overwhelming self absorption and a callous disregard for anyone that was not me, or couldn't benefit me in some way. And I get that a lot of things like this are already in the past for people - it's just hard for me personally knowing that I was that way, and knowing that even if they're over it or have forgiven me, there's still that lingering memory in people's minds of this old me who did these bad things and was this bad person, who I put down in 07 but still can't fully get rid of.

I wish I could make more sense - it's been a long day - but that is why I haven't tried to reconnect for the most part. And when I have, I have generally been met with polite but cold responses, which I must accept, because I understand - basically, a "I forgive you for who you were, but I don't want to know who you have become" - and if Daniel hadn't told me my name had been brought up I probably would have stayed away.

tl;dr of all this is if you and I used to be friends and you want to reconnect, I am absolutely receptive, but for the most part I can't initiate while I've still got this cloud of guilt. It will feel like an imposition and I have imposed enough for one life.

Crap PAUL KNOX posted? And I missed it? Why did I have to leave the house on my only day off?

<3 I actually go by Gene now, since 07 or 08 actually! Paul has some baggage with it that I'm kinda trying to leave behind. I miss you and hope you're well! My AIM is the same as ever, I can't stop using the thing.

[Shorty]

I know that things are a little bit slow around here right now and that EoFF isn't to it's former glory, and it never will be. A lot has changed since many of you have been here but it's still the same EoFF, just with different faces.

We all get busy and stuff, and lord knows we all have personal lives (what's that) but I would love to see some of the older faces around here more often. This was a nice surprise (thanks towns even though you didn't include me you giant steamroller) and you guys are missed and you are definitely loved.

[m4tt]

Matt! Matt. This is important. I owe you five dollars. WAY back, Livejournal had a thing where you had to pay 5 dollars to register or whatever, and you gave me some...like, you paid the five dollars I guess? I don't know, but somehow I was able to get a LJ because you did something that otherwise would've required me to pay five dollars. So I owe you a fiver, I think? I never forgot. I told you I wouldn't and I didn't.

Hey guy, I'm trying to remember that, but my memory is horrible on certain things. I could tell you anything about the electric system or where to find almost anything in WoW, but I dunno. Let's just say don't worry about it.

But reading your post reminded me of stuff that I wanted to say. I sometimes look back on my old LiveJournal entries and think, what was wrong with me? Man I was a spazz sometimes. (or all the time) I also feel like I took my Cid's Knight "job" way too seriously sometimes which cause me to miss out on a lot of fun at this place. I like to think that I've always been a pretty nice person, but man was I a dick sometimes.

So anyway, I've grown up a ton (even though I was already an adult practically when I started here) over the last few years. Having a kid did that for me. I'm still pretty immature for my age, but I'd say I'm doing a few things right now. I'd still say that one of my biggest regrets in my life was how I "left" this community the first time back in 2005, and how I just blew off all the people who I had gotten to know over the course of 5 years. All for a stupid girl. How dumb.

And Gene, I'm doing well. I hope you are as well. I don't have AIM anymore but you can hit me up on email if you wanna catch up. I think it's in my profile, if not I'll put it there.

And also, Hi Leeza! I forgot to say hi, so hi. And T-money and Miriel too! I remember playing FFIX with you guys, those were the days.

[Silverlocke]

Currently I live in Toronto and I'm a professional left-winger. Also, I'm 28 years old. Coming back here feels like when I tried playing FF7 again a couple of years ago. Their hands are squares! How did I ever focus on anything other than their stupid square hands?

Now that the great internet reformation is underway, it's easy to see that this place was way ahead of its time. Since I was going to be an internet person for my teen years, I'm glad that I landed in the place that wasn't a haven for angry misogynistic scummery. Made for a soft landing when high school was over and it was time to move on. Also, nowadays a good 1/3 of my friends' relationships started on OKCupid, so all you couples that started because of EoFF were ahead of your time too.

Once a year or so a couple of my high school friends and I subway uptown to the area I grew up to wander around and reminisce. This thread is like seeing a whole lot of people doing that all at once. So, thanks for the message, Daniel. This is nice.

Also, what's with you people and having children? I hope I never understand the appeal of those things.

[Asorie]

I suppose since the rest of you oldbies are giving status updates, I might as well. As I said previously, I've been married since 2005. I found the perfect husband (he thinks leveling up is "the fun part" of RPGs), and after a desperate bid to flee the Midwest for a while and drink lots of really excellent beer in Seattle, we have returned to Minnesota, where my husband's from, to drink excellent beer in Minneapolis instead.

As some of you will no doubt be much relieved to hear, I am neither a lawyer nor a nurse, nor will I be spawning any rugrats. *shudder* So by day I work in corporate grocery merchandising (job hunting in a new city in the midst of a recession = TOTALLY AWESOME) and by night I am the local food preservation expert, kind of DIY-crazy, and am heavily involved in the urban agriculture movement. I'm working on my Braille transcription certification, a book on pressure canning, and improving my aim a tad more to qualify for rifleman, at the moment, because apparently I wasn't scary enough before.

I'm a complete video game luddite -- I don't play many of these newfangled 3D-looking talking games you kids are all into now, where you have to interact with actual people to play, but I do still hook up the SNES every so often to give the older games a play-through.

Nothing that severe, and I know it reads melodramatic. But I did hurt a lot of people due to overwhelming self absorption and a callous disregard for anyone that was not me, or couldn't benefit me in some way. And I get that a lot of things like this are already in the past for people - it's just hard for me personally knowing that I was that way, and knowing that even if they're over it or have forgiven me, there's still that lingering memory in people's minds of this old me who did these bad things and was this bad person, who I put down in 07 but still can't fully get rid of.

I wish I could make more sense - it's been a long day - but that is why I haven't tried to reconnect for the most part. And when I have, I have generally been met with polite but cold responses, which I must accept, because I understand - basically, a "I forgive you for who you were, but I don't want to know who you have become" - and if Daniel hadn't told me my name had been brought up I probably would have stayed away.

tl;dr of all this is if you and I used to be friends and you want to reconnect, I am absolutely receptive, but for the most part I can't initiate while I've still got this cloud of guilt. It will feel like an imposition and I have imposed enough for one life.

I think it's hard for a lot of us to reconnect with people we used to be really close to, even when the parting was on good terms, for some of the same reasons you go by a different name now -- we're all different people than we were five or ten or fifteen years ago, to a greater or lesser extent. Time goes by, some joys and heartaches fade into the past or are dwarfed by greater concerns, and life whacks you over the head another ten or twenty times with change or loss or unexpected developments...all of a sudden you look back and realize you don't really understand that person you used to be, anymore. And you realize you've grown in a lot of ways, but in doing so, to move forward, you have had to give up a lot of the once-familiar common ground you shared with people as who you used to be.

This is how I think of it sometimes -- some of these people, here, and some who aren't here now, but with whom I have reconnected in other ways, saw me as the least likable version of myself I can thus far recall having been. And even before I had had a chance to learn equanimity, or tact, or break out of the tiny little backwards world I had grown up in, even at my most mercurial, insecure, and least stable, they were still my friends. I could come here and have silly, carefree fun, and also have real conversations about things that actually mattered, and no one would bounce me out the door for being the pathetic teenager I was.

So think about all that and consider that this many years later, some of that still exists -- there are still people who, no matter how much you may cringe thinking of your past self, remember you fondly enough to say, "Hey, where's ____?" and notice if you're missing.