Not to imply that these days aren't good. Hell, that title probably pissed ten different people off. If it did, don't take it personally, I'm not insinuating that all is lost today. But, only a few years ago…

- I believed serpy lived in a cave, feeding off of lichen and other odd species found on rocks and walls. I always knew he had a chair nailed to the wall, but the whole scenario was shrouded in much more mystery.

- I was making friends with a ton of people who I now have not heard from in literal years.

- I still had room to learn in GM. We all did… We always had something new to showcase, something new to joke about. Some moron would post another Mario game, and everyone would have a laugh, except people who were genuinely outraged. There was a constant supply of new things to look at, to learn from, to talk about.

- Game Maker couldn't be decompiled at the push of a button; there was still fun to be had and secrets to be kept. And things to exploit. It's almost odd that I still have the first place CSX badge… Maybe it has just become too easy to steal now to be worth it. Maybe it's just hard coded into the system by now. (That last sentence was a joke. Don't even bother me about it)

- HTML privs existed. As did SY. Everyone who knew any JavaScript was having a blast screwing things up, but on this implicit honor system that no one would ruin the site for everyone else. I'm still a bit mad at the multiple assholes who had to take that away. Point to prove or not, there was no harm before then… Even with all the artificial rules that the admins (namely, TwisterGhost) had imposed. But that's what made it more fun.

- Everyone was here for the same reason. Since then, everyone seems to have moved away. I mean, certainly, GM is no place for 64D. But I meant from the world of programming in general. Hell, arc was going to turn this place into a more general community just on account of that fact. No one I talk to still uses Game Maker, and of those, only some 20 still use any sort of code, really. I wish more were like that twenty. But because of that unity at the time, there was so much more to talk about… We all had that one thing in common. The place bordered invite-only. The referral badge meant something. Everyone I knew talked to one another at least once a day.

- Portal was something new to me. So was Doukutsu. The two are the only PC games worth a second glance, and I would hardly give either a shot. Serpy begged me for at least a hundred years before I finally played it. And then he was gone… Gone to play amongst the humans…

It's funny, just as I started writing this, serpy made his return… He'll probably not be on longer than an hour.

I made my games and had my fun, never thinking I'd need to grow up far past that. Thinking that the deepest moments of human creativity were captured in video games and the dialogue therein. Never stopping to think that college would really be necessary; and to this day I'm not sure it is.

I picture this little hobby of ours as a giant tree, almost as an umbrella, in a cold, stormy world. These last months I've spent at college… It's like they're pulling me away, and I'm just hoping to wake up and see that all that time I've spent there was just that two second event… that moment of sheer unpleasantness when you move too far from the tree and the cold rain strikes your arms, making you aware of the temperature of your veins, feeling almost numbing as it runs back off. That's when you wake up and slip back under the shelter of the leaves. I've done that, actually.

If you can't tell, I'm in a figurative mood. I figure I'll end it now or risk sounding like a damn pansy.

I was just lecturing serpy on his past self vs his present.

I like to think I haven't changed all that much, aside from being slightly less involved in the noobspeak. People I used to talk to have regressed into it naturally now. It's slightly sad… I myself have forsaken all grammar in instant messages. I'm not so concerned about that, though, as I am the looming cloud of unintelligence that follows with it. Most of those people have moved on to other things, like sports and weed. Which reminds me of Luda, despite that not being directed at him.

He decided one day to have some kind of problem with me. I don't really know what, but I guess that's it for the two of us. Just another victim of age, I guess. Basically, he started blocking me when he was done talking, even if he was the one that started a conversation. And it wasn't even that we were in a heated debate; he was just done hearing from me and so would–without warning–express his agitation and block me. I told him the most recent time that it would be the last, and as soon as he did, I did the same. Haven't heard from him since. (Meaning, by 64D either)

So in conclusion, the old days were more full of fun and people, and less full of work and disaster and cold-ass motherfucking rain.

Thank you.

PS.