Don't mind me, just posting my creative writing essay here. [best part is, it's not supposed to be conventional!] The summer of 2009 was a slow and painful one. It was much like the hourly nose bleeds that sprung up from nowhere. I’m certain I could have filled a person or two with the blood, had I actually had the dedication to do so. Maybe I could have even saved a life, and fulfilled the wish of The Fray. Yet, I did not and two people could have possibly died in some dingy hospital setting; roaches pouring from the walls and bat droppings falling from the ceiling. It’s a shame, really. All this could have been avoided by such a simple decision on my part. Maybe if I wasn’t such a pile of raging self-deprecation, I could have done something more. And maybe I could have avoided the Internet. I remember simply sitting on my bed for hours a day. By a sheer stroke of luck, I escaped the grips of another Pokemon binge. I buried my head into my pillow, groaning. A few days earlier, I walked down the stairs only to meet my mother. “Why don’t you call up some friends and hang out with them?†I remember telling her something along the lines of they went away on vacation (I was still trying to refrain from using the “They died†excuse until I needed it), slightly disgusted at the B.S coming from my mouth. “Honestly, I’m convinced you’re bullshitting here. Anyway, you forgot your laundry. Again. Go switch it around.†I recall sighing over the spinning clothes, equating them to my life thus far. But then came the realization that I’m about as good at poetry as Charlie Sheen is at not being a prick. Woe was indeed me. Between sulking over the laundry and going to return to my room, I decided to get on the computer. Maybe, I realized, I can distract myself with Facebook. After pulling up Firefox, I made a mistake that couldn’t be undone; I clicked the wrong link. Soon, I came face to face with a white and blue Internet forum. The words “Welcome to KH-Vids.net Now, I knew what I was looking at; I had found this website months ago during a brief obsession period with a video game. I had browsed around in the threads before, and found myself agreeing with these people who seemed just like me: alone, sarcastic, and successful recovery cases of the dreaded “Kingdum Hartz†disease. At this point in time, I was eating a plum; thoughts of the TV show “Code Geass†were floating in and out of my head like a transit airline. Without much second thought on the subject (a typical trait of mine), I clicked on the “Create Account†button, entered the required fields and hit submit. It was from this moment onward I slated my existence as Plums Vi Britannia. As it meant sitting on a computer for hours on end, I had always associated forums as a beacon of death; a warning that you were quickly losing any chance you had at having a “lifeâ€. The threat of becoming the new Megan Meier was near nonexistent in my head. I was (and still am) quite confident I could avoid falling into any and all “old men strokin’ their williesâ€. After posting my introduction thread, a way of forcing others to acknowledge my new-found online existence, a message was left on my profile from a member much like me: new, ditsy, and a tad bit on the insane side. “Hey xD What are you up to?†Although I'd like to say my first impression was positive, it was somewhere between the lines of "The **** is this" and "Didn't I just make my Intro thread? You ****ing creep." In the end, I ended up replying about how I was trying to figure out a customization for my profile while trying to get used to my new glasses. Low and behold, this user replied once more, and continued to. Eventually, I warmed up to her, allowing her to refer to me as Alex. Surprisingly, she allowed me to call her by her first name as well (Aiya). Over time, I began to see how much in common we had, which is an insane (…heh) amount of things. It was through meeting her that the rest of the forum suddenly lit up before me, and I took it on with an outlook inspired by Aiya's username: "About my opinion of forums before? Ah, eff that." There are multiple sections on the forum. One in its entirety is dedicated to the continued discussion of Kingdom Hearts. Naturally, as a "newfag", jargon for "new person", I clung to this section harder than I had the arms of friends at an ice skating rink. I remember my first thread in this section focusing on the generic villainous army, and still shudder at the half-essay posts I had contributed. While it must have been an influence from AP World History essays, I still feel a chill at the thought of creating such…things. Once I became more comfortable, I began to expand outward into other sections. News, Literature, Media, the Writer's Corner, Discussion; the list goes on. If there was any section I did not venture into, it was the SpamZone. As the title suggests, It was an area built for spam. As I figured it, the SpamZone was a sentient cesspool of any and all horrible creations or things that any member could find. Yet, there was something alluring about this ...chaos, something that called out to me. With a deep breath, I dove into the SpamZone, and to this day, I swear that I have five times the amount of posts in there than I do in any of the other sections combined. Becoming a junkie of the SpamZone actually had its benefits. To my torture, I was clawed away from "newfag" status and thrown into the spotlight. Other members began to take notice of my posts, giving to me something that I had never noticed at that point in time. This "gift" is known as "Reputation", points that can be given (or taken away) by any of the other members. While it was once important, "Rep" has since lost any value except to be "dem shiny green gems dat look so purdy". Yet, the magical square still appealed to me, and I received more and more as my time on the forum progressed. It was only last week did I receive enough Reputation to push me into 911 points. Or, as I call it, the Bin Laden points. (And yes, I still somehow manage to get positive feedback even though I'm such a terrible person.) Through the course of last year, I'd like to believe I've secured my place in KHV (especially since I won Best Normal Member in the annual Awards). Whenever I log on, there's just an air of confidence that takes over and pushes me forward. I remember going to school one day last May, and holding conversations with such ease that I didn't even realize it until afterward. At the end of the day, I found myself on Gmail, talking to my friend Aubrey through the chat function. I noticed myself talking in the same manner I had on KHV, and questioned her of this. She said she didn't notice any drastic changes, but I did. By going to KHV, by becoming someone who was comfortable with themselves in front of absolute strangers, something changed within my everyday life. I became wittier, more confident. I was, at this point, neither Alex nor Plums. I was truly, at last, me. And to think this all could have been different if I had clicked the right link. Well, sorry two ambiguous hospitalized souls. I think I happen to like this decision more than I can regret others.
Thanks Ms. Misty. :3 well, chev said i shouldn't so no trolls come and troll**** the site D: andohplz wait till the next chapter
