Welcome to Gaia! ::

Hey.. umm.. remember me?

...

I MISSED YOU ALL SO MUCH. D: I'm so sorry I left!!! I actually remembered to go back to Gaia because I'm writing an essay, and part of it involves you guys. (It also explains why I've been gone) It's kind of sappy, but it's true.

WALL OF TEXT:

"You see, a couple of months later, I found another website. It was called Gaia Online, and it was sort of like Habbo Hotel in the way that it was an online hangout angled towards teenagers, but it was different because it was an internet forum**. People had avatars, but they didn’t move because they represented you in the message boards, and you didn’t have to spend real life money in order to get new clothes. It was decorated with anime-inspired art, and it had an ongoing plotline that I never really followed. Even though it was 6th grade and the awkwardness of 5th grade had passed, I still decided to join it, remembering the fun that I had at Habbo and hoping that it would be somewhat like that. I posted around the forums a lot, I played the games they had, and I joined the “guilds” (private user-owned forums) in order to make friends there. I did make a couple of friends, but not a lot, because I was still a “newbie” and I hadn’t been there for that long. While browsing the guilds, a colorful banner caught my eye. It was a deep purple, and it read “Fast Gold 4 Poor Gaians” (gold also being the currency on Gaia). I figured that because I was pretty poor at the time, and that I did want fast gold, this would be a perfect match, so I joined it.


I posted around in the guild, hoping to earn a few extra gold pieces, when I started talking to the members there. They were all very friendly, and I began adding them as friends. We all became a small and very close group. I had finally been accepted into this internet community. I was thankful that I had found people who actually cared about me online. My only concern was how they would react when they eventually found out my true age. I mean, they were made up of mostly older teens, and one of them was a pregnant woman in her early twenties. Why in the world would they want to be friends with an eleven year old? But eventually they had to find out. I almost expected them to not even talk to me anymore because I was so young. I dreaded the worst. But they were absolutely fine with it. They accepted it, and we moved on as usually, albeit maybe they made the subject matter of their jokes a little less vulgar. Secretly, I was touched and astonished that they didn’t care how old I was. This might sound a little cheesy, but they taught me that age doesn’t really matter when friendship is involved.


What Gaia had also taught me was that anonymity can really be helpful in some situations. I could talk about my own interests, and not be made fun of for them, because there would be others who had the same interests. I could truly be myself online, and not care what other people thought. I could be accepted for who I really was. However, I learned that the downside to anonymity on the internet were the people took advantage of it in order to annoy and abuse people without any real life backlash. These sorts of people (who are called “trolls”) slowly took over the main message boards, and made Gaia a little less fun. I left Gaia in order to avoid these people, and because I had become distracted by many other websites. Eventually I moved on to those other websites and online communities. But I never forgot that one guild, and that one group of friends who liked me for who I was and that helped me become more confident and outspoken. I am glad that I eventually found friends like those in real life."

TL;DR: You guys are so friggin' awesome. biggrin

And my writing kind of sucks.

I won't, I won't.

(HAHA POOF. LIKE CHEEZYPOOFS. AHAHA. Okay I'm done.)

LOL I was hoping you would catch that.

I can't find the picture I made of you and me in an alley in kitty form holding guns with the caption "Partners In Crime" xD

Go visit my wedding thread 8D -points to zombie love thread- Go win some prizes or something xd

Edit: Don't double post <<;; That's a naughty thing to do in this guild

All I have is a myspace xD

I'm too lazy to make a facebook xD

If I made one, I'd probably never use it. Just like my myspace xD

Hey, it's that girl that you are! biggrin *glomp*

I'm gonna add you on facebook right now

I don't see a friend request...hmmm... ninja