chibi-master

I actually just logged in for the first time in forever because my partner and I were talking about our different experiences on the internet and what areas of it we frequented.

I was hit with a massive wave of nostalgia and appreciation for this place. I often feel very grateful when I think about my time on OB because I truly appreciate how kind and patient everyone on this site was to me when I was at the height of my obnoxious 13 year old era. While a lot of people in my life describe the toxic or discouraging communities they found themselves in, I realized that I somehow found myself surrounded by people who took the time to talk to me like a fully-realized person at an age where people in my life were treating me like a small child yet simultaneously expecting me to start acting like an adult.

OB was honestly a safe space that allowed me to experiment and develop during my teenage years. My hyperactive 'lol XD so randomz' energy was tempered without anyone putting me down, and I was able to learn how to actually develop my own opinions instead of just parroting people around me. It might sound like I'm giving too much credit here, but I genuinely believe OB taught me critical thinking skills! Despite being one of the youngest members at the time, other members never talked down to me or made me feel unsafe. It would have been very easy to take advantage of me as a young teen who, upon looking back, was clearly starved for attention of any kind, and yet every member of these forums instead helped in some way to teach me how to dial that back. Additionally, this was all occurring while being given a space to explore some really excellent anime and manga series that became foundational to me in a lot of ways.

I know these forums are kind of dead at this point, but I just wanted to express how much I truly appreciate all of you for making my time on these forums so positively formative! 🥳

I haven't been on here in ages, but here I come clawing my way out of the abyss to deliver a terrible pic. 

I'm back in my hometown of El Paso, TX and WOW I missed it so much!

Living on my own has taught me that I am a terrible cook and I'm equally terrible at keeping up with dishes and laundry. 

On the plus side I am getting better at these things, slowly but surely.

Go to your profile, click on the 'Edit My Profile' button, and changing your avatar will be one of the first options.

You should probably read the site's terms of service.

Trapped forever due to my lack of foresight.

Chibi, I'm going to need you to say "uguu" for me.

I'll get right on that.

*remembers origin of the phrase*

Wait does this mean I'm part of a dating sim 'cause I did not sign up for that.

My parents gave me a crock pot yesterday and they tried to explain it to me, but all I got out of the discussion was that a crock pot is a magic food portal that cooks things so slowly that by the time you get back from school/work/etc. 5 hours later you have an effortless wizard meal. Also add some water???

I am excited to use this thing.

Oh! I used a cast iron mold to make cornbread fish the other day!

I'm moving back to El Paso at the end of the month so I'm packing all my stuff, but this is much more difficult than I had anticipated.

Like why do I own 3/4 of the crap I own???

I thought all my stuff could fit in like 4 boxes. Nope.

I STILL DON'T KNOW HOW TO COOK

Incredibly nervous about living on my own.

I don't know how my sleep schedule got so messed up but it did.

I've been getting 2-4 hours of sleep on average and the weird thing is that i'm not tired at all! 

So I guess it can't be that bad.

Flying to Austin for a few days on Friday! I expect that it'll be fun, but I'll be missing a convention that I usually go to this time of year so I'm torn. ;^;

Well everything was on track for my joining the army until around Thanksgiving when I received a work-related injury that would set me back a couple months. (A tower of boxes came crashing down on me in one of our industrial freezers.The results were not pleasant.) I was really upset about the whole situation until I got an interesting phone call from one of my best friends who I had grown up with in Texas.

At this point I have decided to move back to Texas in the spring (hopefully the Dallas or Austin area) and I'm going to get my RN license before I join the army. I'll make four times as much and I'll be joining as an officer as opposed to an enlisted man.

Oops double-posting~

Hey guys, don't ever offer Allamorph skim milk. He's a milk purist and he'll throw a hissy fit (hah get it?) if you do.

"Oh my god, you have a voice-actor voice."

â??Chibs

NO WAIT DON'T-!

Don't act like that's weird, because you legitimately have a freaking voice-actor voice!!!

I am going to figure out who you sound like, so help me!

Yep. Close friends only.

Sorry, love. =P

Bah. Foiled again. *scurries back into the shadows*

Ah, but the question is: Do you still have a thing against telling people your birthday? I've wanted to send you birthday PMs! :T

Allamorph: Whoa. That's the most information I've ever seen you share about yourself! O_O

Boo: You sound incredibly busy!

Go to the top of the site and you will see your name with a little down arrow. Click the arrow and a menu will drop down. Click on 'my settings' and you can change it there.

Everything is so hard right now. I feel like I might burst. 

.....Is that a serious remark or a play on your new 'username?'

Yikes. It sounds like you've been through the wringer a bit, but hopefully you're better off for it.

 

And thank you for your service, chibi-master. (I certainly never expected to say that!)

 

- Shy

Eh, I'm fine. Everything passes, for the most part, right? :)

I think the only service I ever provided here was annoying moderators and bouncing off the walls! XD

...well.  You certainly grew up nicely.

Thank you very much! :D

Whoops it's been a long time since I posted a photo!

I'm currently getting ready to go into basic training for the army and who knows where that'll take me. :)

I'm kind of at that point where I'm fresh out of high school and I have no clue what's going on and just the mention of the word 'future' makes me flee and hide under the nearest table in a panic.

Like, I signed up with a bank??? And I have a driver's license??? How do adults function???

I kind of miss being the hyper-active, spamming 13 yr. old that signed up here 5 years ago and had no clue about how the world worked. But I think I'll be okay. I survived a lot of stuff this year such as the deaths of 3 people in my graduating class, two of whom were close friends of mine... And homelessness. I was homeless for a little while after my dad tried to hit me and I fled the house. 

At least all of that taught me that my ridiculous amount of optimism gives me superhuman resilience. I'm pretty much emotionally indestructible at this point. Now I just have to work on the physical aspect for the army...

Run System Restore and restore back to the day before your cousin touched it. Depending on your operating system, it's located in different places but if you're on Vista or up, you should be able to just search the start menu.

It's a new laptop so it seems I don't have a restore point on it yet. At least that's the only option I'm getting from the search.

GRAH

My cousin just screwed up my new laptop... I lent it to him for 5 minutes and in that time he saw I did not yet have Microsoft Office installed on the laptop (he's at that age where he's just discovered fonts and colors in Microsoft Word and he's fascinated by it). He decided to be "helpful" and downloaded some 'FREE MICROSOFT OFFICE DOWNLOAD RIGHT HERE I'M TOTALLY NOT A VIRUS' crap and now there are freaking pop-ups and junk all over the place and the laptop is slow as dirt now. 

Every single security scan I run says that there are absolutely no problems with my twitchy laptop. *grinds teeth*

I'm pretty sure I have no other option than to stab my cousin.