Been feeling nostalgic lately and thought about this place off and on over the last ~7 or so years. Kind of nuts that everything is so different yet so the same.
Anyways, I wanted to stop in and write an update of my life for you guys.
I'm 28 years old now, and since being perhaps banned for botting lol what , have graduated college, entered the work force, been in a loving long term relationship, got our first kitten, cars, had our first vacations abroad AND domestically together, watched friends get married, have kids, got a puppy, got engaged and recently, bought our first home in the suburbs - with another new kitten, of course. It's been a wild ride full of overwhelming joy, bouts of sadness and tough times for sure, but it's all been worth it. Had a big boy job at 2 of the "Big American Tech Companies" and now I'm doing some fascinating stuff in Cybersecurity elsewhere. Crazy.
Let's be real- in 2019, this game is complete sh*t. Garbage fire. A relic of its time from the early 2000's. However, I attribute a lot of my career and job success to spending so much time on ISRO, CSRO and JSRO towards the end. I obsessed over botting, modding and controlling the mechanics of the game to my liking. Delved into the world of packet stream manipulation and replication, database exploits and client side "attacks", not for the challenge of "Winning" SRO (you don't win SRO), but instead to overcome and understand the technology better.
This led me into taking those practical skills and experiences into the real world. I was doing Helpdesk Monkey work in 2011, while quickly learning that theres more out there to accomplish. The foundational skills and script-kiddie hackery set me up to go into Network Engineering and now Cybersecurity Leadership. I knew my shit and was entering a workforce that was decimated by the Great Recession, and where most people genuinely had 0 interest in technology outside of their day job - that was my in, and I played to that advantage aggressively.
But, I also learned confidence from you people. How to argue, teamwork, lose gracefully (sometimes) and win. How to lead a party, and a guild. How to manage conflict in general and how to think strategically and gracefully. I know it sounds a bit much, but I attribute so much of who I became during my formative years from HS and early college to not just this game, but this community here and within Xian, Odin, Venus and so much more.
Like many of you, I was young and this place, this game, was my escape. At times I felt and was, in my real life, isolated, alone, bullied, harassed and outcasted. Here, I had a purpose, friends, fun, memories. To this day I hear the soundtrack from the Ice and its meaningful. Looking back with 20/20 vision, compared to many of my peers who turned to violence, drugs, or who simply gave up on themselves and their schooling.... I am glad to have been here. Truly. It's nuts that a random Guild member in 2009 took the moment to mentor me in something called "Cisco Administration and Microsoft Server", and its even more nuts that I latched on and embraced it fully.
Anyways, this is getting a bit long. Some more fun updates:
My family and I were essentially re-united, after years apart in different countries, in the USA, after I left SRO. It was great to have my siblings back; they all played SRO, too, and some were even on this forum. In face this game is one of the few moments in time we could all be together; I didn't realize it at the time, but now I appreciate having that.
I like the gym. A lot. I've been doing my best to do things such as lifting weights, keeping up on my cardio and managing my diet and body weight. It's really awesome and I love that feeling after a good, hard workout (thats what she said).
I met the love of my life and we're getting MARRIED. And then... BABIES. And then... A JEEP (?). Really happy about that.
Switched over from the PC world to the Apple one with no regrets. I can't help that my phone and laptop are entirely superior in every functional, meaningful way, shape and form.
And finally,
Special call out to my first guild PlayM8's and Sandman + crew. Burningwolf, NoHunta, izmeister, saad and his bro, Berto, Riptide, RhetoricOwns, Oriya, Eric, Ger, Tasdik, (I KNOW YOU'RE AROUND, I love you bitch), and for countless others whos names I can't quite recall... who played with me from 2007 through ~2010-11 ish.
Made it this far down?
10K PLYS. ...
.... No, for real, do you know what a new roof costs???Cheers,
~Shael
