Post by nobodyspecial on Jan 23, 2016 23:58:39 GMT -8
Oh Snap!
NobodySpecial returns... briefly, per the usual.
In a drunken haze, I have had a moment of nostalgia. I find it hard to believe that I signed up on here almost 9 years ago, it's too bad I haven't been around in years. You know how life goes though.
About 9 years ago, when I was (I think) 13 or 14, I somehow stumbled on this site. God knows I don't remember how the hell I found it. Some weird google vortex of final fantasy querying. I'm now 23, older now than when some of you guys were when I first joined I think. I read the stories, Bugging Sephiroth, the Amazing Final Fantasy Race, the Squall Emails stuff, and I got hooked and interested in what was going on here, and couldn't help but join in on discussion and contribute where I could, and before I knew it I was a part of a very small but tight-knit community.
It was a lot of fun, and I loved coming here everyday to chat with all of you to talk about whatever the hell we talked about. I didn't have a ton of friends around that time, so it was nice to know that I was still able to come on here in my home time and talk to people with similar interests, and have a good time, even though I was so much younger than any of you. In some ways, I felt like I was closer with you all some than some of my friends that I saw everyday.
I feel like I should thank you guys for that. More over though, I wanna thank Bob specifically.
Back in the days of Mallboro, Bob built the Arena Battler programs, and Blitzball programs, among everything else he's done building and supporting this website. Having grown up playing Final Fantasy, and other games since before I was even able to read or write, I've obviously always been interested in game development and other interests around that industry, but seeing first hand what someone was able to build and program, and having access to be able to poke around the source files and learn how it worked, was immensely influential on me. I had toyed around with RPG Maker and other stuff, but seeing and playing with a real program had a much more profound effect on me.
I took what Bob built and played around with it, and learned a lot, I even built some of my own complex RPG-style combat programs from scratch (of course, looking back on them now is like remembering my first time writing or drawing; there were god fucking awful, but that's beside the point). Moreover, I learned that the idea and execution of programming really appealed to me, differently from just the abstract thought of "oh, you know, it'd be cool to make a game".
Two 2 years ago, I got a job doing web design at a startup company. I've since been promoted a few times, now being an Application Engineer, and product manager of a number of internal software tools, as well as sole-developer and owner of our consumer-facing e-commerce application. I don't even have a degree, I barely went to college at all. I had a strong desire to learn more about programming because of those programs Bob wrote originally, and so I taught myself the tools I needed to be successful at it.
Nowadays, it's probably by biggest passion. I absolutely love programming, software development, and business development in a technical company. This weekend, rather than playing through a recent Final Fantasy save I had started, I decided I'd rather spend the whole weekend engineering hobby software projects. I couldn't think of any other career path I'd rather be in. It wasn't until today that I thought back to "how did I even get into programming?" that I realized my first real exposure to it was because of Bob, and because of this website. My love of Final Fantasy helped expose me to something far more real, and has in a weird sort of way, led me to where I am today as a person, and is responsible for the career path I've gone down. I can't imagine what my present life, or future would be like if it weren't for The Goat Pen.
So, even if I haven't been around for a long long time, and probably won't be around in the future, I still want to officially thank all of you here, with a special thanks for Bob. Without the TGP, I have no doubt my life would be very different today, and quite probably not in a positive way.
In another episode of my weird very rare and (non) occasional appearances, I thought I'd share that. So thanks for being around. I hope that all of you have been doing as well as I have, I know you all sincerely deserve as much.
I'll try and check in again soon (if at the very least to respond to this post). After that, well... In the immortal words of John Denver, "don't know when I'll be back again"...
NobodySpecial returns... briefly, per the usual.
In a drunken haze, I have had a moment of nostalgia. I find it hard to believe that I signed up on here almost 9 years ago, it's too bad I haven't been around in years. You know how life goes though.
About 9 years ago, when I was (I think) 13 or 14, I somehow stumbled on this site. God knows I don't remember how the hell I found it. Some weird google vortex of final fantasy querying. I'm now 23, older now than when some of you guys were when I first joined I think. I read the stories, Bugging Sephiroth, the Amazing Final Fantasy Race, the Squall Emails stuff, and I got hooked and interested in what was going on here, and couldn't help but join in on discussion and contribute where I could, and before I knew it I was a part of a very small but tight-knit community.
It was a lot of fun, and I loved coming here everyday to chat with all of you to talk about whatever the hell we talked about. I didn't have a ton of friends around that time, so it was nice to know that I was still able to come on here in my home time and talk to people with similar interests, and have a good time, even though I was so much younger than any of you. In some ways, I felt like I was closer with you all some than some of my friends that I saw everyday.
I feel like I should thank you guys for that. More over though, I wanna thank Bob specifically.
Back in the days of Mallboro, Bob built the Arena Battler programs, and Blitzball programs, among everything else he's done building and supporting this website. Having grown up playing Final Fantasy, and other games since before I was even able to read or write, I've obviously always been interested in game development and other interests around that industry, but seeing first hand what someone was able to build and program, and having access to be able to poke around the source files and learn how it worked, was immensely influential on me. I had toyed around with RPG Maker and other stuff, but seeing and playing with a real program had a much more profound effect on me.
I took what Bob built and played around with it, and learned a lot, I even built some of my own complex RPG-style combat programs from scratch (of course, looking back on them now is like remembering my first time writing or drawing; there were god fucking awful, but that's beside the point). Moreover, I learned that the idea and execution of programming really appealed to me, differently from just the abstract thought of "oh, you know, it'd be cool to make a game".
Two 2 years ago, I got a job doing web design at a startup company. I've since been promoted a few times, now being an Application Engineer, and product manager of a number of internal software tools, as well as sole-developer and owner of our consumer-facing e-commerce application. I don't even have a degree, I barely went to college at all. I had a strong desire to learn more about programming because of those programs Bob wrote originally, and so I taught myself the tools I needed to be successful at it.
Nowadays, it's probably by biggest passion. I absolutely love programming, software development, and business development in a technical company. This weekend, rather than playing through a recent Final Fantasy save I had started, I decided I'd rather spend the whole weekend engineering hobby software projects. I couldn't think of any other career path I'd rather be in. It wasn't until today that I thought back to "how did I even get into programming?" that I realized my first real exposure to it was because of Bob, and because of this website. My love of Final Fantasy helped expose me to something far more real, and has in a weird sort of way, led me to where I am today as a person, and is responsible for the career path I've gone down. I can't imagine what my present life, or future would be like if it weren't for The Goat Pen.
So, even if I haven't been around for a long long time, and probably won't be around in the future, I still want to officially thank all of you here, with a special thanks for Bob. Without the TGP, I have no doubt my life would be very different today, and quite probably not in a positive way.
In another episode of my weird very rare and (non) occasional appearances, I thought I'd share that. So thanks for being around. I hope that all of you have been doing as well as I have, I know you all sincerely deserve as much.
I'll try and check in again soon (if at the very least to respond to this post). After that, well... In the immortal words of John Denver, "don't know when I'll be back again"...