Goodbye all!

[Thyarr]

I know these kind of posts are rare these days, having gone the way of "x-thousand post" and "omg five years!" threads. But I have a thing for milestones, and I used to get so excited at the post-count and year milestones, and I used to promise myself that I would make one for every milestone that I encountered. I have most of them saved, as well as tons of roleplay threads (for hot BH nostalgia, log on to a500 post thread after a comments wipe).

And this milestone obsession included goodbye threads: I swore I would never be one of those people that faded away; that my stay at Braggart's Hall would have a punctuation mark at the end. My OCD extends to an obsession with closure. So although part of me wants to stay and wait it out 'til the very end, as I find myself checking the boards less and less, and having finally ended my nearly six-year tenure as Voice Tomah, I figure it's time for said punctuation mark.

I don't really have anything left to say specifically; I think I have given out enough specific thank-yous in various threads over the years, I have made enough jokes, I have cited enough memories (see: Reflections on Evernight from a few years back, which really sums up a lot of what I am saying in this post). I think here, at the end, I am left with just a general sense of gratitude for this place. I am a pretty successful person. I am at a great law school, and I'm going to be working at a pretty incredible place soon. I have moved from bumfuck Michigan across country to school, and I'll be moving back across country to work. I have lived over the Atlantic for months. And at each one of these places in my life, this community was with me: in a very real way, in the people that I met who welcomed me, from the first minibash in Lansing and Toledo to the ones in Edinburgh, to the ones who I fly to Mississippi to see and that drive up to Boston to see me.

It really just occurred to me: I came here when I was 14, and I'm now 23. I have literally grown up with you guys.

But more amazingly than even the people is that I internalized some stuff about this place that has made me a seriously better person. A compassion for people, gained from all the religious debates. An appreciation for beauty, if that's not too cheesy, which was inevitable in all the wonderful roleplay threads that I used to love and participate in. A joy and continual surprise at how funny people can be, from the stupid spam threads, to the celebrity roleplays, to the earliest iParties. A continual amazement at how people can come together from all over the world.

And perhaps the most valuable trait: this place has given me a breathtaking streak of independence. I do not take shit from anyone anymore, and that is, to a great extent, because of this place, which taught me that I can stand up to anyone, that my views are worth defending, and that there is no one innately better than me (aided to no small extent that I think I was flamed after my very first post :]). I've went head to head with professors with whom I disagreed in front of classes, I did oral arguments in front of a pretty awful judge this summer, and I get into it pretty hardcore with people around here about politics, religion, and everything else, and I always hold my ground. I wish that there was some way to show the person I was when I came to this place the person that I have become, because he wouldn't believe it. I don't know if I would have been the same person without having ended up here: I guess it's enough to say that I'm not sure, which is a troubling enough prospect in itself, and it makes me grateful that I don't have to worry about what might have happened had I not caught a random link 8 years ago.

So much has happened here that it's impossible to compartmentalize, and as you can probably see from my packrattish, thread-saving nature, that sort of bothers me. As many threads as I save, I know that I have forgotten more memories from this community than I have retained. But when you've been milling around a place for eight years, maybe it's better that you just let the memories sort themselves out: see what sticks, see what fades, and see what only floats back up when you inevitably meet back up with your old friends down the road.

For those of you that have come to the end of my rambling -- both in this post and in a more general sense :) -- thanks. Bye, all, and God bless. I will miss you, and it's really only in writing this post that I realize how much I will miss this community: I treasure all my memories of it, and it has been an incalculable blessing to have stumbled upon this place so many years ago. Thanks for everything, and if you're ever looking for an old friend, I don't think I will be hard to track down; people still around here have seen me face to face even in recent months, and know how to get in touch. Just ask around :)

Take care of yourselves, and I hope we meet again down the road.

-Thyarr/Tomah/Brad

[Grunt]

you will be back
good luck with the law thing
stay in touch with god and you will be fine

[owly]

One good thing about this community is it always around to come back to

[Torkano]

We'll leave the light on for you. Good luck in your endeavors and God speed.

[TEVA]

Have good life in law and God, you will be strong.
Wow I think your the 1st person that said good bye that makes my eyes tear up.

[Sturm]

It's a small world Master Thyarr, glad to of at least spoken with ya's, if only in text.
May the Girk be with you. ;p

[Taldric]

Keep in touch, man. Good luck with Law school. If we meet up again, the Laphroaig is definitely on me




Fuck Michigan!

[SoulDemon]

Damn monks ;p

Better keep in touch, I may need your law services one day!

[Raknarak]

Take care, Thyarr. You were my favorite Voice, and I always had fun reading your posts.

[Gili]

Doh. He's only joking on the leaving part I'm sure :p

take care dude, was good to meet you in edinburgh

[Stryfe]

Ooh, someone's voice got deeper. <3



You'll pop back, no doubt.

[Eisheth]

Best of luck to you, Thyarr. I hope you gain only good in life.

Stop back and let us celebrate your success' with you once in a while. <3

[_Nagash_]

Good luck mate, and be sure to pop in every once in a while. As soon as you decide to stay again, we'll work ourselves through a few more milestones with you!

[Glorfindel]

Just out of curiosity, why do people say goodbye? Why never intend to come back?

I guess I don't understand it. Where once I was a very active member of this community, RL and other interests took precedence, so I'm not active anymore.

But I do stop by once in awhile to say hi. I dunno, maybe it's just me, but I never felt it necessary to say "goodbye" despite my various negative run-ins with people here over the years.

*shrugs*

[Lasher]

hasta kid, you were good.. real good.

[Atla]

Excellently said Thyarr, I don't think I've ever read an Adios Post that has been as wonderful a description of Monarchy/Braggarts/Evernight/Tempers and it's impact on us.

Obviously our community has been slowly trickling away over the past few years. I don't think it's something that should be looked at with a sigh and regret that this place and community we grew up in won't last forever. Everything eventually comes to an end and I'm certain none of us regret the time we spent on here. Theres a lot of folks I miss back from our beginning days who have left over the years, hell - some of them I occasionally recall and worry about the way they suddenly stopped posting. Tasha and Generalisimo come to mind.

But it's just a stage in our life, most of us entered it during the rather chaotic years of raging hormones and social lives as we dealt with high school. Like any stage, it has to end. As you said, it has made us all better people for that. We'll all leave the community eventually, but our memories and the changes it's made to us will stick around.

Good luck where ever you go man. Your good people and it's been a pleasure to have met you here and spent so many years reading your posts.

Take care of yourself.

[Venus]

bye bye
i hope we see u back here one day though;)

and u can always keep visiting our war chats:P

[Elfie]

Thyarr you will have the urge to pop back in and say hi. It happens to everyone. Good luck in your law practice.

[Captain_Ron]

Good luck in everything Thyarr. Hope to see you back some day.

[Reylan Talonspyre]

Bye man, twas fun talking with you.

You will be missed.

[Sarghi]

Nice to have known you boy

(Coming from someone who faded away)

[owly]

there's no law that says you can't come back and visit

[Leif]

Well well! Good things come to those creep. I'm glad I didn't miss this thread.

Brad, I realize we never did much in the way of deeply personal conversation, but you were always someone who was there. Your personality is a pillar in my memories of this place as much as any other dear. Coming from another who did a substantial amount of growing up here in the community, I can say its been fantastic to have known you and grown up (at least partially) in the same place with you; I think it makes for a sort of bond that won't fade away, nor will memories of you in this place, you're in the people you're leaving behind as you continue to grow up and out into the big bad real world.

Good luck in your studies, thank you for your help and the memories you've made in me!

[Holden]

I could say something like Leif said, but enh, that's not how I roll. I'll post an inside joke below instead, because even if you didn't plan on looking at this thread again, I'll IM you or something and force you to look at it.

[Nethy]

i'll miss you tomoko; stop by every now and again would ya?