Searching my inbox to find my selectbutton registration email from October 2009 and realising that was 16 years ago feels pretty unreal. More then half of my life at this point. I think being part of the various podcasts are pretty big milestones for me as far as feeling like a part of the community. The first one being the Pokemon one of the official SB one in… 2012??:
::the selectbutton.net podcast::: Episode #52: Spring Green
Episode webpage: selectbutton podcast : Episode #52: Spring Green
Media file: https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/selectbutton/Episode_52_Spring_Green.mp3?dest-id=16656
I still remember pretty clearly the lead up to this, probably because I was so nervous. Was visiting my grandma in the countryside and the only room where I could podcast somewhat undisturbed was the tiny upstairs bedroom. Since the back of the bed there is positioned right under where the roof starts slanting you can’t really sit comfortably in it so I did most of the podcast lying flat down on the bed.
Also that I recommended @Persona to download a Teamspeak app to his phone and use that to podcast after he was having some trouble with his computer mic. Still pretty sure this is somehow what led to him being mysteriously muted in the actual recording. Thought for sure the episode would be scrapped after we found this out. To once again show though how much work @B_coma put into that podcast they both got together in a studio later and recorded a bunch of stuff to fill in what was lost and then somehow edited that all together into something perfectly listenable.
Don’t think I was part of any others until Snexploration no. 10 with the listener choice where I picked Exhaust Heat. I don’t think those are available online any more but again was huge step in feeling like I wasn’t just reader of the forum but like maybe was actually forming a connection with people here even if I’ve never been too active of a poster.
If there was any doubt still then it was pretty thoroughly gone when I went to my first meetup of Branson ‘19. Still might be my favourite meetup one? Hard to live up to your first one I guess. Memories of waiting at the gate in an airport and being fairly certain that the person behind me was someone from the forum only to have it confirmed when someone else arrived, they start talking and I recognise the voices of at least @VastleCania . Feel like I sat there maybe for a full minute psyching myself up before finally turning around and greeting my first sbutts ever in person. Still felt a bit shy and awkward though as exemplified by that very flight when the wonderful @Rudie tried his best to break me out of my shell and get a conversation going which I knew I was bad at when after a long pause from his previous attempt he asked “So you see any movies lately?”.
All that still pales somehow in comparison to the most important thing SB did for me some 3,5 years ago. That’s when I first DMed @aislesgrises here which led to us talking more and 6 months later we’re moving in together. I really can’t say much else other then that she’s the love of my life. Only problem is that it’s led to me posting and even reading less since I can just talk to her about whatever inane video game thing I’m thinking about.
And to finish off, this is the first one I always think of when people mention memorable posts: