Hopping back on NG I was kind of shocked to see that 20 years with this community passed without fanfare. Like I kind of can't believe it. I've existed on the periphery for a long time, always stopping by the way you drive through your old stomping grounds when you visit home. If you have never left home, you will understand if you ever do.

I'm really, really glad NG is still here. It meant a lot to me when I was young, and lonely, and isolated. It was a time when a lot of kids were finding other weirdos like them for the first time. I think in some ways it was one of many catalysts that pushed me to leave home. I had to get out of my small town to meet the other people that I now knew were out there. I know there are other people on here that felt exactly that same way. It's kinda cool to be an Elder Weirdo able to throw some money to NG, something that gave me so much and really asked for nothing in return. And against all odds, through ups and downs they are still doing it. Absolutely remarkable.

I wonder where all the other old weirdos are. I wonder if they also drop by from time to time, standing across the street and trying to peer through the glass. I wonder how many are out there with families of their own, if they ever told their kids about their time here the way I talked to mine. I wonder how many of them aren't with us anymore at all, and the truth is I will never know.

But you know, lately, I've been coming back here more and more. For a while it was maybe once a year or so as I made the decisions in my life that pulled me this way and that. Then sometime in the mid 20-teens it started to become more frequent, with real bursts of activity. I don't think I'll ever rule the portal the way I dreamed of as a kid, but then again I didn't even create anything at all until I was closer to 30 than 13. But maybe this time I'll stick around a bit more. I want to.