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Exhausted and drained, but pervadingly calm in the sense of anxiety being ubiquitous to the point of being mundane and losing its former sting.

So many memories of my Nintendo DSi in particular. I didn't own very many home consoles as a kid, but I had a PC and a DSi. I absolutely loved both, but the latter takes a particularly special place in my heart by virtue of taking it with me on memorable road trips and vacations. I remember plugging in my headphones in the car with my DSi and listening to DragonForce and Disturbed, deriving great enjoyment from the very low quality lossy audio capable of being played back on that device. Got me started on my passion for metal that has expanded quite a bit over the years. I remember playing my DSi in the hotel room at night while visiting my grandma, sinking into the comfortable armchair while running through some Phantom Hourglass dungeons. Those memories evoke a particular sense of comfort and calm that is difficult to grasp anymore.

Aha, I'm fashionably late to my own welcome thread! In all seriousness, I'm sorry and meant to post here way sooner than this. Work has been hell this past week with some extra long hours to finish some projects and deal with some urgent situations. Thank you everyone so much for the warm welcome -- I truly and deeply appreciate the kindness and friendship everyone is showing me. I haven't been active here in years, and I definitely didn't expect anywhere near as many people as there are to remember me and still care about me. It is incredibly kind to not only welcome me back to the community, but to give me the opportunity to contribute as a member of the staff once again even after my extended period of absence and inactivity. That means a very great deal to me and underscores one of the countless reasons why I love this community so dearly, and why I came back: the kindness, empathy and generosity shared here is immeasurable. I always have and always will cherish this dear community. For some context for those who don't know me, or don't know all the pertinent details: I joined MLPF back in 2013, and I was an active member of the community before eventually joining the staff. I started out as a Tech Support assistant, progressed to Moderator and eventually Admin. The bulk of my work and experience in the staff, even as an Admin was focused on moderation, and later managing moderation & escalated safety incidents + appeals. I have almost no experience working event coordination, as from my memory that was largely handled by Jeric, Artemis and probably others during my time. So I might have a bit of a slow start getting up to speed with this team and learning the ropes, but I'm really excited to step outside of my comfort zone and learn new ways to give back to this community. I ended up leaving many years ago in part due to some personal struggles in life, but honestly I don't really know why it took me so long to properly return. I've just been caught up in various life situations and professional challenges, and as part of that I lost sight of some of the things that bring me joy in life, including the MLPF community and all the wonderful friends I made here. I checked in on MLPF several times over the years, often without logging in: but I've now come to realize how many years I've missed this community even without actively focusing on it. I deeply regret being gone for so long and I apologize for anyone who felt abandoned or in any way saddened by my departure. I neglected all of my friends here and I wish I could go back and make a lot of different and better decisions. I've learned a lot and grown significantly in life during my absence, so now the best I can do is return to full activity and contribute here with a higher degree of quality than I was capable of in the past. I deeply appreciate everyone's kind welcomes, but I wanted to respond to a few specifically in particular: @Sir Hugsalot -- Thank you, from the bottom of my heart for your kindness. I am truly honored and touched that you were the one to post this. When I think back on my precious memories of MLPF, you were always chief among the people who gave this community the atmosphere and spirit that it has. The spirit of kindness, charity and joy. You always brought a smile to my face and brightened these forums on a daily basis. To see that you are not only still active, but an Admin and actively leading the community with your tremendous heart and positive attitude: this brings me deep joy and satisfaction that I cannot properly express with words. Also, I love the cute Luna art so much!! @Marcato -- It's so great to see you again!! It's been so long. I have so many fond memories of you and our conversations way back in the day and it brings me joy to see old members popping in or still active, and hopefully doing well. I hope everything has been going well for you in life and would love to chat again sometime. @Silky The Smoll -- Thank you so much for your generous kindness toward me, and I am truly touched by how you describe my impact in regard to your connection with Sir Hugsalot. I've always been fascinated by the concept of the butterfly effect: seemingly insignificant actions cascading across numerous causal flows resulting in monumental and earth-shattering changes. While the exact mechanics of such a thing are nebulous and debatable, at minimum I have personally seen and experienced the effects of something like the butterfly effect at different times in my life. To hear that any small actions I took here helped 2 kind people to meet each other and form a loving bond: that means more than I can say. In essence, that gives me a sense of meaning in life, being able to make a positive impact on others. That makes each day worthwhile. Serious stuff aside -- everyone here seems like as wacky and fun a group as I fondly remember everyone always being, and that is now bringing emotional tears to my eyes even more than the serious stuff lol @Dark Qiviut -- DQ, it brings my heart peace to see that you are still active in this community. I love seeing your buffalo avatar, just seeing that brings so many fond memories rushing back. I always loved reading your critiques of MLP episodes and still do. You have contributed more substance and quality discussion to this forum than probably anyone I can think of, and that is a treasure indeed. I hope life has been treating you well. @Gone Airbourne -- I'm so overjoyed to see that you are here too! So many fond memories I love your recent artwork you shared and I'm so happy to see you taking joy in that. I hope that life has been going well for you over all these years. And thank you again so much to all! I'm so excited to meet new people and people I may have ran into here or there but never talked to much. Whether we've ever chatted before or not, I'm always happy to make new friends and reconnect with old friends! Feel free to send me a message here on the forums any time, or add me on Discord: _scs

What fascinates me about the concept of meaning is the inherent subjectivity and variability: how do you pin down a definition on a concept that can mean wildly different things to every person who has ever lived? We reach consensus on various "simple" components of life: most people tend to agree the sky is "blue," and as part of that are roughly on the same page about what "blue" means -- this is a result of the physical similarities most people share with our eyes that receive the input and our brains that process the input. Of course everyone has a different body and brain, so who knows if anyone truly and wholly interprets "blue" exactly the same -- probably not -- but we are close enough on this to achieve consensus. Of course there are exceptions, like people with colorblindness: and if our eyes and/or brains were physically different, we would likely perceive and ascribe a different color to the sky altogether. Analysis quickly reveals some of the hidden nuance packed into "simple" concepts like the color blue -- where do you even begin with a concept like "meaning" that is not ascribed any singular physical schema? "Meaning" has infinite morphology: it can be built into any schema, interpreted from any phenomena. Meaning intersects any human schema: but does it exist without human perception? Does a machine experience any phase of "meaning" through carrying out its mechanical operations as subject to the laws of physics? Does a computer experience any phase of "meaning" through digital information processing -- information that can have great meaning to a human, for example, but what is its nature outside of the human perceptual schema? Paradoxically, meaning seems to have infinite definition and no definition simultaneously, depending on the schema used to contemplate it. This digs further into pondering not only what is real, but what does real mean -- is reality defined by perception, or is perception and epiphenomena of a deeper system -- and what are the endless implications of both (and other) paths. Ultimately, I don't find much fruit in arguing whether life is "meaningful" or not -- because ultimately this falls to each individual's perception. Each thinking individual will judge for themselves whether they view their own life as meaningful as filtered through their own schema and processed by their own perceptual and experiential framework. This has great value and interest on a human level, but does little to shed light on a cosmic scale of any sense of "absolute" meaning or definition of anything. I am thankful to be alive, and I cherish those I love and those who have impacted me personally -- this has meaning to me. What that meaning really means, if anything outside of my own schema, I could not possibly guess. No matter which direction I turn, I feel as the 2D denizen inhabiting an endless plane. If they could displace themselves across a new degree of freedom, a 3rd dimensional axis, their entire reality collapses to a comparably infinitesimal point: as a tablecloth on a table, in a factory, in a city in an incomprehensibly vast country. Not only does physical infinity invert itself, but perceptual possibilities expand incomprehensibly. Through how many layers could freedom expand?

I just now saw this for the first time and I am absolutely speechless. I am so, so sorry for Jeric and her family, and all impacted by this. I can't believe this actually happened. I wish I never got out of bed this morning. I loved Jeric dearly as a treasured friend and she supported me on more occasions than I can count, including calling my mom once when she thought I was in danger. I don't even know where to start with talking about all the kindness Jeric showed me over the years. And then I see she mentioned me just a few short months ago in a post, while I spent years not even bothering to login here because I was "busy" and all that. Jeric was one of many people I always cared for, appreciated, but didn't prioritize getting back in touch with, checking in on. Always falling back on I can do it later, I'm busy, etc. Now it's too late and I'll never see her again. Thank you, Jeric, for all you did for me, for this community and everyone here. I'm sorry I abandoned everyone and never checked in or talked to you more like I should have. I never forgot you or the tremendously positive impact you made on me. I will always cherish you and our times together here.

I love Roblox dearly, and it was a key cornerstone of my childhood and some of my earliest friendships. I started playing it in 2008, and I still play it to this day. Furthermore, Roblox formed the bulk of my career thus far. I started working for Roblox in 2015 as a Content Moderator, and progressed through several positions including Community Management, Customer Service and Technical Support with increasing complexity and leadership responsibilities. I ended up as Manager of Intelligence for their Trust & Safety department, building up a lot of experience working cross-functionally with engineers for highly technical-driven safety solutions as well as analysts from various law enforcement fields enabling me to build experience with their methodology. I left Roblox toward the end of 2022, and a few months ago I joined DoorDash as a Trust & Safety Manager overseeing their Community Response team. While there is some overlap with my safety work at Roblox, I'm learning a lot of new concepts. I'm definitely being challenged and growing quite a bit, and would never have been able to progress in this field without my experience at Roblox. All in all, Roblox has had a tremendously positive impact on my life. I will never forget the friendships I've formed there both as a member of the community and an employee, and I have fond memories with friends from my childhood that will last a lifetime. Ultimately, my favorite thing about Roblox and the reason why I love it so is the opportunity for nearly limitless creative expression: my favorite Roblox games are all old, mostly forgotten, but truly feel as dreams come to life expressed through a unique and humble aesthetic that disappears as technological capabilities increase.

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This has been my problem as I've started taking more risks in the name of efficiency driven by an apathetic half-desire to check off the day's checklist. Until recently my haste to cross the road a few seconds faster resulted in the narrowest car impact miss yet which culminated in expanded self-awareness. Ultimately my hesitancy with anything stems from my ever-growing fear of mortality as each year ticks by. The unsolvable problem of inevitable mortality shakes the needle between caution and resignation. I am trying to re-center a deliberate focus on points of passion, and living while being alive.

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It brings me great joy to see you are still an active member of this precious community. I miss you and wish you the best in all things.

I was more optimistic and naive, less emotionally stable but a more caring and empathetic person. I'm more resilient and stable now, but less passionate, colder and more apathetic. I still have empathy, but I feel ground down by life trials and generally exhausted.

Same to you! I hope everyone is doing well.

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495,972 Almost 7 years in the making and we're almost half way to a million!

I am a Christian, and I do believe that animals go to Heaven. From what I understand, the Bible does not directly address the issue of whether or not animals go to Heaven, so the answer is indeed a mystery but one I can speculate about. I believe that animals, as well as plants and pretty much any form of natural life (so not AI, or other man-made entities) have a soul of some kind. This soul is different from the human soul, because the Bible makes it clear that specifically humans were created in the image of God. However, that does not mean animals, plants and other life do not have a soul of some kind. It may be similar in some ways to our own, but with key differences. My intuition here lies within the grand orchestra and connection of life. People are able to form connections with animals, and vice versa. Studies have suggested that emotional statements and positive/negative spectrum of music can even affect the beauty and longevity of a plant (loving words / beautiful music resulting in the most beautiful and long-living plants, no or neutral words / no music as a control, and hateful words / aggressive music resulting in premature decay and death). This to me indicates that all natural life has an underlying soul that transcends biological, chemical and all physical processes to something deeper, incomprehensible, but the crux of life, the foundation of consciousness. Hypersaturated platforms of scientific reductionism attempt to argue that life is nothing more than the synchronized result of random-good interactions of key foundational elements, while I would argue that the reason why these foundational elements interact at all is due to an underlying blueprint, a blueprint from the soul. The soul fills in the missing gaps of why that science perpetually fails to answer with any iota of satisfaction. Souls created by God. Reasoning as such, I believe that it is very possible that God has a plan for all souls. While humanity are the only partakers in God's plan for Salvation through Jesus Christ, that does not necessarily mean that God does not have a plan for other "types" of souls. For example, I believe that angels who have remained loyal to Him since the beginning of time will be in Heaven regardless of them not being partakers of the aforementioned plan for Salvation. The Bible may omit details about such other plans due to their lack of direct relevance and importance to human life, or perhaps such things could only be understood with a prerequisite level of knowledge of the deeper mechanics of soul, life and creation that are either impossible or inappropriate for humans to understand. Therefore, I personally do believe that precious animals have a place in Heaven. Especially as they essentially exist in a state of innocence where their nature and actions are influenced by the fall, but through the impact of their harsh environment on instinctual functions as opposed to sin carried out through conscious decision-making processes. Similarly, I believe that plants and all other natural life have a place in Heaven. The Bible does tell us that ultimately the old Earth and Heaven shall pass away and be replaced anew. What exactly this entails is in large part a mystery, but God promises us that He will dry the tears from everyone's eyes. That there will be no more sickness, pain, death and suffering. Therefore we must simply trust God. We must humble ourselves and accept that the answers to the big whys of the meaning of life and past/present/future of Creation are beyond our understanding. The exact nature of Heaven is beyond our understanding. We are not meant to understand everything. Instead of seeking the forever receding shore of endless knowledge, we should take comfort in trusting God to guide and show us only that which we should know, that which we are capable of knowing. With that humble realization comes great peace.

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445563 I would like to take a moment to point out how big 1 million truly is, and how this thread is an excellent demonstration of that fact. This thread was posted on August 13th, 2013. Today being September 5th, 2018, this thread has been going on with (likely at least somewhat consistent levels of baseline activity) for over 5 years. I've posted in this thread many times over the years, including back close to when it was first started. This thread now has over 17,800 pages. Despite that fact -- we are not even half-way toward counting to 1 million. Still, with every post we get closer to that goal. And, roughly speaking, if we maintain a relatively steady baseline of activity in this thread - hopefully we will reach 1 million in just another 5-6 years from now or so. See you all at 1 million, and many times along the way! (And, on the note of 1 million being huge -- we are talking about just one million. Not ten million, a hundred million, a billion, a trillion, a quadrillion... a centillion, a googol, a googolplex, or even Graham's number which becomes so large we cannot even write it down with ink and paper in normal ways.)