About my friends

Since my childhood, I never had very many friends outside of the internet, partially due to the way I acted in real life. Throughout elementary school I was known as "that weird loser kid who cries every time he the teacher calls on him and he doesn't know the answer." Throughout middle school I was known as "that weird loser kid who never shuts up about Earth Band or whatever." And now, in high school, I'm known as "that fucking tranny who thinks he can be a girl."

But the internet was different. In the real world, everyone sees you and immediately begins developing an image of your personality in their head, and decides whether they want to be nice to you or a complete ass based on that alone. On the internet, you create your identity and appearance. Your profile picture, your bio, your manner of speech, it's all up to you. And unlike in real life, you seek out communities for yourself and can converse with people who share interests with you and think like you and know what game you're quoting whenever you bring up trout yogurt and/or strawberry tofu.

There were so many communities that I was a part of online where I felt like I belonged in a way I could never feel in real life. Everyone understood who I was, appreciated what I did, enjoyed the things I made, and I'll never forget that. Even the people I never knew all that well always felt like they were so incredibly kind to me in a way I could find nowhere else.