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So the last time I wrote a proper blog entry was 3 years ago, in the middle of my working holiday in Canada. Since I'm nostalgia-ing away on Sals, might as well write this up before another 3 years pass! It was a once in a lifetime opportunity, I stayed for about a year working seasonal jobs, and went on some crazy ass adventures. I bought a minivan and inflatable mattress, and basically did a solo trip around USA's west coast living it up. Lots of hiking, eating, got some tattoos, sometimes meeting new people, but most of it was spent by myself. It was very chilled. Worked a summer job at a glacier. Long summer nights with new friends, spent floating around in our inflatable canoes on turquoise glacier-fed water. Went on a second USA roadtrip with these friends, about 8 of us split between two cars. One of the best and most stressful times of my life. Blowouts between friends, problems with the car, incredible sunsets over the grand canyon. I stuck with my friends that I made in my previous winter job (see 2nd last entry), and yes the girl, and we agreed to be exclusive eventually. It was really nice, but we always knew that it would be temporary. Still, we made the most out of our temporary relationship, and I wouldn't have had it differently. Recalling this Canada experience gives me extreme nostalgia, second to the nostalgia of Sals. There were no responsibilities, every day was a new adventure, spontaneity all the time, we were truly living in the present. When I eventually flew back home to Australia, I struggled. For a while. I remember distinctly returning back to my parents' house, and after all the 'welcome back's, I had a shower. It was the strangest feeling - like no time had passed at all, I was having a shower like I did every other day in that bathroom. I had changed, and nobody around me understood, because they weren't with me, and all the friends I made in Canada were gone. I went from the excitement of not knowing what would happen each day, to a life of routine and repetition. From spending a year sleeping next to someone in bed, to sleeping alone. I've always been a laid back person, and very fortunate to not be affected by mental illnesses throughout teenagehood. For the first time in my life, at age 21, I was quite severely depressed, and I didn't know what to do with myself. Every single day, it felt like I had this ball in my stomach, tortuously twisting and turning. I was desperate to get back the life I used to have, living without a care in the world, and doing whatever I wanted to, without consequence. I knew that I needed a change, so I moved out of my parents' house, got a full-time job in the industry I studied for, hit the gym hard, went on Tinder, basically tried to distract myself with anything and everything. Still the feeling didn't go away, and even now I can honestly say, that there's no way I could've lived with 'that feeling' inside me for the rest of my life. If somehow I knew that that was going to be forever, I would've ended it. I was getting involved with girls no good for me and exacerbated my depression, but I just needed to feel something. I went to therapy which was alright, but what got me through in the end was knowing that only time could heal what I was feeling. It was a bit of a process, but eventually made it. Fast forward to today at age 24, I have a great girlfriend who I'm pretty sure is my future wife, I bought an investment property over in Brisbane, and I have a well-paying job that I enjoy and have near-full autonomy over what I do day to day. Actually, tomorrow I'm getting a student assistant who will be helping me out, and at my age it's pretty unreal that I get to manage someone! Also just in general thinking about my life thus far, the adventures I've gone on and life experiences I've had, at 24 I'm pretty exhausted after all that and I'm ready to settle. God it feels weird to say that. I'm still so young! I'm very lucky to be in the position that I'm in now and I'm milking every second of my youth. Nowadays, I play league of legends (hardstuck gold), I've just started playing OSRS again, gyming, going out on the town, watching stuff on tv, catching up with friends. Sounds pretty boring and generic hobbies, but I'm genuinely very content with myself and life. Next blog post I'll probably be married with another couple houses and 10 kids!

... but men do, through the roads they walk." - Me just now, blatantly stealing from Fallout And my road changed, and took me away from this place I spent so much time in as a teen and a young man. How long as it been? Probably half a decade only, and yet it feels it's been so much longer. I came here out of nostalgia, answering a question my future fiancé asked me about how I learned my English. I immediately thought of RuneScape, but more specifically of Sal's and the good times I spent here. The fun people, the drama, the competitions. Man I did miss this place. I wonder who's still around or even remembers me? I used to be cool I think. At least that's how I prefer to remember my times here. But I can easily admit looking back without bias that I was also tremendously cringe at some points, and immature beyond words. I prefer to believe I had a positive impact in this community though, the same way the community impacted me. Hope you're all faring well, and remain safe in this time of crisis. With the pandemic and all. Stay well friends. Miss you.

Druin (a young man named Jeffrey) passed by suicide the day this was posted. He had spent the last couple years of his life feeling extremely isolated as he came to grips with being gay and lacking supportive community. I was probably one of the last people he reached out to in the days before making his decision. I can't blame myself for it, nor do I think I could have talked him out of it, but even now I think of him a few times a month and strive to connect with my friends in the LGBT+ community. Often they need us more than we can ever know. Please, if you read this, reach out and say hi to someone who may be having a hard time. Do it in honor of Jeffrey, and in honor of the Jeffries around the world who desperately need it. I'm not going to promise you'll save a life, but you'll brighten one - and that is just what is needed sometimes.

Vote: Cameron time for lynching

Sal's had been so intertwined with young me's development for so long it's funny to me how I'm still drawn to make this post even though it's been like three and a half years since my last one. In that time I've become a homeowner, gotten married, adopted a dog, and yet nothing drew a post out of me til now. Coming up on a year ago now the pieces slid into place for me and I saw the clearest picture of myself to date. In my first few years here as a freshly minted member I was a proud witness to more than a few forumers finding themselves and it's only taken me a decade to catch up. Sometimes I can only shake my head at young me but then again, who am I to judge? I forget how long ago it was but at one point this year I made a semi-subtle status update alluding to the subject of this post but deleted it after being surprised by a facebook chat invite to a group of slammers. Real life name meets internet folk, you know how it goes. So I guess this is take two? I'm split between sharing a fundamental part of myself with a scattered group I considered friends and the status quo of shutting in. But today was rough for me, all I want to do is eat again or watch more Netflix. And I'm just about out of whiskey. There’s this weird duality where it feels like I’ve had to grow up so fast while dealing with doctors and insurance for the first time, and yet I’m experiencing at the same time the rollercoaster of self-discovery and emotions I would’ve associated with middle school. Whether it's today with you or a year from now with literally everyone else, I'll have to get used to trusting in people's goodness. And so, with more time on my hands than ever, I ask this one question: do you think there's a prominent trans slammer I might have been aware of? You know, asking for a friend.

Well, I suppose that means that at least one person thought so!

Today is my first time logging on in a very long time just reminiscing about all the good times on this forum. I remember all the signature request threads when the guys who were good at Photoshop would make whatever everyone asked for. I thought about the progress bars in my signature too when I was working on 99 Fletching haha! A lot has changed since then it seems. Especially RuneScape itself. It's nothing like the game I use to play. I definitely remember your username, Sobend, Chaoss and Egghebrecht. Hope all of you are doing well. Any of you guys still play? Moved on to other games?

old farts ftw

I was just talking about you yesterday with Uther on Runescape. HI!!!!!!!!!

you misspelled "Michael" noob

Not that I want to be cynical but I believe Jagex have been doing this to RS3 for years.

damn lmao they found the one articulate post from 17 year old kam

Sal? Back? Where!? I too am sort of dipping my toes into Old School. There was something special about that game.

Hey there everyone! Believe it or not, the site and forum have been living on the same sever for more than a decade! In computer years, that's like 100 million and 3 years, give or take a year or 2 million. Basically, the forum is being served by a Stegosaurus, or something like that. It also turns out that a comet is about to destroy the very part of the datacenter housing our server, so there's that tiny detail too. Anyways, the server is really, really old, and it's living in a really old building that's about to be demolished pretty soon. Seriously, this is all true, I promise! So, I've spent a lot of time building a new server environment elsewhere which should be easier to maintain and upgrade, and it should cost a lot less to run! It also seems to run a bit faster/smoother, and we'll have the benefit of running on all the latest and greatest server software! I'm planning on running the final part of the migration on Wednesday, 9/26, which is basically the part where the forum database is moved over to the new server. My plan is to take the board offline on Wednesday night, copy over the database, run the final maintenance steps, and then update the DNS to point to the new server. For you, this update should be completely painless, except for the fact that the forum will be offline for awhile (oh noes?). I'll update this topic when the work is complete! If you have questions, or just want to post pictures of your favorite dinosaurs to celebrate the life (and impending shutdown) of the old server, please do so in this topic! Cheers, Sal

Legend

Amen brotha! Screw those dang elitist guildmasters!!

I didn't do it... Possibly fixed it. Are you guys still having trouble posting?

Sal-senpai, thank you for all the fun over the years!

Good luck with your account and welcome back to Sals! this is y we r the b3st fansite thx 4ur halp buddy

*With sad eyes* You shouldn't fight in here. This is a magical place. Yes, we need a new skin or two. Folks should look at this topic and help us choose! Otherwise I'm going to upload random skins based on my cat's reactions (and while she's a classy cat, she has no innate sense of web design so it will most likely end badly).

Gratz on getting your 1B Cooking xp! Way further than I would ever go with that skill for sure lol!

Ahem

I miss the clan community here. Most fun I ever had on the internet. If it was back I'd drop everything and play Runescape several hours a day again. Getting paid $20 when I voted for Guitarguy as DM wasn't bad either.

Happy 11th Birthday!!!1 Good luck on 53 Attk.