This post shouldn't surprise anyone. I haven't posted much in months, and I actually haven't been active at all for over a year now. Life has just moved on pretty fast from this lovely place. Next month I'll be leaving my country to attend university in the USA (it's one of those schools in Cambridge ;] ). I haven't really had much time to devote here for the past months, and I think that will only become more true after college starts. And so here it is, my official goodbye!
I've been planning this for over a year now. But the reason I haven't posted it yet is that I wanted to do a full retrospective, and mention every person on this forum that I'd interacted with over the years. Tell Higs how much of an inspiration she was, say thank you to Zephyr for the advice he once offered, reveal how much I loved Espithel's weirdness, reminesce lazy afternoon chats with ddevans, recount tournaments... that would really take a long time. Who knows, maybe some day in the future I will come back and do just that. But I felt that saying something is much better than putting it off indefinitely. Every person I met here has been a pleasure to meet, however, and if you're curious about what I'd say to you, feel free to ask me. For now, I'll just recount five things this forum has gifted me (spoilered cause you probably don't want to hear me sappily gush about stuff)::
Spoiler for Hidden :
1. A home. When I first came here, I was a shy nerdy kid who didn't really chat much. But EtG chat gave me a place to talk. It was just random discussion, but it was something. Over the years, I've blossomed socially and found new communities, and I'm not really that shy kid anymore. But this place will still be one of the homes I lived in during my journey to where I am now
2. Mad Mafia skills. The whole forum games thing made me into the "tabletop games" guy in all friend groups, and it certainly helped me in my social journey xD
3. Maturity and Moderating skills. I got my first staff position here at 14. I was really young, and probably a bit too jittery and naive. But I stuck to it, and did have the record for most staff positions ever held (at some point, might've changed now). They taught me much about contributing to communities, brainstorming ideas and desigining events. And they also showed me how to organize people, how to settle disagreements (which are often directed at you). That was what got me the most personal development.
4. Acceptance with nicknames. Now any shortening of Zawadx works, while before I'd fuss over not being called Z. Now I just have to deal with the horrors of people calling me Ahmed all the time since that comes before Zawad officially D:
5. Giving it your best. Generalling war 9 is something I'll never forget. The amount of work I had to put in every week just to keep aether afloat taught me how to actually work hard (instead of just putting in bare minimum effort), even without a guarantee of success. That lesson, I think, is what prepared me for success in international competitions and brought me where I am now. And it's gonna be valuable for the entirety of my life too.
When I first joined, I was a teenager reeling from the effects of that first crush. Some people on here have even heard all about that and given me loads of advice. Well, it's actually been many years since I've fallen out of love with that girl (and I actually asked her for advice about someone else - who surprisingly nobody here even knows about :0). And I think, somewhere in the past 5 years I've also fallen out of love with this place. It is amazing, full of wonderful people united by love for the coolest game. And it is a place that I have no regrets about falling in love with.
If you need to contact me about something etg-related, feel free to send a pm. I have email notifications, so should reply within 24 hours. And if you wanna know me beyond etg, feel free to add me on facebook (zawadx) or insta (@zawadxc) or anywhere else (my username is prolly one of those too).
And so... Sayonara~
