To The Chaps And People Who Say Chap

Man it's been eight years, eight years man! This group is about to be nine years old in a week or two. Isn't that bonkers? I was fourteen years old when i made this group now i'm twenty-three, jesus i can't even believe where the time has gone or why. This group was the birth of a cringy teenager but now it's forever archived in a virtual space. Aside from me and my family this really is the only remnant of my younger years as a teen in Winston Salem, North Carolina. I remember when i was eleven leaving Miami and my family to Winston because of my mother's job being relocated. It was early in the morning and me, my mother and step father were finishing moving everything into our car. My older brother was there to help pack and see us off, we were both crying and hugged each other for the last time because we knew we probably wouldn't see each other in a while. I don't remember what we said to each other just that i looked from behind the window of my mom's white ford taurus, i was balling my eyes out and watched my brother wave to us. I looked back and waved until his silhouette got smaller and i got farther, the next few days were a blur of hotels and whatever breakfast they offered and if they didn't then we ate out which is the first time i had crackerbarrel in my life; i had pancakes, bacon and eggs and maybe grits? and gotten something coke branded from the novetly store. I remember arriving at Ambercrest Drive in Winston Salem, 27106, and being real cold for the first time, i looked behind our apartment building down below where they were constructing another set of apartments that were still being worked on when i left. The apartment unit was empty when we got there, we slept on air beds for a while and i remember waking up one morning and opening a cabinent to get some club crackers.........Then i was enrolled in Hanes Middle School (before it was shutdown and moved because of pollution from a nearby factor) then had gotten a Xbox 360 for christmas with a copy of Viva Pinata and Time Shift, then had gotten horrible acne that would ballon my insecurities and weight, then get bullied by a sixteen year old in the seventh grade that would humilate me in class by making me cry in class infront of everyone and lead me to skip school almost everyday to avoid him and eventually guide me to the biggest regret of my life dropping out of the eight grade. Million fights later with my emotional and drug addict stepfather and some hardships later would put me back in Miami with my brother and have me working at a carwash at first then dominos and finally Publix where i am working now. It feels like a lifetime ago but in reality it was just almost a decade and i still have a long road ahead of me and i will never forget my time skipping school and spending a huge majority of my time playing Counter Strike Source Jailbreak with the UV (SG) community. I wasn't really well liked there for a good reason, i was a asshat kid who joked around too much but the people who did like me were (mostly) good friends and i very much aprecciate the kindness and friendship you guys showed towards me. Well i guess this whole stupid thing is about to come to a close and i guess i better get out in what i wanted to say in the first place before i forget.

Thank you all for accepting this cringy fourteen year old invite for a group i made just so i can be a leader of something and have my mind be taken off of the struggle i was going through at home and school. It's cool to know that everyone here is starting or on the process of their own adventures through life, i hope everyone here has a safe journey through it and be able to be proud of whatever legacy they leave behind them!

-Matthew M.