The End of an Era

As I stated at great length in my Apologia, I would not be who I am today without a number of places and people who have influenced me, both in person and online. On January 31, one of those places went away as Stickam shut down for the final time.

I joined Stickam in November of 2008, the same week that I completed student teaching at Richards and for all intents and purposes completed college. I joined the site due to two primary factors: 1) I had an abundance of free time, and 2) I had a webcam that was sitting around collecting dust. From the moment I joined, I knew it was unlike any other place I had seen on the internet. Unlike the message boards I had frequented on GameFAQs and even social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook, you could actually SEE all these people in real time.

With in my first couple months on the site, I was able to make connections with a number of people. I have never really been one to put myself out there, but I soon realized it wasn't hard to do so from the comfort of my own bedroom. And shockingly, people actually liked me!

Me being me, I eventually used the site as my own personal dating service. Being educated, well-spoken, and decent looking put me ahead of the curve, and it was what helped me gain the initial attention of Shannon and Jannelle, the two women that have shaped the romantic portion of my adult life more than any others. Meeting them (and any other marginal romantic pursuit)taught me things about myself, taught me things I should NOT do again in the future, and enabled me to grow as a person.

In addition to the romantic pursuits I had with Stickammers, I was able to make a number of meaningful friendships. I have met people from nearly every state and from a half dozen different countries. I would name them all individually, but it would take too much time and I would run the risk of forgetting someone and offending them. Over the past 4+ years, I have not seen or heard from my lifelong friends nearly as much as I had in years past. Sometimes it feels like we have grown completely out of touch. So it was nice to have met other people who have filled that void admirably. I have met nearly a dozen of them in person, and I hope to meet more in the future.

The site had its negatives, too. Was there unnecessary drama at times? Of course. Were there some people who I wish I had never met? Certainly. Did I waste too much time there instead of doing more productive things? Probably. But it was a place for people like me: weary people on the road from where they were to where they wanted to be. Over the course of my time there I met people from nearly every profession: students, teachers, musicians, tattoo artists, etc. Most of us probably wouldn't have ever hit it off if we had met in person, because we came from different backgrounds and had different interests. We came together because we wanted a place to get away from things for a little while.

Will I miss the site? Definitely. It had been the one constant in my adult life to this point. But am I ready to move on? Absolutely! I won't forget Stickam or the people I met there, but I am ready to move forward. It was a good four years, but it's time for a new era.