From the hustle and bustle of infancy, to an uproarious childhood, to a rather lonely adolescence, our dear forum TPM is turning 18. Now our message board can imbibe in various vices in some places around the world, go to war, vote, purchase lottery entries, and legally watch adult entertainment... I guess. Ha

Anyways what are some of your happiest memories associated with TPM? It can be related to both the forum itself and to personal connections related to the forum, and of course pokemon in general. I'll kick it off with a few ideas.

-Meeting TPM members in the UK and Virginia in 2012! That was so much fun! I had a fantastic time getting to know Becki, Kirsten and Heald in the UK, and of course all the wonderful folks in Northern Virginia where we played Mario Kart, had Italian dinner and sang karaoke at a weird bar called Hard Times. Very fun! And this is where we learned that Birdo runs on hopes and dreams. Asilynne and Jeff are really down-to-earth, fun people!

-One night after a few beers recently, Tony and I exchanged random videos of us swearing at Sonic the Hedgehog. It was really quite funny (at least at the time). "GET BLUE SPHERES!" Also, the fate of Ciao Bella.

-Becoming a moderator for one of the sub-forums was a really big deal to me when I was a kid. I don't remember what happened with my being a mod but it felt like a real job with real responsibility at the time. Even though it was all volunteer, it certainly taught me some things that are important, like how to mediate conflict and make decisions when others' opinions about the topic are at odds with one another.

-Playing the Werewolf Game was always a good time. I'm not in touch with everyone from those days (not already mentioned) except Green Lanturn, and I'm sure one of these days we will cross paths since we know lots of the same people.

There are of course bittersweet things as well, and a few that are just sad. There was a lot of bullying, which I refused to participate in (or really let bother me all that much). A few members have passed away, one who I was in regular contact with up until his last year (Tainted). Most folks don't check this forum anymore. I also paid monthly fees for the server for a while but we could never get it to work for some reason, so I wasted a bunch of money that I couldn't really afford to spend for a while. Finally losing touch with the first regular groups of folks I was in touch with is bittersweet in its own way, because they were the first people I could ever truly call friends--Saria, Kori, Beth, Melvin and Katrina.

We're a lot like a townie bar now, with some regulars (locals) but not a lot of new folks step in, and we keep the doors open for the few loyal patrons. It seems like a fitting analogy for a forum that's turning 18.