I know I know, 4 years might not seem like a long time for some of you grizzled oldfigs, but these 4 years have meant a lot to me. I remember when I first found out about this site, it was sometime in late 2006, early 2007. I saw something about seeing my Halo 2 stats so my 12 year old self was like, "sure I'd love to see my stats even though I have no idea what any of it means." Unfortunately I did not make an account here at that time, and I'm kind of glad that I didn't. I was finally convinced to make an account my freshman year of high school, when Halo Reach came out in 2010. Even though the only motivation I needed to make an account was some flashy in-game nameplate, once I stumbled upon the forums I just couldn't turn back. I still remember my first reaction when I saw all of the bitching and whining on the Reach forum: "Is armor lock really that bad??" Finding and making a home in the Flood, however, is a whole different story. The first topic I ever made on the Flood was asking about why everyone had all these cool title bars and I didn't. I was promptly called a Reachtard and was redirected to a thread that explained the old ranking system. I remember having to go through the ropes as a newfig in a tightly-knit community such as the Flood by learning all of the inside jokes, like why saying anything about porches was a bannable offense and that everybody hated Spartain Ken no matter what. Then came judgment day. January of 2013, Bungie decided to revamp their entire site with "Bungie.next." I was so appalled by the update that I didn't come back for roughly 10 months, and when I did, everything and everyone felt so different. Even though all of these updates is slowly taking away my interest to post here, this community still has a special place in my heart. It's not so easy to just leave when I have put so much of my time and energy into interacting and being here with all of you. I spent a lot of time on writing my Flood fiction, Attack of the Alts, earlier this year, which helped me relieve boatloads of stress that was falling upon me during that time. Anyway, I know this was a long read, but I'm taking my account's birthday as an opportunity to reflect on my history in this community and how much my life has changed these past 4 years. I'm glad that I'm able to share this moment with all of you, and I hope that y'all have a good rest of your day/night. Cheers!