Well, thought I will open a topic for birthday wishes or speeches for the VE. Here's mine, anyway.
I enlisted in the Vast Empire nearly five years ago on the 8th of October, 2003. I was thirteen then, and I turned eighteen back in February this year. The VE was around when I was a pimply teenager struggling to get laid in my adolescent years and the VE is still around now that I am grappling with adulthood.
Today, on the "official" big 10 anniversary of the organization, I would like to share my reflections on this silly and nerdy past-time of ours that for some, has kept us engaged for longer than half a decade. A decade of VE; this organization has been around longer than your youtubes and myspaces.
I find myself privileged to have been a member, whether active or reserves, for half of this decade. Throughout the time I have been here, I have made many new friends and seen old ones fade away. There were high and lows, obviously. My personal high in the club came in the winter of 2003, during the Holiday Squad Campaign. Since then, activity might have surpassed that level we sustained during that campaign, and I can only say all the better.
I would like to thank the VE for blessing me with a worthwhile and healthy way of spending my time. The greatest hard skill that I took away from the VE is obviously a stronger touch for fiction-writing. But more importantly, I have found friends who have made a strong impression on me for their leadership skills, dedication and talent. If they had none of the above, then they have provided great fun talking bull in IRC nonetheless!
The VE has no doubt, helped me mature as an individual. Though the results might not appear tangible, I am sure that my life would have been less than enriched had I not spent time here.
A case in point would be the mark left on me by my personal impressions of two special leaders. Kadann, when I first joined, made me skeptical. He was like God, you know? You know he's there but you don't really know if he's around. From what I thought I saw, he only appeared to turn up for meetings. Looking back, my early assessment of him was wrong, very wrong. Kad has always been there for this club and without his leadership and back-stage work, such as painstakingly coming up with the PPC (which has given us a steady flow of new blood and which has greater implications than most of us realize), this club would have long been dead and dusted. I thank Kadann for playing one of the most critical roles in sustaining the VE.
Fury is to the Stormtrooper Corps what Kad is to the VE. What can I say? This man has been more than my General to me throughout my years here. He has always been a father and a beacon of wisdom in a club where more often than not, the light bulbs fail to shine. He always had a sharp tounge; but you will find most of the time, he is entirely justified. My unreserved thanks for being General, father and mentor all rolled into one as well playing a role in my personal development as a human being.
And of course, thanks to all the other friends I have made in this place.
There will come a point in time where the VE will die. This is a sad but inevitable fact. No business or organization lasts forever. It is something the members must do their best to postpone indefinitely. My advice to the younger blood here would be to take the VE light-heartedly, don't take arguments and squad rivalries too seriously (as I had with Jester), yet always be proud of this special bond of ours and do your best as real-life permits.
Here's to another ten years, VE!
