i haven't actively played subeta in a few years, but for some reason i got the urge to check on my profile today. and what do you know? i joined subeta on sunday, january 24th, 2010.

when i joined subeta i was a lanky 12-year-old (yes, i was eventually banned for violating the rules of the internet and they let me back on after my 13th birthday) with a penchant for reading and writing, an undiagnosed autoimmune disease, a budding queer identity, and a best friend who introduced me to this website. we were just trying to navigate the horrors of middle school.

my friend was really into the pets, but i was never really into neopets or petsites, except for that website where you click on dragon eggs. i also loved oekaki drawing boards like sutaro sketcher. i was big into digital art back then. i was getting into drawing wolves, but mostly drew people. basically, i was just a weeaboo. (i've grown a lot since then... yikes, that phase was cringey.) middle school was not a fun time for me; it usually sucks for everyone. i loved coming home from a long, irritating day at school, logging on to subeta, and playing games, chatting on the forums, and updating my HA. i had a different username.

my HA let me play with my gender expression and be whomever i wanted to be -- i didn't have to be this awkward wisconsinite preteen. i loved dressing up my female HA in more butch clothes and extravagantly femme performances. my best friend was dramatic -- some of their favorite items were the champagne bottle (rebellious!) and the streaky, tear-stained eyeliner (expressing our misunderstood emotions!). (i'd try to find these items now, but i've kind of forgotten how the website works.) i loved the emo items.

as cringey as it may seem now, i honed my writing skills by RPing with people over private messaging. I loved RPing harry potter, doctor who, and random OCs i'd make up on the spot.

i'm glad i was able to develop my writing skills on subeta -- it kept me creative. i wrote throughout middle school and high school, and eventually majored in creative writing in college, where i dropped fiction for my new love of nonfiction and journalism. i'm now a freelance writer and copywriter, with published work all around the internet.

in the summer, when we didn't have school, we'd come over to each other's houses and stretch out on the living room carpet with her mom's laptop and play subeta, the TV in the background blaring something like jersey shore and we'd listen to music via youtube lyric videos and music videos. we'd listen to whatever was popular that summer -- lots of ke$ha (with the dollar sign), O.M.G. by usher, nevershoutnever, paramore's riot! album. we'd talk about the site and play games and gift each other items. the sweetest thing my friend did for me was gift me more expensive items when i first joined. i remember being so in awe that they gifted me a shirt that cost 300,000 sp.

i loved all the holiday events. i loved making friends on the forums. i loved WIZARD QUESTING. god, i loved wizard questing.

thank you, subeta, for giving preteen me a place to be weird and rAnDoM and creative and queer and empathetic and myself. every once in a while, when i return to this website, i'm afraid that i'll see a message that it's finally gone under. i'm glad it's still here. even though we're in a new decade and petsites are, to some extent, a thing of the past, i hope subeta continues to give everyone who still plays it as much joy as i felt all those long summer days in 2010.

love, alex

[EDIT] lol, i found my profile interests from 2010.

anime, being odd, blue nail polish, boys, bright colors, coca-cola, coldplay, correct spelling, creativity, death cab for cutie, death note, deviantart, dr. pepper, drawing, english accents, fireflies, friends, fruit's basket, girls, harry potter, ipods, kittens, kumquats, manga, milk tea, monty python, mountain dew, pens, percy jackson, photography, puppies, rock music, sometimes school, spanish class, subeta, summer, sunshine, sutaro sketcher, sweets, tegan and sara, the beatles, valleyfair, violin, warm weather

Happy belated Subeta-birthday! I periodically check in as well and relate to a lot of what you wrote. Subeta was there when I was figuring myself out and coming back is like picking through memories. Contributed a lot to who I am today. :) Here's to ten more years, hey?

Happy 10 year anniversary