First year of S3rl - It has truly changed my life. Thank you.

Commandman7

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(I know I'm 2 days late but I wrote most of this the day of before work stuff happened)


Today, marks the first anniversary of the day that I first heard S3rl - June 16th, 2015. A whole bunch of things have happened in my life to get me where I am now, and so I’ve done my best at telling my story about who I am, what I’ve done, what I do, and what I’m going to be doing, and how S3rl and raving have been involved in my life.

Sorry it’s so ridiculously long.


I moved schools 3 times as a child and never really made any strong friends or got involved in what was "popular" and I was pretty miserable. Things changed in 8th grade when I suffered a very large concussion in a biking accident. If I hadn't been wearing a helmet I would have died, but instead I ended up smashing my face against the pavement for a couple meters. I don't know anything for sure, but that concussion changed me, it made my emotions suppressed. That meant that although I never got much more than mildly sad, I never was truly happy either. One of the other side effects is that I only experience some emotions on the right or left side. For example, when I'm listening to a really good song and the bass drops, I only get goosebumps on my left side. It's really weird. Anyways this kind of constant neutral state meant that I could do schoolwork without getting frustrated or bored, and I started to excel in school. As I moved into high school, I joined the robotics team as a programmer. I easily list robotics as the second most influential thing in my life other than S3rl. My first year on the team, freshman year, was disaster. We had 7 motor controllers burn out in a single day and never advanced past qualifying rounds. That experience gave me a strong resolve to do better, as I was not going to watch my work literally go up in flames again. The next year, sophomore year, was the year that first defined who I am today. Our team had lost many members and mentors after the poor performance of the previous year, but through hard work and dedication, working in the machine shop 14 hours a week, the remaining members and I built a robot that could compete and compete well. It nearly did not work, but luckily at the last moment we designed a magnetic release mechanism that allowed the robot to operate pneumatics with a much higher speed than was normally possible. Due to this, our odd, easel-shaped robot was able to overpower even some of the world class teams. That year we first advanced past qualifying, then into eliminations, then onto the state championship, where we went undefeated for our first 7 games and won the prestigious GM Industrial Engineering award. After being damaged in our 8th match, we were unable to repair enough of the robot to win our last 4 matches. Within 4 matches, we had fallen from 1st to 22nd, and had almost no competitive appeal yet we barely edged into eliminations, as the last pick of the last alliance. In competitive robotics, the last alliance first faces against the first alliance in a best of 3, and we were facing overwhelming odds. Every team on the first alliance had won at least one world championship before, and nobody on our alliance had even won a regional. But then a miracle happened. Right before the match, we finished repairing our robot and played a stiff defense, and shockingly won our first match by a large margin. Then disaster – an error on the field had interfered with the autonomous operation of our opponents, losing them a couple points. Therefore, the match had to be replayed. Even if you had assumed a best case scenario for the first alliance in the autonomous period, we still would have won. Nonetheless, we replayed the match, and once again handed the first alliance another large defeat. Then the world fell out from beneath our feet once again – that match had the same error and was also invalidated. Keep in mind that the error was so minor, that if it had not occurred it would have only affected the outcome by a few points. The next match we won once again, but this time it was by a smaller margin. It was declared valid and we continued into the second match. By that point, our robots had become battle weary and desperately needed maintenance, and our drive teams and pit crews exhausted but we had to push onwards. The second match, which was actually the fourth match we had fought against the first alliance, was when the dream crumbled. By that point the first alliance had gained plenty of experience and had figured out our strategy. We lost by a small margin. The same thing happened again in the third match. After our alliance of no-name teams had done the impossible, defeating the first alliance 3 times in a row, and nearly eliminating them, we had lost the last 2 crucial matches and were eliminated. To this day we question if it was right for the referees to force a replay, even when we had won by enough to make up for the points lost. It was when that final score went up on the Jumbotron when I was at my lowest. But out of the ashes of our defeat arose a phoenix. After the elimination matches had finished and a winner found, there was still an awards ceremony and announcement of teams who qualified for the world championship. Completely unexpectedly, we had won the State Championship GM Industrial design award, due to the rugged design of our magnetic release mechanism, which had experienced zero failures the entire championship, even surviving through the most vicious ramming and roughest collisions. We returned to our seats proud and refreshed. Then after the awards ceremony, they began to read the names of the teams that had qualified for the world championship. With each team number they read aloud our hope slowly faded, until we heard our team number, 4362, appear on the Jumbotron and echo through the stadium. All at once our team rose up in celebration. We were hugging each other like we had just won the lottery, and a few of us were crying, including me. It was the happiest moment of my life. Soon after, announcements finished and “Don’t Stop Believing” by journey came over the loudspeakers. Me and my teammates locked arms, and we all started singing. That song still has special meaning to me today, because we had lived it. Our team was that city boy. We were all actually born and raised in South Detroit. We had taken the midnight train going anywhere. And we never stopped believing. In one year, we had transformed from complete failures to a world class team. Next thing I knew the world championships were over, with us taking 99th out of 100 in our division. But it didn’t matter, because we had made it. Then the part that’s actually applicable to raving happened. After the world championships, they hold a giant afterparty. It turns out that at the afterparty there was a giant rave. At the time I had just started listening to EDM, and when I saw it I knew it was calling me. I really wish I could say that I went in and I danced until the lights went on and music silenced, but that would be a lie. My idiot friend was there, and he didn’t want to go, and me being much less confident than I am today I very stupidly followed him away. My only keepsake is one red glowstick I picked up off the floor before I left. I regret very few things about my life, and that is one of my biggest regrets. The next year, 11th grade, we returned to the worlds championship and after it was all over I excitedly rushed to where the rave had been only to find an empty room. Apparently it had to be cancelled, because during the previous year, people were doing bad things in the rave (Robotics is a high school sport, so almost everyone is a minor). I kind of just sat in the room and listened to music for a while, then I left without ever getting the chance to jump to music under the lasers and smoke. Between last year and this year however, I found S3rl. I was travelling for business on behalf of my robotics team, and had just returned to the hotel. What I did while I worked or resting was to visit plug.dj and listen to mostly trance and house music. For those of you that are unfamiliar plug.dj is pretty much an online room filled with people's avatars, and you could dance to the music or actually DJ yourself. It just so happened on that day somebody unknowingly change my life. I never got their name down but I could not be more thankful. It was their turn to DJ, and they started playing Pika Girl. Of course, playing happy hardcore in a room meant for trance didn't sit well with the crowd and it got voted off. But I was curious and searched Pika Girl, and found S3rl's youtube and found the second song I heard - Catchit, which at the time was the latest release. Catchit also happened to be the first song that had a link to this website, back when it was still just an unofficial work in progress. I started talking on here, back when the site was mostly just Aaron, Super, and Wolfy.

(This wouldn't fit in one post so it continues below)
 
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Commandman7

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Then someone posted this in chat -


https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLbn0QpSZMbKBhHTpMVWuzJPJ2PbV3zlW4


It is still the most complete S3rl playlist I have seen to date - at the very least, the number of S3rl songs not in that playlist can probably be counted on a single hand. Without that playlist, I wouldn't have found some of the lesser known gems such as 720 Suicide, Over the moon, and Butterfly. That playlist gave me S3rl's full variety, with both songs remixed and songs originally produced by S3rl. In just a very short time, I was completely hooked. I like to say there's a S3rl song for every mood, even just to chill out ;)
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, which is what made it really easy to get into his music. As I spent more time in this community, I got to know aaron better and we eventually became co-workers. Because we met on this site, I got an internship in Japan this summer with aaron at his work. As I got to know wolfy better she shared her nightcore with me which gave me music that both me and my sisters would enjoy. As we became better friends we even started a nightcore channel along with aaron and it’s been really fun. Continuing with the robotics story and how it’s tied into raving, this year at the robotics world championship it was like the year before; empty room, no rave. But, they had replaced the afterparty with a concert / performance with various entertainers. The rest of my teammates were exhausted and went back to their hotel rooms. I almost did too, but then I decided that I wanted my last year on the team to be memorable so I went back to see the performances. By 10 PM, the *official* closing time for the event, I had seen rappers, pop singers, acrobats, gymnasts, and a whole bunch of other entertainers perform. People started coming down out of the stands, and then I noticed that some volunteers were moving a DJ booth onto the stage, then smoke machines, and then a stairway that connected the stands to the area in front of the stage since it was in a football stadium. I suddenly realize – there was a secret rave going on. Turns out they were able to bring back the rave because now they were having it out in the open part of a football stadium so people couldn’t easily do things without being seen. And then DJ Andy Caldwell, a well-known house DJ I knew from my early days of EDM, comes out and gets behind the DJ booth. I was smiling like a dumbass by then, I was so excited. It’s a small staircase and there’s a huge group so it takes a while for me to get down to the floor. When I step off, there are volunteers handing out tons of 2 foot glowsticks, much bigger than the ones from Sophomore year. It’s already started so I get down onto the floor, and I did what I had been waiting 3 years to do. It was only an hour, but it was the best continuous hour of my life. It was the coolest experience I’ve ever had, to be in a rave with hundreds of other high school students from all over the world, 60 different countries in total. My phone was almost dead so I just took a short video which you can see below. To date, that’s the only rave I’ve been to.

But what I appreciate most about S3rl is the community. I have never met somebody on this site with malicious intent or ill will towards me. I would like to specifically thank a few special people here that have directly changed my life -


Eric (Superman) - Thank you for your vision and dedication a million times over. I've had a taste of web development before and I can only imagine the immense work that's gone in to this site. By now it surely must number thousands of hours. But even now that it's stable and core features have been smoothed out you continue to aggressively expand the community. You've put thousands of your own money down on the line not only for web hosting in the earlier days, but now you're taking steps to implement a store into the site when you completely had no obligation to do so. It's very clear you are passionate about this community. You've made everything possible for me.


Aaron (Aaron) - Thank you for your friendliness and inclusion. You are a busy person, as am I, but you always find time to be on here. You're always ready to try new things and aren't afraid to be yourself. I am also very thankful for what you have done beyond here, giving me the opportunity to help you with your work and supporting me within your work. Because of you, I'm going to have opportunities that I would have never had alone.


Eliana (Wolfy) - Thank you for your positivity and willingness to share. It really speaks volumes about the kind of person you are when every night you find the time to wish people a happy birthday, many of whom are complete strangers and unlikely to even see the message. You still do it and even though many would call it a waste of time, to the right person it can mean the world. You have also opened up an entire new world of music to me through sharing your nightcore and vocaloid, something that at first I was unsure of but over time I came to enjoy. It has been fun to run the nightcore channel with you and aaron and although I'm not a very good or reliable editor you are always ready to help do what you can do help us meet the upload schedule.


Right now, I’m on that same business trip for robotics for a week, and then I’m home a few days before flying out to Japan. I couldn’t be doing these things without this community and even if you aren’t Superman, Wolfy, or Aaron, you still are all amazing people.
 

Bad_Wolf_Queen

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I read it all :3 And ahhh thank you soooo much! ;w; I feel almost bad now for writing such a short thing for my anniversary ^~^ But that's all really cool! Probably hard to explain to someone who's never done robotics before, tho xP
 

Aaron B.

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WowZZzz C!

Hard to respond to something as eloquent as this!
U've been thru a lot. Same 4 mi. let's catch up when U arrive.

it has been a true honour 2 meet u on this site... and end up working with u.
Guess gonna b. an amazing ride from here on out!

Welcoming wagon will roll out when u arrive here in JAPAN!
As this is all inspiration based: S3RL & QB... gonna do it proper ~ xP
~ get dat.

Sooooo much :h: 2 U & ur fam....

See u soon!

:)

A~
 
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savannahall

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Wow, Your story was great! :D I honestly read every word, And it kinda gave my goose bumps because I was so happy for you when I read that you got to go to a rave after all! Even though it took a while, It was mean't to be and happened for you! ^_^

I'm actually going to my first rave July 23rd, and I've already made a TON of Kandi and ordered a pair of legwarmers/fluffies that should be here within the next week or so, And honestly, don't feel bad about you smiling like a dumb ass or anything! ;) I'll probably smile WAY cheesier than the one you made! xD
Especially because i'm gonna meet S3RL at mine! so yeah, I'll either make the most cheesiest smile anyone's ever seen, Or i'll just die right then and there (with no regrets!) :p

Anyway though, I'm happy for you! I really am. It makes me so happy to see that people got to do something they've longed to do for so long, So congrats! :D
Also, I know I told you before a month or 2 ago on another topic, But that's REALLY cool that you work on robotics and such! ^_^
Also, I didn't even think about getting glowsticks from there as a keepsake (I only thought about going to the store and getting some soon) but now I am DEFINTELY getting something as a keepsake! Well, I mean from the rave. The picture with S3RL won't count (yeah it will, But I still want a glowstick!) :p
 
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Commandman7

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Wow, Your story was great! :D I honestly read every word, And it kinda gave my goose bumps because I was so happy for you when I read that you got to go to a rave after all! Even though it took a while, It was mean't to be and happened for you! ^_^

I'm actually going to my first rave July 23rd, and I've already made a TON of Kandi and ordered a pair of legwarmers/fluffies that should be here within the next week or so, And honestly, don't feel bad about you smiling like a dumb ass or anything! ;) I'll probably smile WAY cheesier than the one you made! xD
Especially because i'm gonna meet S3RL at mine! so yeah, I'll either make the most cheesiest smile anyone's ever seen, Or i'll just die right then and there (with no regrets!) :p

Anyway though, I'm happy for you! I really am. It makes me so happy to see that people got to do something they've longed to do for so long, So congrats! :D
Also, I know I told you before a month or 2 ago on another topic, But that's REALLY cool that you work on robotics and such! ^_^
Also, I didn't even think about getting glowsticks from there as a keepsake (I only thought about going to the store and getting some soon) but now I am DEFINTELY getting something as a keepsake! Well, I mean from the rave. The picture with S3RL won't count (yeah it will, But I still want a glowstick!) :p

Hey, just got back on the forums for the first time since getting to Japan, and like so much has happened! Me and Aaron go party on the weekends now and stuff! I even taught Aaron how to make kandi! Also, I just noticed your first rave has happened by now and I really really want to hear how it went!
 
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Lupiiz

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Ok I know that somewhere in there I promised to show you this video so here it is :p

Oww I think I saw that video on skype and it's so cool! :3 I really wish to have something like that rave in my life and congratulations Commandman I've known s3rl since near 6 years ago but I started to love his music like 3 years ago I feel really lucky to have him in my life he is such an amazing person C: (sorry if I made a mistake I'm not very good in english and replying this late)
 
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savannahall

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Hey, just got back on the forums for the first time since getting to Japan, and like so much has happened! Me and Aaron go party on the weekends now and stuff! I even taught Aaron how to make kandi! Also, I just noticed your first rave has happened by now and I really really want to hear how it went!
Nice! When I get my computer fixed (which will happen very soon!) You must tell me more about it! :)

It did... it was the best ever! I'm going to make a very detailed story too when I can get on a computer and I have lots of pictures and a bit of video to show all! :D

Will talk to you soon. :)

EDIT - I posted my story in the general S3RLtalk forum. :3
 
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r|y|a|n

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Hey! I know this thread is a little old, but I wanted to say I really appreciated your post.

It has been around a month since I discovered S3RL / hardcore music and it has been a really positive yet foreign experience. I feel like I am trying to absorb an entire subculture as quick as possible- in 30 odd years I've never felt like this about music before.

It is amazing and relieving to know there are others who feel the same.

I honestly hope you're doing well and hope to see you round the forum someday.
 
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