Warning: Its going to be long lol I can't help myself. 

My heart felt thank you, 

I want to impart to you, 

How I appreciate you,

I wish to convey to you.

AFF will be celebrating our fifth year anniversary. Congratulations first and foremost to Jason, for creating this site and keeping it going. And the same goes to all the Mods, the AFFHelpers,  the people who also help keep this site online, and to all of us. 

I first heard about AFF when I was chatting with friends, I got curious  and visited the site to have a look, but I did not make an account. If I made an account  back then I would probably be in the first one thousand. My friends kept telling me to make an account, and so I gave in and I did. This place and the people grew on me, and so here I have been staying and is about to celebrate my fourth year annivesary this coming July. 

I have not changed my username, and I am still using Kpopartory. Andi was the  one who nicknamed  and called me Poptart-Bear.  Even back then in the old tagbox and up to these days many have a nickname coined for me. From all my nicknames, I have been using Poptart. These days many know me as Poptart rather than by my username.  

Before I got involved in KPop, I have never written a story before, not even in school.  So how did I start writing stories?

A friend introduced me to her Kpop friends, and I started chatting with them, too. I did not know that my friend writes Kpop stories, and that she is a very good writer, She introduced me to Kpop stories, and then after reading her stories and the other stories written by my new friends, I got curious if I can also write a story. My friend told me to just do it to try it out, so I tried my hand in writing a short story. I was shy sharing my ever first story, but they all encouraged me to share it. I was fighting my trepidation, and shared it to them. They all liked it, and encouraged me to write more. My friend dared me to even make a series of stories. 

I was feeling elated, I just wrote my ever first story, they were already asking for a new one, and to hear words of praise, it was all new to me. Even when my first story was full of errors,  they did not correct, bash, or ridicule me, but instead praised, encouraged and welcomed me. Maybe, that was the reason why I became a writer, because I had a good positve start.

When I was a newbie in this site, I was lost and did not know my way, and I just kept looking around and trying things out and kept pushing buttons. After reading a few stories, I wanted to post and share a story here in AFF, but I did not know how, and I did not know who to ask. 

I visited the tagbox. (For the new members, there was a tagbox along with the chatbox, but now there is only the chatbox remaining.) At first I was an anon not joining the conversation and just read what they were chatting about. They seemed friendly, so I joined in their conversation. I said my greetings, and told them I was a newbie in AFF. They welcomed me and told me to join the chat. It was fun and I stayed for a few hours. Since then I kept going to the tagbox. I had tried the chatbox, too but I mainly went to the tagbox more. There were 250 plus people online in the tagbox but only 10 to 20 people who actually chat, the others were just lurking. 

I am not a techie person, even to this day, I always have to ask friends to help me. One time in the tagbox, I asked how to post a story, and many gave me lessons and pointers, and after some practice I had succeeded posting my very first story. I was so happy. I wanted to share it with them, and I even asked on how to link it in the tagbox. I was so happy to recieve their encouragements.  I kept staring at my first posted story. I was happy to recieve my ever first views and comments. 

When the tagbox was quiet, and not much was happening, being the random person that I am, I would keep it alive by writing/composing a story in the tagbox, and they would allow me to do it, the mods gave more leeway back then, and the others would even join me and add to the story. I had randomly even composed my poems on the spot. And that was the start of my poems here in AFF. I think, I hold the most poems here in AFF. *giggles*  I linked mvs in there, too. I would stay there for hours on end, people leave and come back and I'd still be there.  The chatbox back then was often used for Role Playing, and sometimes, but not often, I would join them, and it was fun.

AFF is so user friendly, that even a person like me can get on the site and be able to learn to navigate through the site. AFF has gone through a lot of changes in these 5 years. I am happy I have seen most of it. And then getting used to the changes and then trying things out. Boss Nichi has been doing a lot of work keeping things working, and I am grateful and I appreciate it all. The Mods had gone through a lot, too with so many problems surfacing left and right. It is tough being a Mod, and I would like to hug each one of them to thank them for helping Jason keeping things running.  Now, because our community is gettng bigger, he even hired the help of the AFFHelpers, who are doing a splendid  job. 

I have gone through a lot of changes as a person and as a struggling writer in the past almost 4 years since I have been here.  And AFF allowed me to go through that and be able to enjoy my stay. In here, I can more explore my creativity.  Real life is not easy, and this has been my second home, my sanctuary. I visited other sites, but AFF is still the best site for me. 

AFF is accepting everyone who comes here. What I like best about AFF is that I can share my life and a part of me that loves KPop without the fear of being judged. I gained a lot fo friends from different parts of the world, who otherwise  I will never know or talk with. For me, being here is not for being popular, having most views, upvotes or subscribers. 

I explore this wide range of unkown space, 

I have nothing but my bunnies that leave a trace. 

Letters are made into paragraphs to breathe a new life,

Colors are added into pictures to create a new life. 

May we keep only the good things, 

May we take away the bad things. 

Let us explore what tomorrow brings,

Let us traverse what the future brings.

Poptart, April 4, 2014