We all seem to have scattered to the four winds, gone about our business,
some of us have grown up, some of us have grown apart. We've migrated to
MySpace and Facebook and some of us have stayed in contact that way.
It's hard to remain a community, however, when we aren't all hanging out
at the same place, sharing stories, fears and dreams.
So, if you're still popping in for old time's sake- tell a little bit about
where you are and what you're up to and how you've changed since becoming a
little Shmengling.
As for me, I've finally come to terms with my life and found a happy place.
I've thrown off past shmeng, resolved a lot of issues that were holding me
back and worked myself into something that I'm satisfied with. I'm no
longer as wide-eyed and fluffy bunny as I used to be, but I managed to stop
the slide into mean-spiritedness that I was getting into. It wasn't who I
wanted to be. I haven't had much in the way of major adventures, but some
of the minor ones have been pretty damn cool.
I've become shy about sharing much, which is one thing I want to fix. So,
if there's still anyone out there who wants to start talking, I'll be
watching for you and I'll respond. Once the ball gets rolling, I feel
pretty sure I'll open up, too.
Let's start talking again.
SindelChaos
Occasional Poster
Posts: 46 Registered: 31/12/1969 Status: Offline
posted on 22/7/2021 at 02:49 PM
07/22/2021
Guys, I'm 34. Thirty fucking four. I was what 13? 14? when I joined this
site? Well, I'm an adult now in my 30s. I'm married. I'm exhausted. I've
had, at least, four surgeries and a psych procedure for cPTSD thanks to all
the trauma my mother and my fucked up family bestowed upon me. No children.
There will never be children. In the best of light, on hiatus from modeling
on the worst, completely retired. This pandemic has been fucking hell on my
mental health. I have no one to really talk to anymore. No long time
friends to help me get through it. I can only talk to my husband so much.
If you
read this, I hope you're all well even though you're all probably *still*
older than me. Does it ever get easier?
BlueLinn
Fanatic
Posts: 246 Registered: 31/12/1969 Status: Offline
posted on 4/6/2014 at 06:05 AM
2007 I started tattooing and bought my house. (I still have a mortgage)
2009 after the market crash I was a part of a second round of massive
layoffs for bass pro. So no more fish and wildlife on lighting fixtures for
me. So I just went full time tattooing.
2010 I had a beautiful baby boy and met my spouse fred..
2011 was uneventful, just getting used to parenthood.
2012 I helped a coworker open a tattoo shop downtown springfield. He
changed our agreement without consulting me about it so I left last
year.
2013 I took a chance and opened my own studio with the remainder of my
savings. Moved to a larger location in the same building in march and now I
am slowly getting caught up from all the expansion. Oh, and we got to visit
fred's family in Mexico city this last December that was a blast.
So halfway through 2014, my 10 year highschool reunion is next month, I
have 2 apprentices and another artist at my work. My family is doing
great. It is mind boggling how the last 10 years have just blown by.
____________________ When the world is over, will we wonder how it began?
My IP "Project Z" is taking the fuck off. We shot the pilot episode of the
series a month ago and it can be seen at http://www.blip.tv/projectz that is the first of 39
eps. We are shooting 6 more between now and the end of july. (shot half of
one yesterday, and we have the rest of it as an overnight shoot tonight.
____________________ The earth turns on a tilted axis - just doing the best it can.
Hohenheim of Light~Full Metal Alchemist
Merry_Widow
Fanatic
Posts: 598 Registered: 24/8/2002 Status: Offline
posted on 21/11/2010 at 09:44 AM
Good on you, MRD. School can be awesome. I had fun with it.
Seems like a whole lot of school was going on while everyone was quiet.
____________________ Okay, dazzle me.
Arthegarn
Member
Posts: 79 Registered: 31/12/1969 Status: Offline
posted on 18/11/2010 at 11:18 AM
OK, I’ll try to make a long story short.
Last time you heard from me I worked as a lawyer, quality consultant and
college professor, was engaged to a Texan who was coming to live to Madrid
and was looking for an apartment in downtown Madrid to leave my parents’. I
found the apartment. I got a full scholarship for LaSalle’s IMBA, which
meant I had to quit my teaching at the university. My bride moved in with
me. The company I worked for told me that they wouldn’t be needing me
anymore in 2006. In December 2004 I went basically unemployed (luckily I
had got my bride a decent job at Baker&Mckenzie as a secretary). When it
had been five months of active job search, and finding myself overqualified
for half the positions and with not enough experience for the other half, I
started cutting down my resume. I came up with the “Ridiculum Vitae” in
which (for instance) I had never been a lawyer, but a legal assistant. That
finally got me a job, two weeks before my wedding, as a P.A. to the C.E.O.
of a telecommunications company. It turned out they made porn. I married. I
quit the job and went unemployed again (luckily I had saved a lot during
the good years). I got another job as a secretary / bilingual coffee
machine in a construction company, where I got to take coffee to people who
had been my students a year earlier (and who were ashamed of the change and
kept calling me Prof.). It didn’t take and went unemployed again. I got a
job as a logistics officer. I have good reason to think my wife cheated on
me. Then she emptied our savings account and sued for divorce. I started a
romance with somebody else (HOT ten-years-younger-than-me goth chick) that
didn’t take. Thus ended 2005.
In 2006 I got a job at Rothschild’s Bank. Not as a lawyer, mind you, but as
an administrative assistant. I met Rustythoughts, a half-English, quarter
Scot, quarter Romani who made a very strong impact in my life. I started a
relationship with my current girlfriend, an old friend from old times. We
moved together. I left Rothschild for Clifford Chance, once again not as a
lawyer but as the P.A. of the Real Estate department director. I got an
offer from a different law firm, but CC counter-offered. I got promoted. I
read The God Delusion and lost my faith, which still pains me. I got into
BDSM. I got promoted again. In 2009 I regained the financial status I had
four years earlier. I made excellent friends amongst the lawyers at CC,
from trainees to senior partners with five or six-digit equities. In
January 2010 Ana told me that she COULD have babies, something we thought
was impossible. I decided I needed more money and left Clifford Chance for
my current job at a Danish giant of the wind energy sector, once again not
as a lawyer (even if here my contract has lawyer status).
And here I am.
Starlight
Extreme Fanatic
Posts: 618 Registered: 27/9/2002 Status: Offline
posted on 11/11/2010 at 06:25 PM
I am right where I want to be, and I am doing exactly what I want to do.
That might seem a bit simplistic, but it is the truth. I think the number
one most freeing thing, that I have ever done for myself, is to have
stopped apologizing for being me.
____________________ "When choosing between two evils, I always like to try the one I've never
tried before." ~Mae West
MystryssRavynDarque
Extreme Fanatic
Posts: 648 Registered: 24/9/2002 Status: Offline
posted on 7/11/2010 at 06:17 PM
It's been six years since I moved from Florida to Seattle and five years
since I moved from there to Hawai'i. I love the pace of life here, it
really suits me. I've definitely been allowed a lot of space in which to
grow up. While I'm still doing that, and we are all constantly doing that,
I am definitely the same little MRD as always. I still am seen as the
innocent one, the sweet one, and I am still blonde. But, I will always be
all three of those things (unless I can commit to dying my hair another
color). I will always be the little one here on Shmeng.
I finished my A.A. in spring of 2009 in liberal arts. I took a year of
culinary school after that, but I decided it really wasn't for me. I didn't
want to go to school for a job, I wanted to go to school to learn about me
and the world in which I live. Callei told me years ago that that would be
a decision I'd have to make, and by golly she was right.
I am now in the first semester of my B.A. in interdisciplinary studies
(fancy for liberal arts) and I have to choose my major soon. I don't know
what the hell I will do with my degree, and it doesn't matter. Most people
don't use theirs directly anyway.
I'm still with Devin, and we've had a few girlfriends. The end is coming on
the one we've most recently been in, and the longest as well. Hopefully a
friendship can be maintained in the long run.
My sister went through her mid life crisis early, so my parents now see me
as the responsible one. It looks like I'll be the executor of their will
when that time comes.
So, that's where I'm at. I miss you all. It's good to see so many old
avatars floating around on here again (well, I can't say it's nice to see
your faces can I?).
____________________ "People always say what we are looking for is a meaning for life…I don't
think that's what we're looking for. I think what we're looking for is the
experience of being alive." -Joseph Campbell
update: Provided the budget comes through, I am going to be the director of
photography on a 2 million dollar film
____________________ The earth turns on a tilted axis - just doing the best it can.
Hohenheim of Light~Full Metal Alchemist
WorthlessLiar
Occasional Poster
Posts: 13 Registered: 29/6/2002 Status: Offline
posted on 15/8/2010 at 02:58 PM
You guys probably don't remember me anyhow, I was a modest participant
nearing 10 years ago at the most active.
Since then I have graduated from High School, and graduated from Florida
International University with a Bachelors in Fine Art - Sculpture. I worked
two jobs for a long time- MTV Latin America on Miami Beach as a video
technician and at a MArket Research company in Miami part time. Oddly, the
market research company offered me a great job supporting their technology
division and I am now at work in their corporate office in Nashville. My
girlfriend of 1 year (as of last weekend) moved with me to TN and won't let
me forget that she gave up a $45k per year job to be with me.
I am very happy here- Nashville is the most beautiful place I have ever
been, save for Quebec City. It's so cheap to live here, and everyone is
nice beyond belief.
Currently, most of my free time is spent playing Dungeons and Dragons,
woodworking, and beer hunting. As of today, I have rated 903 different
beers in 18 mos. I am most active on Ratebeer.com
____________________ "Goths were first introduced to children with the invention of Darkwing
Duck. If it weren't for his vanishing in a puff of smoke and his dark
purple cape, I wouldn't be who I am today."
whitedove
Occasional Poster
Posts: 41 Registered: 31/12/1969 Status: Offline
posted on 31/7/2010 at 02:45 PM
It has been ages - but I believe I am in the same place I've always been.
To me, in my life, it feels like nothing changes. But I tend to fear
change, so maybe that isn't a bad thing. Has it really been so long since
I last read these forums? I am reading "updates" that are years in passing
and I wonder where I have been. Apparently not here, but I had to have
done something in the past decade that is note-worthy...
____________________ When nothing is left - what are you standing on? - Drake of LS
あなたの私の夢
Dolorosa
Extreme Fanatic
Posts: 856 Registered: 31/12/1969 Status: Offline
posted on 17/6/2010 at 04:41 PM
What a long strange road this has been.
____________________ In the valley of the Goats, the Goat Fucker is King
Psychopixi
Fanatic
Posts: 376 Registered: 31/12/1969 Status: Offline
posted on 5/6/2010 at 06:53 AM
I graduated university two years ago with a degree in computer science. My
boyfriend and I have been together just over six years, and bought a house
together just over three years ago. I currently have three cats, one dog,
five tattoos and twelve piercings. I've been working in the toy shop for
five years while waiting for inspiration to strike regarding a more
rewarding job. I quit smoking six days ago and am on here trying to keep
myself entertained without a nicotine fix!
____________________ Do not fear death so much, but rather the inadequate life.
Kira
Member
Posts: 149 Registered: 31/12/1969 Status: Offline
posted on 25/4/2010 at 09:39 PM
I log in here once every blue moon when something makes me think of Shmeng.
I miss this place too! So many things have changed in my life since I first
joined, it really feels like eons ago. In that time I have survived my 20s,
finished 2 college degrees, remodeled a house, been married and divorced,
and (I think) met more people IRL from this site than any other Shmeng
member.
I still live in Cincinnasti, but I never really forgot New Orleans and I'm
still considering it as my next living destination. I still do web design
and graphics, but I was laid off from my corporate hell job last year. I've
been freelancing since but am considering doing something else for awhile.
As mentioned above, my relationship with Paris also ended last year after
10 years together. I'm currently doing a lot of personal exploration (wink
wink nudge nudge) and dating someone wonderful. I feel more confused about
life at 30 than I did at 20, but I am having just as much fun so it's ok.
Anyone wanting to keep in touch who isn't - look me up on facebook
(.com/carriepie) or for the kinky set on Fetlife (sukibound).
Oh...and Squid, I owe you a phone call!! Bigtime!
____________________ Wind me up and make me crawl to you, tie me up until I call to you.
Schizo
Extreme Fanatic
Posts: 897 Registered: 31/12/1969 Status: Offline
posted on 11/4/2010 at 05:35 PM
Merry, I'm glad you are happy with yourself. So am I. Life is good, even
if it isn't easy.
And Feral, I know at least one of us misses you too.
____________________ "You can tell by the scars on my arms and the cracks in my hips and the
dents in my car and the blisters on my lips that I'm not the carefullest of
girls." - Dresden Dolls, "Girl Anachronism"
After I left, I had a complete breakdown and spent 8 weeks in a mental
hospital. Certain things were confirmed and other things were rediagnosed.
(Mild aspergers, severe mixed bi polar with a couple things thrown in). I
did get confirmation that I think differently. As a result, I have been
placed on disability.
In my copious amounts of free time since then, I have finished the story I
put on here, and have written the two sequels and am seeking representation
to get them published. I have a couple other novels I am working on as well
(including a bdsm novel).
I have made numerous short films (Some of them are available on youtube
http://www.youtube.com/feralucce)... and started production/finished
filming my first feature film (http://extraordinary.myplus.org) and
competed in several 48 hour film festivals.
Moved from missouri to west virginia, from WV to orlando fl, and finally
back to new orleans. It still tears me up to see the devastation that STILL
exists in new orleans, but i am home.
We're getting ready to start a couple new web series "Re-writes" a sitcom
and "Savage Beating" a film review show; starting a new short film called
lonely; and as soon as the funding comes in, we're filming a zombie film
called genesis.
Overall, my need to create drives m.
I miss a lot of you...
____________________ The earth turns on a tilted axis - just doing the best it can.
Hohenheim of Light~Full Metal Alchemist
Merry_Widow
Fanatic
Posts: 598 Registered: 24/8/2002 Status: Offline
posted on 13/3/2010 at 08:43 PM
I took a break, figured a few things out.
Figuring things out involved going back to school and getting my MA,
finally getting the tattoo I've been thinking about for seven years,
getting engaged, committing myself to leave San Diego and move to Eugene,
OR, and have started taking part in a local pit bull rescue, which includes
adopting a large gray puppy.
Life is chaotic, and I seem to be broke constantly, but dammit, I'm finally
happy with myself and I have a good idea of where I'm going.
____________________ Okay, dazzle me.
Domkitten
Fanatic
Posts: 470 Registered: 23/9/2002 Status: Offline
posted on 10/3/2010 at 08:13 PM
Somehow, someway, I'm still in South K?
It's the squid.
And the schoolgirl uniforms.
____________________ It's like kegel exercises for your throat.~Monolycus
IamSquid
Extreme Fanatic
Posts: 658 Registered: 27/5/2002 Status: Offline
posted on 20/1/2010 at 10:35 PM
Hmm, well I'm not much different. I still have tentacles and I still like
to frighten children. I still enjoy telling jokes about cruelty. I'm still
very active in occult circles and I still attend Burning Man. I'm still a
vegetarian, I'm still sober, and I still prefer public transportation. I'm
still an EMT and still not employed as such. I'm also still in my 20s but
only barely.
What different about my life? I'm going to school to be a nurse and after
that I plan on attending med school. I have a beautiful young GF and am in
a monogamous relationship with her (and I LIKE IT, crazy, eh?). I have
grown to the point that I am disgusted by philosophy (I'm intersted in what
can be demonstrated to be true, not what somebody imagines to be true)
although, I still fall into the old habits from time to time.
I don't come to Shmeng much anymore (obviously) but I do keep up with a few
people from this website by other means. In 2009 I saw Andree, Ickgirl, and
Kira in person. And talked to Court, Bettie-X, Tofu-Fetish, and one or two
others on the phone. I believe I talked to Monolycus online as well.
____________________
i wanted to die, and then it progressed into wanting everyone else to
die so i could watch, and then me die.
-ickgirl
daria_4
Member
Posts: 96 Registered: 29/7/2003 Status: Offline
posted on 8/11/2009 at 07:56 PM
I'm not sure where I left off here.
In any case, I'm not dead in a ditch anywhere and I will be starting grad
school in January. Life without the Navy is great.
____________________ "I've told you before, I don't comprehend religion, although
conviction is a concept I'm beginning to get. In any case, a person
with a real religious conviction is, I propose, a religious convict,
and deserves locking up."