Ah, the virtual world. It is here where we can assemble as anything and anyone we choose. Who am I? Who are you? Unless we have laid eyes on someone, looked them up and down, read their body language, verified their substance in the flesh, we can only assign erroneous attributes. I have been present here for more than two years. Often I have wondered, "Who is the person behind the avatar?" Some appear sincere, others demonstrate otherwise. We are all, by the very nature of the virtual, destined to wonder.

Hence come the detractors, followed closely by the defenders. Are we not all of the same virtue, cut from the same cloth? Ah, again, I wonder. Is there not a common thread? A company that threatens prosperity? Are we here for another reason? Ah, again I wonder. Who are we? We desire to drink the elixir of prosperity, by our very longevity, yet we poison the fountain from which we beg to drink. Oh, but we should question. We should challenge. After all, it is our nature to do so. The human condition demands such.

Is there a salvation? A culmination that even the most noble of us cannot deny? Does it lay within, a stalwart premise that we cannot ignore. Faith is relegated; it is a subordinate concern. Knowledge supports us. "Fret not!," you say. We are almost there! But who among us knows for certain? Ah, again, I wonder. But to sleep, to sleep well, is what I desire. And it is there that I will find it. In my dreams, I see a swell ride up!!

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Seriously folks, what were you expecting after all of that?? The mood here has been so dark, I could not bear to see my fellow comPatriots go another minute without pausing to smile, even if just for a moment.

We are in a new era, a compilation we have never before seen with this company. I, for one, have more than a little optimism to apply toward the near future.