The title says a lot here, and I honestly can't really think of a good way to start this post. I'm going to skip the cheesy sentiments and skip straight to the deal.
First and foremost: as of this point in time, Minecraft is no longer within my interests range. I initially got the game in late 2011, and to be completely honest I was probably truly sick of it by mid-2013. The only thing I did beyond that point was ORE, and the ORE experience I feel is not really Minecraft. I was on ORE purely to learn comp sci and interact with the amazing community, and the traditional "punch trees, creeper, zombie Minecraft certainly bored me. As it stands now, I feel that there are too many other great ways to learn computer science, programming, and related fields. Up until now over the past two months (since the release of IceGPU 2.0), I could barely make myself start another project. I halfheartedly tried to make an elementary cellular automata unit and did some compacting but in the end my motivation was close to gone. I was really there just for the community. Now, even that has worn thin.
Secondly (and I imagine many people will want to know about this), my beloved YouTube channel(s). I remember when I uploaded my first video to an old channel that no longer exists documenting a very stereotypical "noob LP" and having an immeasurable sense of pride in my fifty viewers and small handful of likes. Even in the early IceAndMc era (mostly pre-graphing calculator), I was essentially in shock that so many people perceived me as they did. And that special feeling no longer happens anymore. My advice to any aspiring 'tubers is not to try and make it big. A largeish to large channel (as in, < 200 subs) becomes not a matter of pride but of responsibility. You inadvertently promise a next episode and then hundreds of people are on your back when it doesn't occur right at the time you specified. To be perfectly honest I feel bad for the huge channels that just pump out the same, materialized content over and over. It really, really sucks. But outside of this rant, the deal is that I have no plans for the future of IceAndMc. It, in all likelihood, will rot in its grave for the rest of YouTube history. As for my second coding channel, I am slightly more optimistic. I may do a short series on Mandelbrot/Julia sets and upload a few more C++ tutorials someday, but don't expect regular uploading. With this post, I've promised myself that I will never again aim to regularly upload to a YouTube channel. It's simply not a responsibility I can handle, and I honestly feel much freer now that a subscriber base isn't on my back anymore.
My third point: future plans. I have slightly less to say on this topic than on YouTube because I don't really know myself. I'm currently at a point in life where I'd like to try and expand my horizons and work on more aspects of my life preparing for my future. My first sub-point I'd like to make here is whether I plan to ever return to redstone. And I don't know. For all I know ORE won't be around in a year? two years? three? in which case I'm gone. Nada. But if it's still around and kicking someday in the far future, maybe I'll return. More likely than not in that situation a new generation will occupy the server and the community will see me as a stranger. And for that reason I don't think I'll come back either way. (Changing title from "possible" to "probable" now). As for other things I'll be doing, I want to work on some programming projects, continue my somewhat secretive and overly nerdy study of higher mathematics, and build my guitar skills. I also want to try and work on my social life, however I won't elaborate here. A last sub-point is that I'll probably still be on the forums (somewhat inactive but still occasionally posting) for a few months while I try to cope with and accept the change I'm putting myself through.
And, as if points one through three weren't long-winded enough, here's my last one. That being a few personal thoughts, memories, and acknowledgements. I'll start with the personal thoughts regarding ORE and redstone (these may be slightly blunt, I don't know or care at this point). I feel like ORE has taken a slightly downhill turn with its popularity (yes, you've addressed this rsw, but it's still my opinion). As we've (you've?) become a top redstone server arguably as large as the RDF ever was, we've (I'll include myself here) developed a sense of pretentious and elitist pride. A prime example of this is the infamous http://forum.openredstone.org/showthread.php?tid=3144 where we all give reasons for not wanting to try a new concept that in the end, boil down to one thing. We're ORE ffs! We're too good for command blocks or pistons or anything that isn't the purest redstone. It's honestly somewhat close-minded (again, quite blunt but it doesn't matter anymore) and it shows that you've really gotten too comfortable in your redstone-hipster skin. I hope that someday, ORE members will realize this and make something of a change. But I don't want to orchestrate that because whoever does is doomed to a pathetic minority and I don't want to be "that guy". ORE can't last forever (all good things die), but in its blaze of glory I hope it someday reaches its full potential.
I'll skip the memories and go straight to the acknowledgements in chronological order (roughly).
bennyscube- My original inspiration to join RDF and the one who really brought me into the entire ORE scene. If he ever returns to redstone, if anybody remembers please link him this thread just so he can know he inspired another redstoner.
EvilDevil59NL- Speaking directly to you now, what can I say? You're an awesome guy and as a staff member I feel that you above others (again, not putting down other members, this is my raw opinion) tried to make the newbie experience the best it could be. Future staff members should look to you as an inspiration.
gelloe & TJ_Dude- You guys both found ORE from my channel, and are now active and amazing members. It might sound pretentious, but the fact that I had made even that small change in people's lives and the fact that I could interact with them myself later was a huge factor in keeping me on ORE for as long as I did stay.
All my YT subs and the other ORE members- Most of you will never see this message, but I think it's important to say that every single one of you were amazing and a huge influence to me. Particular honorable mentions might go to prars_brother, my very first sub, newomaster, another great admin, and DevonBrine, the most dedicated fan and nice guy I could hope for. Honestly this acknowledgement is the one place where I am actually writing this with a tear in my eye. You will all be missed.
And now, here we are. At the very end. I'll make this short and sweet.
Goodbye.
![[Image: gif.latex?%5Cmathbb%7BG%7D%5CTheta%5CThe...amma%5Csum]](http://latex.codecogs.com/gif.latex?%5Cmathbb%7BG%7D%5CTheta%5CTheta%5Cpartial%5Cbeta%5Cgamma%5Csum)
![[Image: Goodbye-mr-chips-end-title.jpg]](http://img4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20131112204558/tesfanon/images/7/79/Goodbye-mr-chips-end-title.jpg)
First and foremost: as of this point in time, Minecraft is no longer within my interests range. I initially got the game in late 2011, and to be completely honest I was probably truly sick of it by mid-2013. The only thing I did beyond that point was ORE, and the ORE experience I feel is not really Minecraft. I was on ORE purely to learn comp sci and interact with the amazing community, and the traditional "punch trees, creeper, zombie Minecraft certainly bored me. As it stands now, I feel that there are too many other great ways to learn computer science, programming, and related fields. Up until now over the past two months (since the release of IceGPU 2.0), I could barely make myself start another project. I halfheartedly tried to make an elementary cellular automata unit and did some compacting but in the end my motivation was close to gone. I was really there just for the community. Now, even that has worn thin.
Secondly (and I imagine many people will want to know about this), my beloved YouTube channel(s). I remember when I uploaded my first video to an old channel that no longer exists documenting a very stereotypical "noob LP" and having an immeasurable sense of pride in my fifty viewers and small handful of likes. Even in the early IceAndMc era (mostly pre-graphing calculator), I was essentially in shock that so many people perceived me as they did. And that special feeling no longer happens anymore. My advice to any aspiring 'tubers is not to try and make it big. A largeish to large channel (as in, < 200 subs) becomes not a matter of pride but of responsibility. You inadvertently promise a next episode and then hundreds of people are on your back when it doesn't occur right at the time you specified. To be perfectly honest I feel bad for the huge channels that just pump out the same, materialized content over and over. It really, really sucks. But outside of this rant, the deal is that I have no plans for the future of IceAndMc. It, in all likelihood, will rot in its grave for the rest of YouTube history. As for my second coding channel, I am slightly more optimistic. I may do a short series on Mandelbrot/Julia sets and upload a few more C++ tutorials someday, but don't expect regular uploading. With this post, I've promised myself that I will never again aim to regularly upload to a YouTube channel. It's simply not a responsibility I can handle, and I honestly feel much freer now that a subscriber base isn't on my back anymore.
My third point: future plans. I have slightly less to say on this topic than on YouTube because I don't really know myself. I'm currently at a point in life where I'd like to try and expand my horizons and work on more aspects of my life preparing for my future. My first sub-point I'd like to make here is whether I plan to ever return to redstone. And I don't know. For all I know ORE won't be around in a year? two years? three? in which case I'm gone. Nada. But if it's still around and kicking someday in the far future, maybe I'll return. More likely than not in that situation a new generation will occupy the server and the community will see me as a stranger. And for that reason I don't think I'll come back either way. (Changing title from "possible" to "probable" now). As for other things I'll be doing, I want to work on some programming projects, continue my somewhat secretive and overly nerdy study of higher mathematics, and build my guitar skills. I also want to try and work on my social life, however I won't elaborate here. A last sub-point is that I'll probably still be on the forums (somewhat inactive but still occasionally posting) for a few months while I try to cope with and accept the change I'm putting myself through.
And, as if points one through three weren't long-winded enough, here's my last one. That being a few personal thoughts, memories, and acknowledgements. I'll start with the personal thoughts regarding ORE and redstone (these may be slightly blunt, I don't know or care at this point). I feel like ORE has taken a slightly downhill turn with its popularity (yes, you've addressed this rsw, but it's still my opinion). As we've (you've?) become a top redstone server arguably as large as the RDF ever was, we've (I'll include myself here) developed a sense of pretentious and elitist pride. A prime example of this is the infamous http://forum.openredstone.org/showthread.php?tid=3144 where we all give reasons for not wanting to try a new concept that in the end, boil down to one thing. We're ORE ffs! We're too good for command blocks or pistons or anything that isn't the purest redstone. It's honestly somewhat close-minded (again, quite blunt but it doesn't matter anymore) and it shows that you've really gotten too comfortable in your redstone-hipster skin. I hope that someday, ORE members will realize this and make something of a change. But I don't want to orchestrate that because whoever does is doomed to a pathetic minority and I don't want to be "that guy". ORE can't last forever (all good things die), but in its blaze of glory I hope it someday reaches its full potential.
I'll skip the memories and go straight to the acknowledgements in chronological order (roughly).
bennyscube- My original inspiration to join RDF and the one who really brought me into the entire ORE scene. If he ever returns to redstone, if anybody remembers please link him this thread just so he can know he inspired another redstoner.
EvilDevil59NL- Speaking directly to you now, what can I say? You're an awesome guy and as a staff member I feel that you above others (again, not putting down other members, this is my raw opinion) tried to make the newbie experience the best it could be. Future staff members should look to you as an inspiration.
gelloe & TJ_Dude- You guys both found ORE from my channel, and are now active and amazing members. It might sound pretentious, but the fact that I had made even that small change in people's lives and the fact that I could interact with them myself later was a huge factor in keeping me on ORE for as long as I did stay.
All my YT subs and the other ORE members- Most of you will never see this message, but I think it's important to say that every single one of you were amazing and a huge influence to me. Particular honorable mentions might go to prars_brother, my very first sub, newomaster, another great admin, and DevonBrine, the most dedicated fan and nice guy I could hope for. Honestly this acknowledgement is the one place where I am actually writing this with a tear in my eye. You will all be missed.
And now, here we are. At the very end. I'll make this short and sweet.
Goodbye.
)" back. Thank you for the amazing time you and i had on the server and the amazing project you ( and us?) made, and i wish you the very best of luck with college, school, programming, mathematics, guitar skills and that social life thingy 
(((
