2024 Community Time Capsule: Dear Future Me

[Shellzilla_515]

Dear future Shellzilla_515,

How are you doing? Spotted any interesting cars as of late? At the time of writing this letter to you, I recently reached a milestone of spotting my 250th unique car to add to my identified car list. And it's all thanks to an Acura 3.2 CL Type S that was parked in a neighbourhood, the same car that appears in the North American box cover of Gran Turismo 3! Speaking of which, has Gran Turismo 8 been announced yet? Or better yet, did it finally release? Or did it get delayed to the oblivion? Regardless, you must be excited, albeit cautious considering the direction of games requiring to be always online even when only playing single player mode.

Staying on topic of cars, are you still working in the career field of fixing cars? I'm still learning new things at my current workplace, and I'm sure you still are too. Are you fully confident driving cars with a manual gear shift? Please don't beat yourself up over the mistakes you made. Learn from it and keep your head up to improve. Not just at work, but in life as well. Moreover, don't let others put you down. I've had to put up with some of that this year and it definitely won't be the last, unfortunately.

I'm really curious as to what drawing pieces you've made in the past five years. No matter where your skill levels are, I hope taking part in this hobby still makes you happy even after all these years. Maybe you've dabbled into animation a little more that you wanted to do for a very long time. I also hope that you're still drawing Pag-asa, your adorable Philippine Eagle villager OC that you created back in 2022 for the Celebrating Diversity event.

Real talk, though. Are you still living in the same house? How is your mother doing? I know everyone here ain't getting any younger, but I really hope she is still okay. What about your sister? Is she still being silly and joking around that you know and love? I wouldn't be surprised if she's still talking about Shetland Sheepdogs and Rough Collies on a daily basis. Hopefully you got to go to Philippines to meet your family relatives after what seems like forever ago. I really miss eating Pandesal early in the morning with my grandfather...

Finally, I hope you're still with @/xSuperMario64x loving him with all your heart five years later. At the time of writing this letter, I've been with him for a year and a half now after first becoming friends with him in 2021. Pretty crazy how life works, right? But please, keep hanging on to Bug and lift each other up when need be. There will never be another person like him. Always remember that Bug loves you so very much. Here are a few of pictures of you and Bug together at the International Auto Show that happened in 2024. Hold those precious memories you've spent time with him close to your heart.

Spoiler: Photos of my past self and Bug to my future self

Please take good care of yourself and get plenty of sleep.

Yours truly,

Shellzilla_515

 

[Foreverfox]

Dear Future Fox,

So, what happened? Are you able to organize lineups however? Or buy collectibles for set prices from the shop whenever? Please tell me the inventory active/inactive/hidden colors are more distinguishable? Hopefully by now I’ve been able to make a bigger impact on the forum community than I ever realized. I love it here so much, and I just love to make people feel that they matter, so my hope is that I’ve succeeded. I found my best friends here and have challenged my artistic creativity more than ever here. By this point, Nicholas should be about 3 years away from being able to join the forum himself!

Also, have you gotten better at drinking water, minding your posture, and unclenching your jaw? Please say yes.

Love.

2024 Fox

 

[xSuperMario64x]

dear future Bug,

how are you? how's it going in the year 2029? I really hope you've been taking care of yourself

I'll talk a little bit about my current self.
> I'm currently 25 years old, and I'm working as a circulation associate in a public library. I'm actually going in for an interview this Tuesday to see if I can move up a bit hehe. in February I will be starting my graduate degree program, and I hope to get my Master's in Library Science by the end of 2026, or perhaps sometime in 2027 if need be.
> I'm currently in a relationship with the love of my life, and we've been together for a year and a half now. our relationship is a bit complicated for the time being, but I really do see us being happy together for many, many years to come.
> I have two dogs (Sunny and Luna) and three cats (Feef, Ash, and Red). Sunny is the bestest boi and Luna is wild lol. meanwhile, the boys are just funny loaves.
> I still have my Windows 8 desktop that I've had since 2016, and I still use it regularly. I also have a laptop which I just bought back in January of this year, which has Windows 11 on it. I still have my Galaxy S21 FE, but I lowkey wish I could upgrade it because this thing's camera is the worst lol.
> I, unfortunately, still live with my parents. I wanted to move out five years ago, yet here I am. I'm trying my best to save up money right now so that I can hopefully move out once I finish my graduate degree. though I won't lie, I may need to get out of here sooner than that.
> I have seven fox plushies, and I love all of them dearly hehe.
> I have been obsessed with listening to Bruce Hornsby for like a year and a half now. I've even seen him live! only once, but maybe I'll see him again someday. I haven't really listened to anything past Spirit Trail yet, but I'm hoping to soon. My favourite album is Harbor Lights!

with that, I have a few questions for you...
1. what is the current state of your mental heath? have you taken care of yourself? are you in a safe place now? I pray that you've been able to find your peace, your happy place.
2. have you been able to move out yet? where did you end up going? I've given some thought to moving somewhere in western New York.
3. how is your relationship going? do you guys still love each other very much? are you feeling more secure in your relationship? do you guys get to visit each other very often? remember to give him a kiss whenever you can hehe.
4. how is your career going? did you go through with becoming a music librarian? where are you working now? are you happy with your career path/choice?
5. right now I'm trying to get back into playing piano somewhat consistently. how is that going?
6. I'm also trying to be more physically active (I currently weigh about 150 lbs and I'd like to be around 135-140), how is that going?
7. are you still studying German? I really want to get back into it but I haven't been able to find the motivation. I still want to be fluent hehe.
8. how is your mum doing? I'm honestly really worried about her, there's just too much going on and too many scary things happening to her.
9. what do you do for fun? right now, for me, it's playing piano, drawing, watching videos, and messing with the doggos and cats hehe. oh, and driving!
10. speaking of driving, are you still driving your buggy? it currently has about 155,600 miles on it. I've put probably over 30,000 miles on it in the last year and a half lmao. it's been having some issues so I'm interesting in seeing how long I can drive it before it becomes a money pit oops.
11. how are your drawing skills? have you improved since 2024?
12. are you still keeping up with your journaling? I find that it's been helping me a lot over the last year and a half.
13. are you happy with where you are? how do you feel in comparison to where you were in 2024? are you proud of yourself? you should be, honestly
14. what is the current state of US/world politics? how has it changed since the presidential election of 2024? I honestly am worried about what the future looks like in this regard.

there are probably more things I could ask, but I honestly feel tired. I've been dealing with that for a while now, and it sucks. but I digress. I don't want to lose hope, things are really difficult right now and I genuinely do believe that the future will be better. just keep taking life one day a time, do something each day that makes you happy and something that brings you a little closer to your goals. remember that you have people who love you and want to see you thrive. you don't deserve to deal with toxicity and manipulation, you deserve to live your own life and be free. remember to be kind to yourself

oh also, did you ever get a Sterling/Toucat plush made? I think that would be so adorable hehehe. I know they're expensive though.

I love you, Bug. I hope you've continued to hang in there and worked toward making a better life for yourself. you deserve it.


from, past Bug

 

[moonbyu]

dear future moonbyu,

by the time you read this, you'll probably be in your 20s. woah!
hopefully life isn't total suckage by the time the capsule is opened.
anyways, have you graduated or did you decide to drop out? as of now, i'm currently in my first semester of college after i changed majors a while ago. maybe you decided to go to university or maybe grad school within those few years or maybe you decided that college only was the end goal. who knows? whatever it is, i hope you're happy with it
hopefully you've been trying to get healthier..
have you gotten a job yet and began making your own money? i'd like to imagine that you have. in addition to that, have you gotten less shy? that seems like something that won't get fixed, but again, what do i know? i wonder what you spend the money on.. hopefully not dumb stuff like i have been now recently lol. keep saving up!
have you made new friends? reconnected with older ones? any other relationship changes?
are you still an annoying sanrio fan? still like pink? out of everything that might change, i don't think those will change haha.

regardless, if you're still on this site and if you're still reading this, it means you've made it this far. something you didn't think you could do a couple of years ago. and i'm very proud of you for that

love,
2024 moonbyu.

 

[JellyLu]

Dear future Jelly,

Well, we had a late start, but I hope your goals are being achieved! At the time of writing this, you should be hearing from the vet schools you applied to any day now. I hope we got in and are making a difference to animals everywhere!

I also hope that your dad is well. I hope that his cancer went away completely, that he found a solution for his back pain, and is living his best healthy life. I hope your grandfathers are still alive and well too. Your dog is 15 now and your cat is 8...I hope both are still here :") Ofc the spider too, haha. I love them all.

I hope your plant collection has grown too! Did we take up any new hobbies? Did we learn to crochet or increase the number of books we read a year? Is there a new Pokémon game or eeveelution? What games are you playing with your cousins lately?

I hope your man finished medical school and is on to even bigger things! Are we married yet? That would be cool. I mean we're practically married already

For your health, I hope you've found a good routine! I know we've wanted to lose weight and be healthier for a while now. I pray we finally found something that works

I also hope we've become more positive and less likely to procrastinate and be lazy! Down days will inevitably happen, but let's strive to always do our best!

As your mom and grandfather always said, never let anyone take your joy. Keep loving God and your family. Your dad, man, and yourself are stronger than you know. Your loved ones are always with you, being proud of what you're doing. Everything will be ok

Love,
 Jelly

 

[~Kilza~]

Dear ~Kilza~ (2029 edition),

I hope you’re doing well. Admittedly it’s weird to think about addressing a letter to a future version of me, lol, so hopefully this isn’t too awkward to read back on in 5 years time!

It’s weird to think about that length of time. 5 years. Thinking back to the way things were 5 years ago, and the way things have gone, there’s been so many changes in that time. There was the outbreak of COVID, allowing me to work from home at my former job and giving me so much more freedom, flexibility, and happiness. I never wanted to go back to the office, but sadly I was forced back with no warning, and ended up quitting due to how unbearable it was. Online, yeah, I ended up rediscovering TBT and eventually ended up becoming a moderator! There were a lot of ups and downs along the way, but after the highest of highs with Space Camp, I’m forever thankful to be in this position now. I played a lot of games, cleared off my backlog, and accidentally fell behind on it again, oops. I got to see the Bolts win the Stanley Cup in 2020 and 2021, and almost three-peat in 2022! Plus, yeah, I managed to meet my best friend along the way! I’m forever thankful for them. I also managed a lot of personal growth and am happier with who I am in 2024 versus where I was in 2019.

But, yeah, I came into this year with a lot of hope, and unfortunately what I’ve felt is just a lot of uncertainty. The main cause has been not having a job, and admittedly, the job search has been a struggle. It’s left me really demoralized. Things have been going well with TBT. I’m learning and growing more comfortable with being a moderator and helping run the forums. With the Bolts, they’re 8-6-1 so far to start this season and I’m hopeful they can make the playoffs. I’ve beat 12 games so far this year, with Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom being my favorite new game! I’ve been talking with my best friend daily and have greatly appreciated their company and support. This year has been mixed so far, and I suppose at the end of the day I am just trying my best, though admittedly it’s easier some days than others.

How are things for you 5 years later? Have you gotten a girlfriend? Are you living together with them? Do you have a new job that allows you to work from home? Are you enjoying it and getting paid what you deserve? Have you seen the Bolts win the Stanley Cup again? Have you managed to clear off your backlog of video games again? Are you still talking to your best friend daily? Are you happy? Healthy? Confident in yourself? Hopefully you’re satisfied with where your life is and are looking forward to the rest of your life. I am honestly still hopeful that things will work out for you in one way or another and all our hopes and dreams will come true at some point.

Remember to be kind to yourself and see the positives in yourself. There will often be days where you are sad, or things are bad, and you wish you could change certain things. Remember the people who you are close to in your life, and lean on them for support during these times. Focus on what you can control, rather than what you can’t, as often the uncontrollable stuff is what drags you down. Whatever obstacles come your way, have faith that you can handle them to the best of your abilities.

Wishing you all the best,
~Kilza~ (2024 edition)