Remember when your parents told you never to talk to strangers on the internet, because only dangerous predators live there?
Here are just a few examples of how that is false.
You might be surprised to know that learning to solve a Rubik's Cube was the most life-changing decision that I have made, and that it went against those kinds of wishes.
No, I am not some colorblind Rubik's Cube master, solving a 32x32 cube blindfolded, underwater with both hands tied behind my back while a hungry shark watches impatiently, awaiting his chance to eat me if I can't solve it in under 2.7 seconds.
I do YouTube. No, I'm not famous. I don't even have an audience of more than 200, typically. But the experience of getting into the world of online video, and social media in general, has made me dozens of friends from all over the world. In the grand scheme of things, I probably have more friends that originated because of the internet, than those that did not.
In 2007, Dan Brown (pogobat on YouTube) posted the Rubik's Cube tutorial that, at the time of my wanting to learn, was the #1 search result for this tutorial. I then subscribed to him. After watching his videos for around 5 years, in 2012, he did a live stream to a website called YouNow.com. After watching him broadcast, I explored the [then new] website, and decided that I would try broadcasting there. The interface (at the time), was completely unique and different than other broadcasting websites, and so I stuck around, because I liked it (look up "old YouNow"). I then befriended a British YouNower by the name of Sam Renshaw, who encouraged me to audition for a collab channel that she was putting together on YouTube ("Collab Channel": a YouTube channel in which several YouTubers post content, typically on their own days of the week). Her and I became great friends, and I became part of that collab channel. I also began creating [very low quality] videos on my own YouTube channel.
Thus, the internet for me began. Over the next 2 years, I broadcasted to YouNow, and posted fairly regularly to YouTube, partaking in 5 collab channels, and gaining over 700 subscribers. I became especially close to new friends Chip, Rebecca, Kaylee, Lisa, and Peter (hailing each from a different state: Virginia/Tennessee, Pennsylvania, Mississippi, Florida, and Oklahoma, respectively).
From 2012 onward, I became increasingly jealous of friends of mine that were able to go to so many meetups and video conventions such as VidCon, Playlist Live, Vlogger Fair, etc. (subtweets to Sam, Danny, Rebecca, and Chip). I wanted my chance to go so horribly. Parents, of course, however, don't generally approve of their 14-year-old children flying alone to the Los Angeles area to spend a weekend with people who they've never met before in their lives, and hardly ever had heard of, either.
Fortunately, I snagged the opportunity to prove to my parents (whether they had this concern or not, at the time) that my internet friends were real, and not just digital faces that were actually 50-year-old registered sex offenders. In 2015, my friend Chip (living in southeast Tennessee at the time) visited his sister, who moved to a small town just north of Omaha (where I live) a couple of years earlier. His sister had a great concern that I was actually a serial killer, but nonetheless allowed him to spend a few hours with me, touring Omaha and eating Chipotle. He was real! (And he didn't stop saying that the entire time)
The next year proved to be a great one. 2016 finally brought me the trip that I have waited almost 5 years to see. This summer, I ventured out to Los Angeles with my best friends. They had their own agenda, but I was about to attend VidCon 2016. I met Rebecca (from Pennsylvania) for the first time, after knowing her more than 3 years, and I was reunited with Chip. We spent our first day going to see the Late Late Show With James Corden, where I made my *flips hair* national television debut (We also saw Anna Kendrick and James Corden sing several love songs together, which was possibly the most amazing thing I've ever seen in my life). Then it was off to VidCon, where I met so many (SO many) people, including several that I had known online for years before! We then wrapped our time up with Disneyland and a trip to Santa Monica (which made me want to leave Nebraska forever, ever so briefly).
After we said goodbye to Rebecca and another friend of mine from Omaha, the remaining of us (me, my two best friends, and Chip) headed north to Grandma Cece's house for the night (I'll leave it at that). The next day (or, very very early morning), Chip and I headed for San Francisco! Those two days were a blur of doing literally everything. And yes, it was chilly, it was foggy, and it was super fun. We biked 20 miles past the Full House house, the Painted Ladies houses (from Full House's intro), and over the Golden Gate Bridge into Sausalito. And we ate food. Many a-food.
Before I could even land back in Omaha, I was already talking about how excited I am to do it again next year, and how I desperately want to be able to go to Playlist Live in Orlando, as well. And at last, I can now confirm to anyone who was concerned that the faces I have spoken to online for years and years are exactly as I thought they would be: crazy, fun, happy, real people.
Chip just visited his sister again this week, and is actually taking off in a plane to return home as I am typing this. He's moving to Omaha next year, and will officially be a fully-real-life friend of mine. He probably would have ended up in Omaha regardless of the internet, but would I have ever met him? Probably not.
Over 1,000 words later, I just have this to say: can you believe that I wouldn't have done this if it wasn't for Dan Brown's Rubik's Cube tutorial?
