Damn, things just got real. This is great, though. It's a good reminder of the fact that there are living and breathing people behind the words and the avatars. I'm genuinely glad to hear that you're all still alive and kicking.
As for me, I can barely remember anything from when I started playing. That part of my life was such a blur. I guess I was around 14 or 15, so that would have been around 2003 or 2004. I have no idea what attracted me to it. At the time, I was mostly involved with the Annihilation mod community. But as soon as I discovered RPG, everything else dropped off the map. I was busy back then...band, scouts, soccer, and track. In retrospect, I wish I had taken the time to learn how to program, because I think that would have served me better now.
I played with the likes of Daywalker and PurpleRain (not sure why I remember those names specifically).
AFAIK, others are still doing well. VorterX is kickin it up in Seattle. Corona is still alive, but he's gone quiet. Shorty is doing good for himself; getting into corporate America I think. I met Kharandhil in person in Brussels (Belgium) in 2008. THAT was a cool experience. And Darwin taught me everything I'll ever need to know about maintaining your car's appearance. Darwin, if you're reading this, I'm still driving that Camry, and I just got it painted! It looks like a brand new car now.
I discovered Death Cab for Cutey just a couple of years ago, and I'm kicking myself for not Googling 'Death Cab' when I first saw his username. I suspect I'll have the same revelation about Silverstein in the near future.