A decade.

Somewhere around now, ten years ago, I was wondering if I was about to make a horrible mistake. What was I thinking, going off to Atlanta to a convention of people I'd never met, and knew little about except that they wrote puzzles?

Well, I don't know what I was thinking, but it was one of the best decisions I ever made.

It's been ten years since my first NPL convention, and I honestly cannot picture what my life would look like today had I not gotten on that plane to Atlanta. So much of my circle of friends now is tied to puzzles. And even things that aren't directly connected to puzzles -- like LARPing -- are part of my life because of people I know through puzzling. (If I hadn't joined the NPL, I wouldn't have started doing the MIT Mystery Hunt, so would never have met tahnan, who wouldn't have suggested Otherworld, and I then wouldn't have had the conversation with cramerica that led to my trying Legends.) I've done things and been places I'd never have experienced without the NPL.

So, as we head for Conorado next weekend -- thanks to all my fellow puzzle geeks out there, who've been such a key part of the past decade of my life.