As of today, August 30th, 2021, Santa Monica Roleplay, also known as SMRP, will close its doors. Members, you can all feel free to continue your plots if you so wish to or close them out. The discord and tumblr ooc will be open for you all to exchange contact information, if you so wish, but you’re not obligated to do so. Underneath the cut is our final goodbye.Â
Santa Monica RP, for 11 months you’ve been a joy and light in the darkness. It was such an adventure from start to finish from the absolute sheer panic of opening to the bittersweet ending. I know I said we weren’t going to close but as I kept logging on to do some tasks behind the scenes, the team did some thinking. Every day we pondered and every day it just didn’t feel right keeping it open. Now I know what some of you are thinking, but at this point, it’s for the best. Between my mental health, Jess’, and Tash’s, I need to look out for everyone here and we’re pretty worn out between launching new projects between art and launching scripts and studying abroad that it’s starting to take up our time and sadly, it’s leaving us less time to make time for you all. Which sucks, but that’s part of growing up. Sometimes, we have to let go of the things we love most to make room for more growth.Â
However, I’m grateful for all the memories. I’m grateful for the stories that came to life and I will say this far and wide. I will miss looking forward to Thursday nights where we laughed until we cried over the misadventures of Gossip God and even our own misadventures. I will miss our Lore No One Asked For on Mondays, or when we used to share them on Saturday nights because we’d be bored as well. I will miss our vibe radio nights where we’d vibe until we’d post LoFi music. I will miss the hilarious pins without context in scream machine and having to “sacrifice” pins because there was always someone dropping a gem that had to be pinned. I will miss the battle of leveling up with MEE6 and the constant yelling at that damn bot for being such a pain in the ass. I will miss the thousands of badges we all had to show off. I will miss getting to loudly fangirl and those certain Thursday nights where BTS or MX or Ateez would drop the single and we’d all scream and go feral for all the non-Army/Bangtan Scout/Monbebes/Atinys to return to the chaos. I will miss the random tiktoks, the astrology rants, the “IT’S A LOVE QUADRANGLE” and “get ready everyone it’s cuffing season!!!”. I will miss each and everyone of you and I mean that. No matter how things went down, I will truly miss everyone.Â
So…here’s to the rich kids who had their asses to them by reality. Here’s to the grumpy mechanic who was the one who did the ass handing, the wild musicians, stressed out lawyers who needed a vacation yesterday, the real estate agent with their face on every bus stop who loved a good party, and law students who really just needed to throw an axe. Here’s to the fabulous fashionistas that served face and outfits for days and had hearts of gold, that reminded us that the power of collaboration is what kept the fashion world afloat. Here’s to the sleepy and sassy photographer who showed the city the reason for their loss of sleep through their personal lens. Here’s to the ragtag group of misfits who made a name for themselves from living a double life of tagging on walls and being a librarian, doordashing and skateboarding and dancing, and creating beautiful bouquets and underground rapping, and taking care of each other and their families, to taking the stage by storm.Â
Here’s to the musicians who found their worth through their music and expressed themselves as authentically as they did from rainbow hair to calling everyone and their mother gay. Here’s to the nervous nurses who just want to make it by and work their ass off day and night. Here’s to the DJ’s who knew how to get the party to turn up. Here’s to the artists that got us to look through the world from a different lens. Here’s to the small but endlessly mighty, the starry eyed and bright, and the loud and bold. Here’s to the chefs that threw down in the kitchen and made sure we knew what was cookin’. Here’s to the they/thems who dazzled the city with glitter and flair (and really great hair), but also taught us the true meaning of what is was like to be in their shoes, from becoming Fairy royalty to being Pride royalty. Here’s to the dancers far and wide, from dancing in the middle of the street or down the Target aisle at 10am. Here’s to all the oldest and middle sisters who dealt with chaotic younger siblings. Here’s to the found families with bonds that knew no bounds. Here’s to the old man that reported gossip every damn week and nearly got his ass kicked at Whole Foods. Here’s to the short-lived characters we swore we all thought we could take on, but couldn’t. Here’s to every member past and present, from all walks of life.Â
I know I just…pretty much called out every single character as boldly as I could, but, everyone here had a story to tell, everyone here had a story that they brought to the table and boldly told them. Everyone here had something special and I want everyone to remember that and hold that with them as you all move on and continue on your own journeys. I’ll admit, did wish that everything we had in the last 11 months could last just a little longer but, holding on would just make us all hurt, and no one needs to hurt. So it’s best to let go, as hard as it is.Â
To the admin team, thank you for joining this rollercoaster with me. It was a wild ride and I enjoyed every moment with both of you. Thank you for helping me bring Santa Monica to life.Â
TL;DR: Santa Monica RP, thank you for 11 months. I wish everyone all the best this life can offer despite the obstacles thrown our way. I wish everyone a happy, fulfilled, and adventurous life and I hope you all achieve what you want to achieve in this life. You will all be sorely missed. Take care.Â