As two weeks your senior, I say good on us both for not getting banned! It seems increasingly difficult to do these days. Congratulations on sticking around despite everything.
Incidentally, your post inspired me to go back and look at my first few weeks on the forum. My first post was about the election, fervently supporting Obama, with all the naivete of one who isn't about to to face four years of political disappointment. I also find my past self describing a number of events I have no memory of whatsoever, and I can't help but wonder if I didn't just make most of them up. My writing and grammar, for better or for worse, is much the same as it was at age 15.