We had a fucking blast tonight!
We raised seven and some odd million gil!
We increased the prize pot to 290k per week!
We had someone incur the wrath of the Brute Squad for shooting someone on-site!
We had A NEW CHAMPION IN DANTE THALMOS AND I DON'T HAVE A PICTURE OF HIM.
So..
...
Let's get real for a second. YES I REALIZE I GOT ALL EMOTIONAL ABOUT IT DURING GRINDSTONE#100 BUT SHUP
I've been running the Grindstone for nearly a year straight now. Recording it since Jan31, running it since before that. In that time we've seen attendance quadruple. We've had the number of volunteers blow up exponentially.
I want to spleen about that for a hot minute. The Grindstone is entirely community-run now. It's not an FC running it, it's not a tight group of friends. Our overseers? Just folks with lots of experience volunteers. The healers? People coming up on a seemingly-weekly basis asking to contribute. The prize money? You're all aware that comes straight from the community, dropkickstarted (as I like to refer to it). We're entirely functional because of YOU, the community, and it's... Amazing. I'm sleep deprived and agog because of tonight, but seriously: The Grindstone exists because people want it to exist. We're a Primal server event. You're all amazing. You make this happen.
I try to pay forward love and kudos to the people who make this work every week, but it only can mean so much from someone on the inside. Every donation, every affectionate tell, every "Hey, tonight was awesome" conversation? It goes miles.
We can only be awesome because you are all awesome. It's amazing, and I can't imagine how much more awesome it can get over 2016. We had a hell of a start tonight, and you all haven't shown signs of stopping since back in July.
Gods have mercy on our souls.
<3
We raised seven and some odd million gil!
We increased the prize pot to 290k per week!
We had someone incur the wrath of the Brute Squad for shooting someone on-site!
We had A NEW CHAMPION IN DANTE THALMOS AND I DON'T HAVE A PICTURE OF HIM.
So..
...
Let's get real for a second. YES I REALIZE I GOT ALL EMOTIONAL ABOUT IT DURING GRINDSTONE#100 BUT SHUP
I've been running the Grindstone for nearly a year straight now. Recording it since Jan31, running it since before that. In that time we've seen attendance quadruple. We've had the number of volunteers blow up exponentially.
I want to spleen about that for a hot minute. The Grindstone is entirely community-run now. It's not an FC running it, it's not a tight group of friends. Our overseers? Just folks with lots of experience volunteers. The healers? People coming up on a seemingly-weekly basis asking to contribute. The prize money? You're all aware that comes straight from the community, dropkickstarted (as I like to refer to it). We're entirely functional because of YOU, the community, and it's... Amazing. I'm sleep deprived and agog because of tonight, but seriously: The Grindstone exists because people want it to exist. We're a Primal server event. You're all amazing. You make this happen.
I try to pay forward love and kudos to the people who make this work every week, but it only can mean so much from someone on the inside. Every donation, every affectionate tell, every "Hey, tonight was awesome" conversation? It goes miles.
We can only be awesome because you are all awesome. It's amazing, and I can't imagine how much more awesome it can get over 2016. We had a hell of a start tonight, and you all haven't shown signs of stopping since back in July.
Gods have mercy on our souls.
<3
![[Image: yEROfKO.png]](http://i.imgur.com/yEROfKO.png)
