I wasn't sure I was going to share this but I'm ready. Many people know me as the guy who sings "I play rust" and I wanted to speak a little bit about where that song comes from. Back during COVID I started playing rust on a little PVE server called Skyline. I had just moved to a new town during quarantine for work and didn't have many friends to spend time with. I met a small group of people on there that ended up becoming some of my closest friends. We called ourselves "Team Rocket" because we would just as quickly pull off a crazy impressive plan as we would blow ourselves up. We took it in stride. One of my close friends was named SaltyWaters. Around that time, I was super shy about singing so I'd sing songs at outpost when no one around to practice. The first thing he ever said to me was 'hey cbass I heard you had a beautiful singing voice'. I came to learn that Salty was one of the kindest people on the entire internet, and his number one goal was to make others laugh even if he was struggling. We would all stay up into the late hours goofing around and laughing our way through a global pandemic. Weeks turned into months and months turned into years. The most isolating time of our lives went by a little bit easier. One day we were goofing around, and I came up with "I play rust" to make a funny moment. Just a silly parody of a popular Coldplay song. I kept telling Salty that "one day this is going to be a hit single dude, just wait". We were just a few goofballs on a PVE server in the middle of nowhere joking about big dreams, not knowing that this would end up being somewhat true. As time went by, I started playing with Rust streamers and getting opportunities to play in big events and I took "I play rust" with me. I started playing it on bigger and bigger stages. Rustafied charity events, PVE events, Global Warfare events, and now I played it for all of the streamers on Rust Isles. Team Rocket didn't have as much time to play together but I would share stories with Salty about how much had changed. During the second Rust Naval event another member of Team Rocket reached out with bad news. He told me that health issues Salty was dealing with had worsened. He was already in the ICU and the outlook wasn't good. He was in a coma. There wasn't going to be time to speak to him. The next day he was gone. He was barely older than 30. I spent that day spiraling but also knew that this affected more than just me. Team Rocket shared our best memories of him and grieved together. The PVE server we played on made a memorial post and we all shared clips and memories. We were trying as hard as we could to make sure that piece of salty in all of us wouldn't fade away. This silly parody song has taken on so much meaning for me. It became a reminder that just like salty, making others laugh can be a path through struggle. I know he would have loved to see this, and I wish he was still here. This clip was the first time I ever sang "I play rust"