How I Was Almost Not Super Rich but Fairly Well Off

Ten years ago I was talking to my friend Alex.  We were best friends at the time but then two years ago he turned into a major douchebag and was like telling everyone that he was going back to school even though he didn't have any plan to do so and I know that sounds like a stupid thing for me to be mad about but it was just a bunch of stuff like that and it kept adding up.  So we were talking, and we came up with an idea.  Honestly, we both came up with it together at the same time, so it's not one of those things that would later lead to an argument about who thought of what and who deserves what percentage of the profits.  It truly was a mutual thing. 

Keep in mind this was ten years ago.  The internet was around and flourishing, but there wasn't nearly the sheer amount of content there is today.  In particular, there was a lack of good, funny websites.  Alex and I had this idea.  We would make a website full of humorous animations.  There was this new program called Flash that made animating easy.  Well, maybe not easy, but certainly manageable for two guys who got C's in art class.  We devised a bunch of characters, all with different characteristics and different funny voices and all sorts of crap like that.  We really put a lot of work into it.  You know how that is, when you get what you think is a really great idea and it's all you can think about for like two weeks.  So we worked on it and worked on it and started writing all sorts of skits and stories to animate.  In two weeks we had finished our first animation.  Once it was done, we sat down to watch it to see if there were any errors, anything we missed.  It started, it played, it finished.....  There were no errors, but one thing was definitely missing.  It wasn't funny.  We didn't laugh a single time.  We had made all of these characters and written all these stories without actually making them funny.  Oops.

Completely discouraged, we gave everything we had worked on (it took us four CDs to copy it all) to our other friends, Matt and Mike.  One thing you have to know about those two guys is they're lazy as all get out.  If they don't have to think about something, they won't.  So when we handed them those four CDs, it was like Christmas.  Their eyes lit up and they ran off to their computers to pick up where we left off.

Today they actually make a pretty good living off of it.  All of the stuff is free to view, so they make their money off of merchandising.  Stickers, t-shirts, all that.  If you're interested in checking it out, but please keep in mind, above all else, THE SHIT IS NOT FUNNY, you can see it at www.homestarrunner.com.  All of the stupid stuff Alex and I created is there.  The dumbass boxing glove guy that answers e-mails, the main guy that talks like a gay retard, the "jorb" guy.  Ohmygod I hate it so much.  I'm ashamed that I unleashed it on the world.  I didn't know those two idiots would actually go through with it.

PS-- I know the inevitable question I will constantly get now that people know I came up with this garbage:  where did I get the idea for Strongbad.  So to save us all some time, here is the answer.  Alex and I were messed up on meth and we were in his parents basement and his brother's boxing gloves were lying around and Alex put them on and then he's like "man I wonder if Alicyn e-mailed me back" and I'm like well go look and so he went to the computer and he sat down to type but he couldn't 'cause he had on the boxing gloves and it just became this huge joke, and he kept saying "checkin' my e-mail, checkin' my e-mail," and we thought it was sooooooo funny but I think it was the meth because looking back, it is so incredibly idiotic and about as funny as a flashlight.  Just a regular flashlight, not doing anything.