 The floor may not be in your old box. Hi, my name is Ray. In 2002, I was a 22-year-old serial web surfer, and I had just stumbled across an unsettling new grounds-flash animation called, The Oily Predicament. The animation began with a gray-suited businessman, walking along a quiet street, with a sinister, oily shadow following him. As the businessman grew in alarm and desperation, the oily shadow grew more insistent, finally crawling up his leg and into his body. As the businessman's screams grew more desperate, the animation cut to black, and then back to the beginning of the scene. A chill ran down my spine as I watched the animation. I had no idea why the animation had such an effect on me, or what it meant. Even all these years later, I still felt unsettled when I thought of it. I soon learned from internet forums that the animation was made by an artist, who was suffering from a severe mental illness. I felt a wave of empathy for the artist, and decided to do a bit of digging. Furthermore, I discovered that the animation was in fact, based off of the artist's own life, an inner struggle to cope with his mental illness, and fight off the oily shadow that was taking over his life. I suddenly felt the full weight of the animation, the tragedy of the artist, the loneliness of his struggle, and the inevitability of his final, desperate screams. I now hold the oily predicament close to my heart, and it serves as a gentle reminder to me to never give up, in the face of overwhelming odds.