Giving Thanks

Good day, everyone! I hope that those of you in the US are having a happy Thanksgiving. And if you’re not in the US, I hope you have a good Thursday. In this little corner of the Internet, I have quite a lot to be thankful for, both on a personal level and in regards to fandom.

Personal

• First and foremost, I am thankful that I made a close friend this year. I have not had many friends growing up, and none that have stuck around for very long. However, this year, I made a new friend in Dark Wind, a fellow Christian, gamer, and brony. It is not for nothing that I outright said that he is my brother in all but blood.
• Secondly, I am thankful that I was able to attend my very first convention, BronyCon 2018, which I have been blogging about here semi-regularly. Needless to say, I am definitely looking forward to going to BronyCon 2019. I’m eager to celebrate the best of the fandom and watch this iconic convention go out with a bang.
• And lastly, I am thankful that my job situation is finally stable. I’ve revealed time and time again that I am a lawyer by profession. However, the reality is that despite my JD, things have not been a bed of roses. For almost five years, I was languishing as a part-time employee in a bare-bones firm, being paid an hourly wage that was little more than what you could get just flipping burgers! The hours that I had not spent working were mainly wasted either looking for work, or procrastinating from looking for work. However, thanks to a long string of circumstances that I will not elaborate here, I have finally gotten ahold of gainful, stable employment that pays me a livable salary.

Fandom

• At the risk of repeating myself, I went to BronyCon 2018! I was able to meet some of the luminaries of the brony fandom, such as Dr. Wolf, Firebrand, Lightning Bliss, and much of the TF2 Analysis Anarchy crew! Pictures can be found in the posts “An Army of Bronies” and “Is That Keyframe?”.
• 2018 saw the publication of Chapter 22 of my Pokémon/Bakugan crossover Lost Luster.
• Also, 2018 to date has seen me be an instrumental part in working on many a chapter of CvBrony’s excellent fanfiction saga Rites of Ascension. Memory serving, I believe that it was in this year that I started being a beta editor for CvBrony, and I am thankful for being able to contribute to such an awesome series.
• Also, despite me not being a big name here on the Internet, my Highlights from BronyCon 2018 series has inspired at least one other person to post their memories of BronyCon 2018 as well. (See the comments on “Is That Keyframe?”.)

So, let me hear from you. What are you all thankful for?

Love the truth; tolerate no darkness.
--SOH176