Progress Pics · 1:54am Sep 26th, 2019
This is absolutely self-indulgent, but I'm absolutely stoked looking at these. I try really, really hard at this 'personal growth' and 'self improvement' thing, and sometimes that's really hard. And sometimes I don't know if I'm really getting to where I want to be, or if I stalled out, or what. And a lot of the time it just means remembering things I did in the past with a new awareness of how much I wouldn't be that person now, and that's... honestly really painful to live with sometimes.
On the other hand, this also happens. Here's me at the end of 2017, the end of 2018, and the end of 2019. At the end of 2017 I started doing Wholesome Rage, and that was a huge boost to my self esteem. I also genuinely learned so much doing it, and made some really important new friends.
This year I got back on working medication (?!), put on sixty pounds (I was seriously underweight), picked up piano, I've done some of the best writing of my life, and I got a proper paid writing job. I even attended an economics conference and held my own!
As stressful as it's been in long parts, I think this also might have ended up being the best year of my life. And it's nice to just bask in that for a moment and appreciate it, because boy it's still absolutely brutal right now. But I genuinely couldn't have even thought I'd be doing this well when I started Wholesome Rage.
So. Thanks for sticking with me. I really do love you all.
I think this is wild, and I was too happy not to share it.
Looks like it's going to be a cold winter...
Congratulations! You should feel proud of yourself! What sort of piano music do you like to play?
From one comrade to another, solidarity!
Excellent, darling!
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You could literally call this "before and after reading theory" and you would be wildly accurate to do so.
As to "what sort of piano music do I like to play" - Right now I've got "Say Something (I'm Giving Up on You)", "How To Save a Life" and Abba's "Winner Takes it All" on my current rotation. I like to have a song I'm getting good at, a song that I'm just learning, and a song that's above my current skill level in rotation. Am I having fun, am I wanting to practice, or do I want to Really Push Myself? I listed the three in order of what I'm using them for right now.
Otherwise I just got a bittersweet "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" and Mika's "Happy Ending" absolutely nailed.
So I guess "melancholy" is the best answer I got.
Congrats!
YES! Congratulations.
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That’s awesome! I’m glad you have the motivation to push yourself! (I certainly don’t, as you can probably tell from the sorts of stories I write.) Are you playing and singing, or just playing the melody in the right hand?
You look dramatically healthier and happier. I'm happy for you!
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Instrumentals - my singing's truly atrocious, and I have a hard enough time keeping tempo as it is
What a transformation, like a 3 stage pokemon.
Congratulations on the year, then!
And good luck with the future.
I envy your facial hair sir, I can not grow my own with out looking like I belong on a watch list.
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I couldn’t find ASCII art of a metronome, but my dude, if your tempo is uneven, you need a M E T R O N O M E !
Self-indulgence is the best thing since sliced bread, gotta admit it.
It is incredible how much you've changed. Shame you never shaved the beard but, hey, we can't all be perfect.
I'd have personally removed the middle picture, as the contrast between the first and others is the major one and growing your beard back out might look like backsliding to the untrained eye.
You look like you could take a solid poop now
Looking sharp!
Always good to hear when you are doing better, since it tends to motivate me to give self-improvement another try.
Though, oddly enough, it's been the ice cream that has led to me losing weight. So, uh, I guess the moral of the story is that you are as good as ice cream.
You look better with the longer hair, but that's because I just have a thing for longer hair guys in general. Good to see you're looking well!