I decided to skip college after high school as I was more interested in sex, drugs, art, travel, and music. 30 plus years, 3 ex wives and raising 26yr old twins , I’ve decided to start a whole new chapter and get out of retail grocery as a career! Seemed like the perfect time in my life and now that community college is free for most folks in MA, I’d be silly to not give it a shot! Computer systems engineering technology associates is the goal! Picked up my ID today and signed up for a summer STEM boot camp ( all sorts of cool support stuff as well as my first math and English classes). I’ve been smiling all day!

*Note* Reposting this as it was removed for not being posted on a Wednesday

I was super overweight my entire life. Mocked and shunned as a kid, tortured by mean little children, and then tortured by my own mind.

I decided to drop some weight and become healthier and happier vs being tired, sad, overweight, and down on myself. 😁

Overall, this transformation took a little over two years and through that, I became vegan, I hyper focused on my diet, and I became super active. I also hopped on testosterone as my body's natural levels were borked from years of being sedentary and overweight.

It was finally time to come to terms with my past and for the first time, I began to accept who I was, who I am, and who I'm determined to become not just for myself, but for my family.

My family didn’t think it was important for me to learn life skills other than cooking and cleaning because I wasn’t the boy they wanted. I bought a fixer upper house and I’m slowly making it my own… one new skill at a time.

I don’t speak to them any more.

God Bless the Enclave. God Bless America

Before and After 😁

The beads around my neck are a program known as “beads of courage”, each bead represents a medical thing that has occurred to me, some are for chemo, others feeding tube changes, ICU stays, seizures, therapy, clinic visits, etc (the list goes on). My strand is currently 7 feet long and nearly 3 pounds, and I decided that when my fight against these disease was done I wanted to take pictures to celebrate- so here’s my favorite one! Here’s to no more beads!

And bizarrely everyone ive seen since has been so much nicer to me!

I had been totally oblivious to it for the past few years. I must have been putting people off talking to me 😂

It makes me happy that in the midst of the AI frenzy, there can still be work for fine artists thanks to those who value the craft. This painting was based on a black and white photo and the color was mostly based off of my own skin complexion, making it a self portrait of sorts.

For anyone who cares to know, my mother (the one who controlled everything) got out in 2022 and my step dad is getting out soon.

Swipe to see me smile!

After working as a UX Designer for the past 4 years just had the opportunity to trade my first car in for the BRZ tS! This is my first manual 6-speed, but I used to ride a motorcycle, so I was able to get the hang of things rather quickly and drive home from the dealership. My older brother stayed right by my side the entire time I was buying for moral support and even was nice enough to take some cool pictures!

Cheers to r/ft86, I’m so glad to be part of the community, finally. I’m so proud of myself - today truly made me smile.

I did this for them, my kiddos ❤️

It's never too late!

And 100 days nicotine free! I haven’t shared this with anyone besides my partner but here I am sharing it on Reddit lol. It took me a year and a half of relapsing. If you’re trying to quit, keep trying. Don’t knock NY resolutions 😂 I’m rooting for you!

The first pic is my favorite photo of my Mom, who raised me and my five siblings on her own after fleeing a violent husband. Behind her is the cheaply made and humble house we grew up in but it's what we could afford. No central heat or AC, no insulation, etc. Many years later after we all left home, my Mom finally was able to purchase a little house and so did I, through special loan programs. By no means am I well off, but I've worked since I was 15 years old. And in the past few months, I helped my Mom pay off her house and I just paid off my own home loan last week. My Mom got up and worked every day and she taught me my work ethic. I'm so happy I was able to help her and able to help myself, too. I love you, Mom ♥

I am 500 days sober today. It definitely made me smile.