29th Birthday Gratitude to Everyone

Hey, everybody! Antoni here and it has been two days since I turned twenty-nine years old.

First of all, I want to thank everybody who has greeted me on my birthday from two days ago all the way up to today. I am so blessed by all the love, encouragement, kindness, fortitude, compassion, warmth, and loyalty you have given to me and I too wish you well in everything you do and have been accomplishing so far.

Secondly, I want to extend my goodwill and wishes of prosperity, abundance, joy, love, fortitude, beauty, and grace to all of my fellow April birthday celebrants on DeviantArt, specialized666, emametlo, Xovinx, pokemonlpsfan, Teeniedoodles, Banzatou, AmethystQueen25, Hekatia, pupleash, ShiyaHawk, Luipunker91, ladybattousai, Hestia1, Makoto-nii-chan, MarcosBnPinto, riukime, KittyTheNerd, AngelLilly, BiPinkBunny, Nevi-M, AKIV707, Ally-Kat312, HughEbdy, TheDarkestNight51, sadieB798, 4M1R, Mewthekitten1, Kennshou, Channeleven, IdunaHayaDesigns, Iduna-Haya, Yuki-Heiligen, Pak009, NessieUsagi, Barguest, FoxyAtTheCorner, reiner55, Lisathefan, 14-bis, Eistaneyu, PsychokittyP, SurrealMime, xrosejuicex, kuleroselie1, neopuff, AStar-Illustrations, RicoDZ, AlexFly, RaccoonFoot, CaeriLorem, YuiHarunaShinozaki, lovesdrawing721, ArtisticAnimeFanGirl, ShimuAdopts, purpledolpin05, squiddlyn, mshmaek, j5ajj, dark-kunoichi92, ThenameisNoName, Walu-Sushi, ClaraPowerPuff, Porcelain-Requiem, TheGoddessQueen, locofuria, Jose-Ramiro, LuciferTheShort, RurouniGemini83, CaptainEdwardTeague, Midori-D, deedee2014, Sildesalaten, Toni123456, InsanBoudjema1829, FairytalesArtist, Chacha987, araednia, starplexus, Tsiki10, RazorRex, Pre-AnimationMan, emmettmpickens, PrincessKaylaC, Looneygurl96, flowerpower138, LooSamoro, fvneralhouse, carlycastaneda, BrickJojoRRB, Furipasart, Furipa93, Wakamoley, Suzume-Star, MarsMellon, DrawBerry33, StrawberryPon, 1987arevalo, darklove1029, CTW36, mystery79, JQroxks21, CJMasaNetwork2002, khyfie, JosephSnap101, KiraKogasDaughter, CrimsonVampiress, ZOE-Productions, SylvesterMcCoyFan, LazyCafe, NeoSlashott, Hinako29, RiiiceCak3, TerinCat, and Ego-Creo.

Being 29 years old signifies a great new deal of challenges coming my way, which I am more than happy to accept with open arms and reach those high heights. Sure, I can continue to proclaim that I have shoved obesity out the door since mid-October and I have never gone back to the obesity mark ever since, hopefully for good this time and for the rest of my natural life. Yes, I can continue to state that I am proud to be queer, specifically be proud of my gayness and wear it like a golden badge of honor. Of course, I can further proceed with exuding my confidence and high self-esteem because I fully embrace, respect, and accept myself for what I have worked towards and what I have aspired to be. Indeed, I can proclaim to you all that I have continued to pass my university courses and did not fail any of them thus far. Furthermore, it is also indubitable that I will always exude love, passion, and flair in my online content creation as an artist specializing in fan art, a YouTuber specializing in vlog-style reviews, and a guy who just loves to write my freaking heart out. However, if I can look beyond the wants of prestige, external beauty, fame, fortune, and acceptance as my reasons, those are just the tip of the iceberg. These are backed up by my needs of health, self-love, self-respect, passion, dedication, determination, and drive in order for me to keep on living.

Moreover, do not think I was unaware of what has been occurring in the world. There were some intrinsically triumphant moments of justice found in Derek Chauvin finally getting arrested for the murder of George Floyd, which made me believe that my home country of the U.S.A. is finally getting back on the tracks of justice and has raised the voices of the oppressed. Nevertheless, there were moments of mourning where a lot of influential artists and political figures transcended the flesh yet left behind really exciting legacies from Evgeny Nesterenko to Prince Philip to Christa Ludwig to Corneliu Murgu. Every one of these exceptional people left a mark on me as an artist and as a person because of the values they were defined by and I hope their legacies will be forever persevered. In the case of the trial’s outcome revolving around Derek Chauvin’s well-deserved arrest, it also made me realize just how the wounds of hatred, abuse of power, and corruption can encroach anybody in the position of authority while endangering the life of a civilian, instead of upholding the value of integrity and justice.

The point I want to drive home is the necessity for me to habitually better myself and continue to live as healthily, authentically, and passionately as I can with integrity, conscientiousness, and courage to make a difference and persevere when circumstances get tough. I may not want to be a father, but I have nieces and nephews based in several parts of the world. I have to set a great example for them to not always find the quick-fix path to success, but learn to embrace the fruitful process of attaining success, which may be steeped with challenges, but the prospect of attaining a goal will be cathartically sweet. After all, it is not the destination that matters the most, but the journey, and I pray that my nieces’ and nephews’ journeys will be fruitful, purposeful, and full of enlightenment. This is also evident in how much complacency is certainly not permitted by any stretch of the imagination, thus exercising strong will and perseverance in everything we do.

Once again, I want to thank you all, my family, my friends, my role models, my colleagues, and my fellow artists, reviewers, actors, singers, voice actors, and writers, for your continuous support, encouragement, and blessings. You have definitely shaped me to be the person I am today and I will forever be blessed.

Take care, stay safe, and keep a positive attitude, everybody.