so, super aggressive aru goes on a rampage once again, there's school tomorrow I haven't gotten any sleep, still have a project to finish yet I'm writing this please bear with mE HUFFS

TAKE HEED; THIS IS AN EXTREMELY LENGTHY, CHEESY AND RATHER SELF INDULGENT POST READ AT YOUR OWN RISK

I dunno, I somehow am very hesitant in writing this as it would reveal how cheesy and sentimental I am at the same time I want to give justice to all the wonderful people who's mentioned me in their journal and my friends regardless of how they feel about me. So, likewise said, just this once, forgive aru's cheesiness and deal with my self indulgence ///kicked

well, where do I even begin;;;

I've repeatedly passed through the site during my years on gaia online (while posing as a fifteen year old living in japan despite the ongoing chaos back then ///shoots self) but I was intimidated by all the amazing art there was in it. 

THEN I DISCOVERED BASES. 

I remember spending half the month browsing through free to use ones and tracing them with the only software I had back then, MS Paint. I had but a few friends back then, too. disenchantedsaiyame a sugoi senpai from facebook and SakuraStar99 from youtube (a fellow lenmiku shipper!) Unfortunately, I eventually got bored and disappeared from the site. 

oh-OH FIRST ART!! ofc everyone begins with that why didn't I think of that //huuffs

although, technically this isn't the first art I ever uploaded on dA, this is the earliest one I uploaded on this account. This piece is honestly very special to me, that year I was basically sulking for the fact that we moved over a hundred miles away from my hometown (or so I thinkkkk) it made me feel grateful that my friends back home still cared for and remembered me, at least enough for them to greet me on facebook for my birthday.

with that said, I rediscovered deviantart after randomly finding a group about promoting improvement

Hachiimi's piece(the december one, specifically), though, is what truly ignited my dream to become better, she was and still is my biggest inspiration, art wise.

That aside, I have gone a lot on this community for the past year (or is it years??) yet it somehow gives me a cringe whenever I try to remember how quiet and pointless my first days (months??) were, almost so much that I just wanted to be gone with the wind

I had my first watcher though! 

Rainvader was really nice and friendly...yet unsociable, either that or up until now I haven't heard much from him and he has only uploaded two pieces of art on his gallery. Dude srsly, talk to me okei, let the aru be your friend //shakes you ///slapped

I decided to take matters to my own hands then, I began trying to make friends by nitpicking giving critique to people's art, I mean, it is an art community, right?

That did provide some good, in a way, I discovered being on deviantart meant you should contribute to the community more

I eventually opened my commissions and successfully sold them to Solceress for a then really low price(which worth even less considering my ugry skills)

this honestly helped me improve in so many ways, thank you very much for commissioning my ugry art

and then I met JellaGelachin

THIS person/girl/human/daughter/thing (that's just how awesome and flexible you are daughter-chan //wigglesbrows) here showed me the wonders this community can do. It was the first time I had a legit conversation with someone and then those times I was practically giving up on my art...I never thought I could be good friends with someone online before then, ilu Ally bbu and I wish we could talk as much as we did before

WARNING NUMBER TWO; THE FOLLOWING PORTION FEATURES SEIZURE-TRIGGERING TEXT AND TERRIBLE ARU GRAMMAR, READ AT YOUR OWN RISK.

I made progress!! meeting even more wonderful people during my first year, you guys know who you are; 

Puriimochi A VERY AFDSGGSGAUS KAWAII ARTIST and I owe most of my early art influences to you waifu/sissu

xellan15 who still faithfully comments on all my deviations to date, thank you for your patience on my never-changing art hhhhh

eireisa tHIS SUPER KAKOI OBA-SAN of whom I most possibly had the longest actual conversations I had on the history of me ever joining dA ///talktomemorebae

greyopal MY PAL YO. This amazing artist who has incredibly amazing folds and is incredibly amazing nice and sweet and deals with my incredibly lame puns. dID I MENTION SHE'S INCREDIBLY AMAZING? _{talk to me more okei hhh}

pastelu possibly the nicest friend you'd ever come across on dA. Wherever you are right now, I don't care whatever issues you had as an artist, I still see you as a huge inspiration, please stay happy ^^

DolceDove the sweet, funny, kawaii imouto-chaaaan!! I miss talking to you a lot and I never get to you on skype, TALK TO ME OKEI ///kicked

Miitee a sweet, cute little imouto desu~<3 I OWE YOU A LOT FOR MY USERNAME, TOO. just-- give aru a hug ///glomps you

Flariachan a very kind and faithful commenter now promoted to the kohai title //slapped hhhh thank you for being so nice I wish I could talk to you more ;;;

BlazingBacon THE BEST BACON IN THE WORLD....is not edible //slapped eeee but ilu so much bacon omg, tHANK YOU FOR BLESSING ME WITH YOUR AMAZING PIXEL SKILLS TOO

oreiio ANOTHER SWEET THING THAT IS NOT EDIBLE ///SHOT senpie rabus you very much okei _{my everything kOUHAI.}

Jellymii the funniest, happiest person I have ever encountered on dA not to mention, THE MOST LOYAL AND KAKOI KOUHAI EVER. ///gttth

blandkid TWO WORDS. IN. SANE. _{LIEK, HALF THE TIME EHY IS SANE THEN THE NEXT MOMENT LIEK IN...SANE. ///SHOT}

Wiwi-Chii THE SWEETEST _{possibly tiniest ///kicked} KOHAI EVER HHHH your art is so cute and YOU ARE SO CUTE, ARU LOVES TALKING TO YOU A LOT OKEI ///strokesyou

SousekiTerra amazing terra bbu who likes aru-senpie's puns. TERRA IS THE PUNNIEST OF DEM ALL...next to fabbu aru ofc //gaywinkplz

PastryPuffs THE KING OF ALL DEM CHIBIS. also, aru's noble stalker huehuehue //kicked

Curain aru's noble servant wITH A VERY DIFFICULT USERNAME TO SPELL ///SHOT

There were more people...A LOT OF WONDERFUL PEOPLE.

especially during my second year,

I met a lot of new friends during that short period of time, and lost some in the process. 

I started joining rp groups, and began meeting and/or bonding with great people 

royalhighmess pssst...._{hanamemi is still my OTP also I never catch you on skype but talk to me more okei hUFFS}

hana-e your amazing writing skills bae _{please hand them over to me nao}

AllegroDemonee I'm sorry for being so slow on my replies and we never even got to finish the first rp hhh but amg nee-chan loves you okei hUFFS

NekoKiyomi my RPs with Taiyo were the weirdest and yet the funniest RPs ever xDDD also, thank you for being such a sweet song spamming kohai hhhhh

tashaj4de I swear.....I NEED TO KNOW HOW YOU REPLY SO FAST ///internalwheezing also, you're the kindest ate 1683264ever, you have such a bootiful/fabb voice too and-and-aND pLEASE LET ARU SHOWER YOU WITH DOKIS

soon enough, I got to convince two rl friends to join the site after so. much. begging. //dies

:devstrawberry-aiki: lemme just say one thing. KAWAAIIIIII ///SHOT aaa but ilu so much Jed hhhh, thank you for bearing with my craziness and rather irrational behavior, I will forever be your senpai okei, as for you Herazuli the most sassy, sophisticated, yet rash and boyish girl 6ever //kicked eeee Liz!! Thank you for being such a great true friend, I swear WHEN I GROW UP, GET RICH AND FAMOUS, I SHALL TRAVEL THE WORLD AND HAVE SOME TEA WITH 90 YEAR OLD JED, LIZ, TRICIA, VIVIENNE, AND ATE ROSETTE ON A NICE OUTDOOR MORNING GARDEN OKAI, DON'T YOU DARE DOUBT THAT PROMISE ///SHOT

this was also the year I met former-kohai/husbando Curulin!! ///happy tears plz

curu is---well, very friendly! she's the ultimate spammers among spammers, the best host of livestreams, THE GODDESS OF BISHIES nO. ///slapped 

eitherways, I got inspired to work hard on my social skills since then,

I met NoizRnel AKA THE BUSHIE PANDREYBUTT WHO CAN FLY.

simply put, DREY YOU ARE FABBU OKEI, ARU RABUS YOU VERY MUCH

Makiichii THE MOST BOOTIFUL BISHIE IKEMEN OF ALL SHOTA KOHAIS 153636356EVER. SENPIE RABUS YOU.

Kuimei at first you were just a seme with kakoi/kawaii/sugoi traditional art, NAO LIEK PLS SHARE ME YOUR FUJOSHI FEELS SEME-SAMA--///SHOT

Hoshi-Pan the official owner of titan shin's head...I CLAIM TITAN SHIN'S BODY THO //slapped

I'd honestly take the time to write about all the people I've met or even all my watchers but I have over 700 to date, plus I haven't got much time on hand right now and basically just typed everything on one go, so I most probably wrote just about as much people as I can.

I can't name them all due to my ever tiny goldfish-brain, but all of them helped me grow both as an aspiring artist and a person.

Please continue to make deviantART a wonderful place to be in

p.s. yes, I know--I ended up featuring my ugry art after all ///SHOTDED