I'm writing this hot off the tail of watching the YT channel slow start's newest video, "Zuck: The Disaster CEO", and god damn. I mean, everyone knows about Facebook and Meta and their mother's personal information being harvested, but that's not what I want to talk about here.. I want to talk about being myself!

Watching that video, I was so horrified - not just because of the content in it, but because The CEO (as he shall be called from here onward) just.. lost all his life. It's no wonder people started believing he wasn't human.

When you present yourself as being devoid of personality, all you have left is your appearance, no? And if you already look pretty generic.. all you have is your flesh, and that's not very appetizing. Let's continue with the meat analogy: you wouldn't eat something that, while cooked, wasn't seasoned at all - would you? It would give you nutrition, but there's no reason to remember it. There's no reason to want to eat it again unless you have nothing else. Maybe you could live with that. I couldn't.

This year I've been doing a lot of repressing when it comes to my personality.. I don't really know why or when it started. Being known as a person is scary. Being known and judged is scarier. I don't have the kind of friends who would judge me for who I am - if they did, we wouldn't be friends, after all - but there's just that fear, in the back of my mind, that one day things will change and I'll be the weird one.

I want to make a pledge to myself that I won't end up like The CEO. I won't be the bland meal. It's scary! I have a lot of weird, niche interests that nobody on the planet shares. I'll do it anyways, I'll do it scared.

I guess this article is just.. a representation of that promise to myself. If I don't follow the rule, then this was all for naught! I'll have to fake my death, steal the identity of one of my friends, and move to somewhere unsuitable for humankind, like Mars or New Jersey. That'll be awful!

...If you're out there, and you're also dealing with this... Don't be scared. Or, do be scared, but be yourself, OK? I'll cheer you on, from up in STAR☆HAVEN..!