#i've mostly lost touch with those folks but i don't have a bad word to say about them

[stars-inthe-sky]

10. tell me about an insecurity you overcame.

It's been a while since I started freelancing for fun and profit, but the beginning of that journey is still a pretty big deal to me.

I'd previously worked at an agency for nearly three years, so I knew how to do client-based work, but I knew nothing about business development (or billing, or taxes, or client management, or admin).

And, for those I didn't know back in 2017, I started down that whole road in the first place after getting very unexpectedly and unceremoniously fired after like four months on the job. It was never clear exactly why, but I'd thought things had been going well, and that was a pretty gutting Thursday afternoon.

I'd also just gone through a job search, so I knew there weren't many positions available in the region that would be a fit—and that the most recent thing that had seemed to be a great fit had, uh, not been. (This was before remote/hybrid work was a real norm, even though my agency job had functionally been hybrid and taught me to work effectively as such.)

But when I'd gone through that previous job search, a couple of people I spoke with had mentioned maybe needing some freelance capacity down the road, and perhaps I should get in touch once I got settled in the job if I was interested. So I reached out to them, without mentioning the rest, thinking I could at least bridge the gap while I figured out what the fuck to do. Both had solid projects for me where I learned a bunch quickly, made some money, and was excited for more.

And then it just kind of made sense to keep seeing about those kinds of opportunities—both because I liked the client-based work and flexibility, but also because it quickly became apparent that it'd be harder for any one person or institution to fuck me over in the same way.

Plus, one of the people who needed a subcontractor turned out to be a great mentor and reference; I don't think I ever told him quite why I'd decided to go all-in on freelancing full-time, but I have thanked him repeatedly for some truly foundational early guidance as well as a couple of projects he helped set me up with. He's semi-retired now but I'm still using some of those templates!

Anyway, I networked my way into a couple of additional early projects and finished 2017 with about the same overall income for the year that I had had in my agency job for 2016. (Not the fuck-them one, the one I got laid off from because, well, that was a bad end-of-year for anyone working in Democratic politics, much like this one.)

And the rest is history: I've been self-employed for about 7.5 years now and, while the constant hustle and inconstant income/workload have their own challenges, I think I've landed in a pretty secure (emotionally/professionally) place about the whole enterprise.

[fortunefavorsthebrave-dude]

opla thots through eppie 5 so my brain don't explode:

i'm actually very pleasantly surprised. largely the stuff that is bad is stuff i expected and a lot of things are much better than i expected so like helleth yes we win

kobyyyyyyy perfect 100% i get why they're tying the marines in more for story purposes and idc honestly bc i get to see koby

helmeppo also good tho i could have done without seeing his full cheeks

as a fan there are a lot of small moments that really don't impact the overall story much but i did miss. like toppling the morgan statue. or sanji being present for the mihawk fight to see that devotion to a dream that motivates him to get on the sea. or the catboy being changed to a catgirl that one made me mad. but again does not affect the overall thing so w/e.

casting is so stupid spot on perfect and i've been saying that the whole time but good lord every new character is so insanely good

that said. they really desexied benn beckman. rip king.

why are luffy and usopp the only characters allowed to be fun. where is weird fun hardass grandpa garp. where is any major zoro dumbass moment. he's had a few but we can do better. oh my god i just realized jango wasn't here WHERE IS HE FUCK YOU. THE MENTION OF MIRRORBALL ISLAND IS NOT ENOUGH.

they did largely forget one piece is a comedy which i literally voiced as a worry out loud with my human mouth like an hour before i started watching. pain.

the design is largely extremely good. the costumes fuck every single time. cgi looks better than expected so i'm pretty pleased.

that said. the fishmen look like fucking dogshit i cannot take them seriously. i appreciate that they're using practical effects but my god they're so so so bad just for the fishmen.

on the other hand. enamored with the dendenmushi. they're real and they're vile and i want one soooooo bad

impressed that luffy's fx don't look way worse the only one i think looks bad is balloon and that's. tough.

kuro was very good what a little freak

buggy was. fine. i didn't love him like everyone else seems too i just think they took him in the wrong direction a touch

mihawk looks so good but i hate his accent he sounds bizarre to me

lotta brits in here i was not expecting. not the worst but like. huh.

i keep seeing folks in the tag praising the colors and how it's not dark and muddy and i don't think we were watching the same show. the clothes pop and sometimes they'll light a scene but any scene in the dark even a little bit is so washed out and bad looking it's got that netflix stank all over it like most of the circus tent and garp's ship and the final syrup village fight are dark jumbles

also why did we need two goddamn episodes for syrup village. that seems excessive. i feel like they could have cut things differently and ended up with more time for like. actual adaptation stuff.

zoro crying on the dock was so perfect no notes iconic moment

i did tear up when sanji first appeared so. there is that.

also when zoro one handed lifts that big safe. okay king!

zoro is too smart also in ways that he shouldn't be it's bothering me so much. like when he translates usopp's big wordy bullshit he does not know what those words meannnnn

that said. which way is port. it's to the left. ah okay. stands there and does nothing because he doesn't know which way left is either. also gets lost on his way to a house that's ten feet away and visible. more of this we need more of this so bad.

easter eggs so good so fun. cavendish wanted poster. island of weird animals in the end credits. certainly more i didn't catch. mwah we love it.

dialogue sucks shit also the worst element of the show is by far the writing where like the plot is fine the way they rearranged things doesn't bother me if i wanted the exact story in order i'd read it again but the actual lines they write are mostly so stupid bad and generic. every so often they hit on a good one but it's generally lifted straight from the manga.

they didn't even get gold roger's speech right. he didn't say he left it all in one piece. that's the fucking. it's the whole thing of it innit.

oh i need to mention cabaji specifically weird they gave him so much focus and backstory but he looked PERFECT i was hollering

i miss reggie tho

usopp asking a gay man and an aroace man if they think a girl likes him. they do not know bro.

also i love every shipper being like WE WON listen man i'm a shipper too and the only folks who won were the usokaya hets out there everything else is just as canon as it's always been (read: not even a little bit lmao)

now that said. opla usolu is Something which is wild bc i have never once been on this train but it hits different. not enough to make me abandon aroace luffy but still.

okay one more thing. zoro being in the stocks for 0.5 seconds to keep his job that he abandons immediately anyway instead of being there for weeks in exchange for the safety of a little girl sucks. it takes away so much of his character and feels like such a critical misstep to me but i'm also the zoro guy so idk.

anyway. overall very excited to finish the season and hoping we get more. it's surpassed my (admittedly low) expectations despite my issues with it and it's worth sticking with for sure.