About the person behind Drew_Aces
Below is an "Anon Doxx" explaining a bit of who I am as a person, I just left out my name and photo. I later posted those as an actual Doxx Tweet.
My entire adult life has centered around my seven kids. The four oldest, technically my stepsons, are all adults now, but I helped raise them since before they were in school. They taught me more than I ever could have taught them. Now that they're adults, and we can speak to each other on equal levels, it has become clear to me that merit is the one true human equalizer. I'm 35, which means if I'm lucky, then I'm about halfway done. I recognize now that the allure of video games is you get to retry. If you die, you can start over, try again. It's the superpower every game character has in common. As such, every superpower needs a weakness to be compelling.
As organic life, we only get one life for certain, but our strength lies in our ability to fail. On the surface it sounds counter-intuitive, but it doesn't take too much life lived to know we become resilient by learning from our mistakes. Merit is mined by stepping back from yourself and asking what you could have done better. The tough part is actually learning the lesson and changing your behavior for next time. If you can do that, success will be inevitable. Luck is simply biding your time and recognizing an opportunity when you see it. That's what I did nearly fifteen years ago, and again four years ago.
My children were young and hungry, and I didn't have a job. After applying everywhere in this small American town, I took a chance gig in the pet industry, not knowing it would be what would sustain my family for their formative years. I am eternally grateful for the opportunity, and I even went into business for myself out of a small local shop, earning just enough to keep the bills paid. Despite all this, I hesitate to call it a career. I enjoy my job immensely, but the freedom of the last four years taught me I can never work for someone else again. We are all working against time, the great and unforgiving Taker. This is life, and sometimes you have to take back.
I bought my first $45 of Bitcoin when someone paid me with cashapp in June 2020. I thought it was neat that by the time I sold it all, it totaled $145, not fully aware of the fact that mere time and decision had tripled my money. It wasn't until January 2021 that I got into investing. I fell down the rabbit hole, discovering I had a passion and a knack for technical analysis. I could see past the numbers and see the candlestick charts for what they were, a mathematical translation of human psychology. The stock market and its ills quickly led me back to cryptocurrency in March. I was too green behind the gills to not panic sell for a 40% loss from the dump in May. That was a failure; it was a lesson. I slowed down and got to work researching, finding a fascination in the intricacies of how blockchains work. Cardano's fundamentals piqued my interest early and often, shining a light on the fact that taking time to refine your product and striking at the opportune moment leads to great gains. I soon learned this for myself. However, it wasn't within the market.
I've been refining my art for 30 years, ever since I could first wield a pencil. Yet, only a few times over those three decades did I profit from any of my art. Putting pencil to paper is my meditation, as everything beyond the page falls away. When I listened in on my first NFT twitter spaces, it was the first time in my life I connected with so many people on such a personal level. Interestingly, for me Cardano NFT spaces tended to have an even higher hit-rate with relatable and compelling individuals. For this reason, I decided to base my project within Cardano (in addition to, as Benjamin Cowen puts it the “why does ADA never do anything phase” making it easy for buyers & sellers to price the art).
Regardless of our cultural differences, there's an undefinable human connection generated when you are able to hear the motivations and experience the emotional subtext layered within their art. You can see past the pixels of an NFT image and understand the raw feelings behind the labor & passion put into the piece. I believe this is a core reason why we continue to be so willing and eager to support one another. We assist each other through struggles with an unbridled tenacity to be supportive, inclusive, and helpful.
It is these human connections, and not the wonders of blockchain technology, that will truly propel this new breed of artist to success. The world-at-large views superficial pfp NFTs as a fad to be largely ignored. Those of us in the depths of this space, who continue to foster incredibly caring relationships with one another, are seeing a worldwide cultural revolution in its infancy. I truly believe that if we can hold on to these connections we're making each and every day, we shall stand proudly at the precipice of a Digital Renaissance unlike anything that has come before. Technology, creativity, and compassion are converging right now, and we in the NFT space stand at the center. Now is the time to become shepherds, and guide the sheep of this world to a more inspired life.
If you made it this far, I consider you a friend. I appreciate your time, and I (somewhat selfishly) hope that you're deep in thought with a smile on your face. If so, you're peering through a window of opportunity right now. Turn it into a doorway and walk through it with me, together.