I'm Back (To the 3 of You Who Still Read This)

To the 3 people that still read this blog- first- thank you- and second- I've got some joyful news for you- I'm back! ...for now.

And as for addressing the elephant in the room for those who still care, here it is:

Why I Left

Honestly? This blog was a massive time suck.

Writing these long posts, hand-drawing images like some unpaid Pixar intern, and getting 5 views total (3 of which were probably me refreshing the page) didn’t exactly scream worth it.

At some point, it felt like I was yelling (or rather typing my life away) into a void—except the void never yelled back. 

It's the same reason why writing five paragraph essays over and over again for ELA class feels meaningless (because it basically is).

So I stopped.

Why I'm Back

Now here’s the twist: I actually want this blog to work.

Like, really work. To be something real. To grow, gain readers, maybe even make a few dollars so I can buy overpriced kombucha like all successful creators do.

Maybe I can be the next Ray William Johnson, but for blogging.

And yeah—also because I’m applying to college.

Suddenly, “I run a blog where I discuss moral philosophy and societal contradictions through the lens of a Gen Z teenager” sounds a lot sexier on paper than “I watched TikTok for 3 hours and called that research.

Where We Go From Here

If you liked the old style—hand-drawn images, deep philosophical thoughts, unfiltered honesty—good news: the ideological conversations and honesty are staying.

The drawings? Probably not. Unless I get bored or start dating an art student (or anyone for that matter). 

Why? One word- time. Especially since Ima be incredibly busy during junior year, spending ~15-30 minutes PER drawing is NOT going to cut it. And, I think switching to internet photographs or charts shouldn't sacrifice quality in a major way, so I'll probably stick with that.

I do have one unbreakable, holy rule, however: No AI Images whatsoever. I'd rather post of watermarked Shutterstock photo from 2008 than generate an AI image (getting the Shutterstock photo is probably quicker anyways). 

Something about AI photos just makes me queasy to my core, or rather, it gives me the "ick," as the 23 year old liberal arts major white women from San Fran like to say.

The goal now is one high-quality post every 1-2 weeks, or even monthy. I'll say whatever's on my mind, somewhat filtered of course. If I have to "fake it till I make it" just to get the blog popular, then what's the point in the end, if I'm not enjoying myself? 

I'm also going to try and advertise this blog on Facebook, Reddit, Twitter (X), etc, not just to get more views, but also to motivate me to continue writing more. 

So to the three of you reading this: thank you.

You’re early. Let's make this the next Wait But Why (google it if you don't know what that is.

And if you want to help this blog succeed (so one day I can tell a scholarship committee I made something ACTUALLY worth reading), the best thing you can do?

Share it. Post the link. Send it to a friend. Share it to Reddit, X (aka Twitter), Facebook, MySpace (jk lmao). Whatever works.

----> thepennyofficial.blogspot.com

I’m back.

Let’s see what happens.

—Samuel