Hello fellow steemians, @rakerumon here. It has been a while since I started my journey through steemit and I think it has been long overdue for me to introduce myself to this wonderful community.

About me

My full name is Lovely Raquel Pepito Caraquel, a 19 year old student of the University of Cebu Lapu-Lapu & Mandaue taking up the course of Electronics and Communications Engineering. I am currently at the fourth year of my studies. I am the 2nd eldest daughter in our family and was born on February 14, 1998 hence the name "Lovely".

This is me in one of my early pageants in my high school years.

In my early years I used to be part of some beauty pageants in our town. I'm not the type of girl who loves girly things. I prefer being comfortable to the point that some people call me tomboyish, but I am not a tomboy as far as I know. I just like being comfortable enough to move freely, that's all.

I'm an avid cosplayer since February 2017. I love the interaction I get with fellow cosplayers and people who have the same interests as me.

I am a big fan of Japanese culture, anime and cosplay. I dive into many hobbies but cosplay is what I am currently obsessed with. I was told that I had a talent in writing and I've written a few poems and articles that I have already shared here in steemit.

Steemit has been a great way for me to share my inner thoughts and opinions and to also finance me in some ways. I've always wanted to find a great outlet for my writings to be shared and appreciated and steemit gave me more than what I wanted.

How Steemit changed my life

Before

I am the kind of person you will find staring blankly or silently into space most of the time. I do not have a large circle of friends, just a few people. At those times I think of things that I can't really talk about in real life. I mostly keep it to myself or write it on a notepad app on my phone.

All of my writings have been kept hidden or discrete. I was never really that confident in them. Though they may have garnered praise from time to time, I never really thought of publishing them so openly.

My family has had many tough times concerning financial debt and struggles. I for one have seen the efforts of my parents just to put us all to school everyday. I've never had the ability to provide them with financial security because I'm still continuing my studies, but I am desperate to ease their burdens just by a small percent if that would help them in some way at all.

And that is when I heard of the platform called STEEMIT from @jassennessaj an upperclassmen in our school. I never thought that this could change everything.

During

I started rummaging through my long forgotten articles, poems and even drawings just to have something posted here. It wasn't easy at first. My exposure to this community was still too small and I was a bit too desperate. Thoughts of giving up lingered and I briefly considered doing so. But I was encouraged and had support from the people who introduced me to steemit.

They organized a group that helped those who are new here like me to build up their reputation and it greatly helped. Though I could not post anything that is trending or relevant to this community I still write about the things that I like most, hoping that people who think the same would appreciate my efforts. I focused on my interests because those are the only things I can really talk about non-stop.

Through my articles I have garnered a considerable amount that helped me with my current financial situation. I eased the worries of my parents to a small extent which made them happy and proud. I am really grateful for that.

After

Though I may not be able to post a lot lately because of internet connection and time constraints due to my classes, I still find the time to write things down in my spare time. Although my writings don't get a lot of response now than they used to, I still try my best to relay my thoughts hoping that someone understands too.

I know that my journey here has just started and I still have a lot of things to learn. I may not express things that are interesting to most people here, but the miniature response from those who do keep me going in some way.

Steemit to me

I must be honest in saying that the only thing that got me into writing for steemit is for the easy money. I was desperate for financial gain and only thought of that most of the time. But now that I read through my posts from time to time, I realized that some get noticed greatly and others do not. I get criticized at some point in a way that helps me improve and that really does the trick.

I also learned a few things about cryptocurrency and how it works and that is a piece of information I'll gladly keep. Knowing such things and gaining from it really builds up someone's goals. The pleasure of writing for me greatly increases because I get rewarded for the efforts that I take in writing.

As of now that would be all that I can say about myself and my journey here in steemit. I hope that more and more people here will share their interests and continue helping each other to make this community greater.

AZASU!!