Spurred on by a question I remember @RodSquad asking me, I figured I'd give you all a little insight, or a bit of a deep dive, into the life of the guy who, for a time, was revered as an upvote machine, and is now trying to regain his form. So settle in, cuz this might take a while.
(For security reasons, I will refer to myself as Cartii and will not name any other names in this story)
The Beginning
Cartii was born in January of 2006, to Mama and Papa Cartii. He was born in the Lexington Medical Center in Lexington, SC. He spent the first 11/12 years of his life in SC. Cartii was never a loud kid, as he was often referred to as the calmest of his 3 siblings (on his mother's side). He was born a month late, by the way. During his early aging years, Cartii became more energetic and loved hanging out with his family and friends. He was particularly close with his older sister and two of his cousins (due to them being born around the same time, 1998-2006). The four of them, whenever they were together, were almost inseparable, and spent many hours playing games on their devices together. Growing up, Cartii realized he had a love for video games and basketball, and spent a lot of time playing both. As Cartii got older and began kindergarten, he would try to bring that infectious energy along with him to school, and for the most part, his energy was a driving force in him becoming one of the four class leaders, so it worked. He was not without issue, however, as he was the biggest troublemaker of the leaders. Not by a lot, just a little.
The only time Cartii got in major trouble in kindergarten was when he poked holes in the seat on the bus (yes, this really happened), and was subsequently suspended for a few days (can't remember how long, but it was about a week, I think). After this incident, the rest of the year went by without much of a hitch. Cartii was often referred to as a brilliant young man, who managed to finish his work faster than a lot of kids in his classes, and almost always had his nose in a book. This helped him cruise up until 4th grade, where he was introduced to math that was a bit more advanced. During this time, Cartii struggled mightily with harder math problems, to the point where he struggled (and eventually, didn't make it) past his 2's on the time table. But he persevered, and made it through the year.
Intermediate/Middle School: The beginning of a downward spiral
Upon entering 5th grade, Cartii found himself in good spirits. Several different events, however, dampened his mood as the year went on, including his best friend having his class switched, and dealing with the weight of being the "most popular" boy in the class. While not completely socially anxious, he had his moments, which made it hard for him to be as talkative as he wanted to be. Soon, however, he was relieved of this issue when two students from 2 other classes were switched to his class, thus dropping him down to 3rd "most popular". By the end of the year, he relished at the fact that he would be back at this school next year...until the hammer was dropped on him by Mama Cartii that he would be changing schools. This distressed Cartii, and it is at this point in the story where he begins to experience some mood and attitude changes.
On his first day at the new school, he remained mostly quiet, only talking when necessary. It was also on this day that he met a girl that I'll call...Fanta. Fanta was (well, is) a year older than Cartii, but quickly took a liking to him. They began talking, and as they talked, Cartii didn't realize he was slowly being led to a bad ending. Time passed, the two of them became a couple and broke up, becoming an on/off couple, and Cartii was in the midst of making friends. LOTS of friends. The school was K-8, so he was befriending 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th graders. His younger brother made it hard to truly enjoy school, as he was often embroiled in some sort of trouble. Cartii himself was also subject to trouble, as he was deep in the wrong neck of the woods with his classes and grades. He had began slacking off, playing games on his laptop when he should've been doing work, and on top of that, some of Fanta's traits were beginning to wear off on him. He began going through a depressed phase, going through multiple slumps where it seemed nothing could cheer him up. He managed to pull through yet again, and ended the year on honor roll.
7th grade is where this story begins to reach its peak. As the year went on, Cartii experienced love, pain, anger, regret, sorrow, any and every thing you can imagine. He made friends, lost friends, reconciled with friends, and ultimately, managed to keep these relationships intact. Around January/February, Cartii began to notice red flags in Fanta that he missed before, but didn't think too much of it until he managed to survive a suicide attempt. One night before school when preparing for bed, Cartii had taken around 5/6 Benadryl pills in an attempt to end his life early, but he found he was unsuccessful when he awoke the next morning. He took one more Benadryl in the morning, bringing the total to possibly 7, but this did nothing as he ended up making it through that day. Then, some time later, one day Fanta asks Cartii to send her an inappropriate picture. Only issue? Cartii didn't have a phone, and his (school) laptop was the only thing he had. He also had the burden of if he didn't send it, Fanta threatened to self-harm herself...again. This had become an issue for Cartii, especially when Fanta cut herself while they were on the bus ride home one day. Feeling the weight of the situation, Cartii caved in, took the picture (clothed), and went on with his day. He didn't realize the seriousness of the situation until the next day.
That day, he was told by his teacher that he was to report to the ISS room, an area he had been in before. While there, he contemplated what had happened, somehow forgetting the events from the previous day. He was then called to the counselor's office, where they had a lengthy discussion, before he took a mental test. He had an alarmingly high score, and thus was immediately transported to the hospital, where he was placed in the physic ward for 3 days. Once released, his family, now gravely concerned for him, tried their best not to stress him out. It worked, but for a limited time, as he soon began feeling stressed again. Some days later, he went to a hearing, where he was expelled from the school system for the remainder of the year. He was then moved to Georgia to live with his aunt, where he resides currently. He finished 7th grade in GA, and made it through most of 8th grade up until March, when everything took a turn for the worse with COVID cases surging in numbers. He did eventually finish 8th grade, albeit virtually.
High School: The present time and rebuilding
Due to COVID, Cartii spent all of 9th grade virtual, only reporting to school for testing and to receive his laptop. Around this time, or really, around mid-8th grade year, Cartii began making poor decisions that, over time, upset his family. The continued poor decision making led to him taking a trip back to SC for the summer to re-evaluate himself and get his life back on track.
It was also around this time where he discovered 2KG while looking at 2K related content. Cartii's first post on the site would be hailed by @11wakawaka as the "greatest first post in 2KG history". It was also there where he would meet fellow OG U-18's @Sssnaps, @yeetboi21, and @NotSmithboys1. The group would make small waves on the site as the rabid John Wall fans. Then, around February, Sssnaps would introduce the group to a new site by the name of 2KUniverse (2KU), where each of them would become stalwarts for the young guns on the site, along with @errolzzz and a bit later on, @DC80. He quickly carved out a reputation as a top upvoter on the site (along with @BEASTMODER34 and a few others that I won't tag because I don't want there to be more than there already are), before taking a hiatus in June/July to figure out what he wanted to do in his life. But anyways, back to the IRL aspect of this story.
Cartii struggled to stay focused during 9th grade, often spending time surfing the web instead of paying attention. But he did what he always did, and pulled off another miracle by making honor roll for the first semester, and getting at least a passing grade in every class for the second. The behavior issues were still there however, and he took the aforementioned summer trip to South Carolina. When he returned, he returned with revitalized energy, mainly due to the fact that he would be returning to face-to-face classes.
As 10th grade began, Cartii felt slight anxiety that he wouldn't know anyone, but this soon proved to be unnecessary, as he began making friends at a rapid pace. He steamrolled through the first semester, making the honor roll yet again (unbeknownst to him, as he thought he had failed some classes lmao 
), and now having a core friend group set for himself. By the end of the semester, he was feeling great, but had taken a slight hiatus from 2KU. He decided to return in style, returning on his 16th birthday. Fast forward to present time, and he's having some of the best (albeit sometimes stressful) days of his life. And while some days are stressful, Cartii takes the hits and keeps moving forward. He's got more than enough to show for the progress he's made.
Jeez...put my hands and fingers through the wringer just now. But I feel like it was worth it since I got my message across.
If you read through this thread, please post a reply so I can give you your upvote (or flowers...yeah, flowers). You deserve it for reading through basically my life story.
P.S., I doubt this has seriously crossed anyone's mind, so you don't HAVE to read this part, but just thought I'd mention it. Me and Hey (the crush from a few months back) had a talk and decided to just be friends. Are there still lingering feelings?...Yes. Am I giving in to those feelings?...No. I've since met a new person (girl) that I'll call...Adri. And ngl, she might feel the same way about me that I feel about her, cuz we're always shooting long (really long, sometimes) glances at one another, and she thinks I'm hilarious because she literally laughs at almost anything I do. My best friend (who I'll tag for really no reason because he can't see it since he forgot his password 
) @SSJB_ZO is pushing me to go for it, so I am.
).
, to @benand1, @Spicypee43, and @ImPartEvil being fucking amazing users. And from @JohnnyHimrod being a Luka/Mavs stan, to @Sp1ash being that guy, pal.
)
. Dude will quite literally go to war for the Nuggets 
