I decided in 2007 that I would like to accomplish something that was brought to my attention at “365 days of beard”. Being the busy/active person that I am it took me three years to finally get a year without an event where I would not have to be clean shaved. This alone was a difficult thing to predict because life as everyone knows can be unpredictable at times. I’m not sure what to say that can sum up an entire year because I wasn’t really keeping track of my findings. At least I remembered to take a picture everyday to document my beard’s growth. Now I should probably get started with my experiences.

Most people respect/enjoy large beards. By this I mean I could walk through a concert, bar, or mall and get countless compliments on my beard. There are other people though who would stare me down, give me looks of disgust and every now and then insult me for no real reason other than I had a beard. Which leads me to my rationalization that physical appearance is a terrible way to judge someone. It seems like a pretty obvious statement but we all seem to do it, I can’t tell you how many people, both woman and men, ignored me or disregarded my views/comments for no clear reason. I’m not saying it was my beard’s fault because I never blamed it for anything, just that it alters people initial impressions.

To be completely honest, this year made me more biter than anything else. It may just be growing up or it could have been just a shitty year, both are most likely true because I definitely found myself more down than up. That being said I made it clear to myself that only a few very rare things would cause me to an early shaving, luckily it never came to that because most of the reasons were the results of grim events. I did however find myself debating shaving mid way through the year and had discussed it with quite a few people. It turned out I had made the right decision sticking with my beard because things just don’t always turn out the way you expect them to.

Relationship wise, well I guess the year turned out the way I expected it to. Girls talked to me up to a certain point in the year then nothing till about December when they knew I’d be shaving soon. Now this isn’t to say it was my beard’s fault because I really hope it’s not. I’d say it was just more of how my life worked out in the past year. things have been going well since I shaved though, again I do not blame my beard for any such reason as to limiting my relationship endeavors because I had met a girl in November and have stayed in touch with her somewhat. Regardless yeah after 6 months of beard everything stayed at a standstill.

School, college stayed the same except I was known as the beard guy. I mean it was cool but also made me debate if people like my beard more than they like me as a person. I went to many parties and people wanted pictures with the guy with the huge beard/dressed as Santa (I colored my beard for that and had a costume), but still I learned to get used to it. no matter who it was I would always get the same generic questions about my beard( why do this? does it itch? do girls even talk to you now?) and I would over time come up with general answers that I’d be able to say with a second thought. I’ve always been a people person, so it never really got annoying. People are shocked now about how different I look and well are surprised.

Jobs, well jobs are tough to find beard or not, especially when you go away to school for most of the year. I ended up having a totally of 3 different jobs over 2010. I worked for a power washing/deck refurbishing company, Home Depot, then I did night desk last semester on campus for resident buildings. all of these jobs were great, I wish I’d stuck with them all but sadly there just wasn’t enough time with school so I’m currently doing night desk on campus till the semester ends. If you know anyone who hiring, I’m always look for new opportunities.

Life in general, ummmm well I had a great time, made a bunch of friends who I still have without a beard. I went through a bit of an emotional roller coaster due to some unforeseen decisions made by others but I got through it. I went to my first wedding and it was amazing. I know I already said I made a bunch of friends but I also learned that sometimes the friends you rarely see are closer to you than ones you see every day. I lost being a band that I been playing in for almost 5 years and it was very hard to cope with, and still is because throughout high school that was an extremely big part of my life. I’ve started playing in a few new projects but haven’t been able to get too attached to them yet just because I feel like I’m still morning over my past.  I’m just trying to be a college student now and get through life but it seems I won’t be able to because of this video I made just as a memento to a year of pure ridiculousness.

Now that I’ve done that it’s time to answer some (currently) popular questions/comments on my YouTube video:

To all those concerning my moustache:

-I play trumpet as my primary instrument in bands around campus. As this is something I love doing, I also do it on the side to make a little bit of cash. Now I trimmed it about once a week because it was a constant nuisance to keep moving my moustache ten times in a four minute song. I kept it because it is technically part of the beard. Now you all know why it never got over my lip.

To those who commented on my shirts:

-Yes I have a lot of tee shirts. It’s more of a memento type thing from playing in bands. At most shows I’d play with my original band I would buy a shirt from the touring band to show support and because I liked them. Over the course of five years you can see how this collection got quite large. I’m not sure what else to say here other than thanks for the compliments on it?

Comments on my taste in music: Thanks I appreciate it haha 

All who said things about no girlfriend/ no sex/ no ass etc:

-not that it is any of your concern but I was doing just fine till around July when there were some complications. This is none of your business and this is more than I should/want to discuss about the subject

And finally to all the hater:

- I just grew my beard and made the video. I DID NOT make you watch the video in its entirety or partially, that was your own decision. I’m just an average person trying to live my life; you should do the same but stay positive.