What are you proud of?
 

What were your finest moments? What were your top accomplishments? What makes you smile to yourself, lying in bed at the end of the day? What will you always look back on and think to yourself, that was well done by me?

Did other people recognize it, or just you? Did you get a medal, or was it something that they should give medals for but don't but if they did you'd get one?

ooooh. Good question.

My BA dissertation. It won me the prize for best original research in the final year, and it scored an almost unprecedented 98 - I was told that hadn't been done in our dept since the 1970s.

Getting a 1st class degree from a red brick university made me very very proud. Winning the prize for best original research, and the prize for best performance for a final year student, and basically also being eligible for the best female graduate prize - but having won that prize already in my second year (dont ask, it was complicated!) and another female student coming very close and our tutor suggesting that I probably would be happy for that student to be awarded the prize that year because it would mean so much to her - yeah , that all made me smile a lot :P

Just wish dad had survived long enough to see me do it all.

I'm also really proud of Carrot. With all that he had to contend with - he's turned into a smashing little chap and I take some credit for helping him do so.

I'm proud of my nieces and nephews. I had nothing to do with any of it. They're just good people.

For me? I'm not particularly proud of myself. I guess I'm proud I'm still alive. I'd take a medal for that much.

eta: I received the Viking award my senior year in basketball. I hurt my knee and couldn't even walk but I stayed on the team and hobbled and shot baskets on the side during practice. I dressed for games except one time my nemesis forgot her uniform and coach asked me to let her wear it at an away game. I did. I hated it, but it was about the team. That is why I won that award and I'm still pretty proud of that trophy; it was quite prestigious. Thanks Coach W. :)

I'm proud of my self taught excel skills. I created an automated spreadsheet that tracks and reports on our dealership's performance.

When the new boss took over, he brought his sheet in, but within 2 months had scrapped it in favor of mine, and asked me to create a version for the other two dealerships he runs. When they have an issue, or need an adjustment, they call me. I've also created workbooks for all 3 stores' BDC departments that provide him instant updates on their performance. No one else in all 3 shops has a grasp on how these things function.

That's job security right there

Most of the work I've done I am pretty insecure about. It comes from living in a town where there's a long list of people who can do everything I can do, but better, and younger, and with funkier haircuts. I'm a jack of all trades, master of none kind of guy, and for each thing that I can do competently, there are others who specialize in that particular thing. I usually get work because I happen to be the guy in the room when the work needs to get done.

And then ...

A few years ago I got hired on as a consultant for one gig that involved designing and building a 12-car moving electronic instrument. I had to write custom code to sync software and hardware together across a local WIFI field, manage a team of 6 assistants, play keyboards in a moving limo, and produce 30 sound-alike recording sessions of everything from AC/DC to Bach to Steely Dan. In short, it was the kind of gig that only a jack-of-all-trades could have pulled off, and at one point in the project, I fell into bed at night and said to my wife, "There are probably only a handful of people in the world who could actually do this job, and I'm one of them. I'm exactly the right guy for this gig."

It was an amazing feeling. I'd like to feel that way again.

Also, hey everybody, good to see you. Glad this place is still around.

Smooth! Awesome to see you. What's new?

Doing film trailer music these days to pay the bills. Also, writing concert music, as in music that nobody likes but people dress up fancy to go hear.

Emulating Billy Joel... cool.

Hey smooth

I'm wicked proud of both my girls. We gave them a good start now the burden is shifting to them to make a fulfilling life. Still the house project, it gave me a lot of confidence to do other things. I've had some classroom victories as well but the kids are very dependent on the school system after me so that tempers my optimism.

(Hey Smooth!)

I used to be modest or painfully shy about my achievements...but fuck it...I worked hard and I earned them.

--One of the first members of my family to go to college
--The only person in my family (that I know of) to get a Masters degree
--Started my own business, and made it work for several years
--I built and ran two branch offices successfully
--The work I'm doing now will help measure the intelligence of disabled kids across the country

Back when I was trimming trees, I had this one job where the guy had a ton of trees. Mostly Bradford pears. The trees had never been trimmed. The guy's house was a huge McMansion with a long straight freshly paved driveway with trees down both sides.

I trimmed the fucking fuck outta those trees. Looked like leaf covered lollipops when I was finished. I stood for along time after I was done picking up brush and leaves and cleaning up, and just stared at the job I'd done.

It was beautiful.

I increased that guy's property value prolly 30%. I charged dude $1700, he wrote the check for $2000. I guess he was happy with it as I was.

Hey, don't knock it....lot to be said for still being alive ;P

I think you should be proud of the fact that you didn't actually kill anybody at your last place of work. Given the almighty pile of shit they foisted onto you for no good reason, that you stayed your hand and restricted yourself to hobos only, showed remarkable restraint.

Huzaah!

Word.

Biggest smile for a while! Thanks my buddies! :)

I pulled a butterbar and a WO2 out of a burning bird.

Eh...

I gather they put you in for a medal for saving the WO2; but, withdrew the paperwork when they found out you also saved a butterbar. :D

Is that some kind of weird word association?

A Chief Warrant Officer (CW2) is, like a NCO, experienced from having been around. A 2nd Lieutenant (O1, single gold bar - a.k.a. "butterbar") is a newbie officer.

So CG is some kind of gd hero!

:)

You are wise beyond your years...

No.

The heros are the ones who didn't come home.

I'm proud that I'm not afraid to try building or fixing mechanical stuff and that I'm teaching those same skills to my son. I only wish my daughter had the slightest interest.

71 and still stumbling around:jig:

:D

I'm proud of you for that, too.

:)

This way the kid will have great stories how he learned this or that word, and how the old man lost those fingers. :haha:

I was really proud of how spencer did with the circular saw when we built my friends deck. And proud of Ripleys painting... I hope glatt's kids and mine all retain the skills and have fond memories of the days they acquired them

I am proud of my little business. This week, provided I sell out at the markets as is usual, people will have paid me almost $1000 to bake for them. That's something I never thought would happen, and that it's happened within 7 months is well, something to be proud of.

I'm also proud of the fact that I'm making progress on fixing a problem we have with a drain outside. Mav and I spent most of sunday digging around and have located the problem. One of my customers has offered to bring his bobcat over and dig out a new pit for the drainage. He said I can pay him in cupcakes. My business has also saved me over $500 this week.

I am proud of that too.

I am actually also proud of the fact that I am trying to have the patience to see out the rough patch my marriage is having, and staying hopeful that things will improve in the future.

Good for you, Ali! On all counts!

Yeah, that's a lot to be proud of. Keep up the good work!

Yey Ali - that's really impressive stuff. ou must be feeling pretty damn chuffed with yourself right now ;)

And she did it all upside down. :p:

Thanks guys. It's actually pretty small stuff I guess, but it's progress for me, so that's good. Now if only the little kids would realise I have more to do than clean up their messes life would be much simpler. haha

Good on Ya, Ali.

There are so many great ones here. Its a real testament to the creation by toad & the people who dwell here.

Personally, mine is my kids. I have a daughter who graduated at the top of her class, earned her own classroom and is fulfilling her lifelong dream of being a teacher. My first son is finishing college on hisown and is a strong, fiercely independent young man. Lastly, I have Daniel. Just to "have" him and know that I was a prominent force in his surviving and his recovery makes me prouder of me than anything else I've done in my life.

You SHOULD be proud, classic. Well done! :)

yeah, holy shit, batman. you owned that crisis.

thanks guys.

Bravo!

:thumb:

I am proud of facing, head on, every obstacle presented to me. Some have been soul killing, or sanity breaking, but I stood my ground and dealt with them, best I could. They didn't break me or cause me to lose sight of my moral compass.

And I'm proud of my young'uns. They've surpassed all of my expectations and I'm so very happy to call myself their mother.

I'm proudest that I taught myself how to play bass by thinking about it.

In my high school days I borrowed a guitar, I had a poor acoustic briefly, and I played a borrowed bass for a few minutes. In college I didn't have any instruments, but in my heart I had settled on bass.

So I just thought about it. I remembered how the bass was tuned in fourths, even though I didn't know what a fourth was. I pictured the fretboard in my head, and I imagined how each fingerings and techniques would result in various notes and sounds. I'd isolate bass parts while listening to bands, and I'd remember the riffs and try to figure out how they were played.

By the time I actually bought a bass, it had been a few years of thinking about it. Within a week I could play it pretty competently.

That is really damn cool!

That is really cool, Toad.

I'm proud that I finished writing a memoir. Just under 110,000 words, tells a variety of stories about the kids within a larger arc, the whole thing's damn good if I do say so myself. Working on getting an agent and getting it published, but I'm proud of just doing it in the first place.

I love this thread. You people are all impressive.

WHS^