I grew up being ostracized because I was awkward and loved to play video games. I was even threatened with a lead-pipe beatdown just because I wasn't good at baseball. These days, I'm a game journalist for a few reputable sites and also, for myself and my own site. I get free video games, all expenses paid trips and the admiration of all my friends and even my former classmates.

In addition to my writing gig, I also have two great day jobs. I'm a teacher's aide and an afterschool counselor who mentors kids and encourages them to stick together and play games (they're just getting into Smash Brawl now!) with each other because I never want to see a kid have to be alone because they like video games or any games.

Tell those former classmates that their approval fills you with shame.

They aren't worth more than a head nod and a "Oh, how ya doin'?" before I don't listen and go back to my Coca Cola.

This troper made an environmental booklet in Spanish class based on this. The phrases were mostly stuff like, "If we all stop using plastic bags, there will be less trash in the sea," and that was one of the more optimistic ones. Then, the last one just has a guy smiling to himself as he sits by a brook. #QUOTE#''If we all sat by a brook once a day, we would appreciate the environment more.''

This troper simply ''loves'' this trope to bits. It gives this troper hope.

As a closet idealist, this troper agrees. He finds that a HappyEnding at the end of a long and often dark story heartwarming.

This troper as well, though if he ever ends up writing a fanfic the characters will have to work hard for the happy end.

This Troper has earned hers - she was molested, expelled and dumped in the space of three months before transferring to a new high school and finding her soulmate.

I'm not there yet, but after a while now it seems like I'm heading there. And even though I'm not there yet, like Jules from Pulp Fiction...I'm trying.

I went through college and high-school, always mocked, humiliated, with my mother always berating me for getting bullied, always sick, depressive, and having comitted more than 30 suicide attemps. And let's not forget being raped by a women (To be precise, she seduced me and took a video she then send to everyone, and rape is NOT okay when it is female on male.), given up by people I trusted and betrayed by my older brother. Yet, I survived, took matter in hand, found an RPG group (meaning that I am FINALLY being accepted), a really close friend, made my way to university, where I met cool people, and am currently also getting karate training. I get better every day, and while I'm still under medication, and having sleep troubles, it has been more than four month since my last suicidal thought, I almost never got sick again, decided to stop skipping classes, and my default mood is now happy.

Reading about Nietzsche and existentialism made me think that life is about earning your own meaning in life, when God Is Dead and Science is Useless to provide you some meaning in this CrapsackWorld.

My college career. I started after graduation and had a horrible time my freshman year at a school about 3-5 hours away from home (for an RIer, this is like forever). I battled depression, homesickness, and loneliness as I found myself unable to do any studying whatsoever. I tried, I really did, but I just wasn't in the right of mind. My pride refused to let me quit until I went through a nervous breakdown in the spring of my freshman year, causing me to drop out. I started over at another school (that I had applied to transfer to) that fall and it took me quite a while to get through it. I still had the depression I was battling (though now with medication), a few deaths in the family, cutting ties with one of my high school best friends, and flat out loneliness. In spite of all of this, I never gave up on my college dream. I knew that no matter what, I was going to graduate. There was no way I would let my mental illnesses win out. Finally, in the spring of 2010, I graduated from college. It may have taken almost 7 years, but it was worth it in the end because I proved to myself once and for all that I CAN do anything. On top of that, now I'm doing a freelance writing gig for a local news website, which is something I really love. I still could use some more help here and there, but I've come a long way from the weepy mess I was my first year of college...

Have you put this in the CrowningMomentOfAwesome and TheDeterminator Troper Tales pages?

Replace freelance writer with software engineer and you're me. Nice to meet you.

This might not be as severe as others, but I'll give this a try without really wangsting at you all. These past four years have been rough. It starts with my very disabled foster brothers dying from MRSA. This flung us into the working poor class, and we're still always short on money. I try climbing back up by attending college, then my grandfather dies from multiple cancers a week before Christmas, just after I turned 19. Recently my grandmother died as well. Then, I almost snapped when my dog ran away (all the way to the next town) and was caught by the local humane society. I knew we didn't have the money to get him out, and I had my katana's blade at my throat. Instead, I decided to get him out. I picked up my bass guitar, which I wasn't playing anymore. I packed it up and walked to a pawn shop. I walked in the rain and had a four-hour time limit. I sold the instrument. I got the money and sprung my dog out of the pound. It's not an ending yet, but I finally managed to control something in my life and save someone special to me.