 Okay Whoo, here we go into the year vlog happening now What's up you guys Rape DeRozzi here and this is my final video for 2018 So I've been thinking about what I want to talk about for my last video of the year and I decided that With the new year and all good things that are coming. I really just want to take a moment to say thank you to everyone to Recognize the growth that has been made this past year and appreciate everyone's support and comments and encouragement and love and Helping me build this awesome community where we can all be here for each other and and and talk about not only HIV But fitness and just living a healthy life and just becoming our best selves and living our best life So with that said thank you so much in the last Year About a year ago. I had maybe 85 to 100 subscribers I now am just about to hit 6,000. So that's really freaking awesome in one year and Let's see last year. I was putting out content. I would say maybe once Every two to three months and then towards the end of the year. I was slowly creeping towards once a month at the beginning of this year for the first like Quarter to half of the year. I was doing once a month Maybe every two weeks for a while and then in the fall I really started to ramp it up do every two weeks and then this last quarter I've been really shooting to do every week. So I'm putting out content a lot faster now a lot more I'm trying to improve the quality like I said before I got a new camera new mic set up and I just bought a new Macbook so that I can edit it's like so I've been working on this Macbook that's it was a late 2011 and When I had to export videos out of final cut it would take me three four hours to to export a video that was like three or four gigs now I I Export in under a minute. It's crazy. It's saving me so much time So I'm really stoked about that and then I'm of course, you know working on Improving my Photoshop and my editing and blah blah blah all that technical mumbo jumbo You don't really care about but hopefully and then at the end of the day it brings you better content you guys I get I get messages every single day from not just here in the US But all around the world from Europe Asia Africa, Australia Australia and Artica, no, I'm just kidding not in America, but all over the world and it's freaking awesome you guys are so supportive and you guys are so open sharing your personal stories and the hardships that you've gone through and I Don't know. It's just really really cool that we're all connecting in this way and that we're able to Be there for each other and help each other grow and learn and and have hope and optimism for the future for our health for like the the all the new What's the word I'm looking for all the new progress and New possibilities for a cure for HIV and all these things like Gamora came out and then recently There was this other study where the HIV and sleeper cells is being killed and yes We're not out of cure and we're not in certainly not at trials but there are so many avenues from which a cure can develop so that is so like motivating He agrees and It should inspire you guys to know that like people are working hard all over the world Coming up with ideas new things are cropping up all the time It's just a matter of time before things merge and make sense and we're able to come up with a practical cure But yeah, so I love I love the comments. I love the messages I try to do my daily My daily motivation on on Instagram stories. Some of you guys have seen that every day. I'll post a Message that I've received or a comment That's really inspiring and motivating to me and I'll post that up for you guys to see anonymously Of course because I know a lot of you guys don't want to be seen or known So I keep everyone anonymous unless you say otherwise never have to worry about that and then also I've received a couple Pieces of mail through snail mail, which is really cool You guys found my my address so that's good for you a good job on your sleuthing But yeah, I recently got this very Very nice thoughtful Card and letter you can see that let me come on. There you go This was very nice. Thank you to the gentleman who sent this to me also wrote a very nice thoughtful letter there so Appreciate that and also Right there another nice card that I had received in the mail to so thank you so much you guys You don't have to do that and it I don't know just any time I'm feeling maybe a lack of motivation or if I'm questioning what I'm doing and whether it's worth it whether I should keep going and These kinds of things really keep me focused and motivated and keep me on track to keep doing what I'm doing So thank you so much. I really really do appreciate it. So. Oh, yeah, so I didn't update you guys on my Citizenship I meant to do that. So I went and took the citizenship It was a civics test and the English test went into an office sat down with a guy and He did a verbal like English test obviously I passed that I've been here since I was five years old and went to school here since I was five years old so that was Really really easy and then the civics test. I just had to study for a few days. That was that was easy to you're supposed to get Six out of ten questions, right? The first six he asked me I got right so he didn't even bother asking me the last four. So that was cool So I was looking down so just to give story time So I was looking down at this little like he had a manila envelope. No, that's wrong. He had a What's it called? Is it a manila? I don't know. It's it's those it's those typical filing It's it's just a filing folder. That's like yellow. He had a yellow filing folder and inside Were all these papers that looked so old and I was kind of like he was taking notes and writing things down And I was kind of like trying to like peep a little bit and see what what it was And I saw my mom's name and her writing and I realized oh shit. Those are the papers From when we first came to America in 1990 like those are old. They're yellow. They're warped It was funny because there was even like a coffee stain on on the top paper. I'm like what? Who what? Who was drinking coffee and spilled coffee papers on my immigration and my mom's in my immigration papers? What? And then so I asked the guy was like oh my gosh are those the papers from when we came here And he's like yeah, these are these are these are this is everything we keep it all on a file We had it shipped here to Los Angeles for your interview and then he was like let's let's see what's inside he was he was super nice really friendly and Started sifting through the papers and then one of them. I saw had my baby Footprints on it my baby hand prints when I was you know four and a half years old That was that was cool, and then there was this envelope. It was like this big. It was sealed And I was like, huh? What's that? And he goes it's probably a picture from when I first came here And he's like let's find out. Let's open it up So we got a little letter opener cut that boy open and inside was this adorable Black and white little picture of me when I first got here a foby fresh off the boat When we arrived in Boston so and he's like all photocopy it for you So that you have it and you can show your mom and so he gave me a photocopy of that in 1990 I was not even five years old in Boston when I first came to America needless to say it went really well I passed and now I'm just waiting for my oath Ceremony where we all come pledge allegiance and that's the last step and that'll be Tuesday the 15th at 715 a.m In downtown Los Angeles. I'll be swearing in for my citizenship. Yay so now yeah, so now I got that done and then That's really what I was I've been waiting for so that I could start going on trips outside of the US I just didn't want to deal with Customs and all of that. I already get pulled aside when I come into the airport from out of the US Like the last time I came from from the Netherlands They pulled me into a room and just started questioning me badgering me really they're like did you did you go to Iraq? While you were there. Did you go to Afghanistan? Did you go to soldier training camps? Just all kinds of crazy stuff because my name is Arabic and My biological father's side of the family is Moroccan so I immediately get pegged for stuff like that It's really annoying and I just don't want to deal with it So I've been waiting to get my citizenship before I travel abroad again And I'm planning to go to Bali Indonesia in October. I'm definitely going to film all of that I want to go for at least two weeks and I decided while I'm there for those of you living in Indonesia Bali I want to do some good Outreach work maybe working with some local HIV AIDS Organization see if I can help or if I can at least bring awareness I'd love to do some vlogging of all that so that's to come next Those are some of my ideas for next year and maybe I'll Do a trip maybe like a week in Australia. I do have some family on the east coast there So I'd love to go up and down the coast for like a week in Australia if I can manage it you guys I have so many ideas the more that I'm doing this the more that I Have been turning this stuff out every week and realizing that I can turn it out every week that it is possible With my full schedule, I can do it and I can get the editing done and have it out every week My creative juices have really been flowing lately and I've really been feeling inspired to do more and to talk about more So what I do is whenever I have an Idea I immediately just put it. I have a notepad I have a notepad app in my iPhone and I have a section that's just all for YouTube vlogging and As you can see I just Just put down all my notes as I go along and then that's how I decide what I'm going to do next and when you guys give me Ideas when you comment or DM me or whatever I definitely record those two and I add those to the list So please feel free in the comments below if there's things that you want me to talk about you want me to go over I'm definitely open to suggestions Anyway, is that is that it? Is that all I have to say right now? Oh, yeah, okay, so at my last doctor's appointment. I Was switched over to big tarvi I was currently taking gen voya and my doctor switched me over to big tarvi And I said I would be talking about my experience on big tarvi But I had a surplus of gen voya that I was running through First so that as I'm getting big tarvi every month. I'm still I'm still consuming the gen voya that I have And therefore I'm building up a stockpile of big tarvi. So I've just run through my gen voya. I decided January 1st I'm going to start big tarvi and I'm I will start I'll record my Experiences on that medication any side effects any like weird feelings or anything like that And I'll update you on that too because that's one of the latest best drugs that have come out recently thus far and I have my doctor's appointment on January 9th I am planning on recording that as well I'll make sure that we that we vlog that too so that you guys can stay updated on My journey with my doctor and I know that the last one was really helpful for a lot of you guys There was some really good information my doctor Jake Ladstein. He's awesome. He was in the interview in the recent vlog, too he talked about supplements and any interactions with With with the medication and basically said there aren't any interactions You have to worry about contrary to what a lot of you have been told by your doctors There isn't a concern with whey protein or creatine or any of that really unless you have pre-existing liver or kidney problems Then for the average person, it's really not an issue. The only other concern was with I believe it's magnesium Yeah, but you have to take magnesium in such high doses at the same time that you're taking medication For there to be any kind of interaction and the average person just doesn't take anywhere near that So even even as is taking as a supplement like I am for bodybuilding It's still not a concern and I take magnesium on the opposite end of the day as my medication anyway, so it's It's just it's just a non-issue. It really isn't anyway. My point is There was a lot of really good information from that doctor's visit So I definitely want to do that again because I'm sure that will uncover some more nuggets of Goodness related to that that will be helpful to all you guys Okay, so is there anything else hmm I feel like I'm gonna forget something. I think that's it Yeah, I think we're good Expect so much more to come this year you guys. I'm so amped. I'm so excited. I so many ideas and My momentum is only picking up and getting bigger and better and I want to start collaborating and I was thinking about even like Going out on the street. I live in West Hollywood. I mean hello. It's like one of the gay mechas in the US So I'm thinking about going on the street and just doing some impromptu interviews with people to get their opinions See what they have to say what they think Related to HIV and whatever and just kind of get out there and Do some more interactive stuff like that. So anyway you guys Thank you. Thank you from the bottom of my heart You guys make this possible you guys make this worthwhile Yeah, you really make my channel alive not just a place where I'm recording videos But it's we're turning into a community and there's so much good coming out of it And there's so much so much more good that's gonna come out of it I'm so excited and hopeful about the future. So thank you. Thank you. Thank you If you like this video like it if you haven't subscribed if you're new here go ahead and hit the sub subscribe button I've got so much more content coming for you. Happy New Year everyone. Happy holidays I hope you guys are all rocking it killing it out there living your best life Stay tuned I'll see you soon. Peace