Hi Sonflower,
Great username and picture! I saw your posts about rep power, along with some of the responses.
I'm not sure if anyone mentioned this but I think you also get a rep point for every year you're here. So let's say you join on Jan. 1--the following year, on Jan. 1, you will receive a rep point on the date of your anniversary.
Don't worry too much about it--I've been here a while and I STILL haven't figured out how the rep system works!! It's a nice way for people to give and receive (hopefully positive) feedback, but other than that, it doesn't really mean anything.
People with higher rep power have no more say or authority than people without any, so having more rep is really more of a visual trophy rather than any kind of status.
Don't be discouraged when you see that other people here have tons of rep, either. It could mean that: 1. they've been here forever (for example, maybe they've been on the site 10 years and have gotten a rep point each year just for being here); 2. they're here all the time (some members are retired or don't/can't work and are here posting 24/7, which definitely ups the chance of them receiving more rep); or 3. several people have related to their posts and have chosen to give them rep points as often as they can (the system will limit how many times you can rep the same people and will make you give points to others before letting you rep the same people again.)
This is also how I personally use rep--I give it when I read a post that I can really relate to, or was really courageous, or gave me an insight I'd never really considered before.
But in the grand scheme of things, rep doesn't really mean anything other than to say, "This person has been here a long time and has received a lot of feedback from other users."
Hope you have a great time while you're here!