This is the first in what will hopefully be a series of posts in which I relate the events of the past two years. I know a lot of the people who will be reading this right away, probably already know the story, at least in part, but given my current life situation, I feel like I need to put this out there, if only to get these thoughts out of my mind and into text. Hopefully somebody out on the internet will have the patience to gain something useful out of this, but in the meantime, I'm going to need to unburden myself of this story, if I'm going to climb out of this pit I've fallen into.
So let's get started before everything went wrong. Maybe play that one track from the Fellowship of the Ring where we're still comfortable, happy, and optimistic in the rolling hills of the Shire. As far as specific years of my life so far go, I'd say that 2012 was my favorite. I had finally figured out how to get my GPA to start going up, my student loans felt manageable, and my credit rating was healthy. At the time the most troubling thing on my mind was that I was 24 years old, and had only gone on two dates in my entire life. At first I was going to describe all the pleasant things of 2012 in a single run-on sentence, but then decided on switching to a list, and then finally dedicating each of the nice things roughly a paragraph each. While I am sure there are other blessings that I could recall from 2012, these are the ones foremost on my mind at present.
This technically happened right at the close of 2011, but it carried into the next year. One of my best friends, James and the asked me to be one of his groomsmen. Obviously this is not as big a life event as a marriage proposal, or even being asked to be a best man, but for me, the thought that I was that good of a friend that he would pick me as one of the select few to join ranks with him on the biggest day of his life, was a huge honor for me, as I had been used to assuming that I would be close to the last person picked for almost anything. Thinking back on that New Years Eve of 2011, I had a pretty good idea that 2012 was going to be a good year. (Quick shout out to the James and Jacelyn's blog, foxtailsandphoenixdown.blogspot.ca. Currently the most recent post is a year old root beer review, but I'm expecting an update pretty soon here, with some stories and pictures from their vacation.)
Next thing was that I got to enjoy a second semester of Video Production with one of the best teams ever. Working with them was awesome, as we somehow miraculously avoided any real conflicts or schisms on our team. It was these people that really helped me uncover a hidden talent and passion for acting. While we haven't really communicated much since then, I want to thank them again for being the so brilliantly talented people, who were able to work together so well, and also to Tom, our Instructor for all the praise and encouragement on my acting ability.
In summer, I ended up getting a student painting job, and ended up doing such a good job at it that my employer ended up offering me his position for the next year, which unfortunately I decided to take. Still, I really enjoyed that summer, as I had felt that I had finally found something that I could not only do well, but could also enjoy and make money doing.
It should also be noted that I was also tutoring part time during the winter spring and fall, as well as helping out with childcare in a divorce care program at my church. Thinking back on that, I still have mixed feelings about that. One thing that I really enjoyed was the idea that I was making a significant contribution to the lives of these kids, by giving them the assistance and encouragement they needed at a key point in their lives. This is likely because I felt that, having had to deal with ADD as a kid, I was able to give the kids something that I wish I had when I was their age. I now regret that I didn't continue on with tutoring the following year, but at the time I felt that I was too busy to be able to handle it.
Another thing that was a little meta was that I started this blog, and was pleasantly surprised that after only a couple reviews I had made some (albiet very minor) contacts in the board game industry. Unfortunately, that too fell to the wayside in the horror that was 2013. Perhaps if I had kept on writing and reviewing here regularly, I could have actually built up a decent sized following, though I suppose it is never too late to start it all up again.
On the Labor Day long weekend I went to down to PAX (Penny Arcade Expo) Prime for the first time with a bunch of my friends, and was blown away by the experience. I'm sure that any friends who read this blog are already familiar with the experience, but at the time, it was so amazing meeting people who design the things I love to play and read, play games months or even years in advance of release, and generally be surrounded by such a huge crowd of people that I could talk to about my interests and hobbies as if they were some of my closest friends. While I went again in 2013, I wasn't able to enjoy it as much as I really wasn't able to afford it that year. I made the wise, yet disappointing decision to not attend this year's PAX (coming this upcoming long weekend), but hopefully I can afford to attend next year. In the meantime, If one of you guys read this before the weekend, please bring me back some swag.
Another awesome thing of 2012, which I am sad didn't really pan out in 2013, is that bunch of my friends from UFV (many of which I attended PAX with) decided to band together to create their own independent video game, and I was brought on as one of the artists. Again, this would have been another dream come true for me, but unfortunately due to a variety of factors, (largely difficulty in scheduling enough time to meet up and work on it) the project didn't end up getting very far.
Vaguely related to this is that Ryan, one of the guys who I was working with on this did a Let's-Play of X-COM at around the same time that we were working on this, using a bunch of the people in and around CISSA as soldiers in his play-through. Turns out, I ended up winning the psychic lottery, and got to be the guy who does the heroic self-sacrifice to save the world in the closing cinematic. It was a nice little vicarious thrill for me, even though I had no influence over the events IRL, but it's pretty cool being the Gary Stu of story that I didn't write. (You can find it at http://procedurallygenerated.com/?cat=21. While he isn't updating Lets-com anymore he still updates regularly. He does a lot of indie game rieviews on there, so take a gander if you are a gamer.)
So yeah. There's what I can remember of a 2012 in a nutshell. Pretty nice eh? But in the middle of it all, there is one decision that is the biggest regret of my life, it would be signing up for the disaster that was 2013.
This upcoming series of posts is not really a cry for attention or pity, as much as my depression riddled soul craves such things, but more of an unloading of a heavy burden that has been weighing down my mind and soul for the past year. So in a manner similar to Colridge's Ancient Mariner, allow me to share this tale with any of you who care to read these great monoliths of text. Hopefully some wisdom can be found in the learning, and freedom can be gained in the telling.
Alright, let's shoot this Albatross!
So let's get started before everything went wrong. Maybe play that one track from the Fellowship of the Ring where we're still comfortable, happy, and optimistic in the rolling hills of the Shire. As far as specific years of my life so far go, I'd say that 2012 was my favorite. I had finally figured out how to get my GPA to start going up, my student loans felt manageable, and my credit rating was healthy. At the time the most troubling thing on my mind was that I was 24 years old, and had only gone on two dates in my entire life. At first I was going to describe all the pleasant things of 2012 in a single run-on sentence, but then decided on switching to a list, and then finally dedicating each of the nice things roughly a paragraph each. While I am sure there are other blessings that I could recall from 2012, these are the ones foremost on my mind at present.
This technically happened right at the close of 2011, but it carried into the next year. One of my best friends, James and the asked me to be one of his groomsmen. Obviously this is not as big a life event as a marriage proposal, or even being asked to be a best man, but for me, the thought that I was that good of a friend that he would pick me as one of the select few to join ranks with him on the biggest day of his life, was a huge honor for me, as I had been used to assuming that I would be close to the last person picked for almost anything. Thinking back on that New Years Eve of 2011, I had a pretty good idea that 2012 was going to be a good year. (Quick shout out to the James and Jacelyn's blog, foxtailsandphoenixdown.blogspot.ca. Currently the most recent post is a year old root beer review, but I'm expecting an update pretty soon here, with some stories and pictures from their vacation.)
Next thing was that I got to enjoy a second semester of Video Production with one of the best teams ever. Working with them was awesome, as we somehow miraculously avoided any real conflicts or schisms on our team. It was these people that really helped me uncover a hidden talent and passion for acting. While we haven't really communicated much since then, I want to thank them again for being the so brilliantly talented people, who were able to work together so well, and also to Tom, our Instructor for all the praise and encouragement on my acting ability.
In summer, I ended up getting a student painting job, and ended up doing such a good job at it that my employer ended up offering me his position for the next year, which unfortunately I decided to take. Still, I really enjoyed that summer, as I had felt that I had finally found something that I could not only do well, but could also enjoy and make money doing.
It should also be noted that I was also tutoring part time during the winter spring and fall, as well as helping out with childcare in a divorce care program at my church. Thinking back on that, I still have mixed feelings about that. One thing that I really enjoyed was the idea that I was making a significant contribution to the lives of these kids, by giving them the assistance and encouragement they needed at a key point in their lives. This is likely because I felt that, having had to deal with ADD as a kid, I was able to give the kids something that I wish I had when I was their age. I now regret that I didn't continue on with tutoring the following year, but at the time I felt that I was too busy to be able to handle it.
Another thing that was a little meta was that I started this blog, and was pleasantly surprised that after only a couple reviews I had made some (albiet very minor) contacts in the board game industry. Unfortunately, that too fell to the wayside in the horror that was 2013. Perhaps if I had kept on writing and reviewing here regularly, I could have actually built up a decent sized following, though I suppose it is never too late to start it all up again.
On the Labor Day long weekend I went to down to PAX (Penny Arcade Expo) Prime for the first time with a bunch of my friends, and was blown away by the experience. I'm sure that any friends who read this blog are already familiar with the experience, but at the time, it was so amazing meeting people who design the things I love to play and read, play games months or even years in advance of release, and generally be surrounded by such a huge crowd of people that I could talk to about my interests and hobbies as if they were some of my closest friends. While I went again in 2013, I wasn't able to enjoy it as much as I really wasn't able to afford it that year. I made the wise, yet disappointing decision to not attend this year's PAX (coming this upcoming long weekend), but hopefully I can afford to attend next year. In the meantime, If one of you guys read this before the weekend, please bring me back some swag.
Another awesome thing of 2012, which I am sad didn't really pan out in 2013, is that bunch of my friends from UFV (many of which I attended PAX with) decided to band together to create their own independent video game, and I was brought on as one of the artists. Again, this would have been another dream come true for me, but unfortunately due to a variety of factors, (largely difficulty in scheduling enough time to meet up and work on it) the project didn't end up getting very far.
Vaguely related to this is that Ryan, one of the guys who I was working with on this did a Let's-Play of X-COM at around the same time that we were working on this, using a bunch of the people in and around CISSA as soldiers in his play-through. Turns out, I ended up winning the psychic lottery, and got to be the guy who does the heroic self-sacrifice to save the world in the closing cinematic. It was a nice little vicarious thrill for me, even though I had no influence over the events IRL, but it's pretty cool being the Gary Stu of story that I didn't write. (You can find it at http://procedurallygenerated.com/?cat=21. While he isn't updating Lets-com anymore he still updates regularly. He does a lot of indie game rieviews on there, so take a gander if you are a gamer.)
So yeah. There's what I can remember of a 2012 in a nutshell. Pretty nice eh? But in the middle of it all, there is one decision that is the biggest regret of my life, it would be signing up for the disaster that was 2013.
This upcoming series of posts is not really a cry for attention or pity, as much as my depression riddled soul craves such things, but more of an unloading of a heavy burden that has been weighing down my mind and soul for the past year. So in a manner similar to Colridge's Ancient Mariner, allow me to share this tale with any of you who care to read these great monoliths of text. Hopefully some wisdom can be found in the learning, and freedom can be gained in the telling.
Alright, let's shoot this Albatross!
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