Hey guys! I have been pretty absent online for the past few weeks, which is understandably making people wonder if everything's alright. So, I thought I'd clear up what's been going on with me and what I'll be doing in the near future.

The beginning of my absence began when I spent a lot of my free time analyzing the SGDQ 2018 submissions and getting my predictions ready in time for the game list reveal 2 weeks ago. I put on a 6 hour stream dedicated to that and had a total blast, but boy, was it exhausting. I don't regret doing it because, as I said, it was fun, but I guess with what's been going on in real life alongside it, it may have been a case of bad timing, is all. I don't want to bore you too much with all the details, but to summarize:

- My car has been relentlessly causing me many problems and stress, thus I will eventually have to find a new car (I really miss being able to take the bus).
- No car means no going to the gym, which I spent a bit of time researching to get back on the gym grind. That time has temporarily gone to waste as I don't have the necessary equipment/motivation to workout at home.
- My headset finally broke after using the same one for over 5 years. I will miss that brand, especially since I don't think they're in production anymore after a quick search. I'm open to suggestions for headsets (or headphones paired with something like a Blue Yeti microphone).
- Work hasn't been too terrible, but the workload as of late has been pretty huge considering we've been working on a major, brand new feature for my main project.

Essentially, balancing all these issues with both streaming and finding the time/money to make it out to some events is just unreasonable. So, by separating myself from all this, it gives me some deserving "me time" to relax and also focus on resolving all these issues.

Now that that's out of the way, I guess this is a good time to make some announcements:

- I had to cancel our local Chip 'N Dale speedrun tournament I was going to participate in, along with skipping out on RPG Limit Break 2018. I was really looking forward to hanging with you all, including some new faces, but it's probably for the best due to the circumstances. Here's hoping we will meet again some other time at another event in the near future! C:
- I will be doing one more runback of Animorphs: Shattered Reality for Keizathon this upcoming Friday night! It's an honor to be running that game for a marathon dedicated to the one who introduced most of us to the glorious world of Animorphs video games. Expect to see a derust stream a day or two before then! (Keizathon Schedule: https://horaro.org/keizathon/schedule)
- Once that marathon's over, I estimate I'll need another week or two to clean up the mess I talked about earlier. After that's taken care of, expect THE skateman222 to make a comeback to speedrunning and streaming in general. I already have some major goals thought out that I plan on achieving this year, along with some other possible side goals for funsies. I've spoken about some of these goals on my stream, but I'll keep it a surprise for now until I lock my plans in. Let's just say expect to see some new runs along with a return to some older runs of mine. ;)
- SGDQ 2018 -should- still be in the cards, as long as work cooperates. No idea which days I'll be going until I see the schedule posted next week, but I do know for sure that I will not make it out for the whole week. I went the entire week for the past two events and I feel like it just makes more sense to stick with 3-4 days, given some reflection on my past experiences. Once the schedule's up, I'll be sure to reach out to my fellow speedpals who also plan on going and coordinate with them to know which are the best days to go.

There you have it: some bad news and some good news. Thank you all for your patience and support. Keep on being awesome and catch you all online! Love ya guys!