AGDQ2020 Recap, and Immediate Future Speedplans

I'm at the airport right now, three hours before my flight, and (un)surprisingly they're so packed that they won't let anyone through security who's flight is more than two hours away. So I figured this would be a good time to get this typed out.

AGDQ was something I was excited for but also anxious about, for a variety of reasons. The first one is my rooming situation; a lot of the people who were originally in on the room had things come up where they could no longer attend (including DylWingo, who set up the room in the first place). We had to scramble to get the room changed to be under my name, and we also ended up bringing on two people who we were not particularly familiar with: Akashic, who I had met through Smash at CEO Dreamland back in 2017, and YungMoneyEmiya, who had reached out when Wingo mentioned on Twitter that he needed someone to take his place. Because this was my first time rooming with multiple people I was not very close to, this made me a little anxious.

Thankfully, everything turned out amazingly. Akashic and Emiya are both super awesome people that were a blast to hang out with. I'm so glad we got the room we did, because it was a blast getting to know both of them and hanging out with them.

The second reason I was a little anxious was because of my financial situation. It has been almost two months now since I left my job, and as I somewhat expected, finding a new one has taken longer than I had hoped. Thankfully things seem to be moving in a good direction, but the fact of the matter is that my finances are running a bit dry. I can pay rent for maybe another month or two but I'll be out of money by then. I wasn't planning on having to take on ownership of the room for this reason, but no one else in the group had the capability of doing so, and the only alternative was for the room to break apart and for everyone to scramble to find a backup plan.

I never considered the latter as an option. I also never considered dropping out of attending the event for the same reason. There was already enough chaos, and I wasn't going to throw three other people under the bus by either driving up the cost or making them find new housing, even if it meant I might be in a bit more dire of a situation than I could have been. Thankfully it all worked out.

The final and biggest reason I was anxious was because of my own fear of how people would view me in light of all the drama that happened involving last year and the events that transpired in the following months. I had no idea what had or had not been said about me in that entire year, and as I established in my 2019 recap, the aftermath of all that shit had a very negative impact on my self esteem and ability to trust people. There was also one or two people that I wasn't sure how they'd treat me after some interactions online. I was not in the best mindset last year, and as a result I said some particularly venomous things that I shouldn't have. I am going to be working hard to be more positive this year.

Fortunately, all my fears were put to rest. For the entire week, everyone treated me with the same kindness that they always have, and on the few occasions where the topic of last year came up, they were all incredibly understanding and willing to listen to what I had to say. That's all I could have asked for. This was the first year where I didn't have to deal with any type of stupid drama or hurt feelings or anything, and I'm incredibly happy for that. It helped a lot in putting myself at ease with the past.

The Sprash group was much smaller this year than it had been at the previous two AGDQ's, and although it sucks that I didn't see some of the faces I have grown used to seeing each year, I was happy to have grown a lot closer to the people that were there. Because we were so small it felt really easy to spend time with everyone, and I think in some ways that made things a lot better. I think this is definitely the most fun year I've had. Actually being in the main hotel, and the venue itself being awesome, helped with that.

A lot of time was spent hanging out, getting food, learning new things about Twinsanity, shockingly making a lot of new discoveries about HP1PS1, sucking ass at both the Smash Ultimate tourney and the PS1 Mystery Tourney, and watching some awesome runs, including A Hat in Time, Jak II, Pac-Man Arrangement, Jumping Flash, Kuru Kuru Kururin, and even Super Metroid Impossible.

Some shoutouts for the people I spent a lot of time with:

*Wed and Phoenix: Both of you are people I feel like I got to know well at the past two AGDQ's, but this year in particular I feel like we became a lot closer as friends. You are both super awesome people and I loved talking to you and hanging out the whole week.

*Nitrof: I feel like I really got to know you better this year than before. Was really great talking to you, bouncing HP1 ideas off of you and testing them, racing, and trying to learn Jak II (and struggling miserably). Was unfortunate that you weren't well for the last day, and I hope you feel better soon, but I was really glad to spend as much time with you as I did.

*Crash: Really loved seeing you again man. Was great to hang out, talk about things, play games, etc. I really hope that you can continue coming to these things.

*Joester: Always awesome to hang out with you. Both of your runs were sick, and it was great to learn a lot of things about Twins. Maybe I'll learn Arrangement in the future. ;)

*Emiya: Dude you were so cool. Loved meeting and hanging out with you, and discovering we have such similar sense of humor. I hope you'll be at more events in the future.

*Akashic: Was great meeting you again! Glad we had such a great time playing Smash, talking about how bad all my favorite video games are, and the likes. Greninja sucks. :P

*Cane: Whatever tension there might have been because of stupid, idiotic things I said and did on Twitter last year, I'm glad that had no impact on things. Definitely working to be less angry in the future. Loved spending time with you, because you are one awesome guy, and looking forward to doing so again in the future.

*Axo, Dayo, and Torpedo: I met all of you for the first time this event, and you are all awesome people! Was great hanging out with you.

*Ruh: I feel like we hung out a lot more on the last two days, and it was awesome. You are a really cool, funny guy, and I definitely wanna talk to you more.

*Josh: Always a hilarious, amazing, and outrageous guy to talk to and hang out with. Maybe someday I'll learn Jak 1. :^)

*Other Jak people: Didn't hang out with you guys as much, but I have to say I always love seeing how close your community is. Every time you guys were around me it seemed like you were just having a blast being with each other, and that just warms my heart. You all seem like awesome people. Sicky and headstrong, your race was awesome, probably my favorite run to watch this year.

*Zic: I only saw you like twice! You're a cool guy for sure though, and it was great meeting you!

If I missed anyone, I'm sorry. Even with such a smaller group it's still easy to lose track of who I may have hung out with. Just know that you all are awesome and I loved spending my week doing what I love with people that are amazing.

I will definitely be trying to do SGDQ this year. Hopefully the stars will align this time.

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Immediate Future Speedplans
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I think I have a rough idea of what I plan on doing as soon as I get back to streaming:

*HP1PS1: For those who didn't see my many MANY tweets, I decided to try and learn 100% one day while I was in the practice room, and by SHEER ACCIDENT I managed to discover a bunch of things about the game that should shave 2-3 minutes off of the run. This gave me a massive motivation boost to push this game some more, so in a strange twist, my primary focus for a bit is actually going to be HP1PS1 100%. I will also probably look into improving my Any% time as well; I want to be strong enough in both categories where I'll feel comfortable submitting the game to SGDQ, as well as SMAZ.

*Crash Twinsanity: This game is not off the table! I learned so much from Joe that I want to incorporate into my runs, so expect to see a lot more of this game!

*Crash 3 NST: I still want to push 108, and I still want to see how far I can go with Any%. But given the above two, this may still be on the backburner for a bit longer. NST isn't going anywhere though, and I will always be able to return to it whenever I feel ready. I will also likely do some Crash 2 Any% to prep for SGDQ, as I believe Cam and I are making plans to submit it as a race. Any other categories in Crash 1 and 2 are not currently on the table.

*Crash 2 OG: I still don't really enjoy this game right now, with one exception: Game Over Abuse. I tried to play a fair number of OG Crash categories while I was in the practice room, and this was the only one that stuck with me. So I might try and push my time down, but I have no other plans for OG Crash runs.

*Jak 1: I tried Jak II and tbh it was way too much at once. The run is awesome, but since I just finished learning Twins, I think my next speedgame should be something a bit easier. I enjoyed the bit of Jak 1 that I did try but idk if I'm ready to commit to it yet. If I do though, I will likely do No LTS or 100%.

Any other speedgames that were not mentioned are games I do not have any current future plans for.



AGDQ was awesome, as it always is. Thanks again everyone for another fantastic week. Gonna miss you all, and can't wait to see you again!

Expect me to be back and streaming tomorrow with some HP1PS1

~Kiosk: 115 (aka Riko)