2016 Reflections

2016 reflections:
Table of Contents
1. intro
2. Speedrun reflection
3. Personal reflection
4. Improvements in 2017 and forward

1.
Intro
Hi, I'm ham, and this is gonna be my 2016 reflection. I always try to reflect on my year to see how bad it was or if it was ok. I think this year was really good for me, I improved a lot as a person, and as a speedrunner, both of which I am really proud of. I won't make super promises but I will do my best moving forward so enjoy this long read! :)

2.
Speedrun reflection
Lots has happened in terms of speedrunning for me, I did my first marathon live for calithon which changed me significantly, I did a really good run at sgdq which also had a big impact of my life, and I decided to drop the game that many of you know me for, and now I run a game based off of magic eggs and chickens, I really have gone down the gutter. Not really, but let's start with Calithon. This was one of the best if not THE best speedrun experience of my life, yes even better than agdq. It was my first time meeting other speedrunners besides one of my personal friends, and they were all really nice to me which caught me off guard and in fact surprised me. Meeting Jeff, the guy who runs the event was nice and sweet, it was a really cool marathon and I hope we get it again for 2017 because it was so great. One of the reasons I found it so great was because of the people, just in general, some strange eggs in the salad but I thought it just made the salad even better. Throughout the time till sgdq, I was already feeling the effects of burnout of albw, but I just kinda pressed on because nothing else really interested me at the time and I didn't have time to commit to learning. I tried skyward sword, billy hatcher, and even some other 3ds games but nothing was really fun. So I powered through up until sgdq and when I finished my run, I didn't even turn on my 3ds, I felt like a huge weight was off my shoulders and I felt like I could have fun again with speedrunning. After sgdq I kinda tried to keep running albw but after August I wasn't really having fun with it anymore. The game I once loved and thought was perfect was growing stale and boring, even after the new tricks, it just made it worse. I prefer a game based off of movement rather that doing stupid tricks, you can see improvement overtime rather than grinding endlessly for a trick that you might not even get in the run. At the beginning of November I decided to stop running albw, as a whole and it's been probably the best choice I've made in speedrunning, why continue running something if you don't have fun and it won't make you happy, and of course there are those who continue running the games that do that to them but they just want $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$(ClintStevens). It took me a month to figure out what I want to run, but really anything that's just fun in general is fine for me, I enjoy new experiences and hope that my speedrun hobby doesn't end just because I don't run the game I've been running for almost 3 years. I hope in 2017, maybe I'll find something new and hopefully it won't be Billy lol.

3.
Personal reflection
This is the one people will most likely not care about, but regardless I will talk about it here. So 2016 was pretty much my fresh start for the year, I've been pretty much in a steady stream of depression and I didn't really think I could make it through this year and I had some plans. I even had a small (very small, like minuscule) chance of transitioning, something I've dealt with maybe 3 or 4 years, but I've come to terms with myself over the past few months and I am happy the way I am.; However some stuff has changed this year which even caught me by surprise. I met a lot of wonderful people, like really great individuals, Violet, Hazel, samplename, and a few more but I love you all so yeah thanks to these peeps for making my day everyday. Along side my friends, I've made a few enemies one of which was linkoscuro, but he's a funny guy so I'll let him slide. But seriously, what happened at californithon changed my life, I learned to just be myself and stop being so sad all the time, and I really loved it. I also felt pretty bad around July and sgdq also helped out in that regard cause I got to meet a lot of my friends and I had so much fun meeting new friends and talking to everyone. I hope agdq helps me again because I'm going through some rough family matters, and it should help me feel a bit happy about that situation. But I'm sorta happy that I am more out going and I am more confident in my own abilities, school wise it's been great, I have made a good group of friends and a lady friend which was the surprising part to be honest. I am happy about who I am, I figured why I was depressed and managed to kick its ass after almost 6 years, and it feels really good, and to anyone who has this experience, just remember to love yourself for who you are not what others want you to be, you are you and you are the best. Overall, I think 2016 for me was a step in the right direction and I hope it keeps going that way in 2017 and forward :)

Goals for 2017:
I don't really have too many goals, I wanted to lose weight and I have been for a few months so that's some of my goal. I also want to get a car so I can just do whatever and that should come maybe in March, and obviously get good grades and school and keep my lady friend happy and family safe. I also will try to get another job that year just so I can earn some extra money, but I do like my current job so it wouldn't hurt too much. And honestly my goal overall is just to be happy, being happy is good :)

I really can't thank you all enough for a wonderful year, a terrific summer and keeping me happy, I know it sounds cheesy but hey you know how I get down.I wish you all the best in 2017 for me to you. I'll be leaving the 21st to visit some family and I probably won't be back for a while idk, I'll give the deets when time comes.
- love ham