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2023 REVIEW!!

Posted by littlbox - December 26th, 2023

Hello all! I hope everyone’s having a merry Christmas season. You all made it thru this year, and I hope that next year brings a ton of cool stuff your way.

Tis the season for a yearly retrospective!

(FalalalalalalalaLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA)

I’ll go thru it my usual way, starting with NG-relevant stuff I’ve done this year and working to the sweet sweet center of personal journeys.

littlMixes

I was able to bring back littlMixes for a short time from January-July! It’s always so nice to listen to what other people are up to on the site, and nothing beats the feeling of finding your new favorite Newgrounds song. I’m also very glad to have gotten the chance to talk to @Wilieu about her work – it’s always evolving and very interesting.

I wasn’t able to sustain it all year, simply because I had way too much going on. I love surfing through the NG Audio Portal, but I’m finding it harder and harder to find the time to do so. However, I’m going to make it a point to find some kind of workable routine next year to ensure I keep up with the ongoings of the site.

Music

I put out eight music tracks this year, all of varying genre. Here are some of my highlights:

Was lucky enough to make it in the top 20 of this year’s AIM with this track:

Made a cool irl collab with @bitbeak:

Put together a Secret Santa track that somehow has made it to over 4500+ listens and 100+ downloads!

Thank you to everyone who continues to listen to my music, and to Newgrounds for front-paging this insanity.

Collabs

Didn’t do any vids for NG this year, but participated in two collabs:

Innerspaces:

This is made up of a lotta cool peeps I’ve been chatting quite a bit with in the last year over Discord, all of whom are very talented and creative in their own right (including old FlowDownStream buddy @Sro). It’s always fun to participate in this kinda collab, and I look forward to continuing to chat and create with these people next year!

NGTV Christmas Collab:

Another collab ran by another ol’ FDSer (let’s go @Kolumbo), this was definitely a much more passive entry to a collab. I haven't checked out the collab yet, but I'm super excited to see what everyone contributed!

Now, it’s time to get…

PERSONAL(ish)

Let’s start with

Your Friend Logan

Probably the crown jewel of my achievements this year. This documentary on Logan Whitehurst is something I’ve aspired to since I was 12, so to have it completed is just surreal. I was on-and-of editing the film throughout the year, and spent an entire week in September where I got 3-4 hours of sleep a day to complete the cut in time for festivals. Not recommended for a sustainable living, but definitely was a rewarding experience to be so focused on completing a project. We’ve submitted to a dozen film fests so far, and are continuing to submit to more, so stay tuned!

Film School

This past year, I produced two student films – we shot one in February entitled Lovesong (my 3rd year thesis – I also did music for this one!) and the other in November called The Half Moon Motel (my 4th year one). These both were enlightening, educational, and exhausting experiences. Lovesong is done, and Half Moon is still in the editing process. I don’t think we can make these public, but if anyone wants to see Lovesong, send me a DM and I’ll share the link with you.

Some highlights:

May – I went on a cruise with my family, after which I caught COVID and spent a week doing nothing but sleeping and watching Bee & Puppycat on Netflix. It’s a good show for that kinda thing.

July/August – I moved into a new house with my roommates, two very cool dudes whom I’m grateful to call friends. We also did a few midnight movie screenings on campus before things got real hectic with 4th year films.

September – Immediately after completing a cut of Logan, I went to Colorado to see @bitbeak, and we hung out. I got to play VR Mini Golf, which I’m convinced is the funnest game ever made, especially when you’re flying. Also had Indian food with @PsychoGoldfish.

Burnout

There were some fun and high points throughout the year, but definitely the worst points were my multiple burnouts.

I’m not good at relaxing, nor delegating, nor giving myself credit where credit is due, and so the mix of anxiety, overworking, and low self-esteem makes for one helluva cocktail, and the hangover is terrible. Maybe some peeps here can relate to this? It’s really gotten to a point where I know that these fears and exhaustion spells, if left unchecked, are going to really hinder my progress moving forward, and that's no good!

So, I’ve begun seeing a therapist, and we’re going to see how that route goes. I’m optimistic that, at the very least, it will be a new experience and give me new perspectives on this road block, which is exactly what I need.

In summary…

2023 was a really good year. I got a lot of projects in with a lot of new experiences and new knowledge, and I’m going to take the time this last week to be grateful for this, along with being fortunate enough to have the people I love around me, and good health in spite of eating like crap. Though there were some especially cruddy parts of the year personally, I’m working to make sure that these personal issues become easier to deal with. I’m excited for what 2024 will bring.