ShinyPika23

So, the new year...

Anyone who knows me (and is still somehow watching this trainwreck of a page, what is wrong with you all) knows that my favorite holiday isn't Halloween. It's not Christmas or Hannukah or Easter or even my birthday. My favorite holiday...is New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. It's the end of something old and tired, and the beginning of something new and inspired.

And boy am I tired of the old year. Lemme list the horrible, stupid things that have happened to me these past 365 days. If you think I'm being too much of a gloomy gus, please by all means check out 's journal on the GOOD stuff that has legitimately happened in the world despite my whining. I'll even link it here!
  2017 in review!That’s right folks, as we count down the hours left until the new year, it’s time once again for Helios’ fucking awesome review of the year we just had.
I think it’s safe to say that 2017 was a very...weird year. That’s probably the best was I can describe it. And I’m not just saying that because somehow a reality TV star became the (supposed) leader of the free world, it just seemed like there were a lot of things that happened this year that just made us wonder, as a species, “Just what the heck are we doing?!”
But, like Taylor Swift, I’m not going to act like the year was all gloom and doom (and fuck you Buzzfeed for trying to pretend that’s all it was). Cause even though 2017 was full of things that seemed bad, or even just weird, there were still a lot of good things that happened as well, and we need to remember them. Because I’ll be damned if I’m going to let clickbait distract us from the f

With all that said...let's get to the list shall we?

-I only recently managed to fix my computer again after an entire drive kept going missing, preventing me from doing any streams I may have wanted to do. Thankfully I managed to get it fixed by an old boss of mine.
-I lost my job in May for a stupid, stupid reason. Everything during my job was a blur and I don't remember anything from it besides a snippet here or a piece there.
-I was jobless for months and gave up filling out applications for the most part. Eventually I started doing Uber...and I dunno how to write that on my taxes next month...
-Mom's still trying to sabotage me every chance she gets.
-I've been eating less and less lately, or at least turning 3 meals a day into one big meal, so now I'm 315 pounds.
-I helped set up a private Discord server with my friends and was even an administrator...until horrible, horrible things happened that ended up with me having to turn in my badge, so to speak...
-My car's a mess. I don't know how to take care of it despite using it for Uber. There's cockroaches in it and I've just stopped caring...except there's tiny dings from other people knocking into my car door in parking lots, and a bunch of paint scratched off from something that happened near Universal Orlando. My lease finishes in March and I don't know what I'm gonna do...

But at the same time, I do have some things I'm proud of this year. Some things, at least.

-I went with in June to see the Kingdom Hearts Orchestra down by Hollywood, California...though these days, thinking about that feels a bit more bittersweet.
-I met and at Orlando for a meet n' greet, and other things. ...tickly things. It did help me feel better about my body. That was a good thing that happened earlier in December.
-I spent Christmas with my father's side of the family, then with my friend's family who included me like one of their own.
-I managed to get a temporary job at Spirit Halloween as a sales associate, and legitimately enjoyed myself for the whole time I was employed there. Would've been longer if the hurricane hadn't ripped through Florida.
-I managed to make a special video for a person on Twitch I watch named ProtonJon, and he seemed to like it. Not sure if I'll keep making that kind of stuff, but with some new equipment I got on the cheap, it could very well happen.
-One of my Uber passengers, I had a very good conversation with to the point where she actually gave me a hundred-dollar tip (not a fakeout to go to some church) for being an intelligent 24-year-old decent human being. I only ever used that hundred-dollar bill on food and car fuel.

Besides that, I'd have to really be reminded of good things I've done this year. Or maybe it was minuscule and only affected one person, and I'd forgotten I did that. For now...I'm going to try my absolute best to enjoy my new year. Here's to 2018. May it bring good fortune, good cheer, and good job opportunities for me.

To anyone who still reads this stuff and still follows me due to some backwards belief that I'm gonna make content available any day now...here I come to burst your bubble.

2016 was not really that good of a year...to me. A lot of good stuff happened, but my brain's still focusing on all the bad stuff sadly. Because along with all the really big things that happened, namely the important people who died and the raucous turn American politics took this year...there's a lot of stuff that just stinks this year. And I wanna wash myself off from it, get it all out of my system and out in the open. Maybe the one or two people who still watch this channel can give a generic "oh no" or something.

So what even happened this year that I need to just push away?

-I lost my job, right after having a weeklong vacation. The vacation drained me of most of my funds, and the way I lost it along with having no way to quickly recover...it destroyed me for a good long time.
-I lost a few friends. Some of them wronged my other friends, and some of them were just wrong in general.
-I haven't mended my relationship with my mother who I left with dad 3 years ago.
-I haven't read any of these books that my best friend recommended to me, just because I can't focus on them.
-I bought a new hard drive for my computer and still haven't put it in yet out of fear or royally screwing something up.
-I lost use of my monitor and now I use my big screen TV as a monitor, and since I'm always on the computer I haven't used my PS3 or my Wii U in ages.
-I tried streaming video games I liked, but my style just didn't mesh well with how analytical I get and I wasn't as entertaining as I had hoped I would be...plus I put all the effort into video editing, which is more a Let's Play than anything else.
-Super Mario Bros. Z, a project I've followed since 2008, is on hiatus once again because Mark Haynes is struggling with personal issues. I respect him, and I wish he were better...
-Two fanmade Pokemon games and a Metroid fangame were C&D'd by Game Freak and Nintendo at the most douchey of times in the most douchey of ways.

And that's all I can really say off the top of my head. So instead...let's talk about the stuff that happened this year that I...can say I'm proud of.

-I managed to buy video editing software and use it for something I considered to be a good thing.
-I streamed the entirety of a romhack, Pokemon XG: NeXt Gen, and I loved it from start to finish.
-The old job I didn't like yet kept coming back to? The one I got fired from? I found a better job at Walmart, first as a seasonal cashier employee, but they like me so much they want to keep me on. I even get paid better than my old job!
-Super Mario Bros. Z did its first rebooted episode in the beginning of January, and I got to be on the list of Patreon supporters. It's the first and only thing I've ever become a patron for, and I got to be in the credits.
-I had my vacation seeing for the second time, and I showed more monetary independence than last time. And this time, I know how long's long enough for a visit for next time.
-I'm writing on and off, still compiling something that I believe will be a better culmination of all of my stray ideas into a more cohesive string of plots. Not sure if I'll even publish it, but when I get far enough I'll make the attempt
-I managed to ask for commissions from people like , again something I never do, and I thoroughly enjoyed the experience.
-Pokemon Sun and Moon came out this year, and I thoroughly enjoyed the games like never before.

It's not a lot, no...but it's still something. Something I'm proud of at least.

Next year, I plan on saving up as much money as I can while still trying to live comfortably. With gas prices rising all over the place, it's gonna be pretty hard...but it's not impossible.

If this year's taught me anything, it's that anything is indeed possible. We just have to work harder to move things in our favor.

Happy 2017, everyone. If you think I should try and do something...like legit try something...leave a comment. Honestly. Go ahead.

Hey y'all! Come on down for some battling my way through a dark RPG city. Y'know, the usual fare. Maybe I'll find another shiny. Maybe I'll name it after you! Let's find out together, shall we?

www.twitch.tv/shinypikachu23

Man, I wish I had a good pic to go with this...oh well, something else to work on I guess! Anyway, come on down!

I had a good friend with me during most of it, and it was in the middle of this hurricane, and I managed to do so much for the finale. I'm glad that people came. Sure, it was maybe 5 or 6, but...it's not for the audience. If anything, I expect to get at least 100 watchers by the end of next year. For now...I'm going to enjoy myself.

Streams continue next week as I take on a new game: Pokemon Reborn. I've heard it's a really difficult challenge, and I can't wait to see what's in store. Gotta download it all first, maybe do a little test run...

Catch me on Wednesdays at 8:00 PM EST from here on out. Enjoy yourselves, and here's to good Wednesday nights from here on out!

You've been a great audience!

Pokemon XG: NeXt Gen (Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness ROMhack)
www.twitch.tv/shinypikachu23

I'll be starting it at 8 PM, but I'll be leaving it running for 15 minutes prior so you can gather around, maybe speak to each other, that stuff! Hope to see you there!