Even a bad year has some great moments. What about you? Did you graduate? Get a new job? Go to some cool events?

For me, I had a few great things happen to me but I also went to a few amazing events.

PAX East
In April I went to PAX East. It's something that I wanted to go to for years and I'm really glad that I went. I was able to go to a panel with Markiplier, my favorite YouTuber, and I got to meet two of mt other favorite YouTubers. I also got to buy a lot of cool swag including a PS4 game that became one of my favorite PS4 games of all time.

Book Expo:
In May I got a press pass to go to Book Expo and Book Con. Book Con was cool but Book Expo was amazing. In Cons, everything you buy is so expensive but in the expo, it was all free. I got lots of books that were not only free, but signed too by guys like James Patterson, Rick Riordan, Bryan Lee O'Malley, and Eoin Colfer. I also got to meet and attend panels by Nick Offerman, Megan Mullaly, Stacy Plays, and the creators of Dear Evan Hansen. Lots of fun.

Anime Con:
The entire year, my friend has been pestering me to get a ticket to go to anime con and at the last second in August, I got a ticket and I had a blast. I went to so many fun panels about Pokemon Abridged, meeting Yu-Gi-Oh! voice casts, fan fics, and more. I bought a lot of cool stuff like a Persona 5 figure and wall scroll, a Persona 4 shirt, and a some key charms. The best part though was this massive room that was a hybrid 300 person dance floor and 50 arcade game room that was open from 11 PM until like 3 AM.


In addition to all these events, I also went to the movies 131 times, got promoted to editor for 4 months, and got a job at Gamestop.

What's your story?

Honestly, not a whole lot of good moments I can think of. 2018 was probably my worst year to date. However, 2019 is shaping up to be one of the best. Just a couple weeks ago, I got hired to a new job that ACTUALLY pays well. I have never had a job like that before, so I am extremely grateful for the opportunity. Another one of my best moments was just hanging out with friends, but in real life and on Discord. That's about all I can think of. Oh, and I became moderator on Vizzed, that's a good thing, too. Almost all of the good things that happened to me last year happened at the very tail end of it, so that's why 2019 is gonna be one of my favorite years ever.

One really good thing happened. 

One of drawings got on an article for a magazine in Cleveland, Ohio. //pressurelife.com/that-one-that-got-away/
It wasn't about my drawing but about a former mascot of the Cleveland Cavaliers. I just illustrated the picture used for the article. Still pretty great to me.

They weren't exactly moments, it's more like 2018 was a year of a lot of introspection, I learned a lot about myself and how to combat a lot of my problems, and I'm better overall because of it.

I learned a lot of things about the world and how to handle things I don't really like, so I'm just looking forward to 2019 where I can apply the knowledge I gained in 2018

2018 was an awesome year overall. Due to all the changes I tackled, I managed to break my shell and finally be my true self, so instead of a single moment, the whole year was some sort of evolution for me that could probably continue throughout this year.

If there is one thing I'll forever treasure from 2018 is my voice acting course. On itself the course was the worst, but I met some good people with whom I'm now working together towards a shared future goal, we have already shared amazing experiences in the studio... And most importantly, I met the person that made me fall in love for the first time in my life.

I'm sure people would pester me with telling the full story if I was a more popular guy around here, but even then I wouldn't have much to share since it's still something in development. What I can say, though, is that it made me open my eyes and gain confidence in myself, which in turn only boosted what I've mentioned above of breaking my shell.

I got a Switch and I was instantly hooked on Super Mario Odyssey. It's now my favorite Mario game of all time.

I went to a haunted house park at Halloween and the haunted hayride was downright AMAZING.

I went to the Smithsonian - twice: once to the National Gallery and once to the Air and Space museum. At the Air and Space Museum, I saw First Man on their IMAX theater - the first time I had ever seen a full-length movie on an IMAX screen (the moon scenes, breathtaking!).

I really enjoyed my grad school courses and got either A's or B's in all of them.

Oh, and I saw Solo on opening night and the theater was full of fellow Star Wars geeks and the movie was AWESOME. 

EX Palen : Man a voice acting course sounds like a lot of fun.

Honestly, my best moment of 2018 was probably some of the people I met and got closer to during that year. I got closer to a friend that I feel comfortable talking with, and actually found a relationship...for a while, at least. I did also learn some important lessons...namely, that some companies will go well out of their way to push their workers as hard as they can no matter the cost. By the time I left, there was almost nobody left in the area I was working in and they were giving me 40 hours per week on a part-time job just because there was nobody else.

dark mode : And it is a lot of fun. You enter the studio, or whatever the recording place is, without even knowing what you're going to be. Only once everything is ready to roll, you're given your part of the script to know what you're going to say, then watch a couple times how the scene unfolds to know how you have to say it.

This unpredictability is what makes it special. You may have to laugh, cry, yell at someone or something, pitch up your voice because your character is a kid, force breathing for an ill character... And since you're rarely alone doing the recordings, it becomes even more special when you can share this with more people.

Next Monday will be one full month without having gone to the studio, and boy, do I miss it. I hope we can find other ways to keep practicing because I feel somewhat empty.

EX Palen : That sounds like it was a lot of fun, how much does something like that usually cost?

I entered University. That's probably the thing that's changed my life the most this past year. Other than that I've gotten more open about voice chat and been having a lot more fun with friends online which has brought some of my best laughs of the year with it.

My relationship has also survived the 3 year mark which my parents always used to tell me was the point where like 90% of them won't reach so I'm grateful about that.

Well the entire summer was fantastic. I had probably the most fun as a camp counselor as I've had in all the years I've done it. The group of kids I got was amazing, I miss them a lot actually.

The two poker tournaments I won at school in October and November were a bright spot I guess.

Also, I went to Disney World in November with my whole family, and had a blast there.

That's really all I can think of right now to be honest.

tgags123 : So how good exactly are you at Poker? Am I gonna see you at thr world series of poker any time soon?

dark mode : Not WSOP material yet, but I'm still doing everything I can to get better. I would definitely like to enter into the WSOP when I turn 21. Not the Main Event obviously, I don't have $10,000 to spare, but definitely tournaments with smaller entry fees.

tgags123 : Man, soon enough you'll be all over the news lol.

"Young man beats seniors with cards over cash."

zanderlex : Kind of depends on where you do it, the duration of the course and the method of study.

It's not cheap, I can tell you that, simply because you're basically doing the same as a pro, with all their equipment and their routine. And if you want lots of hours to practice, then the price can go very high. I still think cheaper than university, as well as much faster, but requires a bigger initial investment that may not be available to everyone.

Remember that I'm not from the US, in my country we need much more work from VAs to dub everything produced overseas and thus requirements as well as education/preparation might be on a different level (even more considering we're probably the most powerful dubbing industry in the world, because Japan mostly uses VAs for the content they produce rather than dubbing content from other countries).

In 2018 not much exciting happened. Or not much good happened either. Thinking back I think it might have been the quickest year to go by for me. It's still hard to believe that it's over despite it being eleven days into 2019.

Thinking back on the positive things that happened this year, I was able to meet up with some childhood friends over the summer, I taught myself how to play Piano (but don't know how to read sheet music still), I've learned a little more guitar than I did the previous year but I'm nowhere good yet.

I collect retro game stuff and I believe that I increased my collection's quantity significantly last year in 2018. I've accumulated a complete in box Japanese Dreamcast, an American Dreamcast, a Funtastic Ice Blue Nintendo 64, a Sega Genesis, a Sega Master System, A Platinum Gamecube, a Playstation 1, a Slim and a Bulky Playstation 2, a Super Nintendo, an NES, and an Atari 2600. All just this year.

It's a big passion of mine so any and all things I buy and receive it makes me so happy. It's a very expensive hobby, though. And my current lifestyle has put my spending on retro games and consoles on a hiatus. I hope that when I move none of it gets damaged or lost because that would probably be the worst thing.

Kiyo : Do you get games for those systems to collect too?

I wanna get a ps1 just to play one game lol.

zanderlex : Yeah I have a lot of games collected as well. I just thought the consoles would be a better choice to name off since everybody knows consoles. And my post would've been a little too long if I named off all the games haha. What game would you play on the PSX? Maybe I have it!

Kiyo : The one I want to play most of all is Guardian's Crusade. Others include Twisted Medal 2, YuGiOh, and some other random ones.