Hey there!

It's that time of year again, well a few days after that time, when everybody recaps on what they've done for the last 365 days or so. This was a year full of firsts for me: I didn't upload a single YouTube video in all of 2017 which hasn't happened since 2009,  I directed several lives recording sessions in my college's TV Studio, I drove myself to Pennsylvania for the NG Ambler Theater Screening, I worked on a mural painted in Times Square, I drank a personal record breaking 3 gallons of eggnog this holiday season, I got paid to do professional audio capture on a commercial shoot, I'll be applying to University, and(hopefully)I'll be on my way to my first ever MAGfest tomorrow afternoon!

You may have heard this buzz online but the Ambler Screening/Meetup was incredibly inspiring for everyone involved. I met so many people whose work I admire and made so many friends that I'm afraid I might forget to list them all here:

@TomFulp, a wonderful man whose chillness is only matched by @PhantomArcade who gave me a place to sleep.

@JohnnyUtah and @Spazkid who I talked about Nightmare Cops and game design with over a Philly Cheesesteak.

@KameStudios, @DreaminErryDay(sorry I didn't recognize you at the time I love your work), @64bitsanimation, @deathink(thanks for the sweet sleepycast poster) and @MisMash who share an extreme dedication to doing what they love.

My roommates and NG Family, THE @FuShark, @FOST3R, @CameronT, @OzoneOrange.

And all the the other that made me feel welcome including @moawling, @IvanAlmighty, @Tyler, @Barnhouse and more!

Twitter seems to be in agreeance that 2017 was horrible and 2018 is off to a rocky start only two days in, but in contrast my Twitter is full of dumb jokes, anime, retweets of wonderful artists, and a lack of politics. All I can remember is the good stuff and that's exactly what I expect to see more of this year!

There's a lot of projects I'm excited to be working on soon. I'm continuing to paint as I'm currently wrapping up on my first commissioned portrait on canvas and I'll be getting ready to release a project I've been working on since 2015, The Story Goes On, a hack-n-slash adventure for Steam and the Xbox One. I also released a free lip-sync and animation tool for After Effects called Mouth Shapes. You might be able to tell from the stuff I mentioned that my work is pretty broad, I get bored quickly with just one focus, so having multiple projects constantly keeps me busy and inspired. I hope to share a whole bunch of it here on Newgrounds when the time comes!

Well I'm off to bed soon, gotta rest up and get over this cold so no eggnog for me tonight. I don't want to be that guy showing up to MAGfest with the plague so if I do go you know I'll be wearing a face mask. Have a great 2018 and keep on creating!

-b