The Newgrounds Audio Portal 20th Anniversary Collaboration is finally out, and all the individual segments I was apart of have been posted! I'll be talking about them in the order that I joined the projects.

First off, we have "Customer Shrirvice." This was my segment featuring NickSenny and OctoBlitz on vocals.

This segment was so, so much fun to make. SHRIMP-OS has a special place in my NG brain, and I wanted to pay homage to it with my segment. I included as many references to the original game as possible, and I wanted the track to evoke the feeling of playing the game while also sounding distinct. The idea of a customer service hotline for shrimp is so funny and it feels like it goes along (pardon the pun) swimmingly with the world the game set up, so I'm very proud of how everything turned out.

Next, we have "Lifeline." This was Troisnyx's segment featuring both her and I on vocals.

I originally wrote more for this than my little segment, but I misunderstood the assignment and wrote lyrics that didn't work well with the tempo of the song. However, Troisnyx decided to rap for the first time to make up for my shortcoming, and the result is a beautiful song all her own. Troi tells the full story in the song's description, and it's deeply personal, moving, and motivating, so please do yourself a favor and give it a read.

Finally, we have "Only The Start." This was NikoN1nja's segment featuring me on vocals.

This song was arguably the one I had the most trouble with! I volunteered to help Niko with vocals since his original partner dipped out, and not only was my singing off key, but we had some trouble with the mixing. I'm glad we finally got it made though because it turned out well! This song was a rock anthem about how Newgrounds can be the start of something wonderful creatively.

Thank you endlessly to these four wonderful people who worked with me. The NGAP20 collab was such a wonderful experience and I am very blessed to have been apart of it. I hope I can collab with you guys again sooner rather than later, and I hope that I can collab with even more wonderful people on this wonderful website.

(PS: I may or may not be cooking up an idea for a collaboration of my own in the NGAP Collab Center discord server! Be sure to join the Discord so you can get the scoop on that, as well as any future collabs that come out of the server!)

i need to know RIGHT NOW who made this image because it looks EXACTLY LIKE ME and feels like targeted harassment

BTW, I posted some YouTube videos on the first of this month featuring thumbnail artwork by my awesome friend @mxbun! Go follow him; he's an awesome artist!!

The videos are about version differences in Pokemon games! As an incredibly clever and subtle commentary on why version differences in Pokemon are bad, I essentially made the same video twice. Lol.

Preorders for the BF nendo finally opened and I got one!! Thankfully preorders opened the day after I got paid lol

HUGE STINKY SHOUTOUTS TO @ninjamuffin99 @KawaiSprite @PhantomArcade @evilsk8r AND THE WHOLE REST OF THE FUNKIN CREW INC!!!!! Thanks y'all for making this funky lil game that introduced me to Newgrounds (literally would probably be a different person if not for Newgrounds fanning the flames of my love for independent art, as hyperbolic as that sounds), and I cannot wait to see what the full funky lil game has in store. Keep up the great work.

I checked my song and I got jumpscared by THIS?!?!

Holy Toledo that came out of nowhere. Thank you so, so much to whoever frontpaged it!! It genuinely means so much to me that a song I've made is featured on the homepage of a website I love so much. NG for life!

edit: i should probably link the song, doy

Have you no sense of humor? Have you no soul? Are you too good to laugh at a song that goes "peepee poopoo fart"?

I'm genuinely curious why someone voted that lol, I thought it was my best song so far, from both a production standpoint and a comedic/creative standpoint. Wish that person would've left a review.

So here's the cool NG stuff I did this year, just as a recap.

I started the MHForecast!

Got two episodes up already and I'm working on the third (it will not be the "third" official episode because it has some pretty freakin' bad technical problems in the recording but I still want to post it because it's got some hilarious content lol). [EDIT 12/13/22 - here's a link to that busted podcast lol]

I joined the Faces of NG '22 collab by @Dungeonation:

I'm super honored to have been apart of such a successful project. I'm simultaneously really happy with the Daily 2nd trophy on my account and not proud because all I did was draw Gildedguy and a shrimp LOL

Outside of the collab, I started drawing on my laptop this year!

I'm not super good at it yet but I've put out some pretty decent stuff!

I'm especially happy with how my Madness Day submission came out:

Over on the YouTube side of things, I made a lil video for Pico Day talking about why I like this site so much.

I've also started making a little bit of music, and I plan to participate in @Droid's Jamuary next month!

I'm really excited to keep working on music stuff and to keep learning FL Studio, and I think Jamuary is going to be great for that. Hopefully I can actually keep up with it haha.

There was also that time where some employees in Disney World recognized my NG shirt, so that was cool lol

And arguably most important of all - I became a Supporter this year! I don't regret that for a second. As I've said on Tom's news posts, I'm super happy with the tangible changes that Supporter money has brought to the site. The ratings filters, the improved art viewer, and more are all wonderful additions to NG, and I'm glad that I helped, in my own small contribution, bring those changes to life.

(psst if you aren't a supporter and you reasonably can afford it you should totally become a supporter!!)

Here's some cool stuff that happened outside of Newgrounds!

My YouTube channel got monetized because of one video hitting the algorithm lol. Turns out, the secret to success on YouTube is talking about Five Nights at Freddy's. Go figure!

I started Two White Guys, a let's play channel with my best friend Dylan (the very same Dylan who made the background art of my Madness Day drawing)! That channel is such a blast to record. New videos weekly on there until the end of time! (they are already scheduled into like 2025)

I became more intimately involved in my church this year.

Specifically, I've been editing our Sunday Morning weekly announcements videos for the past, like, ~35 weeks. In addition to that, I've begun interning with our Youth Group. Both of these endeavors have been incredibly fulfilling and rewarding. I feel like my relationship with both the Lord and my community has grown greatly because of them, and I'm incredibly thankful for the opportunities to put my skills to good use.

Alright, now onto what I hope to accomplish in the new year.

First, I hope to make MHForecast monthly here on NG. It'll stay every other month on YouTube, but I'd like to have at least one episode go up in a given month where it actually matters hehe.

Second, I hope to get more proficient at both art and music. I don't expect to become some Picasso or Beethoven, but having the capabilities of art, music, and video editing under my belt would be such a killer trifecta. Specifically, I'd like to learn the basics of art anatomy and the basics of musical composition so I can have a stronger foundation in my understanding of the two mediums. This'll probably be over the summer.

Third, I'd like to participate in a more intimate collaboration with another creative. Joining the Faces collab was fun and awesome and cool, but it was more individual than it was communal. I'd like to make something, be that thing art, music, or a YouTube video (or even something completely different!) with another person from scratch, with that person's creative vision influencing my output and vice-versa.

Fourth, and I know this sounds a little cringe, but I'd like to start a YouTube Shorts series at some point in the year. I have a good idea for it, and it would allow me to talk about some topics on my channel that wouldn't make for a very interesting full video, but would make for a decently interesting ≤ 60 second video.

Last but certainly not least, I need to work on my faith more. I need to dedicate myself further to growing my relationship with Jesus because I'll be real - I've been slacking on it. Getting more plugged into my church has helped, and I've loved being able to serve, but I'd like to be better about actively pursuing it outside of an "obligatory" context.

TL;DR - I think I did some pretty cool stuff this year, and next year I think I'll do some even cooler stuff.

I'm super grateful that there are folks out there who'll look at what I make and that there are platforms where I can post what I'd like to make.

Let me close out by sharing some of my favorite things other people have made this year!

The @gildedguy team killed it with their most recent story animation. I can't get enough of how brilliantly their animations sync with the music.

@graskip remains one of my favorite artists on the site. His style is very effortlessly cute and cool simultaneously, and I always love seeing what new character designs he can come up with.

ShrimpOS by @Jack (and a small army of contributors) made me laugh, cry, and everything in between. There's a reason I chose to represent it in the Faces collab! If you haven't played it yet, go in as blind as possible and just explore. It's a great time.

@ThatRozebudGuy is, without a doubt, one of the GOATs when it comes to FNF modding. This year he (in collab with others, mind you) put out two great mods: The Halloween Mod and B-Side Redux, which are both full of small details and wonderful touches that will make any hardcore FNF fan squee.

I may be biased because we're related, but @Robo2k has been killing it with his tunes recently. He invested in SP sampling hardware and has been making some killer tunes using real old vinyl samples, and I'm super proud of the musician he's becoming. Love you, bro!

Okay, NOW I'm finished lol.

I'll stop @ mentioning people now (sorry, y'all). I hope everyone has a great Christmas (or whatever holiday you may or may not celebrate), and an excellent 2023. Thanks for reading, and see ya later!

My NG merch collection grows…just got my Scrapnik Island variant cover by @DIGIMIN ‼️‼️

Not really a Sonic fan, but I had to show up for da NG artists 💯 Excellent artwork and it’s so cool that it’s officially licensed.

Just got my copy of @Dry’s Small City Jazz — yall go buy that dang CD!! Listen here on NG too!

if i vote against joe biden in the next presidential election and he ends up leaving office will i get a blam point for that