Hi.

You probably don't know me, and I wouldn't blame you if you did manage to forget. I've had this account for a very long time, over 4000 days as a matter of fact, so that had to be somewhere around early 2010 at least? I'm one of those vagabonds with this website, and even more so once Nintendo went around and smacked down the emulations and hacked emulations of their games. But I have grown weary of not doing anything with this account, and I want to attempt to put this thing to good use.

So here's what we're gonna do; We're going to have conversations! Oh not the CONVERSATIONS, heaven f o r b i d you're going to make me chat with you, he who tells ME what to do and how to live MY life! Nah, I'm not forcing it, but I know how shy each and every one of you are, and I only know this out of experiencing people on other websites and forums and mobile games and whathaveyouelse.

This is more like a dare.

If you're willing to accompany me here and entertain each other with whatever kind of talk we could get into, I'd very much like to see what y'all have to say to little ol' me.

On top of that, having people reach out will motivate me to stick around, and I can finally get around to changing this crummy-ass name that I've had this entire time by earning enough Viz to do so (Sitting at 53000/78000 upon making this thread).

So it's like a help you-help me-help-each other-to-help me kind of scenario. But other than that, I want to see what sort of folks are really around here these days, if any at all! Maybe I'll stick around some more, maybe I won't, who knows? I sure don't. But I will entertain the notion and ask y'all a very simple question.

How's life?

Heyo I'm pretty awkward at like trying to introduce myself so hopefully this doesn't go to terrible. Before talking about myself a bit to answer the question of how's life it's going okay I would say I'm just in the process of trying to figure out what to do with my life and college and I'm starting to feel a bit of pressure cause I feel like time is probably starting to run out before I can't apply to the next college semester but I also know it's not something I'm willing to rush cause I kind of view it like if I'm going to college I better get something I don't mind doing for a living out of it. Besides the college stuff everything else is going okay I think health wise could be worse for a type 1 diabetic it's not like I have anything overly wrong with me or any complications yet so I'm doing good with that. Besides that I've just spent my time lately playing games like Minecraft and recently was playing through Sonic Adventure because why I could write a review for it once I'm done replaying it. How's life going for you?

SonicOlmstead : Well hey there, fellow college taker! I understand that thought process extremely well! Although to be honest, college wasn't my first choice because I was hoping to go out and get an immediate job, but after a decade of rejection, and in light of everything that has happened in the world recently, I threw my hands up and went "Screw it I'm going back to college!" Also, outside of having to start paying back the funds you received from the government when you dip out of classes for a semester and thereby no longer considered a Student, you really don't have much to feel pressured about. Don't let the anxiety get to you, because you technically can afford to take your time in the education process, it'll just take a little longer if you do is all.

Also it's good to hear you aren't too deep in diabetic issues. I cannot speak for experience but I'm sure it's more than a hassle to deal with a body that refuses to keep its equilibrium in a healthy stable state, yaknow?

How am I? Well, I think I'm doing alright. Currently waitlisted to get into Justice Studies and I suspect it's going to be a looong while before I get admitted into it. It's pretty popular, go figure. Other than that my days are relatively quiet. I spend a lot of time figuring out what to do with myself, outside of the fact I still live with my folks, which is fortunate because I don't have to worry about excess funds, but we do bump our heads somewhat frequently in many a talk or situation.

I'm trying to get myself into a more official hobby that isn't gaming, and I'm looking to try my hand at creating a visual novel. I've been humming and hawing about creative outlets outside of the occasional drawing I do and gather some willpower and inspiration into that, or animating. So at the moment I've chosen the former, but who is to say I won't take some time to learn both anyway? My problem has been sitting down and creating the story, because frankly I got nothing. Barely any characters, and no major plot to associate it. Forever a work in process am I right?

sdutop : It's great that you were able to make the choice to go back to college after a decade I honestly don't think that would be something I would be capable of so I better figure out what to do and not screw it up lol. Thanks for the advice to not try to let anxiety get in my head I'm definitely someone who can overthink things and let things bother me I can't seem to stop myself from doing that once I start but I think over the years I've improved slightly with that. Yeah diabetes is definitely a hassle when I got to keep in mind my sugar so often when it tries to take me out when I least expect it but I'm more than use to it at this point. Justice studies is something I actually looked into at one point due to my interest in being a detective cause when I really get in the mindset of wanting to solve something I'll obsess over it until I find the truth and I enjoy that process but from my research into it I don't think I would really enjoy the other stuff in the job like for example carrying and learning to use a gun that's just not my thing I don't wanna have a weapon that I could take someone's life with it just doesn't suit me it makes me to nervous to even be around one. Creating a visual novel sounds like it would be a challenging yet rewarding hobby I could never write a full story like that but I hope it goes well for you!

SonicOlmstead : Well I should preface that my first attempt at college ended in dropping out, so I'm not exactly going back into it as if I'm trying something different after "graduating" the first time. Back then I had absolutely no idea what to do with myself. At my age now, well, I still don't, but I am not completely in the dark this time either. At the very least, I have a goal in mind, and that's all I need right now to get through these days. At some point in time in your life, you might come to the same conclusion too; Nix the what-ifs and the fears that come along with progression that force you to stagnate where you are now and just go for something, anything, just so you can say you're going to be out there living your life! I mean that's what college is made for right? The big dreams? I'm sure you'll get tired of your own anxiety enough that you'll just naturally want to move on. Whatever works right?

There are a good plethora of jobs that you can qualify for under Justice Studies that go beyond being a detective. Besides, you'd probably need to amp up your sciences and biology knowledge for that sort of business, like getting into Forensics. Of course I don't know all the possibilities off by heart, but surely there's more to it than knowing how to wield a gun (That's probably for some other discussion).

Yeah, the creating of this novel is going to be a helluva hurdle, the inspiration to just write something down can be hard to come by, but it should be fine. All I have to do is write, so I will write until something interesting happens. Should be simple enough.

Considering that only one person has replied to this thread so far, I definitely should jump in!

I'm doing alright! I'll be finishing college this year with a major in Social Work. I'm not at all sure what to do with that yet. But also, I've been occasionally posting chapters of the Pacman fanfiction I mean short story that I've enjoyed writing.

I've thought about changing my username too, but since I've been here for so long and I've posted so so much, I think I should just stick with it!

Pacman+Mariofan : And I do appreciate that. <3

Social Work's a great way to get yourself out there, and there are a lot of branches you can take to help meet the needs of others. I would say however you really want to assist someone would be the ideal way to strive for how you want to go about using that major. Congratulations on being close to finishing that though! Must be an incredible feeling.

You're writing a Pacman story? What sort of premise have you made involving a simple game like Pacman?

Thank you! I agree. Social Work is a massive field, and I don't even know what area to go into after college yet! However, I will have an internship in my spring semester, which will help narrow things down since I get a full-time job kind of experience.

Yep! My story is based on several Pacman games actually, not just the original. I took the idea from Pac-Land that Pacman lives in a town, and I came up with the idea that the ghosts have their own town too.

The premise of the story is that the ghosts are sick and tired of their plans to catch Pacman failing after all these years (the story is set in present time). So they devise a plan to trap Pacman in a new maze. They meet other ghosts who are willing to participate in their evil plans.

So yeah, the story focuses a lot on the ghosts instead of Pacman! I've enjoyed being able to develop their character, as well as develop the new characters. You can find the first half of my story in the "Stories/Simulation/Art" forum on this site; I've uploaded the first 18 chapters

Pacman+Mariofan : Well good on ya, glad to hear it has been a fruitful endeavor for you so far. I've been more of a Pokemon fan myself, starting my role-playing days in Deviantart groups, moving on over to Tumblr for a little while to try getting popular in the ask-blog community (I didn't get popular), and now I sit on a pretty decent pile of possibilities in creative storytelling with that brand.

I'd honestly be trying to start my visual novel with Pokemon in mind, but I fear there would copyright infringement consequences, even if I made it and shared it for absolutely free. On the plus side, this means I get to be original in my potential work. Still procrastinating a little bit on starting, but when you have total freedom on how you want to create something, you get stuck on the best way to start.

My english college teacher warned me about this in a lesson. The best method is to just write it out, whatever's on your mind, then clean it up later. I've been too fixated on how to begin that it gives me the excuse to not even start. It's kinda sad, but I'm hoping to get over it soon.

That's cool! Yeah, unfortunately a lot of fan-made stuff is gonna be subject to copyright. I've seen some awesome Mario fan-games be taken down due to copyright issues.

Your English teacher was right that it's good to just make a rough draft and then smooth it out later. I tend to overthink things when I start writing, but then as I go it gets easier. And I find it fun to edit my rough drafts and improve them

Pacman+Mariofan : That is true, but when I said that, it was more like...just writing what is in your head, whether it was planned or unintentional, and try and see if you get inspired from it to continue it, or edit it into something else, or even give you a totally new idea just by staring at it and realizing there is potential in making some differences.

I've done my fair share of writing in college already, and although I'm tired, I do understand the satisfaction in going back and sprucing something up you made. It's the sharing aspect that really makes it worth it, so I understand the enjoyment and entertainment about it.

Oh, okay. Yeah, sometimes rough drafts can even make you think about 2 different projects you could make out of the many ideas that you brainstorm. That occasionally happens to me.

And yeah, I've written so much in college. I'm surprised I didn't get burned out more often XD

How's the novel been going? I just wanted to come back and say I've decided I wanna be a counselor so that's my current goal with trying to figure out just how I'm going to make that happen I spent a lot of time thinking about what to do but I realized one of my best traits is just my compassion for people so I think it's a logical choice for me that I do believe I can be good at.

SonicOlmstead : The novel's slow-going. When I take time to work on it, I've been practicing and getting potential ideas using a story creating ai to auto-generate random excerpts for me to fill in the blanks. Like I probably said, the hardest part outside of starting the story is creating the filler for the story, because you want a really riveting piece of literature to captivate and let people imagine your world, even if you probably don't 100% get it yourself!

College has started for me, so I'm going to have a lot less time to work on it in the future. As for you, it's great to hear you made a decision for yourself! So long as you're absolutely certain on it, I'm sure you'll do great. I'm not going to try and stick my foot in my mouth or anything, but I personally do know a thing or two about being indecisive about momentous decisions like this. I've spent many years just existing, but not necessarily living, you know? There's plenty of reasons for that, but one I can point out is how lots of things in the world don't get me excited or appeal to me like they used to, or lose their luster over the ages past. Learning about yourself and trying to come to terms with the facts of the matter, and deciding on how it makes you feel or what to do about it, that kind of business.

If you're absolutely certain that is what you want to do, hold on to the feeling, and don't do or hear of anything that will intentionally put you down (Kind of like 'Trust no one, not even Yourself, but in a sense, you still have to trust yourself lmao).

Been a while so how’s the college life going for you at this moment? Novel still a work in progress or at a stale writer’s block? I’m not even sure why sonic is the only one posting consistently tho a shame others haven’t hopped in

SonicOlmstead : Hey man I know it's been 7 months since you posted this but did you ever end up doing anything with counseling? If not have you decided on anything to do yet?

dkmec20 : Well I couldn't really find a way to make that happen without doing a normal college course which straight up I don't believe I could do thanks to math mostly I can't get myself interested in math at all the moment I try to do math I just stress like I can do simple math fine but if you start throwing things like proofs I shutdown. I've recently realized I also like history I've not really investigated if there's anything I would be interested in doing with that or could I used to always think college was a must and I still think it'd be better but currently I'm thinking of working at a store maybe as a cashier or something.

becerra95 : OOOOooo more talking, I didn't think anyone had it in them lmao

Progress in college has been great! I have but a small handful of courses remaining, plus the practicum if I manage to get into it. Grades have been phenomenal though so I'd be shocked if I somehow wasn't eligible. Two more terms, the fall and the winter, and then I'm graduating! It does not feel real in the slightest after all this time, gotta be honest. Maybe it'll slap me harder once it's actually happening. I also had a bit of a mishap with a parking ticket where the company associated with surveying the college parking lot ticketed me, despite me paying it, because the permit website needed updating and I ended up botching it without a second thought. Once I was able to clear my name and not have to pay a ticket, I ended up forgetting to renew my permit...so it all practically felt like a waste of time in the end. .-.

Novel's a stalemate; I'm working on characters and the sort of storyline/plotline/misc stuff I want to tell before I do any actual writing. Why is sitting down to think on it so much harder than the times you daydream about it? I swear it is almost as if people don't like working :V

I made the thread for that very reason yasee. I know people are just naturally shy to new posts and new faces, so I wanna be a part in reeling folks back in and making Vizzed feel whole again, and not as if it's drifting in a void, lurking from the scene but still close enough to be aware. It happens, I get it, but I also want to make this feel worth my while too. One of these days I just might not come back...although that's not me putting pressure and giving expectations. Let us just see what the people do first, eh? ;V