Birthday time again! This one hurts a bit... (Thoughts on a 30th birthday and my 29th year)

 Hey friends, in the words of some of the students that I work with, I'm getting old. Granted, it's not that old in the grand scheme of things, but this week, I'm turning 30. I've already received some comments about what I'm going to do for my midlife crisis, and if I'm checking out retirement homes soon, but I'm not planning on checking in quite yet, thank you very much. This year has been a weird one, full of highs and lows, but for the most part it's been pretty high. Today I just want to reflect a little bit on what I've been up to this year, and maybe talk a bit about the games that I've played and enjoyed the most. Let's get into it now, shall we? I'm certainly not getting any younger.

A Busy Year!

    Echoing a bit of what I said last year, I am still really loving what I'm doing right now, and I'm honored to be able to work with so many great folks, as well as a group of students that are pretty amazing! This year has been a busy one, with several trips to some pretty unexpected places. I've made new friends through my work and different adventures, and I've learned a lot more about myself and what it is that I'm wanting to do. I've been fortunate enough to travel to Princeton Theological Seminary twice as a speaker for an event, as well as going to so many different concerts, plays, musicals, and different events for students that I work with. It has been a great time, though sometimes gets a bit tiring. I'm very glad I've gotten closer to a lot of the friends that I met last year, and continue to grow closer to a lot of different people as well. I've learned so much about how to care for people as well as what it means to be cared for. I still have a long way to go before I know even half as much as some of my friends, but I'm glad that I've been able to take such positive steps in this year. I've taken a few classes through Princeton and Emory as well as read a few books that have helped some with spiritual development in a way I didn't really even consider upon starting them. I've been looking for the next right thing, and though I'm still not sure exactly what that looks like, but for right now, I'm really enjoying the ride, and I hope to continue with what I'm doing for a while longer.

    A friend asked me the other day what my favorite thing about my 29th year has been, and I really think the best thing I've done is to learn a bit more about myself, to have faith in my own abilities, as well as trust that I'm capable of doing great things. That's not just me, I'm sure I'm not alone in that camp, but I've always been one to doubt myself, and it's nice to be working with so many that care about my thoughts and abilities, and who actively encourage me to be the best version of myself that I can be.

Game Time!

    Now we get to the part where I talk about games and movies that I enjoyed this year, and maybe some that I just had thoughts about. This has been an interesting year for sure in terms of Nintendo's involvement. We got two games about Princess Peach, then Princess Zelda (Princess Peach: Showtime! and Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom, respectively),which were both a lot of fun, but still left something to be desired in the end, just because they were both pretty short. There's something to be said about leaving people wanting more than less though. Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door came back with an excellent remake, in the same vein as the remake of Super Mario RPG which came last year. Along with these two, we got a new Mario + Luigi game, which I haven't played yet, but I really hope that it's good, in spite of some mixed reviews and probably less than stellar sales. Mario Party had its third switch title come out a few months ago with Super Mario Party: Jamboree, which was a really great time, and continued the hot streak that the series has had on this now Seven-year-old system. We really thought there was a good chance that Nintendo would announce the new system a few months ago, but instead, they announced the Alarmo, a really cool alarm clock, but it's still just an alarm clock. The Nintendo Music app came out right around Halloween and has been updating pretty regularly, I've been loving listening to some of my favorite tunes, and I look forward to them adding more and more. Like I said, Nintendo has really been all over the place this year.

    Sony has also had a pretty wild year, don't get me wrong! Concord released on August 23 and was announced to be shutting down about two weeks later. People just could not get enough of dunking on this forgettable hero shooter that Sony put out for $40, and then Astro Bot came out the next week. Astro Bot did much better, and even won the Game of the Year award at the Game Awards last week, which is not too shabby! I have to say that it's probably the game that I've enjoyed playing the most this year, on top of just having a lot of fun platforming gameplay, there is a lot of nostalgia connected to all of the different crew members that Astro has to save. Some are just normal robots that look just like Astro, but there are tons of them that are dressed up as characters from different games that were really impactful to the history of Playstation. It's honestly a joy to play, and while many people did mean this as an insult, the game plays like a good 3D Mario Game. Many related it to Super Mario Galaxy and Galaxy 2, which are some of the best platformers of all time in my opinion, so I don't understand why it would be an insult. Along with Astro Bot, Stellar Blade also did very well for itself, finding a niche right in between Bayonetta and Dark Souls, while sprinkling in some Nier: Automata vibes for good measure. They later added onto those vibes when they put out official Nier: Automata crossover DLC for the game, which is a fantastic idea. As a way of topping off Playstation's games this year, they also put out Helldivers 2 which was absolutely everywhere for a while, and still has a pretty good player count, though probably not as big as it once was.

    I saw Tick Tick... Boom! again a few months ago, and this time I felt even more connected to it, I think just because I was even closer to 30 than I had been before. I don't have any aspiration to write the next great work of art like Jonathan Larson talked about in that movie, but I don't think it's too unusual to think about how things could be different. I've made a lot of progress over the past year, as well as the year before. I'm happy to be having the time that I've had, and that I've been able to meet and work with such great friends and mentors that I've been able to learn from. I still have a long way to go, of course, but in this year I've begun to work on being kinder to myself and others. It's a good bit different than what Mr. Larson struggled to do, of course, but 30 strikes us all in different ways. We all walk different paths, of course, and that's something to remember as I face a day that is filled with more societal pressure than maybe any other.

    That's probably enough talk for right now, I don't want to talk your ear off too much, but thank you so much for all of your support again this year. I'm so thrilled that I'm still doing this, and I love it a lot, even if some weeks are harder to come up with a topic than others. I was telling a friend the other day that it's really hard to open myself up and "show myself" like I talked about a few weeks ago. While that's true, I am getting slightly better at that as I continue along through this time where I'm able to better myself with situations like this. I cannot express just how grateful I am to so many kind friends who enjoy reading what I write or appreciate some element of my experience that I talk a little bit about. I truly can't thank you all enough for everything, and while I don't only do this to be praised, or anything like that, I so appreciate and enjoy the conversations that can be spun off because of what I'm able to express here. Thanks so much for reading this post, and I look forward to sharing many more weeks and moments with you all. Until next time, I'm Jonathan, a Self-Proclaimed Dreamer, and I hope you're all doing well too. Thank you for being my friends.