I still remember the old days of when YouTube didn't yet exist and/or was far more limited and Flash animations on Newgrounds were more or less the only viable equivalent for a while. Those were the times! And yeah, that means I'm at that transitional age (I'm a "millennial") where I'm starting to gradually become "youthfully challenged" or "much less than ∞ years old" as one may say. 😅

Anyway though, more importantly, I finally made a Newgrounds account today... I'm not sure why I didn't before, considered I'd used the site off and on for years without an account, but sometimes the ol' noggin is weird like that (not attending to something simple that could've been done a long time ago... you know the feeling).

Another reason why I've decided to create an account finally is to have at least some kind of community. I've avoided almost all forms of social media for many years (except on and off use of Reddit) and I think perhaps I'll feel more at home on Newgrounds than on most sites. I've similarly recently made a Mastodon account with similar hopes. It'll be good to not feel relatively isolated on my creative endeavors anymore. Plus, the games, art, and audio on the site are so wonderful so often and those kinds of creative things have long been something I'm passionate about. 🎨

More personally: I've had some "creative block" for many years now (caused in large part, as best I can discern, from shock and disillusionment and toxicity associated with my time working in the AAA game industry as a programmer). For years I could scarcely open a compiler window without feeling anxious and closing it, whereas in college before that many years ago I had always found creativity easy. It is my hope that my participation on the community of Newgrounds will help (in part) my recovery and restoration of my creative mojo and momentum.

So, finally, in conclusion, I thank the community for its existence and hope that I warm future awaits me here and likewise will strive to be always good and wholesome to fellow members! 😎

This is my first blog ("news"?) post on the site.

Thank you for reading and have a wonderful day/night/week! 📅