Reflections on 2016 and Goals for 2017

What's up party people? It's been a long time since I've written a blog. Heck, it's been a long time since I've done too much of anything gaming related. It's been a crazy year!  

I am coming off one of the worst years I've had for gaming since I started achievement hunting. I only put up about 10,000 gamerscore this year. To be fair, 2016 was the year of real life achievements for me. I finished up my BS in Business Administration and I got married, which was the highlight of my year. I also had some random health issues and unexpected surgery, which interfered with a great job opportunity, so life was kind of up and down. I launched my podcast and started moving in the direction of getting my site where I want it to be and start streaming on Twitch consistently, but all that came to a grinding halt when real life started to rear its ugly head. At this point, I'm still trying to get health issues sorted out so I can reliably work, but I don't have insurance because I don't have a job, so it's a comically circular set of circumstances. I've had a few interviews that seemed promising, so hopefully I'll hear something about moving forward in the interview process next year. As far as next year is concerned, I want to find that zen balance between real life and gaming.  

For my real life goals, I want to find a career that I actually enjoy and not just another job that leads down the road to nowhere. I want to start studying for the GMAT so that I can do reasonably well on it and perhaps land some scholarships for graduate school. I also want to start purging stuff that I've been hanging on to for a while that I just don't really use anymore or things that I once collected, but just don't care about anymore. Sorry Funko Pops, but you've got to go.  

For my gaming goals, I have quite a few more things that I want to do. I want to hit 300k Gamerscore this year, move up on a few Point and Click leaderboards, and move up on the overall TrueAchievement leaderboards for overall, USA, and North Carolina. I also want to strategically and methodically start working through my backlog. I have recently realized how much of a royal pain in the rear it's going to be to keep track of this stuff since I don't have TA Pro. Yes, I'm still salty about how all that pricing stuff I wrote about in my last blog went down. (I know, a female holding a grudge is incredibly shocking news.) So my money is going to Gamertag Nation these days. If you haven't checked it out, it's a pretty cool place. It's a relatively small community and there aren't many solutions or walkthroughs, but everyone there is super nice and they have achievement tracking, as well as user created game collections. *shrugs* I said I would wait for at least a year after the change here to consider going Pro again and I'm pretty bloody stubborn, so I'll figure out a way to make it work.  

For my real life/gaming hybrid goals, I want to get my podcast up and running again and start streaming so that I can meet some new people. On the podcast side, I'm looking for some people who would be interested in doing a weekly podcast about gaming. I'm guessing I'll need about 4 other people, so if you or anyone you know would be interested, just shoot me a message! On the streaming side, I don't know too much about it (aside from the very basics), so if you can give me some tips or guidance I am willing to listen.  

It may sound crazy, but I feel like a chunk of my life was missing during 2016 since I wasn't really gaming. I don't know why, but gaming is a hobby that has really resonated with me in so many ways. From playing games, to collecting them, to reading about them – I thoroughly enjoy every aspect of gaming. I'm taking it easy for the last few days of the year and then it's time to get moving on January 1st, 2017! What are your goals for 2017, both gaming and real life? Let me know in the comments below.  

As always, I appreciate you taking the time to read my blog. I hope each and every one of you has a fantastic new year! Until next time, stay frosty and game on!