2016 - Highs & Lows

[harambe]

As per the Szklarz tradition, here's the healthy High & Lows thread! In case you're new or aren't aware, this is where you reflect upon 2016 personally and list down some of the successful and unsuccessful things that have happened to you this year. Can be anything, GE, PD, RL, etc!

Post away, mates! I will post my list soon.

[SGT RAGEQUIT]

Highs - Graduated college with a rel degree this time, moved into a townhouse with the girlfriend. Got to attend AGDQ, VA (albeit briefly), and PA meets. Managed not to play statue for more than an hour the entire year. Started playing PD.

Lows - Made top 40 GE, actually played cradle for >10 hours (mostly 00A).

[sweetener]

Highs:
- AGDQ 2016 was an incredible start to the year. The event was shitty and corporate but the fun we had together was on another level.
- Finally finishing my film & TV course and meeting the best film crew ever <3
- Putting away the Fisher Price Toy for Toddlers known as GoldenEye 007 for 2+ months
- Melbourne Meet v2 of course; meeting Jezzo, what a madcunt
- Kapap 2 - my most cooked editing job yet
- The rise of Discord
- The Witness
- PD PA streamed casual paythrough
- Lush Life
- Got a sick CRT, amplifier, and turntable for bargain prices
- Pokemon Go
- Days at the beach, sunset cycling, Pokemon Go cycling
- Smooth FM
- Low Alcohol Intake
- Very solid streamed SMW casual playthrough
- Didn't try Vimto (also a Low)

Lows:
- Overall a relatively high stress year, trying to juggle a lot with work, uni, elite, friends, parents' separation, etc. Looking forward to a more relaxing 2017.
- Pop music
- Still not permanent at AusPost so the house loan is delayed again
- Didn't get Cradle SA/00A 34 or Statue Ag 219
- Didn't play anything other than GE really, and a bit of The Witness
- Didn't attend Montreal and PA meets
- Didn't attend any concerts (biggest low right here)

[DYM]

Lows:

- Still didn't go abroad to meet Eliters. NDU: Will happen this year, don't worry. Will go somewhere after I graduate. Australia if lucky.
- Called a lot of Eliters cunts for no reasons. NDU: Won't happen this year, don't worry.
- Became a little irrelevant in PD. NDU: Villa PA 1:21 soon!

Highs:

- Leosco got Dam SA 1:16
- Made lots of healthy polls

[Rigger in Chief]

Highs

- Streets Agent 1:12. Pretty much came out of nowhere and completely blew any expectations I had out of the water. Sadly it was shortly exposed but hey! First time playing GE I ever felt proud

- Volunteered for my first political campaign (Oklahomans for Bernie), even helping him win the state of Oklahoma

- Made the Deans List both semesters.

- Keeping myself in the top of my class

- Witnessing 3 tornadoes, despite being in a severe down year

- Began looking at grad schools and applying around (looking at you Iowa State)

- Ran the 2016 Summer Contest, reviving an old elite tradition. Happy to run it and can't wait to implement my new system next June

- Went to VA, finally popping my elite meet cherry. Had a wonderful time meeting everyone and definitely will make my way out next year

- Got my political analyses featured in articles around Oklahoma and did a political speaking event here on OUs campus

- Did multiple performances, both on piano and in a choir.

Lows

- 2016 General Election....fuck you Hillary and fuck you Donald

- My dog had to be put to sleep. Worst pain I've felt in my life

- Campus has been overrun by hate and some retards have gone as far as to spray paint random hateful shit on campus.

- Wasting my time on Streets Agent. Don't think I'll ever get 1:11 but whatever at this point

- Having a falling out with my mother on multiple occasions

This year overall was meh. Definitely can't wait to get 2017 started

[Grav]

high - runway 32, three 300s
low - every single dreadful minute of s1 agent

[deletedprofile.u]

Highs:
- Went back to school in January, one of the best decisions I've ever made
- Got fac 44 after a crazy 121 hour grind on the level; this started my eventual disinterest in grinding the game for the rest of the year
- Achieved multiple fitness goals and broke plateaus I thought I'd never break; including running a Stage 9.5 on the shuttle run (for anyone who knows what it is)
- Pokemon Go hype (not so much the actual game) before GPS spoofing was a thing 
- Virginia in June; best trip of my life. So many positive things can be said about this trip; met some awesome people, Karters and Eliters alike, and just had a blast with everyone. Looking forward to this year's meet undoubtedly
- Since my program is a fast track program (4 semesters straight), I had 3 total semesters in 2016, all of which I made the dean's honour roll (hype)
- Leoscox snap streak hit 100 

Lows:
- Didn't play a lot of GE or PD, but priorities I guess
- Boards got pretty **TOXIC** at a few points
- Didn't effectively pick my battles at times; Boards, social media, RL conversation, etc
- Computer HDD died and cost me about $450 total to get a new SSD installed
- Didn't pick up the guitar all too much; creative inspiration went down a bit this year

[Icy]

Gaming Highs
-Reached 12th place in Perfect Dark! Last year I was surprised with myself hitting 20th, and this time I feel like I'm nowhere near the end of my potential!
-Briefly held top 50 in Goldeneye! Will definitely get back up there eventually!
-Some new PD LTK untieds and Cradle LTK 0:34!
-Lots of PRs I was happy with in both games!
-Mario Maker is fun as fuck!
-Dominated Cruis'n USA and untied all 14 tracks, though I've since lost some WRs!
-Lots of fun casual gaming!
-Contributed some new strats to GE and PD, of course not nearly as much as 2015, but that's to be expected!
-BC3 meets were a blast!
-Got to play PAL!
-Sub 3:00 rare time!
-Broke Doom 64, and playing/theorycrafting with Grav has been a ton of fun!

Gaming Lows
-Got super burned out of GE/PD towards the end of the year.
-Lost all of my LTK prestige, with PD LTK champ, GE LTK #2, and Rare LTK champ all down the drain. Boss also sweeps me in PD LTK now too. My own fault for deciding not to keep up. Still on the podium for both games at least.
-I think I've reached the point where level rotation in PD isn't effective any more and I wasted a fair number of hours with lazy PRs. Probably time to start doing IL grinds.
-Would have liked better Deep Sea A/SA times, but I can't complain too much about having the opportunity to play at all.
-Lost the opportunity for Investigation SA untied, but I didn't play enough because I thought it would last longer. My fault of course.

Overall, I'd say 2016 was 9/10!

IRL Highs
-Fully paid off my student loans in March!
-Working lots and saving lots! Hoping to have enough saved up by the end of the year, quit, and then finally get school finished!
-Broke a rather long dry streak this year!
-Maintained my level of health and fitness! Would like to get to my 2010 prime once I have more free time and dedication for it!
-Moved back to my hometown where unlike BC, it doesn't cost a mortgage a month for rent!
-Countless hours on self-reflecting this year has been really good for me!

IRL Lows
-Moving across Canada was a total mess and didn't go as initially planned at all. Wasted a lot of time and was pretty stressed for a long while.
-Still wasting my time not working on a proper career. While I'm definitely behind on that, the time I've spent otherwise has been really good for me, just that it would be nice to finish school and all. I should be set for January 2018 if nothing comes up again.
-While moving definitely has it's pros, it does suck to be out of touch with all my buddies. Also sucks that I'm pretty isolated as far as Eliters go.

Overall, a good step forward, but having wasted a good chunk of it with the bad move, 2016 was probably like a 7/10.

2017 Gaming Goals
-No idea how much time I want to dedicate to GE/PD, but I'd like to at least take a small step forward. If I go hard, I want top 10 PD, regardless if Swiss and Jezz both pass me. At minimum, I'll get some easy WRs and other lifers.
-5000 Mario Maker stars. It's the only thing I'm missing from "100%ing" the game. Hit my levels up m8s!
-Might do some more Cruis'n USA. The big mental block for me with gaming right now is I don't know what I want to dedicate my time into.

IRL Goals
-Work, work, work, save, save, save. I should have enough to quit for the duration of university after.
-Get set to go back to school in 2018. Leaning on getting into accounting, but in any case, the main thing is getting it done. This is pretty much all of my focus as far as IRL goals go.
-More running during the Summer.

2017 will be a pretty simple year for me I think, but it'll be good progress for sure!

[flukey lukey]

Highs & Lows for 2016 - Mostly Elite Related but some IRL too


Highs:

+ Achieving 10 PRs in GE (9 WRs) throughout the year, greatly exceeding my own expectations
+ Getting a few fun Perfect Dark times including Villa 1:07 and Infiltration 1:11
+ The Witness
+ Meeting up with Jezz IRL and hanging out a few times. Had some awesome stuff happen at the meets like me getting Facility Agent 0:36 FE, as well as Jezz PRing on S1, grinding for Def 5 and War 25, duping B2 0:24 PAL in the middle of the night... Also other hilarious stuff guys watching our stream will likely remember.
+ Finally getting Frigate 0:23 and tying Ace for 1st in the process, insane moment in my GE career.
+ Finally achieving Facility 00A 0:52, a goal time I had had lying around since late 2014 where i choked it hard.
+ Fluking the hell out of Depot 0:23 and getting it on the exact same day as Lockwood + Clemens. Another incredible moment.
+ Making some of my best GE WR videos (imo) (depot 23, fac 00a 52, frig 23)
+ Deciding to join in on Kapap 2 and see what I could accomplish.
+ Getting Control 3:56 and telling the Kapap 2 boys that I had something to put in the vid! Awesome reaction.
+ Getting Silo 1:00 shortly after and going nuts in the Kapap 2 discord channel (i'll need to go back and save this chatlog someday).
+ Giving Green heart-failure by posting a pic of my Jungle 0:50 endscreen in discord.
+ All of the fun & creative times shared with the guys making Kapap 2. This included so many things, but photoshopping Swiss' shuffle gif for 4 hours, and designing the intro fade-in with 3500 individual lights the week before premier will be pretty unforgettable.
+ Watching the 90% complete Rough-Cut of Kapap 2, two nights before premier and almost tearing up to Jono's Dam SA 1:19.
+ Premiering Kapap 2 and being super glad we had chosen Birdie to host the stream.
+ Having Jono make it back to Melbourne for a week for an awesome meet, and Jezz making it over for a couple of nights too. Great times.
+ Watching a few WRs and UWRs live throughout the year. One of these was Ace getting Control 00A 4:04 live with Jono over (Jezz had just left earlier), and the other was Jimbo getting Cradle 00A 0:34 with Nade Strat with Jezz over.
+ Hosting an endscreen trivia while Jono & Jezz were over (pics of WR endscreens, you have to name the player and the WR for 2 points, 1 for each).
+ Playing Stephen's Sausage Roll alongside Wodahs. Terrific gaming experience.
+ Meeting some nice girls, having a fling with one around this time too. Nothing serious eventuated but it was still enjoyable.
+ Seeing Joanna Newsom perform at the Hamer Hall. One of my favourite living musicians and a bucketlist concert. Beautiful.
+ Making big strides at work, getting more involved in design decisions & being a creative authority on large projects. Good.
+ Taking on younger, newer grads at work. Able to use some of my tutoring skills on them which helps me feel important as well as build relationships with them.
+ Started working on my Vinyl Record Collection again this year. Bought approximately 50 LPs, new and good condition 2nd hand.
+ Bought a new amplifier for my stereo (Rega Elicit-R) which is nothing less than fucked keen. Sold my old Yamaha cs-610 to a mate at work for his girlfriend to play her punk records on vinyl.
+ Wrote and Recorded 3 or 4 new / semi-new songs in the beginning of the year. Can be found here (!) - soundcloud.com/luke-aidan-szklarz
+ Bought a new bed Finally! Ended the 2-year period of sleeping on a mattress on top of grid of 20 milkcrates.
+ Could be a negative or a positive I'm not certain, but got Snapchat and had some fun posting about Corporate Drones and Milkcrates across Melbourne.
+ Certain Elite relationships definitely improved this year, which is heartening.
+ Had a nice xmas break in Perth with the family & close friends I don't get to see often. Bringing the ps4 along and watching my family get hooked on The Witness was a blast. Also my brother Oliver got up to Chapter 13 on Uncharted 4 Crushing Difficulty, also a blast to watch.
+ Catching up with Jono in Perth, driving around, drone-watching, record shopping, chilling at his place while playing some GE. Thanks for the lifts Jono.
+ Quitting smoking cigarettes.


Lows:

- While successful in terms of Work and Gaming 2016 as a whole was easily the hardest year to get through since 2009 for me.
- Having my anxiety disorder come back into my life in a big way early in the year. Basically went back to how I was in 2009 with a strange depression as well. Started seeing a therapist consistently and it's more under control now.
- Relationships on a whole suffered in 2016. Mostly to do with my inconsistent mental state, but also because to cope with that I was working even harder and putting even more strain on myself.
- I might have said a few things I'm not proud of looking back, but also had some things said to me I didn't feel I deserved at the time either. I've learned that no matter what you're doing, the harder you go, the harder people bite back a lot of the time. You just have to keep playing your own game to your own rules and fighting the good fight. Goose was right, Fuck the haters.
- Failing to achieve Bunker 2 Agent 0:23, Jungle SA 0:53, Aztec 00A WR or UWR... (that's about it)
- Not returning to or PRing in Dark Cavern.
- Discovering I am not much of a PD player.
- While recording 3 or 4 new songs and making progress to completing an album of my own songs, I definitely slacked off this project for Kapap 2 and Goldeneye.
- Again, relationships. Work relationships were quite okay though, after mid-year. Outside of work could do with a bit of work.
- Not getting a large photograph / painting framed and put on my living room wall yet.
- Still not getting a Navajo Rug for my apartment.
- Phil not being able to make it to the Perth meet.
- Not being able to attend the PA / VA / GDQ Meets this year.
- Neglecting my fitness more than over the last few years, something I should definitely improve in 2017.
- Possibly being too harsh on Jono during the making of Kapap 2. The outcome was all that matters though.
- Not reading many books, a goal for 2017.
- Didn't travel to any new places, something I hope to improve on in 2017 too.


Thanks for reading.