2023 in review

[Farrah Goodfairy]

So with 2023 being a few days from over, I'm making a 2023 retrospective thread for the third year running. I know we already had the "Your Best Experiences from 2023" but I feel that isn't quite the same topic as this, so I'm making it.

For the first year since I started doing these I think I'm voting no in this poll. It's mostly been a bad year for my life in a few ways, some of which I won't really share as they're very personal, although on the other hand there have been some good experiences in 2023, but the cons of this year definitely outweigh the pros. It's easily the worst year of my life since 2017 (when I was 13-14) and possibly the worst year since 2014 (when I was 10-11).

The bad:

• Bad for my romance life. I got rejected by a guy I really, really liked, and later had some bad experiences with dates, and as of now I'm still single although I no longer feel as bad about that as I used to.
• Not very good for friendship life, a lot of old friends I have fallen out of touch with or not had the opportunity to meet.
• I seem to have permanently lost contact with one friend who I had a very special relationship with, even though I hadn't been having regular contact with her anyway it still hurt a lot to know I'll likely never see her again. (I don't even know what happened to her either, her social media profile just vanished)
• University isn't going very well.
• I have been struggling hugely with mental health this year, especially with regret.
• Several things I won't share here because they're too personal
• I found Indiana Jones: The Dial of Destiny to be a disappointment, and the weakest Indiana Jones by far, which is a real shame as it is the last one after all these years since Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Though I'd still very gladly have a LEGO Indiana Jones 3 game
• My 20th birthday was relatively less good than the last two years, especially since I had to be at University and had a lot of obligatory classes on the actual day.
• It's been a bad year for the world, mostly in ways that don't impact me personally but still makes me unhappy to know they are happening in the world.
• Sticker Star and Paper jam

The good:

• Ever After High: I discovered this franchise earlier this year and it is an absolutely fantastic franchise. I adore the characters, the setting and story, the art style, the voice acting, and the writing and humour. I don't own any merch/dolls but the short episodes and specials are absolutely amazing. If only the franchise had more content, more full length episodes, and at least one movie, it would EASILY be my favourite TV series/franchise of all time, even above My Little Pony and Teen Titans Go. Unfortunately it has only about 68 short episodes (most of which are about 2-3 mins and a few are 8-9 mins), Thronecoming and Spring Unsprung at 45 mins, and Way Too Wonderland, Dragon Games, and Epic Winter each being about 4*24 mins. This is in part because it had to compete with Disney's Descendants, so EAH ended earlier than it should've. Sadly EAH only has 4 songs but they are all so good, particularly Live Your Dream (which annoyingly is the only one not on Spotify). All of my themes since March have been EAH-based because of this. I also think EAH is just a super underrated franchise? I had never even heard of it before this year and only found it out through fluke.
• I've really enjoyed my online friendship this year with @Toadettefan
• It's also really been a pleasure being friends with @Paper Mario this year
• I'm grateful to have gotten to know @MegaBowser64
• I built a PC for the first time this year and it's been a joy to play on it (although I kind of regret the money spent on it)
• I've still been enoying Linux a lot, and even managed to attend a Debian event this year. Although I don't actively play around with Linux as much anymore compared to 2022 since I'm very comfortably settled into Debian+Xfce now.
• I got my first job this year!
• I played some good games for the first time this year, including Super Princess Peach, Bug Fables, Super Mario RPG remake, Mario Kart 8 (especially with the Fawful mod), Super Mario Bros. Wonder, and Superstar Saga remake.
• Some good movies this year, most of all the Super Mario Bros. Movie, but also The Little Mermaid (2023 remake) and Elemental.
• I also saw some good movies that didn't come out this year, but which I hadn't previously seen, such as Hotel Transylvania 1 and The Terminator series.
• My step-second-nephew (my dad's sister's stepsons's son) was born in June this year.
• My sister was married this year, and my brother in-law is great.
• I've generally gotten closer and had good times with family
• I have at least a few IRL friends who I've had good experiences with this year.
• Christmas was moderately good
• My German is way better now than it was at the start of the year, but I still have a long way to go before I can be at a proper conversational level.
• I've learned a lot about my family history which has been very interesting.

 

[Wallace Ulysses]

I feel you on 2023 not being a good year, because 2023 hasn't been a very good year for me either. Mainly because I kept fucking things up for myself because of my abrupt manners and my fierce temper, and my depression has been acting up severely, especially towards the second half of the year. I'm really hoping that my life will start turning around for the better in 2024, and I'm sure that it will start turning around for the better as long as I treat other people the way I would want to be treated.

 

[Teedgee]

This year was fucking bonkers for me, in that some amazing stuff happened, but at the same time, some prettttty bad things came with that. With that being said, it was easily my best year since I dunno, 2018 (mainly because it's right after that that everything started going to shit)

Mainly, I graduated from high school and managed to get accepted into a good college, which still feels surreal since school has lasted my whole life up until this year. On top of that, I turned 18 this year (and I'm turning 19 in like 2 weeks), and adulthood really hits you like a TRUCK, like, not much has changed in terms of how i live and go about my day, but I get the feeling that whenever I walk down the street, people no longer see me as a kid, rather a random dude. In general, I've matured a lot this year (or so i feel); I'm considering being a writer as a path I might take in the distant future, something I didn't even THINK of last year.

With all that in the way however, it all felt really overwhelming, especially when it came to college. I used to rely on other people helping me with things, but I know I've done that too much, because I found myself feeling truly DEFEATED on so many occasions. Because of that, I went through a lot of depression, maybe even suicidal thoughts on some occasions, because I kept feeling like I truly fucked up somewhere (which I still feel tbh) and that ruined my chances of achieving plenty of things. I get a lot of compliments for people I know irl, telling me I'm smart and clever, and I have plenty of potential, but those compliments typically just put me in a bad mood because they just made me think "what the FUCK have I been doing the past few years I've achieved NOTHING". I have hope all those thoughts will fade away next year, I mean I've started working on some things I've been considering for a long time, like my fiction I've posted some of in my art thread, and I'll take driving lessons after I'm back from a trip I'm on right now.

Uhhhhhh other than all that, idk I played a ton of games since I got a gaming laptop for passing my exams, havent been playing too much as of late since again, I'm on a trip, but I did give some big iconic games a shot, like skyrim, gta 5, and bioshock. havent beaten any of them, but I'll definitely play more skyrim in my spare time it's giving good first impressions. favorite game of the year? most likely pizza tower, genuinely a 10/10 game, although when it comes to the goty nominees, id pick tears of the kingdom. Didn't watch a whole lot of movies this year since there just wasn't that much that interested me, and 2024 looks even MORE lame, but guardians 3 and barbie were certainly bangers, i guess so was across the spiderverse, buuuuuut idk i prefer the first movie, even if it's pretty close.

that's kind of it really, i have no idea what 2024 holds for me; part of me is worried about college, but at the same time, I've already adapted and gotten used to this next step in my life, so all I can really do is keep moving forward

 

[Gay Rights Luigi]

i learned alot and got my mental health in good order tbh! i've learned from tracking that i have really abnormal dips and highs in my emotional state that aren't me and are prob some sort of bipolar that i will need checked out later but just knowing its not me and is just my brain being a lil bitch helps so much.

i will have 59.5 college credits when i graduate high school in 2024! an associates degree before i even step foot into anything is actually crazy.

my friend group has become much more tight knit and feels more genuine than ever. rather have quality over quantity.

trolls world tour. I MEANT BAND TOGETHER FUCK just... yeah

mario wonder got me thru suicidal idealation. stupid i know but goddamnit i ain't fucking dying when new mario coming out i have yet to experience.

love life is... something lmao i am thriving but in a way most people would not agree to (i have five fictional boyfriends who love me very much x3)

35000 luigi images collected as well YIPPEE

 

[Xiahou Ba]

Vast majority of my days in 2023 were spent as a CCA as the post office so it went something like this:

• Cried inside LLV
• Wanted Uline to get crushed by a meteorite.
• Wanted Amazon to get melted by a volcano, is now boycotting Amazon, I'm so tired of delivering their giant and heavy parcels.
• Had sweet customers who get Trump/Republican mail
• Got written up for hitting a basketball hoop.
• Slammed thumb against mailbox and the blood is still there.
• Delivered 200 parcels in one Sunday.
• Swore off against using Spectrum's service.
• Broke two LLV keys.
• Broke the scanner stylus.
• Got forced in during my day off.
• Got harassed by dogs.
• Now has dogs has least favorite animal ever.
• Baked inside 100+ degree LLV in the summer.

• Got a lot of gifts and customers who love me in the holiday season.
• Work me out of my depression where I thought I was a failure with no paying job, but I work too much hours!!!!
• Now financing a beautiful 2023 red Mazda 3 Hatchback and paying for it.
• Identified a Swinhoe's White Eye, a new invasive birb species introduced in 2018.
• I will never get fired or laid off because job security is the absolute best.

 

[Super Bad Mario]

• we got the Mario movie
• we got some good games this year, such as Mario RPG remake, TOTK, wonder, and Pokémon, for example
• I'm (somehow) still alive to make your life worse, cry about it
• learned how to play smash bros (I still suck)
• beat Mario wonder, sonic superstars, deltarune, Undertale (neutral and pacifist route), and sonic frontiers,
• didn't have to see any of the baby characters in a game other than Mario kart (they still invaded the Mario movie)
•enjoyed Mario booster pass courses
• made an oc (it's literally just a normal character with a hat and tie)
• I read the shroom ( for a minimal of 4 seconds)
• joined the Mario boards (to make your life's worse)

 

[Xiahou Ba]

didn't have to see any of the baby characters in a game other than Mario kart (they still invaded the Mario movie)

That's a bad thing and then being in the Mario movie is a good thing

 

[Super Bad Mario]

That's a bad thing and then being in the Mario movie is a good thing

um yeah...sure...lets go with that...that's 100% what i meant.