A little bit late on this, but I've been busy lately.

2022 was certainly a better year for me than 2021 in nearly every aspect. 2021 was probably the worst year of my life as far as physical and mental health is concerned, and things seem to be looking up for the time being. In late 2021 my depression hit an all-time low, and to be completely open I was having thoughts of suicide. I never attempted, but the thought crossed my mind multiple times a day. These thoughts were so pervasive that some days it was all I could think about. Starting in 2022 I decided to make some changes for the better. I knew I could not eliminate the root causes of my depression by myself (in hindsight I definitely should have been seeing a therapist/taking something to help at the time), but I made some changes to my lifestyle that absolutely helped lessen the intensity and frequency of these depressive bouts (after getting COVID over New Years and not being able to do anything for two weeks, of course).

Firstly, I stopped contacting a person in my life at the time who was negatively affecting my mental health. It was not wholly my decision to do that, but in hindsight it was absolutely the best possible choice. Then I forcibly changed my sleep schedule to not be complete degen hours anymore. I was dubious about this at first, but it turns out I really like streaming early in the morning and found it very relaxing as opposed to waking up at 2pm feeling like garbage. I also started making it a point to go out and see friends more frequently. If you know me, I'm not one to initiate contact most of the time; it's a flaw that I'm working on fixing, and what do you know, turns out that if you go out of your way to talk to more people you make more friends. Who would have thought. I am blessed with the absolute best friends in the entire world and I don't know where I would be without them.

So yeah. Sitting in a much better place now than I was a year ago. I quit my old job and found somewhere that paid me much better, so I've been doing better in that regard too. I also started back up at school again (as an art major this time), and fall semester went very well for the most part. Because I'm paying for school completely by myself I moved back into my parents' house, which I don't love, but I just have to suck it up and deal with it until I can afford to both live somewhere else and pay for my remaining few semesters of college.

Enough about real life. Speedrunning-wise, 2022 was the best year I've had so far.

I started the year by learning Omega Ruby, which was insanely fun. Probably the most fun I've had learning a game this year. I ran it for a while and ended up getting a 3:02:15. Not a great time at all and I want to improve it someday, but boy is this game grindy. Movement is quite fun; I would love to come back to this as soon as I have the time.

I then grinded Yellow for a bit, culminating in a PB of 1:57:24. I grinded past that for a 1:55 and was on pace multiple times, but could never get past the late game. No desire to return to it for the time being.

After that, I messed around with some Gen 1 catexts, like Baton Pass and Beat Misty, and got okay times in those. Baton Pass is a really cool category that I wish more people would run; if IGTs weren't a thing I feel like that would be the case.

Then came my Red Glitchless 1:47 grind, which I got after only about two weeks and 169 attempts. I was super happy about this (1:47:51), but definitely have improved my skills further and would like to go for 1:46 soon(TM).

After that I was in the process of relearning Gold, but then the 3DS competition was announced and I focused my efforts on that.

I started by relearning X, and improved my PB a couple times to 3:48:18. My goal for this game is 3:45, but I have no intention on coming back anytime soon. Fun game, but I always have to hit one optional it seems :)

Then I learned Moon, which was a surprisingly fun game. Got a 5:02 eventually, which is eehhhhhhh, but not gonna complain. No intention on returning.

I then learned Ultra Moon and got 5:46, which is even more eehhhhhhhh, but again, I don't have time for these kind of shenanigans anymore. This game is hell don't play it. Also raced Josh in Rainbow Rocket for some reason. Great experience.

I also had the privilege of going to SGDQ in the summer, which was a fantastic experience. Shoutout to Vandio for carpooling and letting me stay with his family there, awesome guy and had a lot of fun. This was my first speedrunning event I've ever attended, and it was a blast meeting friends from PSR in real life and hanging out together. Also was kind of surreal at times seeing speedrunners/YouTubers I grew up watching in the flesh. I'd imagine that's kind of a universal feeling at cons and such, but still. I think I embarrassed myself in front of Chuggaaconroy and CarlSagan42 :,)
It was very fun just hanging out in the practice room and shooting the shit with runners playing random games I had nothing to do with, met some really cool people that way.

I also played Red/Blue (Classic, Glitchless, and Baton Pass) in four marathons this year. I love giving commentary and can do it decently well while still playing provided I practiced, but holy moly most of these runs were just awful. On one occasion I died to Oddish Girl (at 67 HP, so I didn't save) and FORGOT PARAS HAD DIG, so out of panic I BIKED AROUND FOR AN ENCOUNTER AND WIPED. That was probably my lowest point in speedrunning ngl. Was very happy to have played in PSR Marathon though, and glad it's back after 2021's fiasco.

The 2022 Red Tournament was a highlight of my year. I had just started classes at the time, so I was overall a bit less involved than 2021, but I am extremely satisfied with how I played. Never expected to get even close to Grand Finals, let alone get second place (although I will admit I did get lucky at some points). Not gonna lie, grinding out menus and splits for this tournament was probably the most intense grind I've ever done. Never managed to get a 1:50 in qualifiers (1:50:16 pace!!!! died to Rhydon), but it will come eventually. Most matches were extremely close, and the format this time around was a great idea. I would love to see this same format with a bit of refinement return next year with the lower bracket and all. Thanks to all the organizers for putting on a great show, even though it was a bit of a smaller tournament this time.

Coming into 2023 I don't have very many goals. I just want to do well in school, probably maybe find a new job, and speedrun when I feel like it. I'm not going to make any speedrun commitments because I know I probably won't follow through with them. I have a bad time when I force myself to run something I don't want to. I would like to eventually run SV in some form though, and would be interested in learning HGSS Manipless for the next tourney. I'm not going to be running anything for a while though, just focusing on irl stuff for the time being. I should really get to the gym too lmao, at this point I am very out of shape.

So yeah. 2022 was a good year! Hoping for 2023 to be even better.