Dear Newgrounds,

Hi! It’s serene again! Merry Christmas to all that celebrate, and Happy Holidays to everyone who celebrates another holiday! I wanted to make a quick news post to serve as both my 2024 recap and as a Secret Santa Update. 

PART ONE: Secret Santa

If Secret Santa is all you’re here for, thats alright. Feel free to just read part one!

Everyone’s gifts got revealed today! To anyone that did not receive a gift, don’t fret. Our helper team (and possibly a few backup artists, though it’s looking like we may not need a whole lot) will be going through and getting you guys some gifts. If your Santa submitted a gift but it wasn’t something for you (ex. Not your oc, was inappropriate, etc.) please DM me with that information! REMEMBER this does not apply to a drawing you just don’t like, this is only if there was rules broken! 

We’re going to be keeping the discord server open a little longer in the mean time. 

I’m going to be hosting one last community day for this event in the discord, and will be sharing more details there!

I’ll probably make one last post when all of this is wrapped up (pun not intended), but very briefly I wanted to say thank you all so much for making this such a wonderful Christmas and/or Holiday for each other, and thank you for granting me the opportunity to host this event for y’all. It has been such a wonderful experience thus far and I have every one of you to thank for it. 

Also thank you to our fantastic helpers. PLEASE go give them some love, this event would not be possible without any of them! 

@Psychogoldfish

@LegolaSS

@Oddlem

@Wizardofrank

@Loopykins

@Skoops

@Raviolibox

@D3writo

@Queen-evvvvve

PART TWO: 2024

(Theres some sappy shit in here and also starts out kinda sad n shit so uhhhh sorry in advanced!!!)

I want to let you guys know where I’ve been. 2023 and 2024 have been the worst years of my life so far. I have experienced a lot of not so fun things that I’m not going to be sharing in detail because they are all far too personal, but I’ll be sharing a little just to give everyone some context for why I up and disappeared for a little.

2023 marked the start of a downhill spiral for me that I didn’t fully understand until very recently, and that spiral (along with other factors) landed me in some not very fun situations that followed me into this year.

I pushed people I care about away while trying to cling to them at the same time and I’ll tell ya, that doesn’t work very well. I lashed out at the people I care about most, and I was lashing out because I didn’t really understand what it was that I had been experiencing until I was away from it all. Some of those people I lost because of that. If I could have the opportunity to explain myself and apologize I would take it in an instant, because how I acted was uncalled for no matter what I dealt with.

I lost opportunities because I struggled to cope with the things I had experienced. I struggled to draw for a very long period of time, and only recently I’ve started to get better on that front. I would freeze up whenever I would be put in front of a pencil and paper. That’s why I didn’t put out a whole lot of art this year.

Basically, this year fucking SUCKED for a while.

In September I was at a very low point, and decided to take a step back and take a break. I’ll be honest, I really didn’t think I was coming back. I was ready to quit everything. And then, literally the day before I planned on announcing a break, @BottleTopBillFanclub (Aalasteir) reached out to me with the opportunity to do an interview. I took it, again because I didn’t know if I was coming back and it’s something I’ve always wanted to do. I think that interview is the reason I came back though. It reminded me of all the things that I had gained from all of this, all the things I still had, all the things and people that still inspire me even if they weren’t in my metaphorical reach anymore. Thank you Aalasteir for reaching out, you did a lot more for me than you realize. 

I have so many wonderful friends and people that I wouldn’t have met if it weren’t for all this crazy shit, I have gained so many skills that I didn’t have before, I have learned so many things about myself and how I understand the world. On top of all that I have the people that have been behind me all along. (This list could go on forever, so we’ll save that for another time 😅)

I got to go to Pico Day, and meet such awesome people. That was truly the one day I could completely forget all my troubles. 

I got the opportunity to host Secret Santa, and I’m so glad I took that. This has been such a wonderful experience, and I’m so glad I could be apart of it all. 

There was one final big twist and turn to this year, and that was what happened in November (and while hosting Secret Santa to boot, JEEZ). I had to abruptly and suddenly move out of my house because of a situation that had been building up for a very long time, but really was also what caused that downward spiral I talked about from all the way back in the beginning of 2023. My living situation is in a good spot now, and I’m ok, but it was a very abrupt change and only recently has the tension been starting to wind down. I’ve been making jarring realizations about my previous experiences, but somehow I was hopeful. I still had my lows and I continue to have lows, but I have all these lessons I’ve learned through everything to help guide me to making better decisions. This all happened during Secret Santa, and I have intentionally waited to say anything because I wanted the focus to be on lifting everyone in the community up. Ironically enough this event is what was helping me keep my sanity, and I can’t thank y’all enough for that. 

I’m still here. I’m still learning, and I’m still growing. I’m a stronger person than I was before because of all this, and I don’t have any plans on going anywhere. 

Though I DO have some plans for next year!

PART THREE: The Future

I have a lot of plans for next year, some of which I’m gonna leave to surprises. 

Personally, I want to travel more. That’s something I plan on doing in the new year. I want to go back to school, and I plan on going for Software Development of some kind. I want to continue to gain a ton of repair experience through my current job, and build a new pc so I can finally learn Street Fighter 6 and kick everyone’s ASSES. Speaking of the FGC I also want to play more Guilty Gear Strive, get to celestial with Ramlethal, learn Elphelt and Jack-o, win a small tournament bracket, and play some more XRD and Accent Core as well and kick everyones ASSES in the Guilty Gear franchise too!!!

I’m going to be working on more game projects and FINALLY finishing the SRA pilot. I’ll be streaming more (I’m going to be doing a 100 follower live song cover when I come back!), I’ll be prepping commissions to be opened next year, all that fun stuff.

We’re gonna finish the fuckin Beat Saber Collab, y’all know why its not done yet now! (I’m so sorry BTW ;-;)

Here’s to a kick ass New Year everyone. 

PART FOUR: Thank yous

I’m going to try and keep this brief but there are a quite a few people I want to thank so uhhhh… may not be very brief

@OpSystemFilms

@Loopykins

@GrayNG

@EllieDoodles343

@Rappinawful

@Kingcrowned

@Warvester

@Raviolibox

@Psychogoldfish

@Mindchamber

@CarterSterling

@BrandyBuizel

@TomFulp

@Dungeonation

@Tamag0

Milkbarlads (the entire team)

@Aalasteir (stop changing your damn username it makes this hard >:( )

@Wizardofrank

@Oddlem

@Skoops

@Queen-evvvvve

@LegolaSS

@D3writo

And so many more people that I feel horrible about pinging and giving them a silly notification for a very brief mention. Y’all are super awesome!!! THANK YOU!!!!

(If i fucked up a username I’ll get to it later, sorry in advanced!!)

I’m gonna do my best to make next year better than this one for myself. Lets do this!!!

Happy Holidays Everyone! The future is looking bright <3

sereneFalconer