Just a hopefully quick update for users on my profile for the first time, or people I used to know coming to check on what's up with me these days.
I don't really use Newgrounds anymore, it's been quiet and I hate my old music so don't even like to be near it. The traffic isn't even that bad, I like that people will just randomly show up on a track that would be buried and deserted on any other site but on NG people still find it. Although, that's also an issue because when someone reviews something I made in 2014 I literally can't do anything with the feedback because 2014 was barely even "me" as far as my worldview is concerned, and I'll never open those project files again anyway.
Anyway so, update on me and my life. I'm still going, I'm just not very recogniseable as 'FortressLord'. I do music, but it's slowed down and become way more serious. Some of my latest unshared WIPs are pretty good, but it's not like 2014 where I made what was crap in retrospect and uploaded every audio file like "hm yes this is good". I even delete tracks I'm not happy with sometimes. I'm growing creatively, even if my upload count is at a bottleneck.
I still use FL Studio, even still do Drum and Bass, but my view of music has changed and what it all means to me is different.
When I started here I was basically a kid. Still in school, and by that I don't even mean college. Without giving my life story, I am now a graduate adulting and living pretty normally. I changed from wanting to be a musician to wanting to do audio for videogames, but I've never given up on my goal of making spacey DnB, though that won't be in the form of regular Newgrounds uploads, it'll be in the form of rare Bandcamp albums.
All of this is quite bittersweet. On one hand that old childlike wonder is pretty much gone and the person I was in old posts is practically dead and replaced with someone with a similar name, with no interest in the old files, old musical style and comments.
But on the other hand, I am much better at music and my new life is honestly pretty happy, it's not like I threw my hands up and dropped music. My increased skill and social confidence has even gotten me some interesting memories and some chats with my admittedly indie musical inspirations.
Is this getting too textwall and introspective? I think it is.
I will be cleaning up my Newgrounds just like I purged my Soundcloud. A lot of social posts have to go because they're a bit cringe or had personally identifying information.
Thank you for reading this.