So 2017 is finally here and with it comes reflection and a continued ambition to improve from experience and lessons learned in 2016.I'd just like to start off by saying that although a lot of bad things happened in 2016 (both on a global scale and personally), I still have a lot to be thankful for. My passion for video games and sharing my opinions/experiences online has introduced me to some wonderful people around the world who's love for gaming has helped me connect with and build numerous friendships.For me, 2016 helped build and solidify a network of supportive, kind and helpful individuals who help me with feedback, ideas, questions, and reaching my goals/ambitions of having the time to embrace my hobbies/interests more and enjoy being creative. I won't name them all here, but the likelihood is if you're reading this, you're one of them. Thank you.

My Goals for 2017

It saddens me how often I see goals from people to reach a certain number of followers, subscribers, or earning an amount of money in donations. While reaching milestones does feel amazing and I'm grateful when they happen, it shouldn't be the main objective in my opinion. Every day I seem to find people who claim they're "personalities", spamming links to their simply lazy unedited stream footage on YouTube, interspersed with ostentatious selfies and links to amazon wishlists or donation pages, seemingly only focused on acquiring more subscribers, more views, more likes, more follows, just... numbers.My personal goals for 2017 are: 

1. To be more organised; so that I can capture footage and edit more regularly, meaning I get to finish more videos for you all this year (I have a lot that are "in progress", that I need to focus on and complete too).
2. To take on one of my more ambitious projects; as fear of me not being "good enough" yet, not having the equipment I need, time and skills required is really holding me back. I need to embrace one and stick to it, no matter what. Make it the best I can now and try not to worry if I can't match my vision. The main thing is to try.
3. To connect more with gamers around the world; this has been something I've really enjoyed and met some amazing people. I mainly focus on twitter, but this year I'm going to try and make more of an effort to post on instagram and other platforms/networks. I'm also thinking of doing twitch again once a week if I can. I've done two streams so far and will see how this goes moving forwards. My plan is to do it in a way I can save and use the footage for my videos/reviews as well. I'm sure I will attend PLAY Expo again too, but I may try to go to 1 or 2 more events this year if possible.

The tasks I've set myself are:

• Create 2 videos a month
• Use instagram on a daily basis
• Send out 1 e-mail newsletter each month (sign up here)
• Post a minimum of 2 times a month on my Patreon page to keep supporters updated on what I'm working on (I think I already do this, but just to make sure)
• Twitch stream once a week (this is the only one I'm not 100% sure on yet)

There are other goals/tasks I have, such as; "be more ambitious", "upgrade equipment", "try being more relaxed/confident on camera", etc, but these are very dependant on other things, which is why they're not really present here. That said, I will try to be more "myself", more creative, push myself further and try to do my best.

Highlights from 2016

As a side note, I'd just like to list some of my highlights from 2016:

• Getting MyGamerXP stickers made (thank you Kev and Jess!) that I was able to give out at PLAY Expo, to Patreon supporters and various friends on social media
• Meeting loads of awesome people at PLAY Expo in Manchester
• Reaching 1000 subscribers on YouTube (a massive achievement for me!)
• Having 8 Patreon supporters (thank you all sooo much!!!)
• Getting Michael Jackson's Moonwalker on the Mega Drive back in my collection
• Receiving a Mega CD and 32x (wanted one of these for so long!)
• Receiving my Sonic "build a bear" (thanks Aimee!), Lego Dimensions Back to the Future set (thanks Kim!), and numerous other wonderful gifts from my amazing friends
• Finally getting my hands on a copy of Skies of Arcadia on the GameCube (another game I've wanted for years!), OutRun on the Mega Drive, and Alien Soldier (thanks Kev!)
• Finding my old Sonic comics and games magazines from my childhood
• Finding various old games (including boxed Zelda and Wario Land for Game Boy)
• Receiving an official hoodie from Sega Europe
• Buying my PS4
• The announcement of Sonic Mania

Thank you to everyone who helped make my 2016 awesome; all of you who watched my videos, liked, shared, commented, subscribed, connected with me on twitter, and supported me in other ways too.Here's to 2017! Let's do this...