Sunday was the 1 year anniversary of Foxes kicking me into the warm glow of a computer where I slapped my clammy hands against a keyboard until coherent thoughts were expressed. Since then my life has changed for the better, and I believe it is all because of Kotowari.org and the people who support it.

One year ago I was studying abroad in Japan, which was a great experience. When I returned home, however, opportunities were few and far between. I spent about a month job-searching before finally settling on a crappy job taking insurance claims. The only positive thing about the job is that I can work on Kotowari. Despite my suffering, the site is flourishing and in addition to gaining a few followers, I have been allowed to preview games by some of my favorite publishers.

To celebrate the 1 year anniversary me and Foxes ate a “Blooming Onion.” It may seem like a truly bizarre way to celebrate anything and I am sure our waitress was a bit confused. The idea came up while reminiscing about childhood and seemed like the right thing to do. On an interesting side note, an entire Blooming Onion (dipping sauce included) contains over 2,000 calories. That’s fucking disgusting – but we ate it anyway.

After that I spent the night playing Disgaea 3 while largely ignoring the Oscars (other than Heath Ledger’s win). I pretty much got the gist of things via twitter. I know the quality is pretty horrible, but here is what my Asagi currently looks like:

I wish I could remove that ?

She’s my Oscar winner!

Anyway here are some people I would like to thank for their support:

Foxes: You saw some potential in my feverish obsession with video games and gave me an outlet for it. Without that, none of this would be possible. Also, your continued maintenance and care for the site keeps it presentable while costing me nothing – I only wish you could help more people with your gift!
Nutgarden05: Your contribution encouraged me to put more of myself into the site, something which was frightening to me at first. I think the humor that we believe we bring to the site has given it more appeal. I look forward to making more videos, no matter how far off topic we may stray.
Readers and Commenters: It’s nice to know that I am not just talking into a void and see that some people hear and possibly appreciate what goes on here. I know some of you have been around for a long time, other not so long. Whoever you are, thank you!
Atlus and NIS America: Currently these are the publishers/distributors that have allowed me to preview games, a benefit I never imagined possible. I really appreciate their consideration and trust in the site and look forward to previewing more titles in the future.

The combination of having a crappy job and loving my site so much has given me some goals for the future. I have seen that my passion can possibly lead to a job and want to pursue this possibility. It may be a long shot, but I would rather take a chance than waste away in a cubicle. If anyone is in a similar situation, I encourage you to find the thing you like to do the most and do it the best that you can.