Hashtag Don't Break the Chain

For those of you who watch Game Grumps religiously, or have heard the phrase before (because they weren't the ones who originally coined it, obviously), you may already know where I'm going with this from the title. I think it was during one of their more recent Pokemon: Fire Red episodes where they were talking about the concept of "not breaking the chain" and I started to think that maybe I should try it out. For those of you who don't know what "not breaking the chain" is, however, allow me to elaborate for you.

The concept of not breaking the chain is about building up confidence and dedication to something. It's not necessarily about creating a masterpiece every day, but more so about psychologically bolstering your confidence by practicing or working on something every day without skipping any days in between. Even if all you do in that day is draw something quick, or write one line of a story or one song lyric, you're still not breaking the chain. There will obviously be days you make a lot of progress towards whatever goal you set for yourself, and there will be days you make very little, but all that matters is that you keep working towards your goals every day. You'll feel like you're accomplishing more this way than you would if you took a day off.

Naturally, some days will feel like a grind. On those days, maybe take it easy on yourself and do something small. And you can certainly take a personal day if you think that's what's best for your overall goal. Taking the time to refresh yourself for the next day, depending on what rules you set for yourself, can count towards not breaking the chain. Perhaps even just putting thought into what you'll do tomorrow is worthwhile. It's really all up to you. Just don't do that every day.

The thing to really be wary of is skipping a day just because you don't feel like it, or skipping multiple days in a row under the assumption that you'll get back to it once you're rested. Obviously, if this happens a lot, perhaps "not breaking the chain" is not something you really want to do. Maybe the goal you set isn't one you really want to strive towards. That's fine. Perhaps you can change your goal to something you'd be more willing to work towards every day. Trying not to break the chain will show you where your priorities and aspirations lie.

Lately, I've been taking on more responsibilities as an artist than I had previously. Ever since I chose my concentration in computer science, I've neglected my artistic side, even though I've been an artist for much longer than I've been a programmer. A few weeks ago, when I first saw the episode of Game Grumps that I mentioned earlier, I decided that I wanted to try not breaking the chain, but I didn't know where to start. I knew that I wanted to do more art, and decided that I would be both an artist and a programmer for the new game I was working on with my team, but aside from working on the project I had no ideas of what to do artistically. Obviously there'd be days when I'd need to wear exclusively my programming hat, so breaking the chain seemed inevitable.

This past weekend, however, I got to see my muse in person once again, this time under the guise of my valentine. She brought with her a few gifts--mostly chocolate (because Valentine's Day), but also a book with lots of pages to draw and doodle on, as well as a prompt on each page telling me what to draw. This was it--the thing I was looking for! This would give me the direction I needed to be able to form a chain!

So far it's only been a few days, and one of my doodles is strikingly more elaborate than the others, but I've resolved to open up the book to a random page every day and doodle something in there. I've missed the practice I used to have all throughout grade school, when I used to draw in my notebooks during class, and I'm looking forward to seeing some improvement in my art skills over time.

With every day, I feel more and more inspired to better myself, and it's all thanks to the one who I lovingly refer to as "my muse". I can only hope to bring out the best in her, as she has undoubtedly done for me. I finally feel able to unlock all of my untapped potential, and be the successful person I always aspired to be, and it's a wonderful feeling, indeed.

For all of you reading this--try to find something to help you form a chain, as well. I hope you find that "not breaking the chain" helps you achieve the goals that you always set for yourself, but don't really know how to start working towards. Even if your prompt every day is asking someone to give you a random word (or getting a word from a random word generator), try giving yourself a daily task to help you slowly build towards whatever it is you want to see yourself become. I believe you can do it--just take it slow and you can be whatever you aspire to be some day!

Thanks again for reading, and I'll see you next time!

--J

Hashtag Euphoria

I think it's been too long since I decided to write a post simply because I had strong feelings about something that was on my mind. The fact that I'm about to do that right now is honestly pretty refreshing for me, as that's kind of the point of me having this blog in the first place. Y'know, to realtalk for a sec about life and stuff.

It's been a while since I've been genuinely happy and upbeat almost 24/7. That was my thing for a while until some shit went down, and gravity stopped behaving the way I wanted, and my life sort of started to slip through my fingers for a bit. But then I started picking myself back up, and I think I'm finally back at the top of my little mountain here--metaphorically speaking, of course (although I do live at one of the highest altitudes on campus).

There are a lot of factors involved with my reinvigorated state of euphoria, some of which are probably easier to guess than others. I think the main drive of it all, though, is probably one person in particular who has helped me realize that all I really have to do to change the world around me is to be that change. If I just be the change I want to see, suddenly things will start to get better. It's really all about figuring out what you want and then seeking it out.

It all started during this past break. Last semester kind of kicked my ass, even though my GPA is now the highest it's ever been since I started college. I think the amount of work I did to get those grades is probably the reason I really needed a break this time. After I got home, I took time to sleep in and play games, and just generally relax. I even went to Maine for a week with my parents, and spent a fair amount of time just expending my new-found creative energy on a big project for my friends (creative projects are more fun when you do them for the benefit of others, I've been told).

Finding a creative muse, however, was only part of the upturn I'd started to take. Reforming my social life kind of needed to be done for a while, and I knew this, but I didn't really think I could do anything about it until recently.

Now, most of you probably know that I'm a very social person. I like being with friends, and I have a lot of them. I do my best to be there for them if they need me, but I need to feel included or I'll start to lose heart (typical Cancer, for those of you who believe in astrology). Show me that you care about me, and I'll very quickly reciprocate. I am, however, very sensitive at times, and I can take things more seriously than they might have been meant to be taken.

Unfortunately, we're all each other's punching bags in my group of friends. I didn't really think anything of it for a long time, but as I've started to meet other people and see other group dynamics, I started to grow less and less tolerant of this mentality. And I get that friends can poke fun at each other sometimes, but they also have each other's backs and are there for each other whenever trouble arises. Ultimately the overall positivity of the group should outweigh the negativity, and that balance started to snowball in a pretty bad direction from my perspective with my particular group. I grew distant because I felt like I was getting hurt more often than not, and my first response to social adversity is to retreat into my shell.

I'm not sure if what I did was necessarily the "right" response, but it was how I chose to handle it, and I'd definitely make the same decision again given similar circumstances--I put my own happiness first. Thankfully a few of my friends saw the distance I was putting between us and told me they wanted to remedy that, and I'm really thankful for it. One of the things I hate the most is losing close friends--especially ones that I've had for so long.

Ultimately what I learned from this new muse of mine, though, is that I have the option to surround myself with people who genuinely like having me around, and it made me realize that there are more people like that than I originally gave myself credit for. My new-found self-worth started to blossom, and with it came yet another surge of creativity (turns out all I need to do to have good ideas is believe that I have them). As it stands now, my semester looks full of potential--between my Game Dev II dream team and an unprecedented amount of free time to capitalize on my creative potential, I think I can really be a part of something awesome. Not to mention a budding relationship that has me excited to see what each new day brings. And I've even started a weekly Dark Heresy campaign with some friends who I'm super hyped about getting to know better (spoiler alert: new blog coming with details on all of those crazy shenanigans)! All-in-all, it looks like it's going to be a good year, and I'm looking forward to spreading the positivity!

That's really it for this one. Special thanks to my lovely muse (you know who you are). As for the rest of you, thanks for reading, and be on the lookout for my new blog (perhaps you'll see it tomorrow??? #foreshadow)! I'm going to do my best to make it entertaining even for those of you who don't know about the Dark Heresy universe, because the dice rolls alone are really not that entertaining without proper context and storytelling. Luckily, we have an amazing GM and a party of people who get really engrossed in their characters, so the storytelling won't be too much work on my part.

Until next time!

--J

Hashtag Collegiate

It's that time again. I've heard the question "When was the last time you made a blog post?" with enough frequency to make me write another one (you do this to yourselves, you know). So here we go:

I've been thinking a lot lately about college--makes sense, I guess, seeing as I'm attending one. All of us here seem to be so stressed out all the time, and I've been examining why. I mean, it didn't take long to figure out, honestly, having lived it myself--we've got classwork up the wazoo! Golly gee willickers, what a discovery!

Obvious revelation aside, my GPA has been gradually increasing with each new semester, and I think I've worked out why that is. The biggest reason (and, watch out, this'll be a shocker!) is because I'm actually learning things here. The more you learn, the better you get at handling all the work they throw at you. "Well that's great!" I hear you all say. And yeah, you're mostly right. Being smarter is nice. But there's a catch.

While new concepts aren't that difficult to extrapolate from what we've already been taught, the workload seems to increase with each semester. It's almost as if the scheming bastards who wrote these curricula know that you should be able to handle the work they throw at you with greater efficiency than you did when you were a freshman (I mean, duh, that's just common sense). So they naturally give you more work than you got before.

Now, some professors understand the struggle of the students and want to lighten their load a little. I've had a few classes that required less work outside of the classroom, which was a welcome breather. I also, however, had other professors (and this applies to most of the ones I hadn't previously categorized) who seem to think that their class is the only class you're taking. You can probably see why that would be stressful (and a lot of you reading this can probably sympathize). I've had a lot of friends leave this school because they couldn't handle it. Thankfully they all took the less drastic option of taking leave, but I know some of my fellow students have not been so lucky.

I know that we don't want to think about that more drastic option, because no one should ever have to be driven to that point. But I think it stands to remember that it happens sometimes. Stress can be your undoing if you let it--you just have to be stronger than that. In my case, I surround myself with people who I enjoy the company of. My socializing is a coping mechanism. We all have our own ways to deal with the pressure, some of which are less healthy than others. I won't really delve much further into that right now, though.

Right now, I'd like to focus on listing some priorities. I think these are all fairly obvious, but sometimes people tend to forget. Let's just get down to it, shall we?

1. Top priority: living. We're going to college so that we have a shot at a brighter, more successful future. Need to be alive to actually have a successful future, though. Graduating from an institution like this one, especially, will almost guarantee success; if you can make it through here, you can make it anywhere, kiddo. Just keep doing your thing and make sure to keep breathing (eating and sleeping are also important, but the par for the course can be a little below average for these four years of your life on those, so just do your best).

2. Getting a job. Sort of another big no-brainer. We're going to college to eventually be employed. That's why we're learning all these fancy new skills--we want to look good so we can get hired! The best way to do this is to have an impressive portfolio. Alternatively, perhaps you should be able to show off your skills at the drop of a hat (if what you do doesn't take days upon days of development time and bug-fixing, that is). If you have a finished product that's actually published (talkin' to you, fellow GSAS Majors), employers will definitely take you seriously. And if that product is actually good? Hot damn, you might have them contacting you for an employment opportunity!

3. Getting experience. Really scoring big on the "duh" counter today. Might be a new record. Employers are looking for people with experience. Once you get an internship or get your foot out in the real world somehow? You're golden. They aren't even going to care what your GPA is anymore if you get rave reviews from whoever it is that gave you a shot in the first place. Although having a GPA might still be crucial if your employer is absolutely terrible at networking (which he definitely won't be, seeing as he's probably at the top of some food chain or another).

So really what I'm saying here is "Don't sweat it too much." Just do your work and learn your stuff, and everything will turn out fine so long as you don't let the stress get to you. Taking a little bit of time to de-stress can save your life. Diploma don't mean shit to a corpse, so take care of yourself, dammit!

Now go do the thing, everyone!

--J

Hashtag Resolution

Welp, New Years is a-comin', and we all know what that means! New Years Resolution time!

I guess I've never actually done a real one of these before, though. I mean, people always ask "Oh, what's your New Years Resolution going to be?" and I've always had to sort of fumble around for an answer that I didn't really mean--which was always an unsurprisingly short-lived sentiment when all was said and done. This year, though. This year I've decided on the resolution without even thinking of New Years at all. I created an idea of what I want to do with my life in the near future, and afterwards said to myself, "Hey, y'know what? I should make this my New Years Resolution!"

So I did. Anyway, I bet you are all just dying to know what my resolution actually is at this point, but I must urge you to please attempt to stave off your anticipation for just a few more lines. I know it's hard. I know you need to know everything about my life or you'll just die, but I'll get there soon, don't worry. Calm yourselves.

I think I want to word my resolution in the most elegantly vague way possible, so as to fit all of the things I want to do within one blanket statement. I've narrowed down a common theme, I think. And, of course, there needs to be a metaphor. We're going all out this year. Gonna do the thing--and, in this case, the thing is be absolutely goddamn poetic. Or not. Y'know, sometimes I just like to do things for shiggles. Gotta have my own flair--my own style!

Alright, that's enough nonsensical stalling. Now I'll get to the #HashtagRealtalk portion of this post.

So I've put a lot of thought into it, and I've decided that I'm going to go with the metaphor of my life being a story (preferably a cool one that gets told at parties)--or, perhaps even better, a screenplay. I'm the main protagonist because, y'know, it's my life and stuff.

Essentially what I want to do this next year is introduce a few new characters, and maybe get to know some who haven't had as much screen time as I feel they deserve (I'm the playwright as well as the main character in this scenario). I want this year to be rife with interesting sub-plots, and I want to see who the audience thinks should have a bigger role in this story than they presently do (I'm also the audience, by the way--I never said the metaphor was perfect).

Basically, I've plans to work with a team of really cool people on a project that might become something bigger than just a grade for a class if we really put our all into it, and I hope that I get to know all of my teammates better in the process (and maybe get green-lit on Steam! Wouldn't that be something?). I also want to start hanging out with people who I don't see often enough but really enjoy the company of, because who knows how long it'll be before we're all too busy to make that much time for each other? And, of course, there's that one mysterious character who has been mentioned multiple times earlier in the show, but hasn't been in the spotlight until now! Hopefully going to see a lot of them in the acts to come.

All in all, I think this year is going to be a good one. I want to make more of myself, and do some things that are good for me--though not necessarily to the detriment of anyone else. If you guys need anything, you know you can always ask! I'm good like that. Have a happy New Year, everyone! See you in 2015!

--J

Hashtag Christmas

Merry Christmas, everyone! Kind of snuck up on a lot of us this year, I know. It honestly didn't even really feel too Christmas-y for me until a day or two ago. I mean, yeah, the songs are everywhere, and people are out clogging all the highways trying to get presents, but I honestly haven't felt much in the way of Christmas spirit until a few days ago. But now the cheer is here, so here's me spreading the Christmas cheer to all three of my readers! Wow!

(Gettin' there. Reader-count's steadily climbing. It's, uh... I'll be internationally known before long, I think.)

Anyway. I think the biggest thing about Christmas is not so much the inescapable consumerism, but more the general happy-go-lucky attitude associated with the holiday. I mean, really, it's not so different from any other day, but it does (hopefully) get us into the giving mood. Take me, for example: I'm giving you all words for Christmas! Lots of them! Over the internet!

(If you don't like my present to all of you, just remember this: at least it isn't fruitcake! Don't make me buy you fruitcake. I will. I'll watch you eat it, too.)

Citron-based threats aside, though, I hope you all have a great Christmas this year! I know I won't be able to spend it with a lot of you because I have so many friends now who live in faraway lands thanks to college, but I'll be thinking of you all while I'm stuffing my face full of ginger cookies. I'll eat one for each of you. I think I probably have enough.

All jokes aside, I'm really happy to have the collection of friends that I have today. You're all so weird and interesting in your own special ways, and it sounds cliche as all hell, but I don't really care. You guys are great! Hopefully this break will be full of relaxation for all of my fellow students who've been working their asses off this semester. We'll play games and stuff together to help with that, don't worry. I've got you covered. Gonna craft the mines and kart the Marios and all that good stuff. S'what I'm good for.

Anywho, time to sleep! Santa can't deliver to the house while I'm awake, and I can't get in the way of his busy schedule, now, can I? Merry Christmas, guys! Hope the haul is good this year!

--J

Hashtag Yoshi

This'll probably be a shorter one than usual ("Oh no, Justin, please; we love when you talk a lot, please make all your posts as long as possible!" Guys, stop. I know you're just saying that to make me happy) but I'm sitting here awake and this new Yoshi amiibo I got a day or two ago is just staring at me through the darkness as I lay awake. I can see the whites of his eyes even with the lights off. And, uh... the whites of his cheeks, I guess. And his belly and shell and--there are actually a lot of parts of him that are white, now that I'm really looking at him. Huh.

Anyway, seeing my little Yoshi figurine just standing there on my desk looking all adorable (as Yoshi has been known to do) reminded me of something from forever ago. Y'see, I used to actually be very into sculpture. I guess I sort of still am when I have clay at hand. But, way back when, I used to make things out of Sculpey (that polymer clay you always see at Michael's) on a pretty regular basis. I still have a bunch of my amateur sculptures in my desk at home, I believe.

One of the things I remember making back then was, in fact, Yoshi. I think I may have even made some spotted eggs and a Shy Guy, too. I was really into playing Yoshi's Story back then--which is basically Yoshi's Island, but without that annoying, blubbering baby--so it's only natural that I would pick those characters as my reference material.

Anywho, back in the days of being like eight or whatever, I would very frequently bring things with me to restaurants. I'm not totally sure why, it was just sort of a habit that I had. Oftentimes, the things in question were those little sculptures I made--as soon as they were baked and sufficiently hardened to the point where they couldn't be squashed and deformed, that is. This time in particular, I had brought the Yoshi and a few other bits and bobs to one of our favorite pizza places which has since changed names a number of times. I remember it being one of the few times we actually sat down in the more formal area, where they gave you a menu and you actually got a server bringing you your food instead of just going up and getting the pizza yourself. When the server came by, he expressed interest in the clay Yoshi, saying that the character was his favorite one from the Mario franchise and that he thought it was so cool. He seemed so excited about it that I--being like eight or whatever--offered to make him one. It was no trouble, really. I could make another one in no time, and it would be even bigger. The offer seemed to really make his day. I even asked him what his favorite color was, if I remember correctly.

Now, being like eight or whatever, I meant what I said. I'd promised to make this random guy a Yoshi out of clay, and dammit, I was going to! And I did. And it was bigger than my first and in the color he'd specified. When I showed up with it about a week later, he was extremely surprised that I had actually gone through the trouble of making it, though I didn't really catch on to it on account of being, y'know, like eight or whatever at the time. Later, my parents told me that he probably didn't expect me to actually come back with a little statue for him, which I was really confused about. I mean, I gave him my word. Why wouldn't he believe me? Why wouldn't he think I'd be back?

That part of the whole scenario really stuck with me. Many a time after that I remember imagining the look of disappointment on his face when I didn't return with the promised artifact. I thought that I could never make someone feel like that--so hurt and forgotten. It started to make me upset that the average person would've caused that, even if--in retrospect--it was only a small thing that he would've forgotten about after a time.

Then again, I haven't forgotten even after all these years. So perhaps those small things really do matter.

Looking back, that memory might've been an even bigger influence on me than I had previously thought when I started writing this post. Even today, I hate disappointing people. I want to help people out even when it may take a little extra work on my end. So long as someone else's happiness and gratitude outweighs the trials I had to go through to make them feel that way, it's well worth it. And so, I encourage everyone reading this to go out and make their own version of a Yoshi statue for someone. Not necessarily literally, though. You know what I mean.

So, okay, maybe this was actually longer than I anticipated. You're welcome, I suppose. Let that be my gift to those of you who actually like reading my longer posts. There'll be more where these came from now that I'm on break starting in a few days. Until next time!

--J

Hashtag Perspective

It's been a while, guys. I know. "Why did you stop posting?" you all ask me. "I need something to read while on the toilet," you say. Well, your pleas have been answered--don't worry. You can all stop pestering me day-in and day-out for another post. Seriously. It's all I hear about.

I've been pretty damn busy lately. A lot of you probably already know this because--and this may come as a shock to some of you--GSAS majors actually do a substantial amount of work. At least, we do when we're taking Game Development I. I finally had some time to breathe, so I decided to go get a milkshake at 4 am with some friends. It was a damn good milkshake. Now, however, I'm not tired in the slightest, so I thought I'd share with you all of my recent musings.

It's come up quite a lot lately that "a fair number of arguments are actually not logical arguments, but rather arguments about language and definitions." The reason it comes up so often is probably because I hang out with a lot of very self-aware people. I've become quite introspective, myself, and it's led me to start thinking a lot about perspective (knew that was coming from the title, didn't you? Very astute of you. Very astute). How I view the world is (obviously) different from the way everyone else views the world. This is true for pretty much everyone. You didn't need me to tell you this.

"So everyone is different," you say, "we all already knew that." Hush. This is my blog. Stop interrupting me. How are you even doing that, anyway? Better yet, how did I know that's what you were going to say? I didn't. I'm bluffing.

I've realized lately that I'm very "in-the-middle" about a lot of things. I'm both a programmer and an artist. I'm both logical and empathetic. I like chocolate and vanilla because they're both viable flavors in their own right (I'm both being serious and joking right now)! I think it's good to be in the middle on a lot of things, because that's the way I was raised--to try to see both sides of an issue--and it's made being an observer very interesting.

Back home, I always felt like I was more logical than empathetic. I think, in the grand scheme of things, I heir on the side of logic when compared to the human race on the whole. At RPI, however, it seems as though the concentration of logical thinkers is very high, which makes me seem more empathetic when compared to the surrounding population. Because now I tend to heir on the side of empathy when it comes to debates and discussions, I've started to view a lot of topics differently. I make more concessions, now--rather than laying it on thick with the logic. I guess really I'm embracing the balance of empathy and logic that I already had, and coming to find it a very intriguing trait of humans on the whole.

Going back to perspective, though, I think it's interesting how a few of the people I talk to regularly think very differently than I do. There is someone who I've referred to as "essentially my opposite" on more than one occasion, and I find myself consistently intrigued by her differing views. There is something to be said for always getting a fresh perspective on trivial things that you may have taken for granted. Everyone's life is different, and everyone was raised in a different way.

Often times I'll argue with fellow GSAS majors what qualifies as "good design", and I've found that everyone has their own preferences ("Duh," you say. Shhh. We talked about this earlier). Some people are willing to look past their preferences, however, and design games that they, personally, might not like. These are the designers I hold in the highest regard.

Dr. Marc likes to say that "there are many aspects to a game, and a lot of things that you won't really care about, but somebody has to." I've decided that I want the mechanics of my games to feel "solid"--though if you ask me what I meant by the term "solid" I don't know that I could tell you. I've decided that "good UI" is crucial to a game, but I couldn't quantify what was "good" and what wasn't without examples. I'd like to think this is the perspective I bring to a game design team, and that everyone will at least understand why I focus on these two things first and foremost. I hope that people appreciate my insight as much as I appreciate theirs, and understand my definitions of "solid" and "good", even if they don't completely agree.

I think I've sort of made it clear already, but one of the points I wanted to get across with this post is that I may be "in-the-middle", but that doesn't mean I don't have opinions. Pretty clear I've got opinions seeing as I have a blog, in which I write about my opinions. I mean, duh. My opinions, however, are not as radical as some people might assume. One thing I've noticed about arguments is that, usually, each person picks a side. That's kind of how it goes. However, just because I've picked a side does not mean that I won't make concessions to the other side. I try to make concessions when I can, but sometimes I don't get the chance to. A lot of times I feel as though the people I'm arguing with don't think I'm being genuine when I make a concession to their side, which I always find weird, honestly. Do not enough people do this? Does it really throw people for a loop when I agree with them immediately after disagreeing with them? Does it make me fickle? Or does it just make me empathetic?

I'll admit--it's hard for me to make up my mind on a lot of issues. If I ever say anything contradictory it's probably because I believe each statement to a certain extent--not that I'm lying about my true opinions. Honestly, it's because I'm trying so hard to be transparent about what I believe that I contradict myself so much, weird as that is. I'm very prone to "paralysis by analysis". That said, I think that it's difficult to make a statement that can go either way on a topic that is currently being argued. I think that, in the scope of an argument, people take what I say as way more absolute than I mean it to be. Please don't. Really. I very rarely work in absolutes, and it's frustrating when people assume that I do.

This is running very long, so I think I'll end it here. I just want to finish by referencing The Phantom Tollbooth (which, if you haven't read, you should totally go pick it up. It's a short read, and it's incredibly clever). In the book, there's this part where Milo, the main character, meets the same man four times in a row--each time under a different title. He is "The Fat Man" to a skinny man, "The Skinny Man" to a fat man, "The Tall Man" to a short man, and "The Short Man" to a tall man. He's always the same person, though, which confuses Milo, until the man explains:

It's all about perspective.

Perspective can be shifted by upbringing, and it can also be shifted by a person's current frame of mind, but being able to flow freely through multiple perspectives is the key to being a more empathetic person, I've found. Trying to shift your own perspective when communicating with others will likely make communication easier on the whole, which will end up being better (and much less frustrating) for both parties. If you ever feel like you're attempting to talk to a wall, try it out--try to understand the perspective of the other person and maybe you'll learn something new. If it doesn't work, you might actually be talking to a wall. Probably the reason everyone's looking at you funny. Maybe you should just walk away like nothing happened. Yeah. No one saw that. You're good.

--J