I shouldn't have left you...without a dope beat to step to? Haha :)
Hello SG world, I've finally returned after being gone for a few years now. I never wanted to leave, but back then money was scarce and I was attempting school, et cetera, so I had to put my focus elsewhere for a while. That aside, I'm happy to be back, there are so many truly wonderful people on this site and I'm glad to see a lot of them are still around after so long.
A lot of things have changed for me, mostly in this passed year, so I guess it figures that SG would also be a bit different now that I've returned (currently getting used to this new...everything). I went from living in a tiny box-state all my life (Connecticut) to flying from the east coast to the west (Washington) in order to visit for a month. During my stay, I met my 'would-be' roommate who has a pretty big title working for Amazon.com's Digital Games division and used to work for Nintendo. After spending some time during that month he told me he could put me through the proper channels if I had an interest in working within the Video Game Industry.
On the East coast, working with video games on any level aside from selling them at GameStop is more or less a pipe dream. My friends and I always wished we could somehow manage to get our foot in the door of that industry but it's nigh impossible unless you're in the right place at the right time. Now in Seattle,I happened to be in the right place at the right time.
Fast-forward: I've been working for Nintendo of America since May 2013 and it's the most fulfilling, fun, and exciting job I could imagine. Also I get paid so much better out here than I would've had I stayed in Connecticut, though if I didn't I'd still work my same job without complaint. Things have just continued to fall into place since coming out here to visit and I now have the opportunity to make a career out of something I've loved my entire life...gaming.
Also I'm absolutely in love with everything about the West coast. Seattle is such a great city to live in and a true city of free expression, so beautiful as well, definitely the ideal place for me to live. It's also extremely close to Portland OR which allows me to ride the BoltBus for dirt cheap and visit my friends out there on weekends.
I'm just so happy and fortunate that things started looking up, and I'm glad that I can come back to SG at long last. Thanks for reading, hope to connect with you guys more very soon.
-Kiryu
P.S.: If you're in the Seattle WA or Portland OR area and would like a new friend, PLEASE feel free to connect with me cause I'm definitely trying to make some as I continue to get used to this side of the country, it's all still very new to me and there's a lot that I have yet to see but I'd like to :)