The 'Shroom:Issue 105/Happy Holidays

http://www.thexephyrboard.net/XLights2.gif http://www.thexephyrboard.net/XLights2.gif http://www.thexephyrboard.net/XLights2.gif http://www.thexephyrboard.net/XLights2.gif http://www.thexephyrboard.net/XLights2.gif http://www.thexephyrboard.net/XLights2.gif http://www.thexephyrboard.net/XLights2.gif Happy Holidays Written by: and members of the Super Mario Wiki community

'Tis the season to be jolly, and no matter what you celebrate, December is always a good time to remember past holidays, to look back at the year we leave behind, or to look forward at the year that is to come. We reached out to members of our community so that they could share their memories, resolutions, thoughts, and more.

Anonymous User
When I was younger, every Eid my parents and other Somali Muslim parents would get together and all the kids would go somewhere fun like to an amusement park, a place along those lines. There was one girl, she was a year ahead of me, she's one of the coolest people I've ever met... because she was older than me I basically obsessed over everything she did. I guess I was a little in love with her, but didn't realize it until later. My favorite holiday memories are getting to spend time with her

aregularforumuser
I don't really have many pleasant holiday memories, but one of my new year's resolutions is to be a better person to this community. You're all honestly the most supportive, humorous good looking and pleasant community I've met on the internet, so I'll try my best to be a bit...... nicer.

One of the 2015 highlights for me was definitely my participation in the awards. After all, why would I let you guys not enjoy playing video games with someone as beautiful as I? I really enjoyed getting the opportunity to interact and play video games with the people in this community.

Baby Luigi
So, yet another year is going to draw to a close with Christmas coming up with its holiday's greetings. 2015 is the last year where I cannot legally drink alcohol; I'll be turning 21 this February, cementing my age as an adult and no longer a child. Even so, Christmas is a holiday everyone and anyone can enjoy, and it's not just gifts that we receive from loved ones, but pure altruism and the encouragement through the friendly icon of Santa Claus delivering presents that makes this holiday so special. Whenever Christmas comes up, we all remember that despite all of our problems with the world around, we still love and care for each other, and we show our appreciation for each other by sacrificing for the benefit of a partner, be it a Toy Drive or a Secret Santa event.

Sadly, I don't have much noteworthy events that occur in holidays, not in recent memory anyway. My parents are growing old, and they can't really afford to take a vacation to another location. Still, holiday spirit is still intact in other ways. My dad is Chinese. Traditionally, instead of buying gifts for your family, elders and other family members give money in the form of red envelopes to other family member; the Chinese have a strong sense of family. The color red and the action of giving money is an omen of good luck to the receiving member, and our rationale is that you use the money to buy the stuff you want rather than receiving gifts you don't necessarily want. Because my family loves me and my siblings, I usually get a good sum of money every Christmas, and then Chinese New Year, a lunar-based event that starts around the second new moon of next year which also serves a similar principle. If I get a paying job, I shall do the same thing. As for now, I'm perfectly content with assisting parents and others who need help more than I need help.

The holiday of 2015 is still better than the holiday of 2014 so far, but that's mostly because I had received a nasty food poisoning from egg nog last Thanksgiving, making me despising the beverage for the rest of the year, despite how much I loved the once-a-year beverage. Still, I don't think 2015 is that all great of a year, to be honest, especially speaking from a Mario fan. 2015 saw the most disappointing Nintendo E3 ever since the dreaded E3 2008, when Wii Music was the focal point of the event. Sure, I loved Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash for a Wii U console, but it has been far more disappointing than Mario Tennis Open, some considered to be the worst Mario Tennis. Super Mario Maker....well, as a modder for various games, I have absolutely no need to own it. Riivolution for New Super Mario Bros. Wii lets me replace music files, voice effects, and models, and it comes with a nifty level editor in the form of Reggie! (yeah, named after Reggie Fils-Aimé, the program is pretty clear about that), all of these which firmly place modded New Super Mario Bros. Wii several steps above Super Mario Maker. I'm not the average layperson when it comes to this; Super Mario Maker is clearly intended for an audience who can jump right into the game without needing to know what an .xml is or any need for a hex editor. Other 2015 releases don't interest me. I think the only new games I got in 2015 were Pokemon Super Mystery Dungeon and Speed Runners, the former I bought while the latter is an indie game that was gifted to me by a friend. Pokemon Mystery Dungeon is as awesome as Pokemon Mystery Dungeon can get while Speed Runners is a fun little indie game who I recommend to anyone who wants a simple, yet competitive runner game that plays like Mario Kart.

I'm really hoping 2016 is better than 2015. I'm the optimistic type. I love the Wii U, despite its failures. I really love its games it has to offer. I wanted Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash to be awesome despite its poor Metacritic score for a Mario game. I wanted Splatoon to succeed with flying colors (and it did) (and, no pun intended) despite various issues I personally have with it. I wanted people to have fun with Super Mario Maker. I wanted people to have fun with games they liked in 2015 and any other year and any other time of the day. Despite the fact that I can get quite cantankerous at times, I'm never a bad person. Any qualms I have with anything simply means that I want things and people to be bigger, harder, better, faster, stronger, etc.

As for New Year resolutions, me personally, I don't take them seriously. Any New Year resolutions I have set, it's either I end up forgetting about it or that it is already my goal. I guess I'll share them regardless, since I don't really discuss my goals and this is a perfect time of the year to start tackling them. One of my goals is to actually complete projects I start on. If you had seen my To-Do List on my userpage on this wiki, it's basically cluttered, and it's not necessarily small tasks. Most of them are large projects. Being a somewhat ubiquitous modder who pursues things that interest me, and then cranking out things people might call "quality", I attract people who count on me to make stuff for them since it requires a certain level of skill to get your work actually noticed, admired, and actually used, which is actually one of the absolute best feelings in the world. It's incredibly difficult for me to refuse an offer, especially if it comes to users I had worked with in the past. Being a person who likes being helpful, I often get myself tangled in other people's problems with their mods, and it adds up. Currently, around five people have asked me to do something and it's an offer I haven't turned down. I actually had to guide one of my friends to make a mod in Garry's Mod; trust me, it's not an easy task. Not only do you basically have to create the project for yourself and for your client, you have to explain the steps in a way that makes your client, whose knowledge is dependent on their expertise on the subject matter understand. This actually makes me breed a new kind of respect to teachers and tutorial writers in the web, where laypeople count on them to write an accurate and easy-to-understand tutorial. Pile that on top of wiki work and real life, and the notion of not meeting to others' expectations of what I'm expected to work with stresses me out.

Accepting many projects and not finishing them is actually a feature of ADHD (attention deficit hyperactive disorder). It mirrors popular belief and debunks it at the same time; a stereotype attributed to ADHD is, "My name is....hey look a squirrel!" which explains why I have so many things stockpiled, while, on contrast I can spend an entire day nonstop working on a single mod (one of my Mario Kart Wii SCars pack took only 2-3 days to complete, despite being how utterly time consuming it is to work with them), a phenomenon called "hyperfocus". Everyone has this to an extent, but just like everyone has some symptoms of ADHD to an extent, the features are magnified, to the point where I'm reluctant to even stop to eat in order to get my work done. It has been said that people with ADHD tend to "know everything"; as, one day, they may take huge interest in gardening, then to astronomy, then meteorology, and then back to gardening, hence why they "know" everything, an attribute that is very true of myself.

So there you go. My New Year's resolution is to not take on so many projects at once. However, with my interests and desires being a significantly powerful motivation tool, it will be incredibly difficult for me to not take on new projects and not finish old ones.

That's really all I have to say for this year and my thoughts on the subject matter. I would want to wish everyone and all writers of The 'Shroom a very Merry Christmas. Remember to let go of your stress and anxieties and just rock 'round that Christmas tree.

Count Bonsula
So we don't really celebrate christmas around here, but some of us celebrate New Year's Eve. I guess the best memory I have for now is the eve of 2015. I was hanging out with a bunch of friends at a barbecue, looking back on the best/worst memories we had of 2014. We had some nice food and one of us started playing the guitar and all of us started singing with our horrible voices. It was nice, and I sure hope we do that again this year.

Crocodile Dippy
Holiday Memories: Christmas for me meant big family gatherings thanks to my Italian family, and as an introvert, I didn't like that one bit. One day, we held the gathering at my sister's house where they have a TV in their room, and wouldn't you know it, Mythbusters (R.I.P) was running a marathon that day. Me and my brother parked ourselves in her room for the whole day and just binge-watched that until it was time to go home. Best Christmas I've ever had, especially since I no longer celebrate it.

New Year Resolutions: Have genital reconstruction surgery and officially change my name and legal identity to a female one. I guess also to git gud at music.

2015 Highlights: I got to run Critic Corner again, I wrote, like, half of Issue 100, and I helped elevate The 'Shroom back to its former glory. Also I got noticed by Ghost Jam-senpai, uguu~

Kamehameha
One of my fav memories is two days before thanksgiving I got to hang out with my best friends, which I haven't been able to do since I started college really. It was great since I haven't really made many new friends so it's been kinda lonely but just being around them made me so happy and I almost cried when I had to go home.

Mariofan169
Every year we drive up to Virginia to see our mom's extended family. One of our best traditions is going around the neighborhood looking at the huge lights displays, I always found it fun.

Nysic
2015 has been a pretty big year for me. I started high school, came out as transgender, and even began a relationship with one of the users of this community. My life has changed drastically from how it was just a year ago, and I think it's for the better. I've definitely matured (Just read through some of my posts from then, they're pretty bad) and have become a better person overall. However, that doesn't mean I still can't improve. Next year, I'm going to try to have more presence and make more of a difference here in this community. I've already begun doing this by playing/hosting mafia games, taking drawing requests, and I plan to do even more by hosting a tournament during next year's awards, and possibly signing up for the 'Shroom!

PowerKamek
Hi! This is PowerKamek! The holidays are coming, and I'd like to share my favorite Holiday Memories, my New Year Resolutions, and my highlights for 2015. I would have to say that my favorite Holiday Memories is when I got Mario Kart Wii with the Wii console back in 2009. I loved it! I played it all the time, and played it with my Grandma almost everyday. That was my favorite Christmas ever! I don't think any other Christmas can top that one. This Christmas, I'm asking for the game Super Mario 3D World because my friends say it is a game I should have. I put it on my wish list, I’m praying to get it! I can’t wait until 2016, and I have some New Year Resolutions. They are: Becoming more active on MarioWiki, doing more independent stuff, making more friends, and if I could, become a writer on The ‘Shroom. Yeah, I got a lot to do next year. Since this year is ending, I’d like to share my 2015 Highlights. My favorite part this year is when Super Mario Maker released. I pre-ordered it, and once I got it, I played it all the time! Although I do like Super Mario Maker, I like Mario Kart 8 more. I played that game a lot this year. I also liked September, because I took a trip to Disneyland, and you won't believe how much fun I had! Enough to make it one of the best times this year! So, I explained my Holiday Memories, New Year Resolutions, and my highlights of 2015. I hope you had good times this year also, and I wish all of you Happy Holidays!

Scarecrow von Steuben
A few years back I spent Christmas at my grandparents' house. It had snowed the night before (and there were still some flurries coming down), so everything looked very idyllic. I had gotten a bunch of albums, which I was playing on my grandparents' large stereo system. It was really wonderful lounging around all day, listening to Arcade Fire and Radiohead and looking out at the snow and feeling perfectly content.

Super Mario Bros.
Christmas: After a long year full of trials and challenges, it is a blessing to have an entire day to spend with family and friends in good spirit. I have shared many fond memories of the holiday with different people throughout the years. For the past couple of years, my sister and I have had our friends over for parties filled with games, music, food, and fun. My parents, sisters, and grandmother always gather for Christmas breakfasts and dinners; in between, we unwrap the presents that we have gotten for each other. There have also been several Decembers where I have sat down with my good friends in the Core Staff and have planned Holiday Issues much like this very one. Overall, I enjoy Christmas because it has, in my experiences, given me the chance to grow and work closer with the people that I hold dear.

New Years: My new year's resolution is to become the very best, like no one ever was. What could possibly go wrong? At any rate, I am happy with what I have accomplished this year in every walk of life: I had a great time starting my Associates program at school, made important life decisions, made new friends and reconnected with older ones, and also had the chance to work on this newsletter again. It has been a long – yet extremely fun – year, and I hope that 2016 will bring more growth for myself and for all who desire it.

Thank you all, and have a Merry Christmas season and a Happy New Year!

...Okay, one more thing: I highly recommend watching Star Wars: The Force Awakens! If you haven't done so yet, make it your New Year's resolution. 8/8 m8, gr8 movie

Tucayo
Ah, December. Probably my favorite month of the year; holiday music, decorations, food, end-of-year lists… I don't even know where to start! So I'll guess I'll look back at my favorite videogame-related holiday memory. It was maybe 2000 or something like that, and I had asked Santa for a Nintendo 64, because what else could a kid possibly want. So I was at my grandparents' house on Christmas Eve, receiving presents from my relatives when I got a promising-looking one from my grandparents. And guess what? It was a Nintendo 64. I couldn't believe myself, that was my first own console. I set it up and started playing right away. Fast forward to Christmas morning, where I, as eager as all kids, rushed down at an ungodly hour to see what Santa had brought. Surprise, it was another Nintendo 64. Clearly Santa and my grandparents didn't communicate beforehand. So there I was, a happy kid with two N64's and three great games: Paper Mario, Super Mario 64, and Mario Kart 64. One of the two ended up being stolen some years ago, so yay, I still have another one!

As for 2016, well, I know it'll hold many important events in my life. I'll graduate college, I'll surely start working at something related to my field, I'll finally get to visit New York, and Poochy knows what else it'll bring, but one thing I know is that I'll be sure to make the most of it.

Walkazo
Some of my highlights from 2015 were the new Jurassic Park World movie, discovering crab meat subway sandwiches, banning the misuse of "sub-species" on the wiki after seven years of silent raeg, and lots of other little things that all added up to make the year pretty okay in my books.

And that's it from some of our community's users. We are not going to simply wish you a happy Kwanzaa, Bodhi Day, Eid, Christmas, or Hanukah, what we will do is to wish for you and your loves ones to be happy. Because it doesn't matter what religion you practice or what you celebrate, we all should practice respect and celebrate diversity, now more than ever. May the next year be a good one for you and your loved ones.

&mdash; With love, The 'Shroom