hi… I guess?

…hi everyone! I’m back! Well… kinda. The last time I was blogging was in 2008, that’s almost two decades ago! Time flies, huh? A lot has changed since then, both in my life and in the world of video games, but one thing that hasn’t changed is my love for Sonic the Hedgehog and Halo.

I know some people in the Sonic fandom (those outside of the Ocean Palace community) have been wondering why I quit blogging and YouTube in the first place. Well, there were a few reasons, but the main one was that there were some personal things I had to deal with. I don’t want to go into details since it’s private and it’s in the past, but let’s just say that it was a difficult time for me, and I needed to focus on myself. The other reason, and which some of you already know, is because it wasn’t right for me to continue my social media presence (because of the important connections my family have in the world of cybersec), especially after what happened. So I quit blogging and stopped my Let’s Plays, even though I loved doing them.

It was hard enough for me to come back on socials, and even now I don’t feel entirely comfortable and have to be very careful with my online presence to protect the privacy of my family and those connected to me. I’m being mindful though and am finding my online rhythm again, despite not being as open as I was back then.

The most painful thing for me was leaving the community I helped create. It wasn’t easy. We’ve known each other since 2005. We’ve grown up together. We were like family. I loved the community I was part of, and have so many lovely memories with so many people. I know that my disappearance generated a lot of conversation and upset lots of people. No one could understand it or obtain any real answers. It’s not something I wanted to do, but sadly, it was necessary. But I’m here to tell you that I’m back to blogging. There’s a lot going on in the world right now, and particularly with video games, with a lot of cool and exciting things happening in the Sonic, Halo, and Marble Blast modding scene. I wanted to talk about it since I myself am working on some exciting stuff with my friends.

Though I’m back, I won’t be posting as often as I used to back in the day since most of our discussions take place in the Ocean Palace Discord server now. I have a lot of other things to do and other responsibilities to take care of as well, so I probably won’t post every week, or even every month. I’ll post whenever I have something to say and whenever I have time to say it.

So, welcome back to my blog — or welcome for the first time if you’re new here! I hope you’ll enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it. And don’t worry, I won’t disappear again for another decade. I hope anyway!

~ Hailey