Daniel was my cousin, my mentor, and my friend. We grew up together, we worked together, we played together. As a kid, I thought the world of him. He wasn't much older than me, but I still looked up to him like a big brother. I wanted to make songs just like he did. We both got our start with Mario Paint's music composer on SNES, and went on to Noteworthy Composer, which I still use to this day. We collaborated and uploaded tracks to MySpace way back when. We even made a cringy album back in 2006. We were kids. And though we went down separate paths in life, he never stopped inspiring me, and he never stopped creating music. We were always close, even when he was across the country. I'd send MIDIs his way and he'd remix them. Music connected us.

He had a hard life. He lost his father to cancer, his girlfriend left him for somebody else, he lost him home, his job, all within a year or two. And through his misfortune, he still managed to be hopeful toward the end. He told me just a week ago that he was suicidal at one point, but that part of his life was over. He had just gotten a new job at Yellow Stone National Park and was so excited about going. He was even bringing his guitar and his laptop to write music while he was there. As far as I know, he never got to write anything. Not long after arriving, he had a heart attack and while in the hospital he had a stroke. He was only 28 years old.

Some of the people who follow me on here might be disappointed, but I'm retiring from making music for now. I just can't. I don't know what happens moving forward, but I'll return someday. I just need a little time to heal. Thank you for your support. I love you all <3

- 1991

🍒 I run a Facebook account devoted to the animated series, Major Lazer. Sadly, the show was canceled despite being fairly popular and having already been renewed for a second season. I'm a huge fan of the series. It's actually one of my favorite shows. So, speaking for all the page's followers and fans of the show, I carefully constructed a petition to bring the show back. This has roughly a 130% chance of failing, but I'm gonna try my best! I'm nobody on the internet, so I need all the support I can get. Please sign the petition and spread the word! And if you haven't, definitely check the show out.

https://www.change.org/p/fox-broadcasting-company-bring-back-the-major-lazer-animated-series

I have an extremely difficult time reading aloud, so I've started a reading series in hopes of getting better. Right now I'm reading stories out of an old book of fairy tales I found, nothing too difficult. Feel free to check out the video and let me know what you like and what you think could be better. I'd like to also get into voice acting here on New Grounds eventually.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Et_Vh3b4PVY&feature=youtu.be

Bort.

I've been digging through the Bertn Vault to gather all of my songs that still exist and organize them in one place. The earliest surviving music goes all the way back to 2007! They're quite terrible and sloppily written, but so special to me. I'd hate to lose them. Maybe as a joke I'll upload one of my mastapieces from '07.

What the heck is this? It was literally 7°F less than a week ago, which I think is the coldest it's ever been in Tuscaloosa in my lifetime. Dumb Alabama weather.

I was in the library at school, waiting for this woman to finish printing her stupendously long document. It's free to print stuff at my school, but they ask that you be courteous and only print documents under 10 pages. Sounds reasonable to me. So, I sat, and I counted 247 pages! What document needs to be 247 pages long? Was she printing the manuscript to her unabridged fantasy epic? Or maybe it was a list of reasons why JK-FlipFlop needs to return to New Grounds.

What do you think she was printing?

I have a tough time dealing with stress. I'm sure a lot of my friends here on New Grounds do as well. So, I took action and I signed up for a stress management course at my college. I wasn't required to, but I thought it might be helpful. I'm not trying to work myself to death to graduate college in a hurry. College, to me, is more of a marathon than a race. Health is more important than getting a fancy degree. Plus, I don't want to look back on my college years someday and realize how miserable and stressed out I was along the way. Life doesn't begin after college, or high school, or after you get a good job, or after you get married and have kids, etc. Life begins at birth so I think it's very important to not neglect the present and always put your own well-being before any goals you set for yourself. Your health is your wealth.

Today was my first day and I'm really liking it so far. It was only an hour, but I felt like I learned quite a bit. As soon as I got out of my first day of stress management, however, I found out that my uncle, who was suppose to drive me home, was in a terrible car accident. He's fine, but my mother's car sure isn't. I don't know how I'm suppose to get to school tomorrow. By the same token, I suppose I'm in the right class.

There once was a peculiar boy who had this strange obsession with putting things in his mouth. It could be a rock, a penny, or even a little Lego man. One day while at school he found a lovely red paperclip on the floor and just as sure as the Colorado sunset, he plopped it into his mouth. He tucked it neatly under his right gum with his tongue and went about his day. The paperclip remained there all day long, but no one who looked at him or spoke with him would ever have guessed that he had a paperclip in his mouth. Why would they? Though he was certainly unusual, he looked like any other boy.